MARCEL NENCKI, 1 1847— 1901 



By S. B. SCHRYVER, D.Sc, Ph.D., 

 Lecturer on Physiological Chemistry to University College, London. 



By the death, in 1901, of Marcel Nencki, at the early age of 

 fifty-four, and in the full height of his scientific activity, 

 physiological chemistry was deprived of one of its most ardent 

 workers and successful pioneers. The appearance of his 

 collected works at the end of 1904 affords us an opportunity 

 of appraising his contributions, and determining his influence 

 on the development of the branch of science to which he 

 devoted his activities. 



The subject of this memoir was the son of a Polish landed 

 proprietor, and was born in 1847, in Kalisz, in Poland. He 

 received his school education in his native land, but removed, 

 in consequence of political disturbances, to Crakow, in Austrian 

 Poland, in 1864. He shortly afterwards removed to Jena, where 

 he applied himself to the study of classical philology and 

 philosophy. He soon, however, manifested his bent towards 

 experimental science, and in 1867 he commenced the study of 

 medicine at Berlin University. 



The speculations of Liebig on the chemical processes in 

 living organisms were at that time exercising considerable 

 influence on scientific thought, and Nencki, at a very early stage 

 of his career, decided to devote himself to the study of biological 

 chemistry. He had the foresight to perceive the importance 

 of a mastery of chemical technique, and for this purpose he 

 enrolled himself as a student in the chemical laboratory of 

 the Berlin " Gewerbeakademie," then under the direction of 

 Baeyer. He found here as fellow-students Graebe and 

 Liebermann, and the work in this laboratory at the time 

 cannot have failed to exert a stimulating action on any student 

 with a strong inclination to scientific work. He graduated 

 in 1870, at Berlin, and shortly afterwards (1871) was appointed 



1 Marceli Ne?icki opera omnia, Braunschweig : F. Vieweg und Sohn, 1904. 



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