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THE RELATION OR CHEMISTRY TO THE HOME* MARION HONKS, ST. ANGELAACADEMY, CARROLL, IOWA The day is fast receding into the past when "Chemistry" and "Alchemy" were nearly if not entirely synonymous terms, and when "Chemist" suggested an aged seer with hoary beard, or some cunning wretch who spent his time in den or cave concocting subtle poisons, or in seeking to turn dross into gold. It is true that many scholarly monks had pried into the secrets of nature and had discovered the actions and reactions of certain extracts made from roots, flowers, andfruits. An eminent scholar, Albertus Magnus, of the thirteenth century who may be cited as an example declares, "In studying nature we have not to inquire how God the Creator may, as He freely wills, use His creatures to work miracles and thereby show forth His power; we have rather to inquire what Nature with its imminent causes can naturally bring to pass." Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon, both monks, proved to the world that faith and science go hand in hand, and their lives and writings emphasize the importance of experiment and investigation. The Wayland Smiths and Arbaces of fiction have yielded place to the Pasteurs, the Jenners, the Curies, and a host of men and women who find in the laboratory a field congenial to their tastes, and who employ the knowledge gained there to the affairs of daily life, thereby making this world a healthier, happier abode for their fellow beings. Woman has been accused of being unable to keep a secret; but her accusers must admit that Dame Nature has kept many of hers a long, long time, and when she did reveal them it was only after long and persistent wooing on the part of those who have devoted their lives to the investigation and experiment. Had these searchers after Mother Nature's secrets been content, however, in merely satisfying their own curiosity, mankind in general would owe them small thanks. It is in the practical application of their findings that chemists have made the world their debtor. So varied and manifold are these applications, that the mere naming of them would amount to a task of bewildering proportions. Even narrowing the subject down to the relation of chemistry to the home furnishes a theme of no small dimensions. The modem youth, reared in his present environment, accepts as a matter of fact the various contributions to his comfort by men of science. It seldom occurs to him that there was a time when other youths worried along with fewer conveniences, and in their blissful ignorance were none the less enamored of life than he now is. To awaken such a one to an appreciation of the vast debtthe modem world owes to chemistry we shall resort to the. "look-on-this-and-thenon-that" method, by contrasting a palace of Queen Elizabeth with the . , . . ... .. z .. * Prize-winning Essay (1924-25). ~
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home of a moderately well-to-do American family of today. A hurried survey of Queen B e d s living quarters will no doubt soon convince us that in spite of the romantic glamor cast over them by the spell of poet and bard they are sadly deficient in nearly all the conveniences which we now consider necessary to the life of even ordinary individuals, to say nothing of what we imagine royalty would desire. Let us invest ourselves with the authority of health inspectors and approach Kenilworth or any of the typical palaces or castles of by-gone days in that capacity. No doubt our sensibilities will receive a shock when we view the outside of these majestic piles-no provision has been made for the disposal of garbage and offal, which are thrown about in the rear of the grounds, and which cause no one any uneasiness. Shrugging our shoulders, we walk around to the front entrance and pass through spacious portals, rnbhing elbows with Sir Walter Raleighs, Lord Dudleys, and Earls of This-and-That. Coming in from the warm sunny outdoors, we are strnck by the chill and damp of the dim and musty-smelling hall in which we find ourselves; but we soon discover the reason for this in the heavily-draped narrow windows tightly closed, thereby debarring both light and air. Proceeding to the private apartments of the queen we note with surprise the lack of much that milady of today considers essential to her suite. No plumbing of any kind is here. Of course there is no deficit in cosmetics, for Elizabeth's craving for beauty was as great as that of any modern woman. But we shall not loiter over these jars and caskets of pomades, creams, and lotions, for we are concerned in the house proper. Let us descend to the kitchens. Scullions, cooks, and stewards are busy, but nowhere do we see the labor-saving devices of our kitchens-no sinks, for why provide for disposal of dirty water when there are so many idle boys standing about? No refrigerators, for it was not until after Elizabeth had gone to her final reckoning that Francis Bacon proved that snow and ice were preservatives of flesh and foods. We have seen enough to convince ourselves that the twentieth century is much more to our liking than were "those good old days of yore," so let us return to our own times and land and investigate but superficially the conditions of an average American home. What giant strides has Chemistry made! As we walk along the paved streets we see no litter cluttering gutters or doorways. This contribution to the esthetic Chemistry may claim as its own, because i t has discovered that in this same trash which will collect wherever man makes his abode is the breedingplace for germ diseases. We now approach our typical American home. No bleak weather-beaten walls chill us; on the contrary the glossy, pleasing presence of what we call "paint," .a preservative substance of oil and pigments, covering the exposed sides of the house, causes even the exte-
