 The Cavalcade of America, presented by Dupont. In the onward sweep of the Cavalcade of America, Congress is marked by the milestones of achievement set up by the persistently inventive minds of our great men of science. One of these, known more by the result of his works than by his name, is the great pioneer chemist and scientific philosopher Robert Hare. Hare was an industrious research chemist and an earnest scientist. Ideals such as his are summed up today in the words of the Dupont Fledge, better things for better living through chemistry. The play to the Big Bad Wolf was a tune that everyone was singing some years ago. The art of animated drawings has advanced greatly since then and chemistry has had its share in the improvement. Tomorrow evening, New York views the premiere of the first feature-length animated cartoon, Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As an overture, Don Voorhees and the Dupont Cavalcade Orchestra play one of its musical numbers. Someday, my prince will come. The Northern Liberties. When he was only 11 years old, the chemical society of Philadelphia was founded, the oldest organization of its kind in the world. In the year 1801, when he was only 20 years old, Robert was using its facilities to carry out his experiments in chemistry. We find him there one day as his instructor, Professor Woodhouse, comes into the laboratory with a friend, Joachim Bishop. Robert! Yes? Why, Professor Woodhouse? Well, I'm glad to see you. Robert, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine, Mr. Joachim Bishop. Mr. Robert Hare. I've asked Professor Woodhouse to explain your new invention, Mr. Hare, but he thought it would be better if I saw it. Well, I wasn't sure I could explain it. Mr. Bishop is not a scientist, you know. Is this your celebrated blue pipe? Yes. The pure oxygen comes in through here, and the hydrogen through here. They mingle in the pipe and make a great heat when they unite in combustion. But I can't understand, Mr. Hare, what value it is, though it is doubtless scientifically interesting and all that. Well, there are a great many things, Mr. Bishop, that chemists would like to experiment with, but they've not been able to get a claim hot enough to work with. Perhaps Robert, if you could give Mr. Bishop a demonstration. I wish you would, Mr. Hare. I'd be quite interested in such an experiment. Certainly, sir, I'd be glad to. I'm always giving myself demonstrations of it because there's still plenty of room for improvement. The blowpipe is better than the elements used in it. I'm convinced I can get a pure hydrogen, and I think if I had a bellows... Bellows? Yes. You see, in order to keep the flame steady at the end of the exit tube, the oxygen and hydrogen must be fed under pressure that is steady and constant. Oh, I see. Would you be good enough, Professor Woodhouse, to touch the opening with that lighted taper and all the two gases are certainly Robert. All right. Glad it. It's a pretty steady flame, Robert. So that's the famous octahydrogen blowpipe. Flame isn't very bright, but it's very hot. Hot enough to fuse a refractory metal like plastic. Oh, come down, Mr. Hare. Plasticning is not an easy metal to fuse. In fact, I've always thought it impossible. It has been. To any extent, it would make it commercially practical. Why, there'd be a good business in that alone. Mr. Bishop, if you hold these two small pieces of platinum in this container, do you mean you'll give me a demonstration of it? Better still, you can give it yourself. Just wait till I adjust the blowpipe of the rifle. Now just bring the platinum into the flame. Yes. Yes, sir. Like by heaven it does. It is huge. See, the flame is really quite hot. It's the opening key to an endless chain of chemical experiments. It's going to open something more than that. Why, I thought it was just a schoolboy's toy, but now, why, I can see it as a business, a whole manufacturing. Do you propose to make blowpipes now, Mr. Bishop? No, Mr. Hare, you make the blowpipes. I use them to make a business. Doing what? Fusing platinum. That's one more triumph for your blowpipe, Mr. Hare. Improving the qualities of his blowpipe and its two gathers, the heat of which fused such hitherto unworkable elements as alumina, silica, lime, magnesium, and so forth, he took up lodgings in a boarding house run by a Mrs. Smith on the southwest corner of Dock and Walnut Street in Philadelphia. There stayed many of the brilliant and ambitious young men of science who were attracted to Philadelphia as it was the center of scientific research. One evening a new lodger arrived at Mrs. Smith from New England. Well? Is it possible to get accommodation here for myself, madam? If you have the proper recommendation, come in. Thank you. I have some letters here. If you look them over, I think you'll be satisfied. I'm not at bad risk. I'll have your luggage taken up, and I'll let you know when your room is ready. Uh, meanwhile, uh, go in the tap room. The parlor I used to call it. You'll find a young gentleman there to keep you company. You're very kind. Sevadile, come get this luggage. You carry it upstairs. Sevadile, where are you? I, uh, hope I'm not intruding, sir. Oh, not at all. Come in, come in. It's a public room in a manner of speaking, and it's all right if I sit down? Yes, uh, if you'll do me