By the mid-19th century, chemists had established that many natural products were made of just: carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. These three molecules were the fund... » 

By the mid-19th century, chemists had established that many natural products were made of just: carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. These three molecules were the fundamental substances of organic chemistry, the building blocks of DNA, unraveled a century later, and of the natural products and synthetic substances that were to dominate the modern world. «