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THE RELATION OF CHEMISTRY TO THE ENRICHMENT OF LIFE* S . N. ALBX~NDSR, UNIVERSITY OP OKLAHOMA, N O R ~O N~, A H O M A
Life of today has become very complex. We use daily, numerous articles which had never been dreamed of by our forefathers. Indeed, this century is characterized by the steady stream of improvements that are entering into the daily lives of mankind. These additions to our comforts are all contributions of the various branches of modem science. It is probable, however, that chemistry has contributed more than any other single science. Indeed, so universally do we use and enjoy the products of the chemist and so accustomed have our minds become to his many marvels that we take them for granted. Chemical ingenuity, almost every day, produces something new for us to wear, eat, see, or work with. A few exclamations greet each new product and then most of us hurry along to the next marvel of this science. These gifts of the chemist are directly related to us. They clothe and feed us better; protect our health; diminish our labors; lower the expenses of life; and do everyth'mg to make our lives more enjoyable. This is true enrichment of life. The most vital relation between ourselves and chemistry is found in its connection with our foods. Regardless of the kind of food, chemistry has important associations with it before i t is ready for our use. The very growth of the plant or animal is a complex chemical change. Our bread, our butter, our meats, our sugar, and the rest of our foods would have interesting chemical stories to relate if they could only speak. Sugar, for instance, passes through six major processes before i t becomes the white, crystallme product that we know. Then, too, we must remember that cooking, a most vital operation to us, is almost entirely a chemical process. This is one reason why chemistry is taught in aU domestic science courses. Since cooking is a chemical process the chemist can be expected to develop improvements and substitutes. Look into the kitchen of any modem, up-to-date house and there you will see the mute testimony of what he has done. There can be found the vegetable cooking oils made from cottonseed or cam, such as "Wesson" or "Mazola" oils; the sirups made from corn starch, such as "Karo;" the coffee substitutes made from wheat, such as "Postum;" the pure vegetable shortening made from cottonseed oil and hydrogen, such as "Crisco;" and countless small articles such as extracts, coloring materials, flavors, and baking powders. The preservation of food is a branch of the culinary art that is closely allied with the science of chemistry. Foods that have been preserved * Prize-winning college essay, A. C. S. Prize Essay Contest, 19261927.
by salting, smoking, canning, and use of chemical preservatives are common items in every household. A recent example of a new idea in this field is to be seen in the so-called "carbonated ice-cream." This developed from the fact that products such as butter and ice-cream keep better when churned with carbon dioxide. Indirectly the chemist conserves the foods that are cooled in our ice boxes by refrigerating machines such as "Frigidaire," for these machines utilize chemicals such as ammonia, sulfur or carbon dioxide, or methyl chloride as refrigerants. But even after all these valuable gifts to mankind, the chemist does still more. His research in foods has developed new theories that are of invaluable aid in preparing proper diets. One of his discoveries in this field that is known to nearly everyone is the importance of vitamins. By application of this knowledge the world is ridding itself of the deficiency diseases, beri-beri, rickets, and scurvy. Consequently, this knowledge has been of great service in cherishing the most valuable possession of life-good health. This may eventually prolong our lives beyond the allotted three score and ten years. Is not this true enrichment of life? In further relation to our health, which is synonymous to our happiness, the chemist has done wonders. Nowhere in all its many fields of application has the chemist done more good and enriched our lives to a greater extent than in the realms of .medicine and surgery. He has made chemistry the chief weapon of man in his lifelong struggle against the germs that invade his body. His discoveries have brought relief to the sleepless and suffering and deprived surgery of its anguish. Let us now consider some of the everyday applications. In every home, business building, factory, and shop one can almost invariably find a medicine chest or first-aid kit which contains remedies for minor ailments, sterilized bandages, antidotes for poisons, and hundreds of other substances. Everyone is familiar with simple remedies such as "Epsom salts," "milk of magnesia," "iodine," "peroxide," "mentholatum," "vaseline," and "aspirin." New germicides