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THE RELATION OF CHEMISTRY TO THE HOME* SYLVIA SIMON, SENIOR HIGHSCE~OOL, TRENTON, New JERSEY Herbert B. Adams, head of the Department of History at Johns Hopkins, at one time said, "The home is the bedrock of human society." Until a child has reached the age of five, the only education which he receives is at home from his surroundings. This early environment makes a great impression on the child and helps to mold his character into what i t will be in later years. And so it is all through life, the type of home silently but surely forms the characters of the great mass of young men and young women who are to determine the destiny .- ... . .. of our great America. How much easierit is now tocreate that atmos~ phere of refinement and culture, r:," so much desired in the home, than it was thirty or forty years ago! With all the resources that chemistry has put a t its command, the United States bids fair to become the most cultured country in the world. We are so accustomed to the luxury and beauty of the American home that we do not realize that homes were not always as they are now. When my mother was young, she lived in a small Russian town. Her house was made of logs in the manner of Lincoln's home, while the roof was thatched with straw. The dwelling itself consisted of only one room which was SYLVIA SIMON partitioned into two small rooms by a huge fireplace extending through the middle. Of the two rooms, one was used as a bedchamber and the other as a kitchen, diningroom, and living-room. On the hare white-washed walls of the kitchen there were no ornaments except some shelves containing shining copper pots.' This being before the days of Dutch Cleanser and steel wool, the pots had to he scoured and scrubbed with fine ashes and straw, then given a final polish with chalk. Suspended in rows were knives and forks made of wood. Fine sand obtained at a neighboring town was strewn over the floor. The bedroom had the same white-washed walls,
* Prize-winning high-school essay, 1927-28.
while the beds contained mattresses of straw. There was no sanitary bathroom as we have here, but wooden structures in the fields. A village well was the only source of water, and as a result of this lack of water, clothes had to be washed a t a neighboring stream and beaten smooth with a stick. Because of the inconvenience of this method, clothes were laundered once every three or four weeks. Although some homes had kerosene lamps for light, most of the houses had arranged in the wall, splints, the burning of which gave light. On account of the danger of fire these burning splints had to be watched continually. Contrast this home with any one of our homes here in America. A typical middle-class American home is a semi-detached dwelling made of red brick or hollow stones manufactured of chemically prepared cement. Instead of one room, these dwellings contain ten. Often there is a fireplace in the living-room; but what a different purpose i t serves from that large one in the little home across the sea. The living-room itself presents a quiet, restful air brought about by the gentle, subdued colors which blend so perfectly. Beside the fireplace there is a bookcase containing books of interest to everyone in the family. The mohair divan gives one a luxurious feeling of comfort. Soft silk curtains drape the windows, either shutting out the glaring sun by day or giving one a sense of privacy and security by night. There are also a piano, a desk, and, on the walls, highly prized photographs. Some of the latter are reproductions of masterpieces, others, pictures of members of thefamily, while still others are exact reproductions of fine scenery. There is a beautiful rug covering the bright, waxed, hardwood floors. A cheerful room is the dining-room with its furniture and wall paper which adds just the right amount of color. The bay windows allow a flood of sunlight to find its way into the room, making it a healthy place in which to eat. However, it is the kitchen that presents the greatest number of improvements. A clean, white, enameled gas stove for cooking and a white porcelain sink with a supply of "pure" water convey to one a realization of the cleanliness of a modern kitchen. The walls are half white-tiled and half covered with gay wallpaper which blends with the table and chairs. Further evidence of cleanliness is the "inlaid floor which can be easily washed. In the pantry cabinet stand rows of clean dishes, not wooden as in the little Russian home, but of chinaware; and knives and forks, not of wood, but of nickelware or beautiful silverware that will not corrode. Aluminum pots, a great boon to cooking, are also part of the equipment. Even the foods are attractive in the forms of fresh fruits, vegetables, and cereals, while a large refrigerator prevents dairy products and meats from spoiling. In the laundry are sanitary tubs and all the water necessary for laundering. Upstairs, the best thing is the sanitary bathroom. Its white-tiled floor and walls, its porcelain bathtub, lavatory, and wash-basin, as well as the shower, suggest comfort and sani-