the honor of having a glass of porter with me. There's one fresh drawn on the table there. I ordered several. We use it here as a table beverage. Thank you. Well? Your health, sir? Thank you. And yours? The porter. It's been gone too long, I think. Well, anyway, it's a slice. Who rude to stuff? My father. Well, you see, my father's a brewer. It's his porter. In fact, it's also mine. I work with him in the brewery. I do beg your pardon, sir. I'm afraid my rudeness is unpardonable. Not at all, sir. In fact, I would have been amazed if you said anything else. You see, as it happens, I agree with you. Indeed. Yes. Yes, the porter does taste as though it had been broke too long. Yet I know it hasn't been. You see, the trouble is, air gets through the spickets we're using now, but I'm working on one that's airtight. You see, the vent is part of the spickets, and it works quite well, I think. Indeed. Now, if you'll try this new draft from a jet with my invention on it, it'll tap five days before the other. I think you will not only be able to drink my health, but wish for it. Here, try this. Your health and your pardon, sir. Well, it's excellent. It's a good spicket. And it's good for her. I'd like to know the name of the brewer. Robert Hare. Hare? Then your father's the inventor of the octahydrogen blowpipe. No, I happen to be the inventor, if you call it. Mr. Hare? Why, this is the best of luck. It is on your account to make your acquaintance talk with you that I am here in Philadelphia. I am Benjamin Silliman of New Haven. Benjamin Silliman? Well, by coming here, sir, you've saved me a journey to New Haven. While your interest in science is known to all of us here. Oh, you're most welcome, sir. The friendship of these two great scientists so happily begun lasted all their lives. The next year, Robert Hare was elected a member of the Philosophical Society, and the following year, he was elected its curator. In 1811, when he was 30 years old, he married Harriet Clark of Providence, Rhode Island. Giving up the brewery after his father's death, he taught chemistry for a short while at the College of William and Mary. In 1818, he was in his house in Philadelphia in his homemade laboratory. His wife sitting quietly in another room. Harriet? Harriet, come here. Mr. Robert, what's the big deal? Never mind that. Look here. Oh, what a mess. Now, that isn't a mess. It's a new instrument, a sort of caloric motor. In fact, it is a caloric motor. That's what I'll call it. A heat motor. What does it do, dear? It makes a terrific heat. But I thought it got a terrific heat from your blowpipe. No, not enough. The effect of this new invention is to produce a great flow of heat by electrical means. And there's none of the danger we have in using gases. What makes the heat? The things in this cell right here. I just put these zinc and copper plates in a solution of sulfuric acid, and you'll see the heat fuse this platinum wire. Here, look, I'll show you if you don't believe it. Hand me that bottle of liquid over there with that flame. Now I'll pour the content of this bottle over these zinc and copper plates. You see, they're hooked up together. And the action of the solution on the plate... Well, they look like a battery. They do, and they are. A battery of electric force. See, when I connect the ends of it with these points holding the platinum wire, the heat is so terrific it burns the platinum wire. That's wonderful. What a beautiful display. Yes, but look at the platinum wire. You know, Harriet, I believe if I could heat that platinum wire in a vacuum, it wouldn't burn. Just go with the white heat. Bright enough to see by from a long distance. It's almost like magic, Harriet, to think I just pour sulfuric acid solution over those plates. But my dear, you didn't do anything to come. What? Well, I certainly did. The content of the bottle you had with me... That bottle didn't have acid in it. What? Well, look how it's marked. It says alkaline solution. Something else, I can't... Harriet, let me taste that. It is alkaline. It's a weak, it's barely sensible to taste, and yet you saw it produce the white heat when I used it in the battery. Yes, sir. Well, but if you didn't know what you were doing, then what importance is there? I don't know. But Harriet, there is one thing we're sure of in science. What's that? Nothing that's learned is lost. I may never know what that experiment means, but someday, someone will. That the platinum wire in the path of an electric current strong enough to give a white heat worked in a vacuum, make it glow without burning up was the basis of Thomas A. Edison's researches in the incandescent lamp. In the same year that he invented the Kalora motor, Air was appointed professor of chemistry in the Department of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. There he was able to have a fine laboratory, an adequate apparatus suited to his needs. We find him there with one of his classes in 1832. That concludes my lecture for today. Any questions, gentlemen? Dr. Hare. Yes? I find it difficult to get a copy of your compendium of chemistry. Do you expect to put out another edition? Yes, in another year, perhaps. It'll be some revision. Dr. Hare, what is the peculiar property of charcoal in an electric current? Well, like other forms of carbon, coal, for instance, it