continue to come from the chemist's laboratory, two recent additions being mercurochrome and hexylrescinol. In addition to the myriad of simpler medicants, numerous synthetic substances have come from the almost magical laboratory of the chemist which contributes greatly toward allaying the suffering of humanity. No money value could be placed on the service to mankind which the discovery and use of anesthetics, such as chloroform and ether, have made possible. Chemistry has even improved upon nature by preparing procaine and synthetic morphine, which have the valuable medical properties of the natural drugs but lack their toxic qualities. Another substance that has been of great value is adrenalin. With its isolation and appli-
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cation modern "bloodless" surgery became an established process. The most recent medical marvel that has been made possible by chemical knowledge is the extraction of insulin. This material is used as a serum for diabetes and offers relief for a formerly unassailable ailment of mankind. Caring for the public health has been one of the greatest problems men have had to cope with since they have begun to live together. The most dangerous source of disease is a contaminated water supply. Thus the purification of public water supplies might he classed as one of the greatest services the chemist has rendered to our communities. With his processes widely established, epidemics such as typhoid fever are becoming a rarity. Another essential factor of our lives which the chemist has improved and added to is our clothing. He developed the finer details in the manufacture of cloth from the raw cotton, flax, silk, and wool. Without his aid to the textile industries, our clothing would not be nearly so satisfactory or reasonable. Besides improving the manufacturing process for the older fabrics, he has placed in the hands of the manufacturer an entirely new fabric which is made by several chemical processes from cellulose-bearing substances on the order of cotton wastes and wood pulp. This material which is commercially known as "Rayon" has all the luster and gloss of silk and the advantage of lower market value. As a natural result it has found enormous use in the last few years. These artificial fabrics are still being improved on and a cloth made from cellulose acetate fibers is now being manufactured. This cloth is naturally water-repellant; i t holds dyes well, it is stronger than natural silk and resembles it more closely than any other substitute for silk. Thus it promises to become very useful. The chemist has also been the one to provide the numerous brilliant colors which "Lady Fashion" prescribes a t present. To supply the dye demand from dye-giving plants would necessitate large tracts of land and much labor. The synthetic dyes that the chemist makes from coal tar are vastly superior to the natural product in respect to purity, brilliance, fastness, and cheapness. Thus this land and labor can he given over to a much better purpose, that of producing food. Besides lacking the many improvements that have been spoken of, our forefathers were also forced to struggle along almost entirely with candles for light and wood for fuel. Today candles have few uses other than for ornaments or religious services although they are much better than the older ones. Instead, our light is obtained from a tungsten filament, glass enclosed, and nitrogen filled electric lamp. In rural districts the source of light is a kerosene lamp or, better yet, a gasoline lamp utilizing a Welsbach gas mantle. This mantle is composed of a delicate framework of
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cerium and thorium oxides. Wood is rarely used for fuel, as good wood has too many other valuable uses. Therefore, we use coal, crude oil, and natural and artificial gas instead and, thanks to the chemist, quite efficiently. It must have been difficult for our ancestors to start their fires with their crude flint and steel. The development and introduction of matches effected a considerable change in this condition and starting a fire today takes only an instant. Matches are so common that we often underrate their importance. They might truthfully be termed "the biggest little thing" that the chemist has bestowed upon man. Objects made of metal play an important part in our daily lives and are closely associated with nearly every field of human endeavor. In fact, this extensive use of metals is the outstanding characteristic of our present civilization. Real civilization did not begin until man had learned enough chemistry from experience to obtain metals, such as iron and bronze, for his use. Then progress became rapid and today nearly all available metals have been pressed into service. Metals practicauy unheard of a hundred years ago are now in daily use. Our great-grandfathers