Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-05-02
Fairy Tales of Science.

Chemistry, according to M. BerthelOt,
will in a century or two gradually bring
the industrial, social and political mil
lennium which hasty theorists want to
establish right now at one stroke in
spite of natural obstacles. The utii-
cation of the internal heat of the earth,
says M. Berthelot, is the first step of
ira nsfornation; the second will be the
artificial production of food substances
from their administrations, hydro
gen, oxygen and nitrogen. Heat suf
ficient to do the worlds work for thou
sands of years can be obtained by sink
ing shafts to a depth of from 1000 to
5000 yards. Modern engineering is
equal, he thinks, to the task of boring
| that far. Steam thus generated will
cost little or nothing after the first ex
pense of installation of the plant. and
will be an unlimited source of power.
| Electrical and chemical energy will be
secured in abundance. All the machin-
cry the world can want can be kept go
| ing at minimum of cost.
The artificial production of nutri
tious substances on a large scale will be
one consequence of this cheap heat. In
principle the problem was long ago
| solved. The synthesis of greases and
oils is familiar fact. The combination
of carbon with hydrogen and oxygen
for the formation of such substances as
starch and sugar is the task chemistry
is now intent upon. Success is in pros
pect. When food can be made by COM
bining carbonic acid with the hydrogen
of water, it will not be long before we
shall have a solution of the problem of
adding nitrogen to this compound.
Bread and meat, or their equivalent,
will be the product of the laboratory.
The work vegetables have so far done
in organizing matter into food-stuffs
will be done better by the chemist, who
will produce without regard for the
seasons and without interference from
microbes or insects. With food sup
ply of coal and water and the nitrogen
of the air to drew upon ad zibituna, the
chemist will be the independent, self
supporting citizen the farmer formerly
thought himself to be.
The farmer. indeed, will, under NJ.
Berthelot's regime, be able to take a
holiday. His occupation will be gone,
since he will be unable to compete with
the factories that turn out in any de-
sired quantity the products now obtain
ed with so much toll from the field,
forest and sea. There will be no pas
sion to own land as an instrument of
production; it will be converted into
parks and pleasure gardens to crafty
the esthetic eye. Beasts will not be
bred for slaughter. Man will become
milder and less selfish. His moral ma
ture, stunted by ages of competition,
will take on new development. The
economic man will give place to the
altruistic man, who finds keen delight
in the success of his neighbor. Regions
of the earth now habited-barren
but healthful SUBMITS of mountains
and desert wastes-will be preferred for
purposes of residence to fertile but
malarious valleys and prairies. Life
| will not be tied to destructive localities
by the necessity of trying to exist
where food can be grown. Peace and
plenty will reign and the human race
will hold in the highest honor the
chemist who can convert scuttle of
coal into the most toothsome dish. The
| imagination revels in contemplation of
the benefits chemistry has in reserve
| for us, or for our descendants of the
sixth or eighth generation. But every
rose has its thorn. 1t is to be feared
that our coal kings would in the new
era tighten their monopoly and ad-
vance the price of coal on the patient
public. Their power is very great now,
but there is no telling what tariff rate
they would put on coal if it were the
basis of our food supply.-Bah San.