The Romance of Modern Chemistry

NATURE’S BUILDING MATERIAL a special kind, and this is indicated by describing them as of “organic” origin, in contrast to the “inorganic” substances which are more especially characteristic of the mineral kingdom. It used to be thought up to about one hundred years ago that organic substances could be produced only under the influence of life, but this has been found to be a mistaken view. The chemist can produce organic substances in the laboratory, stalling with inorganic materials, and the organic substances so produced are the same in all respects as those formed in the living organism. But however much the chemist may pride himself on his achievements in building up organic substances, there is one thing he has not been able to do, and that is to produce an organism, even of the most elementary kind. Life, which makes all the difference between the organic substances and the organism, is apparently beyond the resources of human manufacture. Its origin must be traced to a higher source. A little thought will suffice to remind us of the diverse material used in building up our world, both organic and inorganic. Besides the coal and the minei als which we extract from below the crust, and the many things which we grow on the surface of this little island, we have at our disposal nowadays the products of the ends of the earth in all their variety. But a little simplification may be introduced into this extraordinary diversity when we bear in mind that the chemist has been able to split up most of the complex substances with which we are familiar. He has shown that by various agencies, such as, for example, the action of heat, a complex substance may be broken up into simpler substances, these latter into still simpler ones, and so