January 1, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



far they have not been able to make, ex- 

 cept in very small quantities, substances 

 that are useful as foods, and there is abso- 

 lutely no prospect of this result being 

 reached within a reasonable time. A few 

 years ago Berthelot told us of a dream he 

 had had. This has to do with the results 

 that, according to Berthelot, are to be 

 brought about by the advance of chem- 

 istry. The results of investigations already 

 accomplished indicate that, in the future, 

 methods will perhaps be devised for the ar- 

 tificial preparation of food from the water 

 and carbonic acid so abundantly supplied 

 by nature. Agriculture will then become 

 unnecessary, and the landscape will not 

 be disfigured by crops growing in geomet- 

 rical figures. Water will be obtained from 

 holes three or four miles deep in the earth, 

 and this water will be above the boiling- 

 temperature, so that it can be used as a 

 source of energy. It will be obtained in 

 liquid form after it has undergone a 

 process of natural distillation, which will 

 free it from all impurities, including, of 

 course, disease germs. The foods prepared 

 by artificial methods will also be free from 

 microbes, and there will consequently be 

 less disease than at present. Further, the 

 necessity for killing animals for food will 

 no longer exist, and mankind will become 

 gentler and more amenable to higher in- 

 fluences. There is, no doubt, much that 

 is fascinating in this line of thought, but 

 whether it is worth following, depends 

 upon the fundamental assumption. Is it 

 at all probable that chemists will ever be 

 able to devise methods for the artificial 

 preparation of foodstuffs? I can only say 

 that to me it does not appear probable in 

 the light of the results thus far obtained. 

 I do not mean to question the probability 

 of the ultimate synthesis of some of those 

 substances that are of value as foods. This 

 has already been accomplished on the small 

 scale, but for the most part the synthetical 



processes employed have involved the use 

 of substances which themselves are the 

 products of natural processes. Thus, the 

 fats can be made, but the substances from 

 which they are made are generally ob- 

 tained from nature and are not themselves 

 synthetical products. Emil Fischer has, 

 to be sure, made very small quantities of 

 sugars of different kinds, but the task of 

 building up a sugar from the raw material 

 furnished by nature — that is to say, from 

 carbonic acid and water — presents such 

 difficulties that it may be said to be prac- 

 tically impossible. 



When it comes to starch, and the pro- 

 teids which are the other chief constit- 

 uents of foodstuffs, the difficulties are still 

 greater. There is not a suggestion of the 

 possibility of making starch artificially, 

 and the same is true of the proteids. In 

 this connection it is, however, interesting 

 to note that Emil Fischer, after his re- 

 markable successes in the sugar group and 

 the uric acid group, is now advancing upon 

 the proteids. I have heard it said that at 

 the beginning of his career he made out a 

 program for his life work. This included 

 the solution of three great problems. 

 These are the determination of the consti- 

 tution of uric acid, of the sugars and of 

 the proteids. Two of these problems have 

 been solved. May he be equally successful 

 with the third ! Even if he should be able 

 to make a proteid, and show what it is, the 

 problem of the artificial preparation of 

 foodstuffs wiU not be solved. Indeed, it 

 will hardly be affected. 



Although science is not likely, within 

 periods that we may venture to think of, 

 to do away with the necessity of cultivat- 

 ing the soil, it is likely to teach us how to 

 get more out of the soil than we now do, 

 and thus put us in a position to provide 

 for the generations that are to follow us. 

 And this carries with it the thought that, 

 unless scientific investigation is kept up, 



