The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-11-06

cider the long evolution which has
| characterized the development Of foods
and the major part which chemistry
has played therein. The point Is. that
from the earliest time we have steadily
increased our reliance upon chemistry
| in food production. and just as steadily
diminished cur reliance upon nature.
Primitive man ate food and vegetables
| raw. When he began to cook, when
he first used fire, chemistry made its
first Intrusion upon the sphere of ma
ture. Today the FIRE in the open air
has been replaced by the kitchen.
Every cooking utensil now used repre-
sents some one OF the chemical arts.
Stoves, saucerans and pottery are the
results of chemical industries. So also
modern cookery uses an indefinite num-
Der of comDounds-food compounds
whitci. like sugar. for instance. have
been subjected to a more or less COM
plex chemical treatment in their jour-
ney from the field in which they grew
to the kitchen in which they are used.
The ultimate result Is clear. Chemis-
try has furnished the utensils, it has
prepared the foods and now 1t only re-
mains fer chemistry to make the foods
themselves. which indeed 1t has already
begun to do.
Sugar from Illuminating Gas.
Sugars have recently been made In
the laboratory. Commerce has now
taken up the question. and / see that
an Invention has recently been pat
ented by which sugar is TO be made
upon commercial scale from two
gases. at something like one cent per
pound. AS to whether or not the gen.
fvAt H.. ~ 4
what the inventor claims. 1t is neither
my province nor my desire to express
an opinion. It may 5e that the COM
mercial synthetic manufacture Of
sugar is more difficult task than they
imagine. l have not the slightest
doubt, hcwever, that sugar will event
ually be manufa ctured On the largest
scale syrthetically, and that the cul-
tufe of the sus'ar-oaae and the beet
root will be abandoned because they
have ceased to pay"
So far as dye stuffs We're concerned,
the intervention of chemistry seemed
not SO unnatural. When It came to
tobacco. and tea, and coffee, however.
synthetic chemistry appeared to be get
ting nearer home. invading the family
circle, so to say.
Artificial Tea and Coffee.
l. ed anu COitee COulu HOW De lid ut
artificially." continued the professor,
'If the necessity should arise. or If
the commercial opportunity. through
the necessary supplementary meohan-
lea! inventions. had been reached. The
essential principle of both tea and cof-
fee is the same compound. The differ
once Of name between .heine and caf-
feline has arisen, from the sources from
which they were obtained. They are
chemically identical in constitution,
and their essence has often been made
synthetically.
1.-THE essential principle of toba eco,
as you know, is nicotine. We have OBJ
tanned pure nicotine, whose chemical
constitution is perfectly understood. by
treating salomine, a natural glucoside,
with hydrogen. Synthetic chemistry
has not made nicotine directly as yet.
but It has very nearly reaIahed 1t. and
the laboratory manufacture of nicotine
may fairly be expected at amy time.
Conlne. the poisonous principle Of hem
lock, has been made synthetscally.
and 1t 10 So close in Its con-
stitution to nicotine and 50 clear
ly OF the same class. shat only
its transformation into nicotine,
remains to be mastered. q problem
which is not very difficult when COM
pared with others which have been
solved. The parent compound from
wh1ch the nicotine of commerce will be
made exists largely in coal tar"
Tobacco Made from Tnr.
"You believe, then, that all our to-
baccos will some day be made artifi-
cially:"
ITO as great am extent as appears de-
sirable. The CHECKER erowths, with their
1,6tNtdtyn1 r1'1a ,fa tcti fv,1f-
vidual circumstances of growth, will
be longest cultivated. The tobacco leaf
is simply SO much dried vegetable mat
ter in which nicotine Is natura lily
stored. Chemistry will first make the
nicotine, and impregnate any des!ra BILE
leaf with 1t to any degree OF strength.
Later on. IL necessary, 1t will also
make the leaf. In some directions 1t Is
not difficult to improve upon nature.
and the best chemical medium for
carrying nicotine might easily prove
superior to the natural"
Having weakly permitted his beef
steak to be carried by storm, the writer
was all the more inclined to defend his
tobacco. But, surely" said he, there
is something more in fine tobacco than
merely nicotine and vegetable FIBRE"
Crowdiug Out tho VANILLA bean.
IICCisCtys LedNiHS dSluS WHuI tlie
manufacturers may add, there are deli
cate 1lavoring oils. which chemistry will
also create. Vanilla, q flavoring COM
pound Of very general use, has always
been obtained, until recently, from the
tonka bean. Now artificial vanillln. in
the same compound made chemically,
threatens to drive the natural vanilla
out of the European market, and will
doubtless succeed in doing SO as it's
manufacture is perfected. In fact. some
Of the chocolate and confectionery man.
ufacturers are already taking 1t up. All
the essential oils will eventually be
made direct. Vanillin Is very near in
its chemical constitution to the aro-
matte, the distinctive. principle Of
cloves and alspice. Artificial cloves and
allspice will therefore probably come
next. Flower perfumes. too have been
fully analysed. and in time will be
largely synthetized. One of them,
meadow-sweet, Is being largely COM
pounded and sold. There are conse-
quently no virtues in the natural to-
baoco which are likely to be missed in
are artificial. In fact, the contrary
state Of things is more probable"
With our tobacco prOspectively OBJ
tained from coal tar. and our flower
perfumes made without flowers, the
sphere of synthesis was decidedly broad
ening. Professor Berthelot however.
made It broader touching upon an i'm
portant law of which he himself was the
discoverer.