Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-11-03
FOOD FROM AIR,
LIGHT And WATER
Harvard Professor ii closes Way
to Make Sugar BY Syn.
thetiC Process.
HIGH LIVING est BEATEN
Plan Worked Out In Laboratory to
Reduce Atmosphere Into Basic
Food Product--Othcr Ways
of making Sugar.

New York. -During the present agi'
tation over the high cost of living II
is Interesting to note several recent
discoveries made IN the il'ld OF syn
thetic chemistry. DR.. winthrop J"l'n
Vanleuven Osterhout, I'h. d., professor
of Lptany at Harvard university, has
hit upon a plan Of making nutritious
food from sunlight air and water.
Although this process of food max
ing Is as vet confined to the laboratory
stage Prof. oSterhout points out that
many discoveries remained some time
in the laboratory stage before the!
could be placed on colnlnerclll baS's'
As an instance he cites the many
doubters of the practical value of cleo
tricity and the long uphill road Edison
had to travel before he gained recog-
milton commercially.
Anent the production of nutritious
food in the laboratory Prof. Osterhout.
who is in no sense visionary, nut
whose manner would Indicate prhc-
teal hardhea1ed business man, says :
"ARalyzng food we learn that the
three chief conponents are sugar fats
and protein Until recently it was I'M
possible to manufacture sugar syn
thetcalIy. but now we have solved the
riddle in several different ways. Iron
rust exposed 10 che prismatic rays of
the sun through water makes FOR
maldehyde. since the rays Of the sun
acting upon the rust as contact
agent. mixed with the carbon dioXlde
of the air and water makes this power
full chemical. From formaldehyde GER
:ain forms of sugar may be obtained
Other ways Of making sugar syn
thetically are through the employment
of ultraviolet rays, radium and e'ec-
tricity.
"Part of our research work at Har-
wards botanical laboratory has been
10 observe the process by which the
plant transforms the carbon dloXlde
gas and water together into sugar, and
later into starch. either of which forms
can he preserved.
$50 much for obtaining sugar. l'ro-
tein is composed Of amino acids. II
, has been found possible in the lAbora-
tory to take the carbon dioXide OF the
air, water and ammonia which is hlSo
| found in the air in small quantities, To
form a simple kind Of protein. Now
! through the combination of sugar ana
! ,,,o,a;n hath Of which have been man
! ufactured in the laboratory. the neces-
sary fat is obtained, with the resultant
nutritious food.
The Great Obstacle.
"Of course one of the greatest oh
starIps standing in the way of the pro
,uction of food through this method
is in the present cost of making sugar,
which can only he manufactured as
vet in small quantities. our greatest
competitor in this important field is
the plant itself, which thus far under
sells the synthetic method
Prof. Osterhout. who has taught at
many Of the large universities through
out the United States, and has attain
cd an international reputation as "A
man of science, is Il Fellow OF the
American Association for the Advance
mcnt of SCieice and of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences In adj
dition to many other scientific and re-
/ search societies he has been profess
sor of botany since 1913.