Arizona weekly citizen., 1888-04-14
FOOD BY SCIENTIFIC METHODS

The Possibls Results to Be RsaehsA by
 Chsuistry-Ths M.lshusiAn spsstsr.
 It Is pleasant to turn from thess war. and ramOrs of wars and preparation fos
 fighting to some of the contemplated vic tories of peace and science. Ths Semsns are a famous family of German sayants who have made important discoveries tn several departments of scientific ressArch- One of the brothers invented ths process of storing electricity. The possibilities 0f this invention are incalculablc- We are only beginning to dimly realize its irn- portance. Dr. Siemen, another brother, has written @ work in which he boldly states that we are on the eve of tho pro duction of food by scientific methods without depending upon plant o< soiu1 reproduction and growth He sAys n chemistry, in conjunettoa with sAsssro- technics, will some day tsaeh man to make thss food he now obtains from khs earth by e combination ot the slSm1uts ot which such food eonais1s and Wklsh nature supplies everywhere in the utnnst abundance In other words, sciapee, hs thinks, may at sorne future time lay the Malthusisn spectsr of ovsrpopulsttoa ard diminishing returns from the sol
 Another suggestion h thAs the reesnt achievements of science, with ths aid of mechanical art, upon the field of sp- piled electricity. will restore to labor ths relative independence from capital it en- joyed before the command of mschins power by the latter rendered eompssi<soa Of the individual wage worker with me ehanical production impossible. They wiu also restore, he thinks, the greater sxer- else of individual intelligence in labor, tn place of the mers mechanical performances compelled by the present organization of industrial production He does not ds- fine his meaning in detail on this point, hut it ts evident, from bis other public sx- pressions on this fAvorite subject, tAas he expects those resules to bs accomplished by the great cheapening ok mechanical power, through its general distribution, among the mass of workers, by electricity, so that they can free themselves from the advantage capital has now over them by exclusive command of expsnSivs machine power.
 What . vista this opens up before usi If the chemist can take the elsxnerts of the earth about us and produce whole some and pslstable food st 6 very triftng cost, how changed will be the whole life of man on this planeti Poverty will bs abolished. The surface of the giobs can then become one vast city. There would be DO more slaughtsring of animals to< food, nor toilsoms labor in the wheat and corn nslds. All this may seen visionary; but suppose ae old Grecian CT Rounan vas told that some day men would travel in safety st the rate of 60 nilss sn hsur, that immense ships would plow through the ocean at % miles an hour, regardless of wind or waves; or, HAors marvellous still that . message could be fAshsd under the ocean and an answer hs rs- turned fin . few moments. rhs catisn of the ancient vorh would have satd thss his informant wss Q lunstic; that such tAinp was prodigies that man could never hops to accomplish. The telephone, through which people can keep up . eonvsrsasion hundreds of miles apart, would have seemed still more incredible to thoss vho lived in a prescisntinc ago. The possibih- ties of scientific discovery are simply in- calculable. Monthly.