October 19, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



485 



was realizing enormous profits from the 

 production of antipyrin. 



When it was recognized that the acetyl- 

 ization of an amine produced a body of 

 so much value, this process was tried with 

 many amines and other suitable substances, 

 and in consequence such important reme- 

 dies as phenacetin were obtained, Vv^hile by 

 substituting lactic acid for acetic acid, lac- 

 tophenin was prepared, and by means of 

 amidoacetic acid, a drug named phenocoll. 

 'After chemical researches had shown 

 that the active principles of vegetable 

 purgatives, such as rhubarb, senna, cascara- 

 sagrada and aloes were anthraquinone de- 

 rivatives, synthetic preparations of this 

 class, which therefore are closely related 

 to the alizarine colors, are now brought 

 into the market. These new remedies have 

 the advantage over the crude drugs of 

 greater uniformity of action and exactness 

 in the dosage. 



The active principle of the suprarenal 

 gland first isolated and investigated 

 by an American scientist, a substance of 

 surprisingly simple chemical constitution, 

 has been obtained from coal tar, and it is 

 said that this synthetic product is now mar- 

 keted, and from experiments carried out in 

 Europe and in the large works of Parke, 

 Davis & Company in this country, we may 

 expect that derivatives of this body will 

 soon appear which will be even superior 

 in their pharmacological effect to nature's 

 product. 



About the time that the first synthetics 

 were brought out, a very curious chemical 

 was discovered also by American ingenu- 

 ity, which is to-day not only used for medi- 

 cinal, but also on a large scale for indus- 

 trial purposes. I refer to saccharine, a 

 substance derived from coal tar, which is 

 550 times sweeter than sugar, and is the 

 first representative of the class of artificial 

 sweeteners. It may be of interest to relate 

 an instance showing how purely theoretical 



investigations may lead to the building up 

 of an important industry. 



Dr. Fahlberg, working under the direc- 

 tion of Professor Ira Remsen at Johns 

 Hopkins, was experimenting with coal .tar 

 derivatives from a purely scientific point 

 of view. Before leaving the laboratory 

 one evening, he thoroughly washed his 

 hands, and was under the impression that 

 he had taken every pains in doing so. He 

 was, therefore, greatly surprised on finding 

 that, during his meal, when carrying bread 

 to his mouth, the hands had a sweet taste. 

 He suspected that his landlady had unin- 

 tentionally sweetened the bread and called 

 her to account. They had a little discus- 

 sion, from which she emerged the victor. 

 It was not the bread that tasted sweet, 

 but his hands, and, much to his surprise, he 

 noted that not only his hands but also his 

 arms had a sweet taste. The only explana- 

 tion that he could think of was that, not- 

 withstanding the thorough washing, he 

 had brought some chemical along from the 

 laboratory. Rushing back to it and care- 

 fully investigating the taste of all the 

 goblets, glasses and dishes standing on the 

 working table, he finally came across one 

 whose contents seemed to possess a re- 

 markably sweet taste. Thus was made this 

 important discovery. What lemained to 

 be done was accomplished by later re- 

 searches with this substance. He found 

 very soon that saccharine, as the product 

 was named, when diluted assumed the taste 

 of cane sugar. In watery solution, for 

 instance, its taste was as pleasant as sugar 

 water. The product seemed to be worthy 

 of utilization, provided its other properties 

 were not objectionable. 



Physiological experiments were now 

 made on animals, and then on human be- 

 ings, which showed that it was eliminated 

 undecomposed, and that therefore the 

 human organism behaved indifferently 

 towards the substance. Furthermore, as 



