Evening star., 1922-02-19
THE combinations which ele-
ments make to form COM
pounds exemplify the results
of given and stable laws which

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of given and stable laws which
the chemist discovers and on which
he acts when he endeavors to initiate
nature for commercial or other ends.
That two atoms of hydrogen and one
Of oxygen go to form water is the
expression of such laws, just as we
know that if two atoms of oxygen
figure in the combination something
else than water will appear. There
is a like difference seen in the COM
position Of the powerful acid known
as vitriol and its less virulent neigh
Dor, sulphurous acid.
Throughout all his operations the
chemist is following on "the trail of
law" When he meets with an ap-
parent exception to a law he knows
he has stumbled on a further and
higher degree of nature, and he
searches for this highest law, just as
the freak in the animal or the plant
is regarded not as the outcome of
chance, but as the result OF the op-
Grafton Of conditions which it is the
business Of science to discover and
formulate.
being practiced with an art that even
the highest exactitude of science can
not rival. One has only to imagine
the labor of each microscopic cell in
a leaf. Its living matter is the chem
list, the cell his laboratory. BY day.
light this chemist is absorbing the
carbonic acid gas from the air. Then
it Is decomposing this gas into its
component elements-carbon and oxy-
gen. The carbon it is retaining as
part of the plants food. to enter into
combination with water, and the oxy-
gen it sets free into the atmosphere.
By night this process ceases. for light
is an essential feature Of the opera
ton. Out Of the carbon and water
the leaf chemist will elaborate the
sugars and starches which the plant
world affords US. AS sugar. the prod
ucts will pass from the leaf to be
stored up-as in the case of the po-
tatoes. for NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., SO as
to afford a storehouse Of food whereon
the plant may draw for its sustenance
and for the development OF its leaves
and flowers when occasion comes.
All the vegetable essences and
acids, the scents and tho gums, the
juices which yield india rubber. the
flavoring Of fruits and even the color
Of the flowers are similarly the prod
ucts Of a constructive, living chemis-
try that defies mans best efforts per-
fectIy to initiate.
Man tries to follow nature. but he
can do SO only at a great distance.
What is known as synthetic chemis-
try implies the building up of sub
stances in the laboratory by the arti-
fetal combinations of their elements.
Nothing is more wonderful, perhaps.
in all chemimcal science than this de-
velopment Of it's constructive side.
Today there are many products which
formerly were only to be obtained
from plants directly. There are in
the chemists list hundreds of sub
stances similarly elaborated, and the
aniline dyes which give to us the
bright colors Of the diapers windows
are an illustration Of wonderful
phase Of chemical evolution.
While all this is very wonderful.
!; the chemist is only attempting as
much and succeeding only so far as
natures laws will permit him. Be-
yond this point we may go farther
and say tnat, exact as many seem to
be the artificial counterparts Of the
laboratory, and closely as they may
initiate the products of natures S
chemistry, we are forced to admit
that there IL something wanting in