E-text prepared by Kevin Handy, John Hagerson, Josephine Paolucci, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 17149-h.htm or 17149-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/1/4/17149/17149-h/17149-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/1/4/17149/17149-h.zip) Transcriber's notes: Underscores before and after words denote italics. Underscore and {} denote subscripts. Footnotes moved to end of book. The book starts using the word "CHAPTER" only after its chapter number XI. I have left it the same in this text. The Century Books of Useful Science CREATIVE CHEMISTRY Descriptive of Recent Achievements in the Chemical Industries by EDWIN E. SLOSSON, M.S., PH.D. Literary Editor of _The Independent_, Associate in Columbia School of Journalism Author of "Great American Universities," "Major Prophets of Today," "Six Major Prophets," "On Acylhalogenamine Derivatives and the Beckmann Rearrangement," "Composition of Wyoming Petroleum," etc. With Many Illustrations [Illustration (Decorative)] New York The Century Co. Copyright, 1919, by The Century Co. Copyright, 1917, 1918, 1919, by The Independent Corporation Published, October, 1919 [Illustration: From "America's Munitions" THE PRODUCTION OF NEW AND STRONGER FORMS OF STEEL IS ONE OF THE GREATEST TRIUMPHS OF MODERN CHEMISTRY The photograph shows the manufacture of a 12-inch gun at the plant of the Midvale Steel Company during the late war. The gun tube, 41 feet long, has just been drawn from the furnace where it was tempered at white heat and is now ready for quenching.] TO MY FIRST TEACHER PROFESSOR E.H.S. BAILEY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS AND MY LAST TEACHER PROFESSOR JULIUS STIEGLITZ OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO THIS VOLUME IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED CONTENTS I THREE PERIODS OF PROGRESS 3 II NITROGEN 14 III FEEDING THE SOIL 37 IV COAL-TAR COLORS 60 V SYNTHETIC PERFUMES AND FLAVORS 93 VI CELLULOSE 110 VII SYNTHETIC PLASTICS 128 VIII THE RACE FOR RUBBER 145 IX THE RIVAL SUGARS 164 X WHAT COMES FROM CORN 181 XI SOLIDIFIED SUNSHINE 196 XII FIGHTING WITH FUMES 218 XIII PRODUCTS OF THE ELECTRIC FURNACE 236 XIV METALS, OLD AND NEW 263 READING REFERENCES 297 INDEX 309 A CARD OF THANKS