Gilding, silvering and electroplating have been rendered possible by modern chemistry. Alumina and porcelain have been produced. Alumina is the oxide of aluminum. One variety of clay known as “kaolin” is employed in the manufacture of porcelain. China and earthenware are made by very similar processes. Alcohol, wine and beer have depended upon scientific chemistry for their production. Ice can be manufactured artificially by means of freezing mixtures. The manufacture of oxygen gas has rendered possible high altitude flights by aviators. Camphor can now be manufactured, instead of depending upon nature’s resources for this valuable substance. Wood-pulp, starch and sugar owe much to modern chemistry. Artificial silk is manufactured on a large scale. Soaps and fats have likewise been developed in vast quantities. The perfume milady uses has been developed by the chemist. Colors and dyes now constitute an enormous industry. For our medicines we depend upon the chemist, when visiting the nearest drug store. These are but a few examples, which might be lengthened almost indefinitely, illustrating the extent to which we are dependent upon modern chemistry, in our daily lives. And chemistry is capable of explaining many things which would be unintelligible without its aid. Let us take a simple example by way of illustration. You have probably noticed that a frozen potato has a characteristic sugary taste. The cause of it is this: the potato contains in its tissues a great quantity of starch, as well as a diastase capable of transforming this starch at the moment of its sprouting. These two substances are kept apart by the membrane of the tissue. But if a frost occurs, the ice tears this membrane, and the starch comes in contact with this diastase and is, therefore, transformed into sugar, just as it is when the sprouting of the potato begins. INSTRUMENTS OF RESEARCH