Althouse: "On this broad but synthetic continent of plastics" — Synthetica! — "the countries march right out of the natural world..."

August 21, 2011

"On this broad but synthetic continent of plastics" — Synthetica! — "the countries march right out of the natural world..."

"... that wild area of firs and rubber plantations, upper left – into the illimitable world of the molecule. It’s a world boxed only by the cardinal points of the chemical compass – carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen."

Fortune Magazine, 1940.

I don't quite get it, but you might want to put some libertarians on it.

15 comments:

Carol_Herman said...: 1940. Before America gets hit by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor.

Back in those days tires were made out of rubber.

And, stockings were made out of silk.

Then, came the synthetics.

And, Penicillin. (In WW1 troops died from infections suffered after they were rescued from the front.) Penicillin made it possible to keep our troops among the living. By not having them succumb to infections.)

Wars do that. They move science forward.; 8/21/11, 1:13 PM
chickelit said...: It’s a world boxed only by the cardinal points of the chemical compass – carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen."

Fortune Magazine, 1940.

DuPont had captured the public imagination around that time. Wallace Carother's nylon had just been introduced the previous year. Nylon 6,6 contains just those elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen.

Blessed Are The Wealth Makers.; 8/21/11, 1:16 PM
chickelit said...: If those libertarian venture capitalists set sail in the direction of physics, perhaps they should seek out the as-yet undiscovered Island of Stability.; 8/21/11, 1:29 PM
Carol_Herman said...: Back in the 1940's, stockings still needed to be held up by garter belts.

And, for some women it was tags that were attached to their girdles.

Oh, and there were black back seams. So women were always turning around to see if their seams were straight.

If the stockings sagged a little? The woman just cuffed the top down some more ... And, used the leverage of the garters ... to hold them up.

I'm not even sure if men also put garters on their upper calves? To hold up sox.

Pants could be held up by suspenders.

And, at some point men switched from buttons to zippers to close their flies.

I can imagine you could sell some styles without showing how they worked. Because "how they worked" were underneath.

I don't think pantyhose are an improvement over stockings! With pantyhose a rip on one side ... means you throw out the "pair." And, boy, are they uncomfortable to wear!; 8/21/11, 1:40 PM
AllenS said...: At first, I thought this was about condoms. My guess was going to be that they were natural (sheep, or animal intestins) at first, then in 1940 synthetic rubber took over. But, that happened pre-1940. At least my head was in the right place.; 8/21/11, 1:54 PM
coketown said...: Plastic islands seem to be a pipedream that never dies.; 8/21/11, 2:02 PM
AllenS said...: Then, there's the plastic flamingo lawn ornaments for your yard. Do you have any of those Meadehouse?; 8/21/11, 2:31 PM
edutcher said...: For some in the 60s, that phrase would mean all that was phony.

The magazine, however, was looking at a world of possibilities.

Sometimes, the perspective of time is fascinating.; 8/21/11, 2:36 PM
Anonymous said...: Not sure what it means but the world is probably lucky that those Nordics didn't manage to get their hands on any plastics.; 8/21/11, 4:58 PM
Popville said...: Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.
Benjamin: Exactly how do you mean?; 8/21/11, 5:40 PM
Craig Howard said...: DuPont had captured the public imagination around that time.

Anyone remember when DuPont's proud slogan was "Better Living Through Chemicals"?

And we all found that perfectly sensible -- and good. A testament to the genius of the human mind.

Ah, those were the days.; 8/21/11, 7:01 PM
John henry said...: Carol,

The war had relatively little to do with the science of penicillin. That was pretty much worked out by the mid 30s

What had not been worked out was how to manufacture it in large quantities. That is more an engineering issue than a science issue.

It was the manufacturing that ER Squibb figured out how to do. The huge demand for penicillin caused by the war drove that.

I've heard people praise Fleming and Britain (the country) for discovering penicillin. They did and certainly deserve credit for it. It was little more than a laboratory curiosity until US companies put their expertise at manufacturing behind it.

Insulin was another. Discovered in Canada but not very useful until Eli Lilly & Co figured out how to make it commercially.

John Henry; 8/21/11, 8:41 PM
John henry said...: Carol,

I wore garters in the 60's to hold my socks up. For some reason it was a fad for a year or two with high school boys in northern Virginia.

I wore button fly pants in the Navy. All Navy issue pants, dungarees, blues and whites were button fly at least as late as 74 when I got out.

Blues had 13 buttons, one for each state. You could piss yourself during the time it took to get them all undone.

Most of us bought non-Navy pants from the Seafarer company. Partly because they fit better and partly because they had zippers.

And didn't Levis have a line of button fly jeans in the 90s?

John Henry; 8/21/11, 8:49 PM
Michael K said...: It was little more than a laboratory curiosity until US companies put their expertise at manufacturing behind it.

Actually, it was Howard Florey who made penicillin a usable drug. To Fleming, it was a curiosity and he was forbidden by his boss, Almoth Wright, to pursue the matter. Florey is the one who deserves most of the credit.; 8/21/11, 9:20 PM
Jose_K said...: I'm not even sure if men also put garters on their upper calves? Yes.
Rubber cost 8 millions lives in Congo. Heart of Darkness was about that.
Fitzcarraldo was also about the effect of rubber plantations; 8/22/11, 3:56 PM