offers very high resistance to an electric current. Would you give us a demonstration of it, sir? Certainly. If you'll give your attention to this galvanic defibrator. Yes, sir. You remember that's the apparatus by which I improved on the Kalora motor. I don't think I understand the principle of it, sir. Well, it's built so that the plates of metal and the solution in the battery are brought into practically instantaneous contact with each other. Now notice when these two pieces of small lead pipe are connected with the ends of the battery and a piece of charcoal is inserted between them. Does anybody know what would happen if the circuit were completed? Well, yes, sir. The charcoal would burn up at once. That's correct. But suppose you put the charcoal under water so it wouldn't burn. What would happen? It would fuse the lead pipes that hold it. But suppose the pipes were each tipped with two pieces of charcoal and drawn apart after having been brought into contact. What would happen then? Well, I don't know. We'll do it and see. George, get two pieces of charcoal about two inches long and sharpen it like a pencil. Yes, sir. Now, why don't you clean the lead pipes while the assistant touches the charcoal? Yes, sir. Well, these charcoals do, doctor. Yes, yes, very well. All right, fasten one into each terminal pipe. They're clean now. Thank you. Stand a little way off, gentlemen. Now, we'll adjust these carbon pencils so that they can be drawn apart immediately after touching. Like that. Now, ready with the defibrillator, George? Yes, sir. Surprised, gentlemen. This is a new experiment. All right, let the plate drop, George. Now. How brilliant it is! Oh, that's blinding. Well, look, it even makes the bright place on the wall out, George. It seems brighter than the sunlight, doctor. What was it? Yes, fellas. An electric arc of light, gentlemen. That carbon will shed more light on electricity than we'll live to see. In 1839, Robert Hare invented the first real electric burner, which was deflagration in vacuo. This invention enabled Hare to isolate calcium, the metallic base of life. He later made calcium carbide, which gave him a settling, and though he did not know it at the time, he had invented the calcium light. That same year, it's for us to enable him to convert charcoal into graphite a process that makes it possible for us to have today what we call lead pencil. At last, in 1848, the year after his retirement from teaching, Hare and his wife make a visit they have long looked forward to. A visit to his old colleague, Benjamin Sullivan, in New Haven. Oh, did it, eh? Did it? A bit of weakness, sir, till I stand by the head. You'll be careful, driver. You take my hand here. It's an easy step, Robert. Well, I was a nice house for Silliman's hand. Yes, I can hardly believe I'm going to see him again. It's been such a long, long time. Welcome, doctor. Hello, Silliman. This is my wife. How do you do, Mr. Silliman? How do you do, sir? I am. Thank you. I hope you had a comfortable journey. Come in, sir, come in. That door to my study. Rest a moment, if you wish, for unpacking. Ah, thank you. How nice. There's some Benjamin here. He's gone to the printer for the last proofs of my journal. I wanted you to see him. Silliman, I envy you, your son, to carry on your work with the Journal of Science. You have a son, sir? I thought he studied chemistry under you. Yes, but he turned to the law, eventually. And he does very well at it, too. I'm sure he does, man. Sit down, won't you? Yes. Ah, and rather he carried on my work like young Silliman will his father. My journal needs someone to carry it on. Your inventions, friend Hare. Your inventions will be your children for you. I wonder, sir. You see, I've had so little success in carrying them out in any commercial form, as Bishop did, for instance, with his platinum works. And that was only made possible by your blowpipe. And you have invented the technique and the apparatus that blaze the pill to many greater industries. Others will follow the way you have shown them. Robert is a pioneer in science. I see rather he's a Columbus who has discovered not one new world, but a dozen of them. I'm eager to see the proofs of your next issue with the journal, Silliman. I can show you all but one article. Then that'll be the first scientific secret you ever withheld from me. Quite the contrary. The secret is yours. The proofs I can't show you are those of the article you haven't written yet. Ah, yes, I see. Yes, my dear, don't you care to rest a while? Professor Silliman and I have much to talk over. Why, is it plenty of time to read a part? Please don't distress yourself on my account, Professor. This is not the first time I have been used for a scientific principle. Well, my dear, I'm afraid I have let my work lure me away from you too often. Never mind. I understand, my dear. There's so much to do and so little time to do it with a producer. You can't reproach yourself for wasting time. We can only do what we can and hope that others may find the use for our knowledge. Yes, even as we found a way to use the knowledge passed on to us by others. And if those in the future profit by my few improvements to the past, I'll be satisfied. These then important discoveries of Robert Hare laid the foundations of many great industries that flourish