390 The War against Agriculture. [July, 
of some other plant. Whether such artificial preparation is 
possible may depend upon the skill and the perseverance of 
those who take it in hand, and upon the degree in which the 
resources of chemical science have been developed. Whether 
the artificial drug, or other compound, can compete with or 
supersede the natural product, is a purely commercial 
question turning upon the cost of the process, but it is un- 
fortunately in many cases complicated by fiscal regulations. 
With bodies of the second class the question of artificial 
production is scarcely conceivable, much less has it been 
hitherto solved. Let us take the case of milk: the milk-fat, 
which when separated out is known as butter, is an exceed- 
ingly complex body, a mixture — not a compound — of the 
glycerides of palmitic, stearic, oleic, butyric, caproic, ca- 
prylic, capric, and rutic acids. We have then the albumenoid 
bodies, the milk-sugar, and the mineral matters. Now if 
we suppose that each of the organic compounds just men- 
tioned had been artificially produced, — and this is not the 
case with even one of them, — we should still be at a loss 
how to blend them together as they are in Nature, how to 
give them the correct physical condition, and how to intro- 
duce the phosphates of lime and soda, the chloride of 
potassium, and other mineral salts which are found in na- 
tural milk, and which, though but small in quantity, are 
indispensable in the nourishment of the young animal. 
Or take the case of a joint of meat : suppose we could 
artificially produce the albumen, the fibrine, the gelatinous 
matter, the fats, &c., our task would be only beginning. If 
we present the fibrine in dense masses, instead of in the 
fibrous state from which it derives its name, and in which it 
always appears in the flesh of animals, we should have a 
very indigestible matter to deal with. And how to make it 
assume this fibrous structure without the aid of the pro- 
cesses present in the living animal is a question of a totally 
different order, from its mere synthesis as a chemical com- 
pound. 
So, again, with cotton. Cotton, we find, when pure, is 
simply cellulose. But the converse does not hold good ; 
cellulose is not necessarily cotton. Before it can become 
such it must be made to assume the form of very complex 
fibres. 
Natural products of the second class may therefore be 
considered for the present, and doubtless for a long time to 
come, quite safe from the competition of artificial sub- 
stitutes. 
Not so those of the first class. There is at present a rage 
