The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-11-22
Professor Berthelot Says All Staples
Can Be Manufactured.
OF ARTIFICIAL BEEFSTEAKs.
These Are Possible - sugar at One
Cent = Pound Tea and Coffee In
the Laboratory Great Changes
That Science VIII Bring About.

time may be approaching when the
farmer will go out Of business, and
bread and beef and milk, or their
equivalents, will be produced artifi-
cially in the laboratory of the chem
list. 1t is true that we have not yet
got beyond the first steps in the pro-
cess, but according to Professor Ber-
thelot, who is entitled to speak with
authority, these first steps are guar
antee Of extended triumphs in the
same field. The professor, az reported
by Henry j. w. Dam, in McClure'5
Magazine, September, said that "new
sources Of mechanical energy would
largely replace the present use Of coal,
and that a great proportion OF our
staple foods, which we now obtain by
natural growth, would be manufac-
tured direct, through the advance OF
synthetic chemistry, from their con-
stituent elements, carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen and nitrogen" He continued:
81 not only believe this, but / am
unable to- doubt il. The tendency Of
our present progress Is along an easily
discerned line, and can lead to only
one end.
"I do not say that we shall give you
artificial beefsteaks at once, nor do /
say that we shall ever give you the
beefsteak as we now obtain and cook
il. We shall give you the same iden-
tical food, however, chemically, diges-
lively and nutrively speaking. Its
form will differ, because Ii will proLa-
bly, be a tablet. But il will be tab
let of any color and shape that is de-
sired, and will, i think, entirely satisfy
the epicurean senses of the future; for
you must remember that the beef
steak OF today is not the most perfect
of pictures, either in color or compost
ton.
"There Isl distinction which would
like to make at this point between the
laboratory stage and the commercial
stage OF any given discovery in food
making. From the scientific point OF
view, the laboratory result is the i'm
portant one. AsyOu and all the world
know, the commercial result follows
inevitably ia time. Once science has
declared that a desired end is attain
able, the genius of invention fastens
upon the problem, and the commercial
production of the result slowly attains
perfection by gradually improved pro-
cesses at less and less cost. Take alum
mum, for instance. Once a very ex-
pensive metal, its steadily decreased
cost in production is bringing it with
in the reach of all. The use of sugar
is universal. Sugars have recently
beeu made iD the laboratory. Com
merce has now taken up the question,
and / see that an invention has recent
ly been patented by which sugar is to
be made upon a commercial scale from
two gases, at something like one cent
per pound. AS to whether or not the
gentlemen who own the process can
do what the inventor claims, it is
neither my province nor my desire to
express an opinion"
The professor here cited as an in
stance of laboratory products, the dye
stuff, aliZarin. the coloring principle
of madden, which was formerly a great
agricultural industry, but which is
now almost wholly supplanted by the
artificial product from coal-tar. The
chemists, he said, have succeeded al,o
in making indigo direct from its ele-
ments, and artificial indigo will soon
be n commercial product.
"Tea and coffee could now be made |
IL the necessity should |
arise, or il the commercial opportun- |
ity, through the necessary, supple |
mentary mechanical inventions, had |
been reached. The essential princi-
pie of both tea and coffee Is the same. /
The difference of name between theiu
and caffein has arisen from the
sources from which they were oh
tanned. They are chemically iden-
teal in constitution, and their es-
sence has often been made syntheti-
cally. The penultimate stage in the
synthesis is tbeobromiu, the essential
principle of cocoa. Thus, YOU see,
synthetic chemistry is getting ready
20 furnish from its laboratories the
.hree great non alcoholic beverages in
general use. And what is true of
is equally applicable
o all other organic substances"
As regards tobacco the Professor
aid:
''The essential principle OF tobacco
> nicotin. We have obtained pure
licotin, whose chemical constitution
> perfectly understood, by treating
natural glucosid, with hy-
irogen. Synthetic chemistry has not
made nicotin directly as yet, but il
has very nearly reached il, and the ,
aboratory-manufactu of nicotin |
nay be expected at any moment. ,
The tobacco-leaf is simply so
much dried vegetable matter in which
licotip Is naturally stored.
perhaps the greatest importance, '
md certainly the profoundest charm {
II the study of synthetic chemistry,
3 the certain evidence which it offers I
4 the discovery and manufacture of
many compounds now entirely un-
.nown, whose effect upon human
Iealth, human life, and human hap
Iness no one can possibly conjecture
AS regards the future supply OF heat, ;
which is no less important than that {
( food-supply, Professor Berthelot {
peaks confidently OF improved appli-
noes enabling man 10 make use of the ,
limitable supply OF the Earth's CEN
raj heat. In conclusion the Professor u,
avs:
If one chooses to base dreams, pro- {
hetic fancies, upon the facts OF the
resent, one may dream Of alterations
4 the present conditions OF human I
fe so great as TO be beyond our con- I
.mpoIary conception. One can fore :
&c the disappearance OF the beasts
ON our fields, because horses will
o longer be used for traction or cattle