NERVE ACTIVITY 



may be found in the classical addresses of Hopkins collected in 

 the Commemoration Volume presented at the First Inter- 

 national Congress of Biochemistry (26). 



These developments combined with the recognition that 

 molecular events must underlie all displays of biological func- 

 tion, so strongly emphasized by Liebig, have considerably 

 promoted knowledge of the chemical reactions associated with 

 cellular function. If de Broglie (7) speaks of "the revolution in 

 physics" in referring to the progress since the beginning of this 

 century, one may well say that biology underwent a series of 

 revolutions. Research of the living cell changed from a more 

 or less descriptive science to one in which mechanisms are being 

 studied in terms of physics and chemistry, and explanations are 

 being sought at molecular levels. The classical example in this 

 respect is the function of striated muscle. Hopkins, Parnas, 

 Hill and Meyerhof, Embden, Lundsgaard, H. H. Weber, C. F. 

 and G. T. Cori, von Muralt, are just a few of the leading in- 

 vestigators whose names are associated with this field. 



A special role in this development must be attributed to 

 Otto Meyerhof (24). Owing to the wide range of his knowledge 

 and interest, his philosophical approach and the depth of his 

 mind, his imagination and originality, he has not only contrib- 

 uted many fundamental facts, but has revolutionized the think- 

 ing of this generation of biochemists, as was recognized at the 

 special session of the Third International Congress of Biochemis- 

 try dedicated to his memory (6). Among the methods and prin- 

 ciples which he so strongly emphasized may be mentioned (7) 

 the importance of thermodynamics in the study of intermediary 

 metabolism ; (2) the cyclic character of cellular reactions ; (3) 

 the paramount importance of correlating chemical and physical 

 events, i.e., metabolism and function; and (4) the necessity of 

 establishing the sequence of energy transformations for this aim. 

 Today these concepts have becoine a guide for biochemists and 

 form the basis of any approach to the study of cellular function. 



When, in 1937, the Perspectives in Biochemistry (27) appeared, 

 a book which was dedicated to Hopkins' 75th birthday and may 



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