VOL. 6. No. 10
NORMAL AND TRACAERS' COLLEGE ESSAYS
1687
THE RELATION OF CHEMISTRY TO THE ENRICHMENT OF LIFE* Man's life today is that of a master who has many servants. He may call upon them, giving them tasks to do, and they will fulfil their duties well. Just so long as the management of these servants is kept well in hand will they work for good; but should their master put them to a wrong task, he must suffer harm-not by any fault of theirs, but through his own volition. There is one of these servants of man which he may either love or fear, according to his will, for the forces involving the enrichment of life or the destruction of life are bound within the destiny of the master, Man, and the servant, Chemistry. Chemistry has not always been so well understood as it now is. Its beginnings, however, are very old. The early Hindus, Greeks, and Arabs were chemists of divers sorts, quaintly mixing together all the three subjects of philosophy, alchemy, and astrology. The Chinese, it seems, were much more scientific in their method. We find record of a Chinese pharmacopeia compiled by one Shen-Nung in the year 2600 B. C. Well, then, perhaps chemistry is not so young after all! N w i t cannot be. for it is vital to the existence of even a most puny and JOEJONES primitive civilization. It gives one of the prime requisites to fullness of life-that of an adequate and a comfortable physical environment. The ways in which chemistry has aided our civilization to become rich and powerful are nearly numberless; to set them down completely would be to make a catalog. We might, for instance, trace the development oi food preservation, beginning back before the time when the Roman salt merchants had a street all their own (the Via Salaria) and Nero's slaves brought snow from the Alps to cool wine for the Emperor, and coming down to the present means of electric refrigeration, or again, we might trace the long story of alloys, the romance of dyes, or the marvelous advances in textile chemistry. Paper would indeed unfold an interest* Prize-winning normal-school and teachers' college essay, 192G29.
ing tale, as would the products ~ b b e r stainless , steel, and movie films. is Tar Coal tar could tell us more stories than Old Uncle Remns and h Baby ever dreamed about! The strict term "enrichment of life," however, embraces a lifting out of the commonplace into the realm of the cultural. Chemistry, as a physical force, has no peer; hut that servant must also be an intellectual force and show men what to make of their surroundings in order that they may obtain a richer existence. Science has given to man more time to he a t ease-more respite in his never-ending battle with the forces of nature. Again, it has prolonged his span of life; not by mere years, but by entire decades. To cast man into a sudden inheritance of leisure without providing him means for using it would he too hard, and science does not intend that it shall be so. I t has bestowed rich gifts of culture along with the bequest of time. Man must use them in the best way he can, for science can do no more. Since chemistry is definitely so many-sided the task of treating i t as a compact whole is a trifle cumbersome. In such a discussion, therefore, it will he necessarily treated in such a way that the form will assume a philosophical aspect. If we were to begin enumerating all the ways chemistry benefits mankind, we might as well try to count the stars. In all suture, as its myriad branchings, however, there is an intertwiningit were-which makes the part coherent with the whole. The grouping of many activities and industries about a single element and its compounds is a very common pitnation today. The element silicon, Si (Latin silex, the flinty element), lends itself admirably to a type discussion of this tendency, for the cultural value of silicon is great. Man has silicon in his body, and has long been building out of i t houses of bricks for his body to dwell in. Thus, architecture, one of the noblest of the arts, has its very foundations upon this element! Glassware, always a mark of culture, was early introduced into the Orient and Egypt. Many of the ancient works in glass rival the best ones wrought in modem times. The uses of glass and glassware today are thousands of thousands-fold, and only just now the astronomers, seeking to build a greater telescope than ever before, are centering their attention upon silicon. This element builds the foundations of a structure with its bricks, is contained in the concrete poured into the forms, and, contributing even to the steelwork, finally finishes up the job in terra-cotta. And thither we go, with a chemical element leading us by the nose clear over into the fields of architecture, astronomy, and engineering! Chemical elements simply do not and will not stay a t home-they work for everybody. In the more abstract realm, chemistry has always been a companion to philosophy, as have, indeed, all sciences. Alchemy was the result of misapplied philosophy; the phlogiston theory was another "hard nut to
VOL.6, No. 10
NORMALAND TEACHBRS' COUEOEESSAYS
1689
crack." Early thinkers, however-men such as Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1571), Robert Boyle (1627-1691), and Lavoisier (1743-1794)founded the true school of scientific philosophy, the outgrowth of which is the scientific method. In the words of Boyle, "There is no other way to seek knowledge than by making varied research upon the things which are found in nature."' This struck the diapason chord of truth, and its tones swell louder and resound more clearly as the wheels of time move on. We come, then, to the contributions of chemistry to the intellect, dating from the early fields of philosophy and companion branches. In the realm of high thought, chemistry has done a titanic service. The mind which is truly broad must hold in its scope not only the outward manifestations of infinity-the eternal suns and stars-but as big a concept of infinity turned downward into the intricacies of the yet -more wonderful world of the microscopic and ultramicroscopic forms. To some, these revelations unfolded come as a thunderclap; to none should they in any small portion deny the never-ending teleology of that Power beyond our ken. A great stirring up of minds has come about in recent years through the changes chemistry has brought to ideas about the construction of matter. The conception of matter which chemistry holds forth is one of absolute unity, not only in a world so small as our own, but reaching out with the spectroscope to stars far beyond those the eye can see. In all of them like elements are found. The order of the atom and of the universe is obedience to regulated law; their law is that of observance to rigid order. In the evolution of matter there is no death: integration and disintegration are being carried on concurrently by mysterious rays. On every side the spectroscope reveals evolution a t work. Taking the mind still further into the depths of truth-seeking, there comes now, though darkly, the belief that there is but one entity in nature-that of energy. Matter, it seems, is considered to be incarnated energy; from this comes the interconvertibility of energy and matter. Can minds be passive when stirred with thoughts like these? How often it is claimed that science is the enemy of religiou and the harbinger of doubt! True science can be neither; neither will true religion tern1 it such. Each will agree with Fiske in that "Science is the handmaid of religion." In all the froth and foment of controversy, men seem to have gone no deeper than to skim the dross from the crucible of each. The thinker is not interested in slag. I n the metallurgy of the mind science and religion are not two separate metals, but an alloy-stronger, more durable, and more beautiful than either of the metals whichcompose it. 1 Arrhenius, Svante, "Chemistry in Modern Life." D. Van Nostrand Co., New York, p. 19, 1925.
The ethical principles of the scientific man, while they may seem sometimes to be severe, are some of the highest to which mankind may attain. It is the realization that he is doing his work in the service of mankind which brings such a high-minded code to the scientist. Trne, there are many pseudo-scientists to whom ethics mean little or nothing-these are known by their fruits. It must be realized (and a glorious realization it is!) that man's environment can be only what he makes it. To provide his physical needs, chemistry will work well; but there is a far greater service than this to be performed. Herein should be the burden of its message in days to come. To nurture the body is a noble service, and were that the only benefit brought by this servant of man, he would be eternally bound in gratitude. In order, however, that man may attain more to ridmess and fullness of life, the mind must be made stronger and the soul more beautiful. Thus comes yet the greatest capacity of chemistry-the r61e of teacher.
