Abstract
FEW topics appeal so much to our instinct of wonder as what the future may have in store. Whether the predictions are made by “Old Moore” or by the sober student of science, they invariably attract, and the more daring the prophet the greater the attraction. The author of this essay is certainly to be classed among the more sober of the prophets; he is cautious to a degree; he bases his predictions on present tendencies, and as a rule does not venture more than a few paces into the unknown. Thus, he is sure that low-temperature carbonisation has come to stay, and that liquid fuels will be manufactured on a large scale from coal and by synthesis from such materials as hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Supplies of timber will become exhausted; buildings will be made mainly of metal, and building costs will fall when roofs and other parts are made by the easting of plastic cement. Cotton will maintain its ascendancy as the chief raw material of clothing, and mtro-cellulose lacquers will greatly reduce the consumption of paints. The author does not believe in the future of synthetic foods, at least of those that might be made from coal-tar products; but he appears to have overlooked the possibilities of ‘mineral yeast,’ which was made in Germany during the War, and is now attracting attention in Great Britain. Not long ago a president of the American Chemical Society said that within a century or two we should be able to supply the food demands of the world through micro-organisms working on mineral products !
Hermes: or The Future of Chemistry.
By T. W. Jones. (To-day and To-morrow series.) Pp. 88. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd.; New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., 1928.) 2s. 6d. net.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hermes: or The Future of Chemistry . Nature 122, 128 (1928). https://doi.org/10.1038/122128b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/122128b0