New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-09-04

-, uuvlov's most delightful popular iect-
So, tor jts subject THE Physical Basis
I,,." In this he pointed out that the essen
.,, material in the tissues OF 0oth animals ana
.,ah,es Is an albuminOus compound which
me scientists call prOtoplasm. This fact estao-
ns,sd a relationship between the brightly
.,orea Hchen which so nearly resembles
,,s-e mineral incrustatiOn OF the bare rock on
v,,ch it grows. and the painter to whom 1t Is
,,s,;,ct with beauty and the botanist whom
. foods with knowledge" This same hidden
h,,a united the rose and the maiden who wears
. IN her hair the dense and resisting mass OF
~. oak and the broad disks Of CLASSY jelly
,,,ch may be seen pulsatinS in calm sea- but
.,icb drain away to mere films in the hand
yb,ch raises them out of their element"
Abumen the substance in question: sub
dance which many chemists before Dr. l-hien-
,sb have tried to compounds composed OF
,,vgen. hydrogen. nitrogen and carbon. IN Ger
tain proportions. Food that contains aIoumen
curishes IN the person who eats IL. and food
that contains no albumen may refresh. as does
tuit or supply fuel to be burned IN order 10
ra,m one That is what fat does. But 1t VIII
MT sbui,d up tissue unless 1t contains Abu-
men
MS one Of the singular facts Of life, though.
No, ANIMALS cannot manufacture albumen
ai,ec,,v from the raw materials. II the proper
,,,nnount OF oxygen hydrogen. nitrogen and car
hor nerfectly pure were administered to
healthy man who was hungry but no other
,ood was given to him. he would die. He must
20, his albumen from vegetables or from other
animals that have done so 1t is only the plant
Of IL
the plant that has succeeded in doing 1t until
recently
Put be-e Is another strange thing Even
vegetable life cannot effect the combihailoh
unless mart Of the work has been done for 1t
already. 1t cannot convert the elementary sub
stance into the complex Some OF the oxygen
and hydrogen must first be united chemically
as water: some OF the hydrogen and the nitro
gen must be combined as ammonia. some Of
the oxygen and the carbon must be welded a.
earbonic acid. With these the plant can make
albunen But man cannot DO even that. HIS
digestive and assimatiye apparatus IS 50 con-
rructed that il will not take any half-made
protoplasm and finish 1t up. The elements must
have been fully combined. chemically as well
q mechanically. before he can derive nour-sh-
ment from them
Nothing in all nature is more wonderful than
those strange predispostions in the atoms OF
q element TO combine in certain proportions
with other elements Hydrogen will unite with
ZONE substances and not with others, ana wheh
L does condescend TO affiliate at all 1t VIII DO
10 only ir particular way. The ratio OF atoms
Of one element TO those OF the other must con-
form tc IN established standard or there Ls no
consolidation. But an equally mysterious fact
b that when. by analysis. the chemist has found
cut precisely what a given compound ID mace
II be cannot always produce that compound
himself He may put sulphuric acid and copper
together and he will get sulphate of copper
without any trouble. But suppose he wants TO
make alcohol Analysis has shown him that
nolecule OF this substance contains two atoms
u carbon, six OF hydrogen and one OF oxygen
But II he takes those elements and mixes them
b Just the right proportion ne cannot persuade
them to unite. He can get alcohol only by dis
blIng II of from some fluid in which 1t has
been produced by nature as result OF fermen-
tton The difficulty encountered here has
countless parallels In chemistry. Analysis and
Unthess are two very different processes 1t Is
Easy to take apart but often hard 10 put to-
gether
Abumen is only one OF vast number OF
substances whose composition the chemist has
hng been acquainted with. but which he could
not manufacture. And the fact that the animal
organism cannot do so out OF food. but can
merely assimllate albumen that has been OBJ
,alned from plants or other animals indicates
how difficult an Undertaking Is that OF Dr.
Ahenfed. 1t is too soon TO say that the feat
impossible. though. The achievements OF
synthetic chemistry forbid any such forecast
IL will be noticed. moreover, that the Austrian
chemist has in a measure followed the example