The sun., 1901-07-28
AFRENCH CHEMISTS DREAM
y. ssRrHsLOr LOOKS TO SCIENCE vos
THB NILLENNIUM.

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Progress Toward TAs E.A as Present.
CoprioM. 1901. BY Stephen Arstix.
PARIS, July ie.--within the tranquil pro-
cincts OF the French Institute In Paris there
lives and works an old man who Il planning
the greatest revolution the world has ever
seen. II he succeeds in acing what he be-
lieves he can do. the whole social and po-
litical system Of the world viii be changed.
War win disappear. The frontier walls
between the nations will be thrown down.
Life win be immeasurably easier. because
the necessaries viii be 80 cheap a. TO be with
In reach Of every one. with very little labor.
The tilling Of the earth will absolutely
cease. Men will be no longer chained. as
now. to one country or city. and TO almost
ceaseless drudgery. but viii be free Of all
the world. coming and going almost at
their own sweet will: In New York to-day.
and tomorrow bound for China or central
Africa. with scarce moments anxiety -
to the provision for their physical wants.
Tho man whose daily thought b all about
these extraordinary designs d not . mere
fantastic dreamer. spinning idle fancies
for his pleasure. He h Marcellin Berthelot,
a man Of scientific reputation and achieve
ment whose practical application Of his
own discoveries would have made him rich
beyond the dreams Of avarioe II he had not
preferred. In his own words. to "leav
money-making to traders and give him.
self up wholly to unlocking tho mysteries
Of nature.
One fine day he fell on the secret Of smoke
less powder. That days work In the Paris
laboratory made. useless half the literature
important conditions under which battles
are fought. Another day NJ Berthelot
found out the way to reproduce artihcially
and very cheaply the oil for Illuminating
purposes which formerly had to be col
lected and transported at great cost from
the natural springs in America and in Rus
NJ Berthelot did not gain a cent from II.
True to his principle. he published his. dis
covery. and other men have built palaces
out Of the work Of his brain.
Many other money-saving devices on
similar lines have resulted from his re-
searches; and II has been calculated that II
he had kept patents for his wonderful
chemical processes he would long ago
have been one Of the richest men In the
world SO eminent has been his position
In the world Of affairs that in critical juno
ture few years ago. he. though not a
prof ofessional politician, was called from his
laboratory TO serve France as Minister OF
Foreign ANairs-when by the way his un-
compromising sense of right very nearly
plunged the country into war with England.
Bearing theso facts in mind one is forced TO
admit that VI. Berthelot is emphatically
man to be taken seriously In any statement
he may make. however wild IL may seem to
the uninitiated
shortly after Jules Iemaitre made a
brilliant speech at the Academic Fran
ciiSe calling attention to NJ. Berthelots
surprising plans | called on the great
scientist In the apartment in the quiet
courts OF tho Institute, ,swhere. with Madam
Berthelot, he masses his days among his
books and Instruments asked for precise
details
Is 1t true that you are going to revo-
lutionize all the ways OF life, turn the world
upside down and make Us new beings,
living under unheard-of conditions?"
He laughed md said renectively: Why,
yes, II Is quite true in the sense that sup.
pose you have in mind. Whether i myself
will do 1t or not ! cannot tell; when It may
be fairly started cannot tell But SCI
enoe will certainly do all that NJ. Lemaitre
has attributed to me. and more. 1t Is In
the natural line OF the work l am engaged
in; II Is the certain inevitable end OF that
work. And do not think 1t will be long
In coming.
The explanation Of NJ. Berthelots hopes
Is In the main lines very simple. The form
taken by any civilization, both In family
life and national divisions, depends. he
points out, upon two principal factors
on means Of feeding and means Of motion.
A man works for a certain wage and under
certain conditions because 1t is only so
that he can earn the daily bread for him
70 no IN LAT
ence OF nations. the maintenance Of frontier
lines. depends upon the limitation Of the
means Of transport and Of motion.
The day when food is almost as cheap
as the air will see the emancipation OF the
Individual and OF the family. The day
when there are other ways OF penetrating
into country than that afforded by roads
and rails will see the definite abolition OF
frontier lines: the defence Of the territory
by armies will become impossible when
an enemy may make entry into 1t from
thousand points at once. That. every
one will have guessed. is to be accom-
plished by the perfection Of aerial naviga-
lever on principle. We shall have to re-
turn to that point incidentally later; but
the question OF the food supply Is the really
startling novelty OF NJ. Berthelot's visions
OF our future state.
All his scientific triumphs have been
based on his one main principle OF the
synthesis, that is the recombination. OF the
elements discovered In bodies existing
naturally. Analysis shows, for example.
that a given natural oil consists OF certain
elements present In the certain proportions.
The problem he has set himself-not by
any means so easy as II may appear TO un-
scientific minds-is to reconstruct that oil
by the fusion Of the elements OF which
II Is, In its natural state, composed In the
case of oil he has done it-so effectively
as we have seen that the cost Of fabrica-
tion OF the artificial product Is very much
less than the cost of collection and trans
port from the springs Now he Is working
toward similar synthesis in the case OF the
elements OF human nourishment.
Already the most essential part OF
the problem has been solved. Science
could. from this moment. keep a human
being alive and in full enjoyment OF health
without having recourse to single natural
article OF food-to meat. eggs, vegetables,
cereals or fruits The nourishing or purely
hygienic constituents OF these things have
been reproduced by chemical processes
from the mineral, gaseous or liquid ele
ments OF which all things are made. To
put the matter tersely. dinner or long
series OF sufficient dinners can be made
In test tube.
But, though NJ. Berthelot has in this
achieved an astonishing theoretical tri-
umph, the question of the cost deprives
his results Of immediate practical value.
The dinner In the test tube would figure
out at a price calculated to make mil
lionaire finger his bank book uneasily.
The practical triumph. and the world
TO come, VI Berthelot says. when the process
of chemical synthesls has been reduced
to the minimum OF price.
1t Is a question OF finding methods OF