in America today. With his blowpipe and electric heat, he blazed great trails and others were later to make great scientific highways. It was not for him to perfect the machinery for commercializing his discoveries. That was work enough for many others. It was for Robert Hare to find the way to reveal the technique. This first great electrochemist anticipated holiday and inspired Edison. DuPont is proud to salute this unselfish scientist as a worthy pioneer in the capitalcade of America. In 1802 when the young scientist Robert Hare was carrying on his early experiments in Philadelphia, another young man, E.I. DuPont, was founding a tiny company not far away in Delaware. By the time Hare had been appointed professor of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania 30 years later, a few pioneer enterprises such as the DuPont Company had already begun to form the basis for an American chemical industry. Even such a fine mind as Robert Hare's, however, could hardly foresee the progress that chemistry would make in a century to follow. It is fitting that we should have as our guest on this program tonight Dr. Hiram S. Lukens, who as director of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, occupies a position similar to that formerly held by Robert Hare. Dr. Lukens, it has been said that we live today in the age of chemistry. Just when did this chemical era start in America? The greatest developments in American chemistry, both in number and importance, have come within the last 20 years. Of course the foundations were laid early in the nation's history by such research workers as Robert Hare and by our pioneer industry. When Hare taught chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, he had only a handful of students. Last year, 2800 students were enrolled in our chemistry courses. And this growth of interest in chemistry has made it necessary for us to plan for a $2 million laboratory as one of the university's most important needs. Such a situation, of course, merely reflects the vital position that the chemical industry now holds in America. But the important thing to you and me is that America now has a chemical industry that serves and gives us a steady share of lower cost to make America ever enjoyed before. Just mean that chemistry, such as rayon, such as better fuels and oil, improved rubber and finishes, increased employment and greater opportunities for a fuller life. The chemical industry itself now provides jobs for more people than in 1929. And the average wage is 15% higher than the average in all manufacturing. Chemists are so constantly creating new, useful products that their industry resists business depression much better than most. Well, Dr. Lukens, many people still think of new things as luxuries. How is it that these new products of chemical research can be made at a price nearly everyone can afford? Many chemical products in common use today would have been regarded as luxuries a few years ago. Why all of us here in the United States enjoy things every day that most people in other countries still look upon as reserved exclusively for the rich. There's a sound reason behind the low cost of American chemical products that chemists must give more for less because people adopt new things only when they're better or less expensive than the old. The chemist is able to bring prices down by discovering new raw materials and developing domestic sources for materials formerly imported by devising new ways of making products and perfecting more efficient methods of volume production. The chemical industry typifies the American system of producing more goods at constantly lower prices so that more people may enjoy the fruits of scientific and industrial progress. Well, some people wonder, Dr. Lukens, if there's anything left to discover. How far can chemical research go? To answer that question, I'd have to be gifted with second sight. Research chemists throughout the nation are steadily moving on toward new discoveries that undoubtedly will make the models of today seem commonplace. But no one can say exactly what they will be. New medicines to cure our ills, better clothing, improved building materials, new mechanical inventions in which chemistry will play a part, surely these and many more. But the really vital thing is that research be carried on through both good times and bad so that we shall continue to go ahead. At the heart of this system are the research laboratories maintained by the colleges such as the University of Pennsylvania and by industrial firms such as the DuPont Company. It is our job as educators to train men to staff these laboratories, the chemists of today and tomorrow. Thank you, Dr. Lukens. What you've told us about how much chemistry means to America is indeed a tribute to the work of men like Robert Hare and the chemists who have followed him. The DuPont Company is proud that it has been able for so many years to play a part in this nation's progress. And our goal for the future is to continue to make goods. DuPont pledge better things for better living through chemistry. The Big Brothers, the story of a great humanitarian movement will be the subject of our broadcast when next week, at the same time, DuPont again presents the Cavalcade of America. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.