New Britain herald., 1926-09-08
Chemist Pictures Results
 if Energy Stored in Minute Particles of Mat ter Could Be Unhar- messed and Put at Work.

Philadelphia, Sept. CP,-A re. making of the entire social order in mastery of the atom by science. was foreseen by Prof. James F. Norris, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in his annual address here as president of the American chemical society.
 We know the atoms consist of unthinkable amounts Of bound up energy. They are like a Jack-in- the-box. When we learn how to touch the button the energy will soar out and we can use It," he declared.
 There will then be no under ground slaves and no coal barons. A limitless supply of energy will make over the world. Every man will have time to taste of the joys of life.''
 Would Change All
 Pointing out that such a discovery would destroy our present system of social values, he predicted "an econ- omio upheaval would force upon the world a change from the present un- satisfactory system based upon gold, to a more rational one based on something more fundamental-per haps the value of a mans labor, or on necessary commodities"
 "Whatever the result" he said, i've would see new standards set up which would change society in such a way that more equabe dis tribution of wealth would follow. Property rights in natural resources would disappear.
 No Room For More Producers
 "A family would not live for gen. arations in affluance and produce nothing, as tho result of the pur- chase by a forefather of a copper mine when the demand for the metal had not developed. It is impossi- ble to conceive of the extent of the social revolution that would follow practical transmutation of the ele- ments."
 Prof. Norris denied these views were a phantasy and contrasted life q century ago with that of today to prove the practicability of his state ments.
 Chemistry, he said, now is learn- ing how to obtain and use energy with high intensity factor.
 New Sources of Energy
 He told of a drop of colorless oil that had been formed from methane the chief constituent of natural Eas-as the result of the action Of | this form of energy upon it.
 That droplet," he said, meant a | supply of combustible liquid to run l our automobiles when petroleum is exhausted"
 we can make methane from car bon and hydrogen when the supply ! of natural gas fails us. The sun will always be able to convert car bon dioxide into a form from which | we can get back carbon
 He decried critics who would say | the cost of this liquid would be pro- hibitive and pointed out that the cost of electricity when first pro- duced also was prohibitive.
 MC1Al Is AWaTutu
 A feature of the evening session . was the presentation of the Priestiey medal for 1926 to Dr. Edgar Fans Smith, former provost of the unlver- sity of Pennsylvania and former president of the society in recognl- tion of his work as an electro-chem- ist and his researches in the history of chemistry.
 The medal, which Is awarded by the society every three years for the most outstanding achievement in was established in honor of Joseph Priestley, the discoyerer of oxygen.
 Dr. A. c. Fieldner, head of the experimental station or the United States bureau of mines, told a sectional meeting of the con- vention that present trends in the automotive and petroleum industry indicated that petroleum will con tinue to furnish the great bulk Of ,utomotive fuel during the next decade.
 A prediction that chemists soon will produce a synthetic fiber stronger than cotton was made by Dr. G. J. Esselson of Boston before he division of industrial and en- sineering chemistry.
 The discovery of such an artit- ,ial cotton fiber, he said, would rev olutionize the cotton industry. He declared only a small part of the ( commercial use of cellulose was real { zed by chemists today.