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tation. The bedrooms, furnished according to the individual tastes of the possessors, have beds containing soft, downy pillows and comfortable mattresses. But besides all this, the house contains what the people in that little home in Russia never dreamed of possessing-electric lights. After comparing these two homes, one wonders what it was that brought about this wonderful change in so short a time. My study of chemistry in school shows me that it must have been this creative science. For is not chemistry the fundamental science of the transformation of matter? Further study of the improvements greatly enlightens the mind as to the relation of chemistry to the home and makes one wish to believe that chemistry is the work of magicians rather than hard-working men. The red brick or the hollow cement stones of the modern dwelling were made by a chemical process. It was the chemist who discovered that clay containing a great deal of iron formed red bricks while that with little iron made cream-colored bricks. It was also the chemist who formulated the recipe for Portland cement. In the living-room, the gas-lighted fireplace was made possible by the discovery of methods of making cheap gas. The type of gas used in our home is water-gas. This is a mixture of hydrogen and other products formed when steam is passed over coal heated to incandescence. It is to the chemist we are indebted for colors present everywhere. What a great transformation chemists made in the world when the process of manufacturing synthetic dyes was discovered! Until then practically the only colors used were those obtainable from the indigo plant and madder-root, and only the nobility could afforda wealth of color in the home. With the creation of synthetic dyes, thousands of varieties of colors never before manufactured by man became accessible to everyone. The application of these colors has now become a science in itself. Our mohair living-room suite would not have been possible without the chemist. Chemistry was used in the preparation of the fibers and supplying finishes for the completed cloth, giving it its particular texture, while the dyes made possible the coloring. By the invention of the process of making artificial silk and the science of the application of dyes, we have our soft, beautiful draperies. Among all the triumphs of chemistry, probably none is more spectacular than that of the making of artificial silk. Count Chardonnet observed that, in spinning its cocoon, the silk worm ejected a semi-fluid substance which possessed the property of hardening immediately into silk. He found that by forcing collodion, which is nitro-cellulose dissolved in a solution of ether and alcohol, through a very fine capillary opening, he could obtain a substance from which the ether and alcohol evaporated leaving artificial silk fibers. The piano and desk in the room were both made of wood varnished with chemically made products, and the beautiful rug was there because the
process of making fast colors had been discovered. It is likewise true that but for chemistry we would have no books in the home for purposes of recreation and education. Of course, there have always been hand-written hooks such as those compiled by the monks, hut these were not for the benefit of the great mass of people. With the invention of paper from wood pulp, printer's ink from carbons, and fabrikoid from nitro-cellulose for the covering, books of moderate price have been placed on the market, and every home can have a t least a small library of its own. The pictures on the wall, prints and photographs, all are dependent upon chemistry. In short, without chemistry, there would remain a bleak, colorless room devoid of all comfort. In the dining-room the wallpaper is a combination of cellulose and synthetic dyes. Again, the hay windows which allow the light to penetrate are solely a triumph of chemistry expressed in the glass industry. Chemists, moreover, are not satisfied with the glass now used for window making but are working on glass-like quartz. Through the windows of today, many of the direct, health-giving rays of the sun are lost. Vitamin "D," a very essential principle, is said to he made in the bodies of animals under the influence of direct sunlight. Quartz will let in some of these rays, and chemists have already produced glass having the property of transmitting more of these rays. Nowhere has chemistry taken a more prominent place in the household than in the kitchen. Sanitation prevails from the pretty but inexpensive "inlaid" to the porcelain sink into which runs pure water. Through the use of alum and chlorine the chemists have succeeded in supplying a means of giving a pure, healthful water to everyone whether he lives in city or country. The inlaid was produced by a chemical process which has made i t cheap enough for every household. There is no excuse for dirt with the great varieties of cheap soaps, which are made from different materials discovered by chemistry to suit every purpose. The use of soap has changed from a luxury to an everyday necessity. The white porcelain of the sink was not made without the aid of science, and we now have "Dutch Cleanser," a chemical product with which to clean the sink. In the pantry there are evidences of chemistry everywhere. The chemistry of pottery has brought individual plates. Through the study of metallurgy, the chemistry of metals, have been discovered aluminum pots, in: valuable to the housewife of today, because they are very light and will not rust like the old-fashioned copper pots. An additional factor is that they can he easily cleaned with "steel wool." The shelves stocked with wholesome foods show the work of the chemist in the family diet. Knowing that our bodies need a definite amount of vitamins, carbohydrates, and proteins, the chemist has shown the people the way to health by telling them what to eat. Fortunately for everyone, the milk can be kept cold
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and free from disease bacteria by means of refrigeration dependent upon ammonia that is obtained from coal by the chemist. Upstairs, the bedrooms with their mattresses in iron beds, proof against vermin; the bathroom with its equipment, and the medicine chest with the first-aid appliances that chemistry has given t o medicine, and without which very few homes can be found, all testify to the great victories of chemistry. I wonder if we fully appreciate all that chemistry has done for us? It has been said that chemistry is like the ghost in a classical drama, for. although we do not come in contact with it as frequently as with physicians, its influence is greatly felt. In every detail of our daily home life, we are dependent for our comfort, yes-for our very existence-on something that the chemist has created.
