The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1943-08-30

not in the strict sense natural
products at all In the old days
the medicines used were found in
Nature-the leaves of plants, the
minerals in the earth.
Nowadays we don't WaIt for Ma
ture to produce a useful medicine
we syntheSize it in a chemical
laboratory. Thu- Ne got all the
new woodworking drugs used
against infections - the sulfa
drugs. Novocalne, which dentists ,
use, ASPIRIN, which you feel per-
fectly competent 20 use on your
self, and atsbrlne, the substitute
for quinine in the treatment Of
malaria which is breaking up the
Jap's happy little dream Of a mo-
nopoly, are all examples Of mod
ern synthetic chemistry.
Friedrich WOhler
My memory wandered back TO
the young man who was respon-
sible for all this woodworking
Friedrich Wohler. born in the
ancient city of Frankfurt in 1900.
Even as a very young man ne dis
played an unusual gift for chem
istry and was accepted as a pupil
by the great Swedish chemist,
Berzelius.
Al that time chemistry was per-
meated with a doctrine at which
we can afford TO laugh now. 1t
was the concept of vital force
Vital force was a kind of curious
indescribable force in Nature
which was able to create minerals
in the rocks, and salts, and the
extracts in plants. hut which man
could never hope to control or imi-
tate.
In Mort. no chemist should
waste his time trying TO synthe-
size anything 10 make a new
chemical out Of two others. That
was Natures. business and re-
CURED the action Of the vital force.
You could analyze things-break
down Natures work into its COM
ponent parts. That had been done.
But you couldn't build anything
up.
Somehow young Wohler did not
believe that. When he went to
Berlin and got a laboratory of his
own, he began TO hammer on the
question of synthesls.
One chemical fascinated him
cyanic acid and its compounds. 1t
contained nitrogen. which is uni
versally distributed in the prod
ucts Of Nature. And after endless
experiments one day in 1928 ne
was working with ammonium sui
focyanate and he obtained new
compound which turned out to be
urea. Here was news-the vital
force concept knocked into
cooked hat. Here was a substance
that had never been encountered
except VIXEN II was manufactured
by kidney, and Wohler had pro-
duced 1t from an inorganic salt. by
heat and manipulation and ne kid
ney involved at all.
II was revolutionary and II
founded modern synthetic chem
istry.
, Wohler was a great self critic.
He told an allegory that the God
dess Of Truth was in her house
and ore day came a great knock
ins on the door, but she said, Let
them wait, they can knock again"
Then suddenly the knocking
stopped and the knocker passed
on. She went TO the window and
said. "Oh, 1t is that lazy fellow,
Wohler. He richly deserves his
failure since he cared so little to
be let in"
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
X. II. F.: What is the cause
of a large vein on the temple?
They say they are dangerous.
Answer The temple vein, and
arteries as well, tend to become
tortuous and prominent in some
people after the age Of forty or
3 fifty. II is, il anything, family
trait. They are not dangerous at
all, in fact, have no significance.
VI. s. X: What causes fatty
tumor? Is it dangerous? What
should De done about it?
Answer: The cause Of fatty
tumors is not known any more
than the cause Of any tumor. A
fatty tpmor is called lipoma: it
is entirely benign. not malignant,
and therefore not dangerous. They
arc very easily removed by
simple surgical operation under