St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-07-25

, JULY %, 1896.
ARTIFICIAL FOOD.
us.s II Csaisg WAea We Shall niae -
Pink TAhlses.
II il now prophesied that the time il
coming when bread and beef and milk
or their equivalents will be produced
artiflcially in the laboratory of the
chemist.
Prof. Berthelot. the distinguished
French chemist. il the authority for
this statement, and he declares that the
irst steps have already been taken and
he In sure that the coming generation
will have such artificial food. 1t will be
the same food chemically, digestively
and nutritively speaking, but will differ
in form.
Just what the form of the food will be
Is not limited at, except that it will prob.
ably be served cold in the shape Of tab
let's. and Of any color or shape that may
be desired. Prof. Berthelot says gour-
NETS and epicures may mourn. but he
feels assured when they have grown &C
customed to the change they will eat
nothing prepared in any other way.
In the future a burned beefsteak. chop
or outlet will be thing unknown, and
4 steak well done may be ordered in q
dim brown colored tablet, ora steak rare
may be ordered in tablet Of light rose
hue. The colors alone, the chemical
prophet declares, will delight the cpl
curean senses and do much to overcome
the prejudices that are bound to exist
when the change is finally introduced.
II has been demonstrated that even ut
present tea and coffee could be made ar
tificially in the chemists laboratory il
the necessity or the commercial oppoE.
tunity should arise.
Sugar is another commodity univers-
ally used that can now be made in the
laboratory, and an invention has. been
patented by which, it is claimed. sugar
can be nade ON commercial scale from
two easss q = psiss q little more than
| one Ont . peunG lns leag - inters
sstine sepsee - ~ poaalhf1e1.s = e.
F>ainfag 1ee1>ggp1uSeg ~ arftG -
neans 1sol. Hsst1eJ6 ei0us -
sen1ial feincirls q b6GA - - go
~ - 80. IL eieeseass e neme
from the sources from Wh11l
obtained. They are chemically identl-
cal in constitution, and their essence
has often been made synthetically
The penultimate stage in the synthesiz
10 theo-bromine, the essential principle
of cocoa. Thus it may be seen that
synthetic chemistry is ready to furnish
from its laboratories the three great
non-alcoholic beverages in general use
And what is true of food substances il
equally applicable to all other organic
substances"
There is little or no limit to the pro
fessor's predictions concerning the
changes in the present existing condi-
ton of affairs on this mundane sphere.
He says: IF one chooses to ba4e
dreams, prophetic fancies and soG Gfth
upon the parts of the present one may
dream of alterations in the present con.
ditions of the human life 50 great a. to
be beyond our contemporary concep-
ton. One can forsee the disappearance
of the beasts from the fields, because
horses will no longer be used for trac.
tion or cattle for food. The countless
acres now given over to the growing Of
grain and producing vines will be agri-
cultural antiquities which Will have
passed out of the memory of men. The
i equal distributions of natural food ma
terials will have done away with pro-
tectionism, with custom houses, with
national frontiers, kept wetwith human
blood. Men will have grown too wise
for war, and wars necessity will have
ceased to be. The cir will be filled with
aerial motors, flying by forces borrowed
from chemistry. Distances will dimin'
ish and the distinction between fertile
and non-fertile regions, from the causes
named, will largely have passed away
Il may even transpire that deserts nov
uninhabited may be made to blossom
and be sought after as great seats o
population in preference to the alluvia
plains and rich valleys"
The new food that 1t il predicted th'
coming generation will live upon-iI
fact, the great proportion Of our stapl'
foods which are now obtained by nat
ural growth-will be MANUFACTURED
direct through the advance Of synthetic
chemistry, from their constituent ele
ments, carbon, hydrogen. oxygen ant
nitrogen. As an evidence of the posi-
bility Of the eventual disappearance o
agriculture, Prof. Berthelot cited a. Al
instance Of laboratory products the dy'
stun alizarine, the coloring principle o
madder, which was formerly grea
agricultural industry, but which is nov
almost wholly supplanted by the arti
fcial product from coal tar. He ais
declares that chemists can now max
indigo direct from its elements. and u
tificial indigo will soon become grea
commercial product.
A century hence, II all that II PR
dicted il true, people will be eating thei
soup, meat, fish and vegetables in tai
let's that will come In tin boxes labelc
,, keep in . cool place" and they may b
eating . full course dinner while rur
ming for . train. or they can munich
comfortable breakfast unnoticed In a
elevated train or . cable car while o
their way to business. If such means
locomotion are not out of date in ths
, progressive age.-N. Y. Journal.
CuTing . 0naks's Dllndnsoa.
I One Of the most poisonous snakes 4
! the London roo, king cobra, recentl
, became nearly blind. When it shed II
. skin It threw on every part except tn
; transparent plate which covers the ey
, After each change Of skin this plate n
J. mained uncast, and the successive layel
became opaque. and projected over II
D eye In = horny boss. The keeper uss
+ the snake habit Of creeping through
; aperture which it can flnd In the wall
+ its cage to rid itself Of the growth ovs
the eye. He drew back the iron shuttl
: which separates one compartment frol
2 the other, leaving narrow space opel
e Tp,a nnl,Sa xnnn discovered thia m