CHEMURGIST was a term used beginning in 1934 in a book by W.J. Hale, Farm Chemurgic, to describe the utilization of organic materials (in particular farm and southern argiculture products) for industrial applications. It was never a widely accepted term to describe industrial chemistry from organic matter. In the late 1960's the term chemurgy was replaced with biochemical engineering and that seems to be the term most often used to describe natural product chemistry with industrial applications. The term Chemurgy describing the work of George Washington Carver is used because of the wide and substantial impact of his exploration farm products in industrial uses. The origin of the term is not explicit in the Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, but the derivation of CHEMURGIST comes from combining CHEMIST with METALLURGIST. In this interpretation, Dr. Carver was creating new combinations of products without trying to create new chemical compounds, in the way a metallurgist will mix two metals to form an alloy. The two metals are not synthesised before their use but the end product is something different from the two beginning substances. Since Dr. Carver did not have a formal chemical education, this makes his explorations even more impressive; a true gentleman scientist, comparable to Michael Faraday or Lord Kelvin in physics. CHEMURGY -- a branch of chemistry that deals with industrial application of organic raw materials especially from farm products (as in the use of soybean oil for paints and varnishes and of southern pine for paper pulp). CHEMURGIST -- a specialist in chemurgy.