The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1888-04-12
NEW DISCOVERIES IN CHEMISTRY.
Chemical Reproductions of the Valuable
principles I'm Natural Products.

Chemical Reproductions of the Valuable
Principles In Natural Products.
II will I've long time before the farmer
finds himself supplanted by the chemical
laboratory IN the production Of such com
modities as sugar, tea, alcohol, drugs and
dye stuiTs though sanguine chemists tell
NJ that the recent tTiumphs Of their sci
ence indicate the probability that these
and other articles will some day be prof
itably produced from purely inorganic
materials. Synthetic chemistry. or the
forming of compounds by recombina-
tons of chemical elements, is making
steady progress, and has already affected
agriculture.
MIR. Robert Hugh Mills, in recent lect-
ure, called attention 90 the fact that the
cultivation of maddcr has been almost de-
stroyed by the chemical discovery that its
identical Coloring matter can be chelply
produced from coal tar. The production
Of indigo is also threatened Ivy an arti-
fetal production which the chemists have
discovered. A while ago it was found
that the cinchona tree could be proftably
planted in India, and fine new field of
industry was believed to have opened for
the farmers of that country. Scores Of
chemists, however have been at work
uion the synthesis OF quiuinc, and their
researches have advanced so far that the
prediction is now confidently made that
the manufacture of the principle of
quinne will soon be n commercial sue.
cess, and that Cinchona planting will be
come Il thing Of the past. These chcmi.
cal reproductions of the valuable princi
pies inherent in natural products are often
easier TO handle and utilize than the prod
ucts from which they have hitherto been
| derived, and thus the tendency Of manu-
features is to substitute artificial for
natural sources of supply.
The problem OF sugar making from in
! organic matcrials has engaged some
chemists for number of years. Tho
eynthesis of glucose by Fscher and -Tafel
is said TO promise an ample supply OF
/ this commodity without the aid Cf grapes
or starch. Two years ago some German
chemists announced that they had pro
! duccd saccharosc, the equivalent of cane
sugar. by passing an electric current
! through mixture of starch, sulpburic
I acid and water. Nothing has yet been
| heard of the commercial value OF this
new product, and there is no reason TO
think it will prove dangerous rival to
the sweets we derive from the cane and
tho beet. Some sugar growers, however,
have been prophesying for years that
something would happen to ruin the
sugar industry, and their alarm receives
q fresh impetus at every new discovery
Pc = a. 9tr siccharinc, M *:
ceclingly sweet article produced from
coal tar The day may come when uro
cesses of sugar making 10y the use Of in
organic materials will seriously affect thC
sugar planter, but there is no reason as
yet TO believe that his industry will soor
be imperiCd.
Legislation has interviewed in somJ
places 10 protect the dairy farmer agains
, o!comarEariuc. even where this product J.
honestly sold as artificial butter. /, il
not to hc expected that IN many case
whore science supplies us with desirable
substitute for any product. the law cal
: h' successfully invoked to keep the worlJ
from rcaping the benefit of increasing
, knowledge, Future discoveries may
, compel the farmer 10 cease raising som,
produce hy which hc has thriycd, or e
; change and improve his methods # agri
culture; but il is certain that the til!cr
of eoi viii continue to supply the chic
resources of food aud apparel. New
York sun.