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Show II MAGIC WAND OF It THHHEMIST I I made m. Un,te? States and III X a?y bservationR of the prob- fn the S ff th Peoplc her ! JK m lne next few ycara. W tloBiRbCUceVe3 l?at th0 f00d ot a na- IX S I8 Us "ate8t asset, and thore- IS r0 bo MMldcrB that the work of L the synthetic chemist ln aiding agrl- 19 so lUor? th "tff imnortantal WhllcThe IS i I! f ? .fferont statos at Psent Iff i v. iUe' .the tlmo WI" . III rL ay.8' ,whcn U must took to the IS in f1 fr aldas has bcn found W m European countries. IBl ( Keynote of Modern Chemistry. If , 'T,he V'ork r tne modern synthetic synthet-ic chomist now Involves the saving g o luntold millions and millions of dol-M dol-M W?,B .. ,Brcaent and future gencr-H gencr-H atlons," said Sir William. IK aJf10 w n,y 1B ll surPrIsingly aiding H agriculture, but wonderful progress IB it e0n made qu,etly in Industrial H lines and many synthetic products of EM enormous commercial value and use- f fulness in reducing tho cost of the IV E?30 aro a,rcaa' on tho market, while mm others are to bo placed there soon. MB Syntheticlam Is tho keynote of IB modern chemistry, in the past chem- Iff y was analytical; today It Is syn- K thetical, meaning tho production of WOT natural products by chemical means. K' At the vlawn of tho twentloth ccn- Km tury tho world was facing a 3crIous mw problem that threatened the existence Lw ml maJlklnil In the years to come, WW Tho nitrate beds, from which camo K tho world's supply of that fertlllzor so necessary to plant life, were stead - f.W ily becoming exhausted. Scientists HI calculated that the nntural supply -Wt would last only a few years. When V that supply was gone the world would Ut ho without food unleso means were mt found for obtaining an unlimited sup- ply of nitrate. E Supply of Nitrogen Inexhaustible. M 'Scientists have long known that JP four-fifths of the air Is composed gj of nitrogen. Every square yard of M land, wo find, Is covered with seven Ut tons of nitrogen. l "Tho nitrogen In tho air over a JJE square mile, if converted into nitrate, i would bo worth 125 million dollars and would supply the world with fertilizer fer-tilizer for years to ocrae. "The production of nitrate from the air has made tremendous strides in tho last fhe years. This work at present Is carried on almost exclusively exclu-sively in Norway, Birkeland and Eyde, the chemists tvTiq evolved the process, proc-ess, have mado the production or synthetical syn-thetical nitrate the mpst marvelous new Industry in Norway in 10 years. "The main process consists of burning burn-ing tho air, for which purpose great flaming electric arcs arc used. Tho nitrons gases are then chomically treated until two products are gien, nitrate of lime and nitrate of soda. "The Norwegian factories are able at present to produce annually, according ac-cording to Dr Eyde's estimate, SO,-000 SO,-000 tons of nitrate of lime and 10, 000 tdns of nitrate of soda. Recently Recent-ly the factories have been producing produc-ing nitrate of ammonia at tho rate of 10,000 tons' a year. Thirty mil-wm, mil-wm, lltfrt dollars of French capital is Irt- jyh vested in the Industry. The factories t since their first operation have In- l creased their number of workmen from 2 to 1,310, and the horse rower ; from 25 to 200.000. Ammonia Produced by Synthesis. "Until about three years ago tho chemists were in despair at tho prospect pros-pect of producing ammonia from its i natural elements by -.ynthesls, and the announcement that this has been successfully accomplished has been made only recently by Dr. H A. Bern-thsen Bern-thsen of Germany. "The credit for tho achievement of this dream of the chemists is given M : to Professor Haber of Berlin, who M worked incessantly at the problem for m ' year3 He finally discovered that am- IF inonia could be formed from nitrogen mL and hydrogen if the mixture were A kept under constaut pressure during Mr the whole of the operation and was B subjected alternately to tho catalytic Wt formation of ammonia at a high tem- H perature, and then freed from ammo- K nla by absorption or condensation at B a low" temperature. B "As to the future of tho synthotical- m. ly prepared ammonia and other nltro- B genous substances Dr Bernthsen and Em Tils fellow chemists in Germany be-gg be-gg Hevc It to be wonderfully bright The B'm soil of the world Is being worn out W bv constant usage for centuries. Am- I erica has not felt this change so m much as Europe, but in time the soil JR of tho eastern states will need nitro genous manure for the growth of the crops. A Triumph for Synthetic Rubber. "A scientific marathon, a great and faat race, ln which two groups of scientists working in their laboratories laborato-ries on the samo secret of nature, resulted ln the synthetic production of rubber, an event which In time to como is expected to have a wide effect ef-fect on the uses of the natural product. prod-uct. "England and Germany both claim tho honor of this great discovery. England seems to have been tho first to produce the synthetic rubber, but ed first that its product is of value Germany apparently has demonstrat-commercially. demonstrat-commercially. 'Dr. Carl Dulsberg of Germany recently re-cently exhibited in the United States two excellent specimens of synthetically syntheti-cally prepared rubber motor car tires which, ho explained, had run more than 1,000 miles, considered a healthy guarantee for any tire on the present market, and yet they appeared to be just as good as new, and this notwithstanding not-withstanding the fact that they had been driven on heavy motor cars. The original tread had not worn off, and tho only evidenco of wear, In fact, was the seasoning of the original orig-inal rubber color to a light brown." Its Wonders Unlimited. According to Sir William, who In his laboratory ln England has made many valuablo contributions to science along the lines which he has discussed with no mention of tho great part which he himself has played, synthetic chemistry has been applied to the artificial production of many other nntural products. In fact, there appears ap-pears to be no limit to the wonders which may be performed as time goes on by tho magic wand of chemists chemis-ts . Precious stones rubies, sapphires, cmberalds and turquoises have been manufactured by the synthetic process proc-ess and the artlfclal product, ho says, is In every sense Identical with the natural stone. The perfume Industry of the world has been revolutionized by the discovery that the odor of the rose, the lily of the valle, the violet, vio-let, etc.. could be produced through the same marvelous agency. Similarly, Similar-ly, science has finally dispensed with the silk worm; the production of synthetical syn-thetical silk of beautiful texture is another feat or the chemist and the process Is being perfected every year. The manufacture of drugs invaluable to the medical world is now engrossing engross-ing the synthetic chomist. There is no limit to the possibilities. |