26 



SOME BIOCHEMICAL 



PROBLEMS POSED BY A 



DISEASE OF MUSCLE 



CHARLES L. HOAGLAND, member of the rockefeller institute 



FOR medical research, NEW YORK; PHYSICIAN TO THE ROCKEFELLER 



HOSPITAL 



THE MEDICAL biochemist hopes uhimately to provdde a 

 basis for the interpretation of disease phenomena which will 

 permit the description of a given syndrome in terms of the nature 

 of chemical and physiological alterations in the cellular mechanisms 

 of the affected organ. To achieve the synthesis of knowledge required 

 for this ambitious task he must rely on information supplied from 

 fields as dichotomous as that of the naturalist, whose efforts may fol- 

 low only the dictates of his curiosity, and that of the clinician charged 

 with the practical responsibility of alleviating disease. Situated in 

 this no man's land between the ill-defined borders of art and science, 

 the medical biochemist is in some danger of oversimplifying the com- 

 plex problems posed by his clinical colleagues, and of overextending 

 the concepts of his co-workers in biochemistry and physiology. It 

 follows naturally, therefore, that in cultivating the disputed stretch 

 between the fields of medicine and science he is frequently in jeopardy 

 of litigation from his neighbors on either side. 



In no field of biology has intelligent effort been rewarded with 

 more striking or steady advances than in that devoted to a study of the 

 physiology and biochemistry of muscle. To a greater extent than for 

 any other organ, muscle has been the common meeting ground of the 

 biochemist, biophysicist, and physiologist. In the development of 



