Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
even further, as the scientist replaces the shaman of ancient fertility rites.
The difference between the shaman and the scientist was that the shaman
was a supplicant before the gods and nature, while the modern, rational
scientist controls nature.
There is a temptation to see the illustrations in
Man in a Chemical
World
as containing some hint of irony, since the religious references
seem so extreme. There was, however, no hint of levity or ironic aware-
ness in Morrison's writing. In Morrison's text, food does literally flow
from the work of chemists. It is an actual life and death struggle, and we
are reliant upon chemistry for survival:
numerous agencies are in wait to pounce upon and destroy foodstuffs be-
fore they can serve their ultimate purpose. Insect and fungus pests attack
growing crops; bacteria and other destructive agencies prey upon the
harvested food to render it unsuited or unavailable for human use; and
countless other hazards must be avoided or overcome before the farmer's
product is set upon the table. In all of these protective measures, the
products of chemical industry are potent weapons against the enemies of
men. [Ibid., p. 90]
Two other overtly religious images reinforce the exoteric metonym of
the man in the white lab coat. The first illustration is in chapter two,
'Chemistry in Overalls' (Figure 4b). The chemist, his back to the viewer,
is offering up his chemicals and apparatus as a priest might offer up the
host at communion. This offering, made before the work bench/altar,
links the chemist/priest to the great power of industrial chemistry rep-
resented by the cracking towers in the background (ibid., p. 31). The
chemist/priest image is closely replicated in the lead illustration for
chapter eleven, 'The Crystal Reveals' (Figure 4c). In this picture, the
scientist again appears with his back to the viewer, standing before a
work bench/altar, but this time with hands raised in supplication before
a glowing globe (ibid., p. 261).
