Sugar has been obtained by Berthelot from glycerine, a substance which is obtainable by purely inorganic means; but as he effected the conversion of the glycerine into sugar by the action of putrefying animal tissue, we can hardly regard the sugar thus formed as being of purely inorganic origin, although the animal tissue only acted catalytically, or as a ferment, and did not contribute any actual material to its formation. There is, however, no doubt that an unexceptional means of producing this important alimentary substance will soon be devised, since bodies strictly allied to sugar have been already obtained.* Another artificial compound of great interest in an industrial point of view is tolita, which has recently been obtained from phenele, which can itself be pro duced synthetically from alcohol. " Starting," says Dr. Codling, "from these two bodies, we may procure all the so-called coal-tar colors, with the brilliancy and variety of which most of us are now familiar. The red base or rosanilitie, C-101IiiiN3, the violet base or triethylrosaniline, and the blue base or triplienylrosaniline, G7itI31N3, being this way from their constituent elemehts, furnish admirable illustrations of the constructive powers of modern organic chemistry." We cannot conclude without adverting briefly to the possibility of economically replacing natural processes by artificial ones in the formation of organic compounds.
On this subject, one of our most distinguished organic chemists, Dr. Frankland, observes that "at present, the possibility of doing this only attains to probability in the case of rare and exceptional products of animal and vegetable life. By no processes at present known could we produce sugar. glycerine, or alcohol from their elements at one hun dred times their present cost, as obtained through the agency of vitality. But although our present prospects of rivaling vital processes in the economic production of staple organic compounds, such as those constituting the food of man, are exceedingly slight, yet it would rash to pronounce their ultimate realization impossible. It must be remembered that this branch of chemistry is as yet in its merest infancy; that it has hitherto attracted the attention of but few minds; and further, that many analogous substitutes of artificial for natural processes have been achieved." For further details on this subject, the reader is referred to Berthelot's Chimie Organ ique fond& sur la Synthese (2 vols. Paris, 1860); to the same author's lectures on the Lecons de Chimie professees en 1860 et 1862; to various lectures by Wanklyn, Frankland, and others, delivered at the Royal institution; and to Odling's lectures On Animals Chemistry, delivered at the college of physicians iu the year 1865.