The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1858-10-28

ing contradieted, Fefuted, and disproved.-
The questions of supply and demand, OF
imports and exports, the balance of trade,
of the comparative Importance of commerce
and agriculture, and all those matters that
are usually thought to have an intimate
bearing on national prosperity, may, per-
chance be settled in a manner altogether
different from that contemplated by poiiti-
/ cal economists, and may be completely set
at nought.
The agency by which the foundations of
that fabric of modern wisdom have been
shaken is the frequently despised practical
/ science which undertakes the investigation
Of the minute particles of bodies, analyses
their composition, aad shows how all sub
stances in nature are formed out of a few
elements yariouSly egtnbined together. The
ehendsfssofz ztle present day hase, indeed, al
ready accomplished greater wonders than the
alchemists of old vainly attempted to
achieve for nearly everything they touch
has been Transmitted into'gold; and they have
by the same process vastly increased the
conyenienceS, the comforts, and the luxuries
Of life, and added greatly to the resources
of the empire. All the wonder-woTking
powers that chemistry has yet displayed,
would, however, be thrown into the shade
by the fulfilment of the hope Of which an
Indication was given in a recent lecture by
I Prof. Frankland, of tn Royal Institution.
The chemical agencies of which we have
now to speak, do not manifest themselves by
merely varying the combinations of the
elements of the same class Of substances to
produce other substances possessing differ
entqualitics, still belonging to thesame class; (;
/ but they tranSmute one class of substances
/ into another, which was formerly supposed
/ to be only possible by the agency of vitali-
/ ty. By this mean the simple elements of
matter may be converted into organic COM
! pounds, aid the food of man may be pro-
/ duced directly from its original sources with
ont the intermediate agencies of vegetation
/ and animal life. Nor Is this a mere spccu-
lative fancy, lika the day dreams of the al
! chemist, for the constituents of the food of
man are we'll known, aid are easily obtain
/ able from the bowels OF the earth and the
air we breathe, and all that remains for the
+ chemist to 90 is to combine them in such
manner us to render them capable Of assimi-
! latiOn by the digestive organs. The nutri-
tive constituents of wheat are carbon and
/ hydrogen; the proportions in which they
unite together in the vegetable product are
/ known, and the elements are abundant in
nature; then, why should not the chemist
put them together so as to form nutritious
! food? Coal presents us with all the ingre-
dients for maxim" the bcstg.of bread; and
when VIC consider what the chemist has al
ready done with coal, it need not excite sur
/ prise that he should kncad it into the staff
of life. Look at the splendid lights which
/ illuminate the streets; at the beautiful trans
/ lucent candles called rarague; admire the
brilliant dyes, Of all tie e0iers of tile rain
/ bow, which are extracted from that hard
I black mineral, then cease to think it absurd
! to expect that from the same substance
WHICH contains the elements of wheat, we
/ should be able to obtain loavcs of bread
T Prot. Frankland informs us that within
/ the last two or three years nearly seven
! hundred organic substances have been pro-
duced by various modes of combining the
/ clements which are found in coal, and
among the compounds thus produced arc the
| peculiar essences which constitute the faYors
/ of ORR choicest fruits. 1t is no longer need
ful to cultivate the pear, the peach or. the
/ pine apple to obtain their delicious favors,
for they can be produced by chemical agency
from the combination of the constituent ele-
ments. 1t is in this manner that, by pro-
I cesSes which it may not be desirable to in
vestigate too curiously, the full flavor of the
( fruit is given to confectionery that may he
bought for less than one penny thG ounce
By other chemical processes, graz sIenr,
ethers, and the essential parts of oil, have
I been obtained without the aid of vegetation.
/ Those substances might contribute that por-
! ton of nutriment which tends to maintain
animal heat, and to supply the fatty mate
rials of the body, but the means of supply
I ing the muscles and fbres have vet to be
/ discovered, for all the attempts hitherto
made to form organic compounds with nitro
gen have failed. When we bear in smind,
( however, that only thirty years ago the pro
duction of any organic compound without
the agency of vitality was considered i'm
possible, and that 700 of such products have
since been formed, principally within the
! last five years, there is reason to expect that
further researches and discoveries will, ere
long disclose the means of making from the
inorganic elements all kinds of food adapted
to the sustenance Of man. And that which
thus seems within the range of pro-
bability for the production of food is equal
" possible for the materials of clothing
1t was stated not long since that a method
had been discovered of producing silk direct
ly from mulberry leaves, and dispensing
"tCNAA'aS~S''4N5
scquently costly, operations of feeding and
tending the worms, and of winding the CO.
coons The invention may be only in abey-
ance whilst undergoing the process of per-
fection through which all great inventions
have had to pass before they became per-
fectly useful, and silk may in a few years
be grown like cotton " hat is possible with
silk should be equally so with hair, wool,
and hides and all the animal materials of
manufacturing might be exacted directly
from grass and foliage. Nay, the chemist
may advance still further; and rs he hopes
to obtain, by the action of chemical offinity,
organic materials for the food of man, witt =
out the agency of vitality, 1t would be but
slight step to derive the materials of cloth
ing Independently of vegetation.
Assuming for the moment the realization
of these hopes raised by the chemists
which are based on numerous successful ex-
perimcnts-what then will become of the
system of political economy, of internation-
al trade in articles Of food and materials of
manufacture OF what use will be our
Indian empire, or the establishments of
forced relations with the Chinese What
will become of our agricultural population :?
and what will he done with the bleatino