The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-09-13
NEW DISCOVERIES IN CHEMISTRY.
Chemical Reproductions OF the Valuable
Principles in Natural Protinots.

Chemical Reproductions OF the Valuable
Principles in Natural Protiuots.
It will he long time before the farmer
finds himself supplanted by the chemical
laboratory in the production Of such conn
modities as sugar, tea, alcohol, drugs and
dye stuffs, though sanguins chemists tell
ds that the recent triumphs 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 reoombina-
steady progress, and has already affected
agriculture.
Mr.. Robert Hugh Mills, in rcscst Act-
ure, called attention to the fast that tho
cultivation of madder has been alfnsst de-
stroyed by the chemical discovery taat its
identical coloring matter can hs eheaply
produced from coal tar. The production
of indigo Is also threatened by an arti-
fetal production which the chemists have
discovered. A while ago it was found
that the cinchona tree could be profitably
planted in India, and fine new fieIl of
industry was believed to have opened for
the farmers of that country. Scores OF
chemists, however, have been at work
upon the synthesis Of guinins, and their
researches have advanced so far that the
prediction is now confidently made risat
the manufacture of the principle ef
quinine will soon be a commercial sue
cess, and that cinchona planting will be-
come thing of the past. These ehesni-
cal reproductions of the valuable painei-
pies inherent in natural products are ofsem
easier to handleand utilize than the prod
ucts from which they have hitherto been
derived, and thus the tendency of manu-
factures is to substitute artificial br
natural sources of supply.
The problem of sugar making from ia
organic materials has engaged ss0e
chemists for a number of years. Tao
synthesis of glucose by Fischer and Tafsl
is said to promise an ample suFply &C
this commodity without the aid Of grapes
or starch. Two years ago some 0eNIian
chemists announced that they had pro
duced saceharose, the equivalent Of cane
sugar, by passing an electric current
through mixture Of starch, sulphurio
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 tlss cane and
the beet. Some sugar growers, however,
have been prophesyng for years that
something would happen to ruin the
sugar industry, and their alarm receives
fresh impetus at every, new discovery
like that of Remsen's saccharine, an eX-
ceedingly sweet article produced from
coal tar. The day may come when pro-
cesses Of sugar making by the use Of in
organic materials will seriously affect tho
sugar planter, but there is no reason as
yet to believe that his industry will soon
be imperiled.
Legislation has intervened N some
places TO protect the dairy farmer against
oleomargarine, even where this product is
honestly sold as artificial butter. 1t Ii
not to be expected that in many cases
where science supplies US with desirable
substitute for any product, the law can
be successfully invoked to keep the world
from reaping the benefit of increasing
knowledge. Future discoveries may
compel the farmer to cease raising some
produce by which he has thrived. or to
change and improve his methods Of agri-
culture; but it is certain that the tillerJ
of soil will continue to supply the chief
resources of food and apparel.-New
York Sun