MARCEL NENCKI, 1847— 1901 515 



this subject. Occasional papers appeared in the Berichte of the 

 German Chemical Society, which had only been established 

 shortly before, and in Voit and Pettenkoffer's Zeitschrift der 

 Biologic (1865). In the early seventies appeared Pfliiger's Archiv, 

 and also Schmiedeberg's Archiv, both of which contained their 

 quota of biochemical work. In 1877 Hoppe-Seyler's Zeitschrift 

 fi'ir Physiologischc Chemie made its first appearance. This 

 remained the sole journal devoted exclusively to physiological 

 chemistry till the appearance, in 1901, of Hofmeister's Bcitrdge. 

 This year (1906), however, no less than three new journals have 

 made their appearance — viz., the German biochemische Zeitschrift, 

 edited by Neuberg, and two journals in the English language, 

 the American Journal of Biochemistry and the English Biochemical 

 Journal. If scientific progress can be measured by the increase 

 of bulk in literature, we have made astonishing strides in the 

 study of biological chemistry in the last few years. 



It remains for us now to determine Nencki's own part in this 

 development. 



His researches in this branch may be conveniently divided 

 into the following series : — 



I. Those connected with the oxidation or destruction of 

 various substances when introduced into the animal body. 



II. Those connected with the chemical dynamics of putre- 

 faction and fermentation. 



III. Those connected with the study of the formation of 

 urea in the animal body. 



IV. Those relating to the chemistry of animal pigments. 



I. Destruction and Oxidation in the Animal Body. 



For a thesis on the oxidation of aromatic derivatives in 

 the animal body Nencki received his doctor's diploma. His 

 investigations on this subject may appropriately, therefore, be 

 considered first. 



The most important results in this series refer to the 

 behaviour of benzene. The isolation of phenylsulphuric acid 

 in the urine after injection of benzene was due to Baumann. 

 It remained for Nencki to follow out the process of the 

 oxidation of benzene to phenol quantitatively, and to devise 

 a process for the study of physiological oxidation. In this 

 work he was joined, amongst others, by Madame Sieber, with 



