1880.J Organic Synthesis and its Social Bearings. 227 
carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, though in very different pro- 
portions and in a very different arrangement from what we 
find in sugar. But we do not form it artificially from these 
elements as they occur in a free state, or in mineral com- 
pounds, but from coal-tar. Now coal is well known to be 
the residuum of vegetable matter, so that our artificial 
alizarin is, after all, a plant-produdt, like that obtained from 
the madder-root. 
To this objedtion it may be replied that alizarin, like all 
the coal-tar colours, can be obtained from the mineral oils 
of the Caucasus, and these — according to no less an authority 
than Prof. Mendelejef — are derived not from the decompo- 
sition of any animal or vegetable remains, but from the 
reactions of purely mineral matter, in which graphite — a 
form of inorganic carbon — is supposed to have played a 
leading part. Hence, then, alizarin obtained from the refuse 
of the petroleum of the Caspian would be in its origin quite 
independent of organic life. 
There is another quite recent instance of the artificial 
preparation of a so-called organic body which is free from 
all objections, though its utility as yet is but limited. 
Formic acid was at one time regarded as a secretion of cer- 
tain ants, beetles, and other insedts, and as obtainable only 
through their mediation. Then a method was discovered of 
preparing it artificially by distilling vegetable substances, 
such as tartaric acid, with oxidising agents. Here, how- 
ever, we are still employing organic matter, and a final step 
was still wanting. This has now been taken : it is found 
that if the gas formerly known as carbonic oxide, but now 
termed carbon monoxide, is passed over a mixture of caustic 
soda and lime with certain precautions, formic acid is gene- 
rated in such abundance that if required it would be avail- 
able for industrial purposes. Now, as carbon monoxide is 
not merely an inorganic compound, but can be prepared 
without employing any ingredient of organic origin, the 
problem is solved, and the animal compound, formic acid, 
is obtained synthetically from inorganic matter. 
In face of such fadts there is, we submit, no reason to set 
aside the notion of the synthesis of food-products as chime- 
rical. It will very probably be found a long and difficult 
task, but in consideration of its paramount importance men 
of science will not be justified in despairing. 
There is, however, one limitation to which especial atten- 
tion must be drawn. The useful bodies which we obtain 
from the animal and vegetable kingdoms may be very na- 
turally divided into two great classes. On the one hand, there 