possibly never heard of such metals as aluminum, chromium, tungsten, molybdenum, and vanadium. Yet today they have extensive applications that lighten our labors and multiply our joys. Next to the metals, glass is probably our most useful inorganic chemical material. Tableware, bottles, mirrors, and windowpanes are a few prominent examples of the various applications of glass. For beauty in glassware the delicate etchings made by hydrofluoric acid or the iridescense of cut glass can hardly be rivalled. The chemist is always trying to better his past products and develop new ones. "Pyrex" glass is one of his recent improvements. This product makes very fine, durable glassware as it is tougher and less affected by heat changes than ordinary glass. The latest development in this line is seen in the so-called flexible glass. This substance is not exactly a glass as it is not siliceous but organic in composition. This material should become extensively used as i t overcomes one of the greatest disadvantages of siliceous glass. Of all the forms of modern machinery, the automobile has done more to directly enrich our lives than any other single machine. Everywhere we go they are sure to be found-in the large metropolis or in the remote rural districts. The automobile has become a most satisfactory servant for man. The successful development of the automobile as we know it today was as much a triumph for the chemist as i t was for the engineer. There is hardly a part in a car whose origin cannot be traced to chemistry. The fuel, the lubricant, the metals of the engine and body, the rubber tires, the glass windshields, and windows-all would be impossible to obtain were i t not for the chemist. Without these things there could
exist no automohile. Besides making the automobile possible the chemist has done much to place it within reach of nearly everyone. The modest prices of automobiles are due almost entirely to a chemical product called "high speed steel." One of his latest developments along this line is the pyroxylin lacquers, such as "Duco" and "Opex." These paints have effected a considerable saving in price and time necessary to paint an automobile. Another of his aids to the automohile is the "anti-knock" mixtures that increase the efficiency of the gasoline. There is still much that the chemist can do in the field of automobile production. In all probability he will make the automobile a still greater furtherance in our lives. In concluding, the reader must realize that this paper has only grazed a few of the many pinnacles of chemistry as related to the enrichment of life. Only the more outstanding examples have been chosen. Many of the minor contributions of the chemist, such as rubber, paper, inks, celluloid, and Bakelite, have been neglected as they would necessitate more detail than the scope of this paper can allow. Yet even from these few examples it is evident that chemistry had done wonders for mankind in the past. Its applications to our necessities and comforts have almost been without number. It has wrought great advancement in our conditions of life and modes of living. But great as the past achievements of the chemist have been, those that he will develop in the future will, assuredly, he still greater. This is to he expected, for chemistry is as yet only emerging from its infancy. The chemist has before him a host of problems such as the synthetic manufacture of many of our natural products the profitable transmutation of the elements; the tapping of the vast store of atomic energy; and the conquest of the present impregnable diseases of mankind, especially cancer. All of these will wield a vast influence on our lives, once they are solved. Thus it might be said that the chemist holds the key to the future-may he use it to the best advantage of all mankind! BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS 1.
E. Slosson, "Creative Chemistry."
2. "Chemistry in Industry," Vol. 1 and 2, Chemical Foundation. 3. H. Farrell, "What Price Progress?" 4. Newell, "Practical Chemistry." 5. Lassar-Cohn, "Chemistry in Daily Life." 6. R. E. Rose, "Molecules and Man." 7. E. Phelps, "Chemical Disinfection of Water." 8. Sir W. Tilden, "Chemical Discovery and Invention in the 20th Century." 9. A. Findlay, "Chemistry in the Senice of Man." 10. Armstrong, "Chemistry in the 20th Century." 11. Sadtler, "Chemistry of Familiar Things." 12. J. Fabre, "The Wonder Book of Chemistry."
Weed, "Chemistry in the Home." Cadwell and Slosson, "Science Remaking the World." "Smith's Intermediate Chemistry," revised by Kendall and Slosson J. C. Philip, "The Romance of Modem Chemistry." S. and E. Rideal. "Chemical Disinfection and Sterilization." P. G. Bull, "Chemistry of Today." Kahlenberg and Hart, "Chemistry and Its Relation to Daily Life."
PERIODICAL^ Literary Digest Science end Inzention. Popular Science.
23. Scientific American. 24. Scientific Monthly.
