Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-07-13
From tho New york world.

nome, suggesting to himself the pos
ability of creating from his chemicals
and with test tubes and crucibles a full
meal for htmself7
He has acids and others, but he has
40 bread. no eggs. no fruits, no milk.
40 meat.
He looks at his Jars and bottles OF
crystalline and liquid chemicals and
asks, why not?"
From these, which contain h ele-
nen.s Of all things material he VIII
produce his luncheon.
That such an achievement is not an
llchemist's dream but a fact In mod
Arn chemistry, was proved recently
In this city when Professor Thomas Is.
Stnman gave to two OF his friends
h chemical dinner" the laboratory
taking the place of h garden. the
orchard. the vineyard and the farm.
The material from which nature
Of foods Is the chemical elements.
There is the mystery OF creation In
the way she converts these elements
by varied combinations into the many
forms Of foods, Of grains, vegetables
and fruits.
Metals and Non-Metals.
The chemist works also with these
slements-there are seventy of them
all metals, except the important sew
snteen hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, etc.
He juggles these into shapes In imi-
lat1on of foods that nature creates.
He does the work SO cleyerly as 10
deceive the very elect.
The chemists are today working
many wonderful feats I'm this line.
The bad chemist palms his
food of as natures product. The good
chemist devotes his skill to the detec-
ton Of the fraud.
Thus Thousands of chemical labora-
tories are today experimenting In the
artificial creation OF 1000
products.
Chemistry cannot produce from her
ualdrons a soft boiled hens egg; bu
1t can decsive . trained cook on an imi-
tation omeaet.
Close your eyes and 1t can feed you
with n banana made from her jars or
chemicals.
It can make bread without -four. and
cake sweetened and frosted wtthout
vugar.
It can fool a blind vegetarian on al
most any dish he can nam within the
limit OF his dietary.
A meat eater can suggest problems
too big for the chemist. A beefsteak
is beyond his power to create from
any combination of chemicals yet
known to him. or within his ability TO
use.
Chemistry has not found a means to
reproduce the nbres IN meat The pro-
teids, its chief nutrittve element. also
challenge the skill Of the chemist to
reproduce.
Yet from Germany m word that
chemists have succeeded In transform
Ing mineral oils into animal oils-a step
In the direction of creating artificaily
the food elements In animal substance
without their having undergone the
processes OF life.
Since chemistry can produce mashed
potato" from Its crystals and fluids 1t
can at least make an apparent corned
beef hash.
When DR.. stillman who Is the direc-
tor Of chemistry at Stevens institute,
gave his chemical dinner" 1t all
seemed very wonderful.
Here was IN exhibition OF chemicai
analysis and s~ynthesis.
BY analyzing foods and drinks he
found what chemical elements nature
had used to make them.
Then reversing the process In his
laboratory, he created there some
foods and drinks a~rtifically from their
chemical constituents.
DR.. Stillman's object was not so
much to show the wonders OF modern
chemistry as to open the eyes Of his
friends to the extent and possibilities
of substitution of artificial. manufac-
tured food for the real article.
Thus some OF the foods he served
were merely clever limitations made to
deceive the eye and the palate, while
they failed to contain the same chem
ical properties Of the food they imi-
tated.
First "Chsmical Dinner"
There was nothing new In what I
did" says DR.. Stillman, but yet he
has the distinction Of giving the first
chemical dinnsr"-the first in which
the laboratory vas the immediate an
mex OF the kitchen and too the place
Of the garden and the grocery store.
Among chemists even this dinner ex-
cited interest, and from more than one
laboratory letters asking for his for
mula have come to DR.. Stillman.
This has led him to disclose some Of
the rocesses by which a hungry
chemist could. from the chemicals in
his laboratory, appease his hunger
with a variety Of foods that he was
accustomed to have served him from
his own kitchen.
He could precede his meal with a
Martini cocktail, for which his labora-
tory would provide all the ingredients.
that knows not the chemical labora-
tory, this compound of Old Tom Gin
and Yarmouth, costs 10. Is or 20 cents
for a single glass.
BY this formula OF DR.. Stillman, a
Martini cocktail could be sold to you
at a profit for one-eighth Of a cent.
Ten Cocktails for a Cent.
The trick is In a little bottle, with
a glass stopper. no larger than a Thin
BILE. marked "Absynthin. made in Ger
many" and used for various purposes
In chemical experimentation. In the
bottle is a light brown powder. a small
~teaspoonful.
This powder IA extracted from
twenty-five pounds of NORWOOD. II
is a long laboratory process to make
II, so the local chemist saves himself
the trouble and pays so cents for this
one gram Of II. The light brown pow
der I'm this little bottle represents sew
enty g~allons-rnore han two barrels
of Martini cocktails. Here is the full
formula:
Absynthin, l gran.
Alcohol, $50 gallons.
Distilled water, $40 gallons.
Yellow analine for coloring.
Several pounds of sugar would be
needed to sweeten this compound, but
the chemist uses a spoonful of a chem
ical crystalline substance which is $50
times sweeter than sugar.
On the shelf In the laboratory of the
drug store. In a glass jar labeled Ben
zoil Sulphimide," you will find this
sweeter-than-sugar, and its retail price
Is $3.50 a pound. So IL the sugar trust
Is too gay. 'sacharine," which Is the
easy name for this CO H4 co. SO2 NH,
will become popular with the common