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Sunday, June 18, 2023

Essay on Chemistry by Darius Von Gray, Class of 1923, New Bern High School

Chemistry in Everyday Life

By Darius Von Gray, Class of ’23, New Bern High School

Chemistry has made its greatest advancement in warfare and industrial lines. In warfare, it was first used by the Greeks, today we use it in every department of war. In firing the guns, in sailing aircraft, in gas warfare, chemistry is the fundamental source of knowledge. In all these, the commander must know the atmospheric conditions, and it is only by chemistry that he can learn this. Gas is the most interesting of the war implements connected with chemistry. Chemical warfare in the future will not only make war less cruel and less destructive, but will make it less frequent.

This statement will cause astonishment to those who have been led to believe that gas, the submarine and aircraft operate to make wars more frequent and more terrible. But those who have studied the subject of modern warfare from a rational standpoint and not from an emotional one, know that the statement is true.

The prejudice against gas arose as a natural and wholesome reaction against the manner it was first introduced. The honor of it became quite naturally, attached to the weapon more than to the wielder.

Gas in War

As a nation, we have never opposed the use of gas in war. It is no worse than other implements employed, as shown by the statistics of casualties occurring during the world war among American soldiers. Of the total of 274,216 casualties, 74,573, or 27.3 per cent died; .429 per cent, or less than one-half of 1 per cent of these, died from gas.

Chemistry has advanced in warfare only in the last war. Germany was studying it long before the war, and this fact explains her great success at the outbreak of the war. Chemistry, in the industries, had long held a high place in Germany, and it was the war that caused America to adopt it. Before, all our best colognes, fertilizers, dyes and other chemicals came from Germany. Of course, when the war broke out, other countries were thrown on their own resources, and it was then that America, led by chemistry, took the lead in the industrial development of the world. We started great munitions plants, developed better fertilizers, dyes and other chemical products to such an extent that our exports along this line in 1920 were 75 times that of 1914. The value of chemical products in 1919 was nearly 3 1/2 times that of 1914.

America now has what is known as “the Chemical Foundation,” an institution for the development of chemistry. They desire to show the people of America the service that chemistry may give the world. Little does the ordinary painter know that chemistry is the source from which his profession is developed. Chemistry makes possible the scientific control of such industries as agriculture and steel making. It governs the transformation of elements of the soil into wheat, corn, vegetables and fruits as well as the transformation of iron ore, coke and limestone into steel of any degree of hardness, elasticity or strength that may be desired. In exactly the same way it governs the various processes in the transformation of cotton, silk and other fibers into textiles, and so on throughout the interminable list of manufactures. Less than 30 years ago there was no such thing as a chemical laboratory at the stock yards. When the first one was established, the venturesome Chicago packer who did it was the subject of patronizing derision by his competitors. Today, that same packer employes nearly a hundred chemists in his laboratories and so do his competitors. They have found that their business is connected with chemistry from its beginning, to the tanning of the leather for shoes.

So large a part of our natural resources has been wasted by ignorance and recklessness in the past that henceforth the chemist will be obliged to find the means of existence for the nation. And judging by his past performances, the chemist is quite equal to the task.

Use in Agriculture

In agriculture it has advanced miraculously fast. The farmer has used it, but was not aware of the fact. He first used naturally the plants doing the work. We all know how plants take nitrogen from the air by means of a bacteria on their roots. We also know how different plants deposit certain plant foods in the soil, but it was not very long ago that chemists learned to compound all this into substances known as fertilizers. The farmers today could not get along without it.

The farmer, a hundred years ago, had to grind his own wheat, corn and other grains; can his own fruits and vegetables. Now chemistry has made it possible to buy these from every little corner store. The chemist has bleached the flour and meal; he has preserved our canned goods, and made it possible to enjoy these the year around.

It is to chemists that the farmers of the south have turned for help in ridding themselves of the cotton boll weevil, and all other help in this line that he receives will come through and by chemistry.

Chemistry has had an important part, or could I not say—medical work is chemistry? Certainly, the druggist could not get along without it. The old doctor used teas made from herbs and berries. He did not know that chemistry was working its hand in forming some compound which would cure. We see every day the advances in medicine—these are nothing but advances in chemistry. Every medicine is a chemical compound, made by some chemist. During the latter part of the war, men were made. Actually made. Doctors, by and with the help of chemistry, would take a soul and build a body around it. They restored men’s arms, legs, and even heads and brought bac many lives that were practically gone. All with chemistry. Not only have chemists made medicines for men, but they have also made them for all plants and lower animals.

Every Day Chemistry

Now, last but not least, let us consider the service of chemistry in the home. We see and use chemistry from the time we awake in the morning, to the time we awake the following morning. A man arises, bathes in H2O, the chemical name for water, for chemistry has divided it into its elements; uses his toothpaste, a chemical compound; uses an especially prepared shaving cream; eats food in which chemistry has played its part—such as baking powder, butter from the creameries, flour that has been bleached, and made self-rising; smokes tobacco that had been chemically treated and some use tonic on their hair which is a chemical product.

The lady, on the other hand, uses rouge and powders, both chemical products. She wears jewelry, pearls, diamonds and other gems, all developed direct from the chemist’s hands. She uses her mirror, chemically treated with mercury, so as to reflect an image—and in fact in her every act chemistry is in evidence, and yet many young ladies often retire in ignorance of the part chemistry has played in their existence.

As published in The New Bernian, Sunday, June 17, 1923

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