I9I2] Editoriais 581 



Medical Association. (Journ. Amer. Med. Assn., Iviii, p. 1796: 

 June 8, 191 2.) 



Pasteur's discoveries were epoch-making, and revealed in him 

 the Copernicus of medicine. Prior to his researches, the causes and 

 rational treatment of disease were no better understood than in 

 the stone age. Naturally, his conclusions were not accepted by 

 medical men tili every possible Opposition had been exhausted. 

 Physicians resented Instruction from a man devoid of medical train- 

 ing. " A mere chemist" was the sneer most frequently on the lips 

 of his adversaries. — Martin. 



It would seem now as if the medical profession before 1868 was 

 blind folded and that its blindness was almost criminal; it is a sad 

 record indeed, but we must look at it coolly in order to widerstand 

 what the aiixiliary sciences can do for medicine. Left to their own 

 resources, practitioners during long centtiries could do nothing 

 against erysipelas and the other wound infections, but with the 

 powerful aid of bacteriology {which was founded by a chemist), 

 surgery was able to triumph over these odious diseases and relegate 

 them to the past. — Editorial: Journal of the American Medical 

 Association, igi2, Iviii, p. 486. 



Does a protein contain amino acids or are the radicals only, of 



these acids, present in protein molecules? The comment of many 



writers on this and similar subjects, if accepted as good usage, would 



Do proteins contain justify the assertion that sodium chlorid is com- 



amino acids? posed of hydrochloric acid and sodium or that 

 potassium sulfocyanate contains prussic acid and potassium sulfid. 

 Teachers of science should avoid slovenly phraseology. " Precision 

 in presentation is on a par with perfection in demonstration." 



In our first issue we alluded to a current tendency to misapply 

 the term "body" to various substances such as purins (page 158). 

 When our comment on this subject was written We did not know 

 Shall substances be of the existence of the following request in 

 cailed bodies? the printed Directions for Assistant Editors and 

 Abstractors of Chemical Abstracts: " Please do not use the ivord 

 'body' where ' substance' is intended." 



