Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1906-06-05
ARTIFICIAL FOOD
FROM COAL
Dogs Fed ON Ia Fo, Two Weeks Re
p,aincd Healthy and Normal.

Artificial food has at last been
made from coal. combined with hy-
drogen, nitrogen and oxygen; and
the maker Is DIR. Emil Fischer OF
Berlin, winner of the Nobel prize
Foods may be roughly classed as
fats. carbohydrates and proteoids.
and 10 form artificially any OF these
classes the substance desired must
FIRST he chemically broken apart. to
determine of what II is formed. and
then IL must he chemically combined
again. Fats are OF comparatively
simple composition. and their make
up was discovered by Chevreuil i'm
the early part OF the 18th century
DR. Fishcher won the Nobel prize as
the direct result of discovering the
composition of and artifcially max
ing sugars
These two kinds OF foods act as
fuel, but the important function of
waste repair is exercised by the pro
teoids, the composition of which had
not as yet been discovered. Hollis
Godfrey's article i'm the Boston Trans
cript on the newly discovered artih-
cial food deals principally with the
German scientists solution of this
tremendously difficult problem
"A proteoid molecule. when bro
Ken down, cut apart. so to speak,
yields as the product of such diyis-
ion beptone. This pepton has much
the same properties as the substance
from which it comes, save for those
characteristics which depend upon
the magnitude or greater size of the
proteoid moleculs These peptones
may be still further subdivided, yield
ing bodies known as amino-acids. Of
which there are perhaps 20 which an
pear in almost every form of proteoid
known in trees, silk, milk, meat
etc. To bring it down TO concrete
things, the starch of the potato. has
ms its fundamental unit or brick a
molecule of sugar; while a piece of
beefsteak is composed fundamentally
OF the peptones, the larger products
OF subdivision. These i'm turn are
made mp of anmino-acids, which play
exactly the same part as regards the
peptone as grape sugar unit pIavs
with regard to starch. One essential
difference, however, should be noted
before going further. The amino
acid' the peptone and the proteoid
contain nitrogen, besides the carbon
hydrogen and oxygen of the carbo-
hydrate. Nitrogen is an absolute
necessity for bodybuilding, and it's
presence marks the differentiation
between the protocols and the carbo-
hydrates
In the work, the actions OF diges
tion were closely copied and prote-
oids were broken down by hydrolysis.
or actions of acids, ferments and al
kalies, on food. The number of
known amino-acids was first increas-
ed by research all over the world
from to 40 At the same time the
hydrolysis was going on.
BY cleaving the protcoid large
number of peptones were prepared
Knowing these as products and the
amino-acids as fundamental units.
the next step could be taken. such
as building mp Of bricks that the de-
sired structure could be obtained
starting with single amino-acid an
other was Joined to IT, then another
and another, until 10 had been put
together, and a. last the result vrs
reached In the busy laboratory had
been formed substances identical I'm
almost every reaction with those nat
urally formed The secret processes
Of Nature had been carried out sfep
by step, under the observing eve of
the chemist These new compoupds
were soluble in water. insoluble I'm
alcohol. and were bitter in taste.
all characteristic tests Of the pep
tones Most remarkable of all. they
could be digested. They are broken
mp by the digestive Juices as is anv
food and the bodys chemicals acting
upon them as they do upon bread
and meat shange them into simpler
substances which may be assimiIafod
and used TO repair the body wastes
This was a remarkable advance
heretofore such a body had been but
theoretical possibility buf af t,st