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rior to be attractive. Entering we find light and fresh air flooding every apartment from sun-parlors and sleeping porches to kitchen and cellar. "Free goods," you will say, "and no thanks to the chemist for them." Yes, sunlight and fresh air are free goods, but they were not appreciated until the chemist brought us the knowledge of their efficiency as germ eradicators. Had this fact been known in Elizabeth's day no doubt the span of life recorded on many a tomb would be longer by a decade or more of years. Let us return to our inspection. Shining floors, woodwork, and furniture proclaim the chemist's presence in the wax and varnishthe former a by-produd of the great gushers which have been a source of wealth to many; the latter nature's grudging gift from her pines. The tinted walls and cheerful draperies owe their beauty of coloring t o the chemist, who wheedled the secret from coal or ore or herb. Carefully screened doors and windows are silent witnesses that the fly and mosquito are unwelcome--again, in this, we find the thumb mark of the chemist. Delicious odors reveal the location of the kitchen. Thither we turn our steps. In this most necessary laboratory of the house without which a home is not a home, the chemist fairly screams a t us; his presence there is broadcasted by every dish, earthen, china, porcelain, or tin. On shelves, each in its proper place we see baking-powder, soda, yeast, jellobut the list is too long. I n every instance the chemist preceded the manufacturer whose name the article bears. In the flour, the sugar, and the salt he has left his trace in its bleached whiteness. Nor has be been iudiierent to the food prepared and consumed in the home. He knows that the human body is a laboratory more precise and exacting than the one in which he makes his experiments, so he is interested in directing the housewife in her selection and preparation of the food she serves her family. To reach the greatest number of women and, eventually, homes schools, colleges, and even universities have added to their science departments, schools of Domestic Science, where the art and science of home-making are taught. Not content with this, many, as Ames, for instance, are conducting Extension Work in Home Economics, thereby broadening the field of its usefulness by getting in touch with the housewives who are contending with actual problems in their homes. From the kitchen let us take a peep into the diniig room where the table is laid for dinner. What a tempting variety of food, some cooked and some untouched by fire. Why this distinction? The chemist has found that some foods are more wholesome and contain more vitamins and salts when eaten uncooked; he has also made the discovery that to others heat must be applied in order to liberate or transform certain elements to render them fitfor tissue-building. Note the combinations, cheese and macaroni, bread and butter, meat and potatws-again the chemist.
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As we are not invited to dine we shall move on into this neat looking little room which serves as the household dispensary. On the shelves we find simple remedies for cuts, burns, bruises, colds, and other trifling ills to which human flesh is heir. Through the open door we look into the spotlessly white lavatory, another sanitary convenience for the principle of which we are indebted to the chemist. Not all of Elizabeth's wealth or power could have procured such for her court, for it is only of comparatively modern times that nature has yielded up this secret of hers regarding the hosts of hostile bacteria who wage deadly warfare among themselves-a secret which has been utilized in the septic tank system of sewage disposal in cities, towns, and even in country farmhouses. We bestow but a passing glance a t milady's dressing table with its formidable array of cosmetics for cheek, lip, brow, and hair; also a t the shaving creams of the master of the house, and a t the baby's special preparations. Aside from these personal debts to the quiet, unostentatious man in the laboratory, above all and before all do we note the pervading sense of the wholesome cleanliness of every nook and corner. True, the mistress of the house receives credit for it, but she must "yield the prim," or both she and the chemist "must divide the crown," for were she left with only her scrubbing brush and clear water to attack her great enemy "dirt." she might wear herself to a shadow without having attained the end in view-a clean, sanitary home. Just what she and the chemist consider "dirt" is aptly explained in the following: "This business of removing dirt offers a variety of chemical problems. Dirt is a very large term. To the bacteriologist it means one thing; to the housewife, another; and to the child making mud pies, i t has a very different meaning. The bacteriologist usually means that the presence of germs indicates dirt, while the housewife means dust or grease spots or tarnish." As long as 3000 years ago the ancient Egyptians had discovered that the use of palm and olive oils would keep their skin smooth and soft. Cleopatra's sumptuous marble bath-not to be confused with our ideas of sumptuous-was supplied with flagons of palm and olive oils. But even before these toilet preparations, which have been improved upon by the chemist, were in vogue, womankind was employing sand and saponaceous roots and juices to cleanse her cooking utensils, and clothing. I n course of time, by dint of experiment, various cleansing agents were evolved from oils and fats, both vegetable and animal. Perhaps the chemical principles involved were known imperfectly or were only guessed at; but now the chemist's understanding of the composition of elements and their affinities and aversions has given the world soaps, Dutch Cleansers, Sapolios, and Bon Amis too numerous to mention. He has taught the
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housewife how to remove ink, fruit, grass, and paint stains, rust andmildew by simple close-at-hand remedies. Not only has he taught her many things to do in certain cases, but he has also instructed her in what not to d e a s , for instance; not to pour hot water and lye into the kitchen-sink in order to clean out the grease which has collected there; not to put soiled clothes into hot water; not to clean hard-wood floors with lye. He has lightened the drudgery of laundrying and house-cleaning; in short he has made his knowledge adaptable to so many phases of home life that the mother of a family, even when unassisted by maids, is no longer the drudge, but is the queen of her household. She is enabled to preserve her strength, energy, and good looks much longer than her mother and grandmother could, and a t the same time find leisure to enjoy social intercourse with family and friends, and to improve her mind by reading and study. To continue the list of helps and warnings the chemist has given the modern homemaker would no doubt furnish much food for thought and also awaken many to a sense of gratitude toward the patient experimenter in the laboratory who is only too often regarded as an idle dreamer, but it would extend this paper far beyond the limits assigned. I shall only say in conclusion that hasty and superficial as has been my survey of this phase of the application of Chemistry I have learned that to the chemist civilization owes a debt whose magnitude could be appreciated only by striking out from our homes and lives whatever can be attributed to him; and were this done, civilization's descent would be headlong and Hstounding.
