this there were innumerable investigations which cannot be gone into 

 here. 



In order to obtain an insight into Dr. Abel's character it is neces- 

 sary to consider his early training. As Dr. Voegtlin has done this so 

 well, with his permission I am quoting him at length: 



The life of this true scientist began on a farm near Cleveland, Ohio, where he 

 was born on the 19th of May, 1857. Little is known about his parents save that 

 his ancestors came from Germany. ... At the age of 19 he began his college work 

 at the University of Michigan. It was here that he took a course in physiological 

 chemistry under Vaughan and physiology under Sewall. His college education 

 was interrupted for three years during which time he was Principal of the high 

 school and later Superintendent of Public Schools at La Porte, Indiana. He 

 received his Ph. B. degree from the University of Michigan in 1883. After gradua- 

 tion he married Miss Mary Hinman, a teacher in his school at La Porte. . . . 



The first academic year after graduation was spent in the Department of 

 Biology of the Johns Hopkins University under Newell Martin, the able pupil of 

 Michael Foster. . . . 



At this time, in 1884, at the age of 27, he made the important decision to study 

 medicine in Europe. Throughout his seven years of European study he showed 

 a remarkable ability to select as his teachers many of the distinguished men of 

 this period. From 1884 to 1886 he was in Leipzig, studying physiology under 

 Ludwig and von Frey, histology under His, pharmacology under Boehm, pathol- 

 ogy under Striimpell, and inorganic and organic chemistry under Wislicenus. At 

 the same time he completed his doctor's dissertation in Ludwig's laboratory. 

 The winter semester of 1886-87 was spent in Strassburg under Kussmaul in inter- 

 nal medicine, under v. Recklinghausen in pathology and infectious diseases. 

 The following summer semester he studied at Heidelberg with Erb in medicine 

 and Czerny in surgery. During the summer vacation he attended clinics at 

 Wiirzburg; 1887-88 brought Abel back to Strassburg where he took courses under 

 Kussmaul, Naunyn, Hoppe-Seyler and Schmiedeberg. It was Schmiedeberg who 

 aroused Abel's first interest in pharmacological research, particularly in its chemi- 

 cal aspects. In 1888 he received his M.D. degree from Strassburg. On October 

 30th of the same year he suffered the loss of his infant daughter, a severe blow. 

 It is not unlikely that this loss determined him to leave Strassburg, where he had 

 found so much inspiration and had made many friends, in order to pursue a year 

 of postgraduate clinical work in Vienna with Nothnagel and others. But his 

 yearning for laboratory research found Abel in 1889 to 1890 working in the 

 laboratory of the outstanding biochemist v. Nencki in Berne, Switzerland. It was 

 here that Abel obtained his first training in chemical research. In later years he 

 often enthusiastically referred to this stimulating experience. There can be little 

 doubt that at that time Abel had a clear vision of what a tremendous part chem- 

 istry was to play in the future of scientific medicine. Therefore, he resolutely 

 determined to be prepared, irrespective of the expense involved which he could 

 hardly afford. In Berne he completed a research on the "molecular weight of 

 cholic acid, cholesterol and hydrobilirubin." Using Raoult's method he called 

 attention to the limitations of this method for the purpose in view. Another paper 

 dealt with the chemical composition of the melanins from hair and melanotic 



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