Triumphs and wonders of the 19th century, the true mirror of a phenomenal era, a volume of original, entertaining and instructive historic and descriptive writings, showing the many and marvellous achievements which distinguish an hundred years of material, intellectual, social and moral progress .. . s in passing directly from inor-ganic to organic compounds. 202 TRIUMPHS AND WONDERS OF THE XIX™ CENTURY The progress of chemical synthesis has already blotted out the old distinc-tion between inorganic and organic chemistry, and we can no longer say oforganic bodies that they are the products of
Triumphs and wonders of the 19th century, the true mirror of a phenomenal era, a volume of original, entertaining and instructive historic and descriptive writings, showing the many and marvellous achievements which distinguish an hundred years of material, intellectual, social and moral progress .. . s in passing directly from inor-ganic to organic compounds. 202 TRIUMPHS AND WONDERS OF THE XIX™ CENTURY The progress of chemical synthesis has already blotted out the old distinc-tion between inorganic and organic chemistry, and we can no longer say oforganic bodies that they are the products of living cells. Organic bodies arethose which contain a carbon or other elementary skeleton, to which are at-tached the elements or groups of ele-ments forming the complete body. The claim which has been made thatsynthetical chemistry would in the nearfuture produce the food of man, andthus relegate agriculture to the domainof the useless or forgotten arts, is, how-ever, wholly without scientific founda-tion. The function of the farmer willnot be usurped by the chemist. Thefuture will see the most important con-tributions to chemistry coming from thefield of organic chemistry, but it willalso see the farmer following in the fur-row, and man depending for his food onthe fields of waving SIR HENRY BESSEMER. VI. METALLURGICAL CHEMISTRY. This is the oldest branch of chemicalscience, and naturally the one whichwas furthest advanced at the beginning of the century. Nevertheless, theadvances which the past one hundred years have seen in this science aremost surprising. Gold and silver are now secured from ores so poor as tohave rendered them of no value a hundred years ago. The Bessemer processof steel making (1856) has revolutionized the world, and made possible rail-roads and steamships. The basic Bessemer process of making steel frompig-iron rich in phosphorus, has opened up rich mines of iron ore hithertovalueless. The basic phosphatic slag, resulting from this process, i
Size: 1428px × 1749px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidtri, booksubjectinventions
