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1880.] Organic Synthesis and its Social Bearings . 
similar manner from lifeless matter. Surely in such a case 
the anxiety of life would be lessened, and the margin be- 
tween every man and actual want would become indefinitely 
wider than at present. Should we not here have a “ reform ” 
wider, deeper, and more satisfactory than statesmen of any 
school ever dream of ? 
But when suggestions of this kind are laid before the 
public it must not be assumed that they meet with universal 
approbation. A friend of ours once broached, in a mixed 
company the notion of the synthetic production of food. A 
reverend gentlemen present gazed on him with a look of 
horror, and said he little thought he should ever have “ lived 
to hear such an awfully wicked and blasphemous proposal.” 
On this outcry no comment is needed. It is merely a repe- 
tition of the opposition with which the lightning-conduCtor, 
the discovery of vaccination, and the use of anaesthetics 
were greeted. It is strange, however, that “ ministers of all 
denominations ” never reflect how by such opposition they 
play into the hands of the so-called “ free-thought ” party. 
Another note of opposition is raised by some who affeCt to 
speak as the representatives of the working man, probably 
by the same right that the ichneumon might represent the 
caterpillar. They denounce us indignantly for seeking to 
feed the poor on “ drugs and chemicals.” Their eloquence, 
being solely the outcome of their ignorance, needs no refuta- 
tion. Still we may show that this kind of opposition is in 
part to be traced to the circumstance that not a few of the 
outside public confound the proposal which we are making 
with certain fraudulent and semi-fraudulent practices which 
now play but too prominent a part in the production and 
sale of food. Time was- -at least so it is charitably sup- 
posed — when our articles of food and drink were all what 
they professed to be ; when bread was made from the powder 
of wheat, with no other additions than water, salt, and 
yeast ; when wine was the fermented juice of the grape ; 
when milk was a secretion of the cow, and butter a consti- 
tuent separated from such milk. In virtue of that very food 
dilemma of which we spoke at the outset, this is no longer 
the case. Butter, or at least what is commonly sold as 
such, may consist of lard, tallow, rape oil, and the like. 
ButJ synthetical butter, such as we suggest, will be made 
not from the fat of any animal or vegetable, but from the 
very same fats which exist in natural butter, prepared from 
inorganic materials. The possibility of the presence of any 
morbid or infectious matter would thus be excluded. Between 
artificial food and adulterated food there can be no analogy. 
