The primitive man got his living out of such wild plants and animals as he could find.  Next he, or more likely his wife, began to cultivate the plants and tame the animals so as to insure a constant supply.  This was the first step toward civilization, for when men had to settle down in a community (civitas) they had to ameliorate their manners and make laws protecting land and property.  In this settled and orderly life the plants and animals improved as well as man and returned a hundredfold for the pains that their master had taken in their training.  But still man was dependent upon the chance bounties of nature.  He could select, but he could not invent.  He could cultivate, but he could not create.  If he wanted sugar he had to send to the West Indies.  If he wanted spices he had to send to the East Indies.  If he wanted indigo he had to send to India.  If he wanted a febrifuge he had to send to Peru.  If he wanted a fertilizer he had to send to Chile.  If he wanted rubber he had to send to the Congo.  If he wanted rubies he had to send to Mandalay.  If he wanted otto of roses he had to send to Turkey.  Man was not yet master of his environment.

This period of cultivation, the second stage of civilization, began before the dawn of history and lasted until recent times.  We might almost say up to the twentieth century, for it was not until the fundamental laws of heredity were discovered that man could originate new species of plants and animals according to a predetermined plan by combining such characteristics as he desired to perpetuate.  And it was not until the fundamental laws of chemistry were discovered that man could originate new compounds more suitable to his purpose than any to be found in nature.  Since the progress of mankind is continuous it is impossible to draw a date line, unless a very jagged one, along the frontier of human culture, but it is evident that we are just entering upon the third era of evolution in which man will make what he needs instead of trying to find it somewhere.  The new epoch has hardly dawned, yet already a man may stay at home in New York or London and make his own rubber and rubies, his own indigo and otto of roses.  More than this, he can make gems and colors and perfumes that never existed since time began.  The man of science has signed a declaration of independence of the lower world and we are now in the midst of the revolution.

Our eyes are dazzled by the dawn of the new era.  We know what the hunter and the horticulturist have already done for man, but we cannot imagine what the chemist can do.  If we look ahead through the eyes of one of the greatest of French chemists, Berthelot, this is what we shall see: