FACTS AND FINDINGS 39 



by such men as L. O. Howard, who furnished some most 

 stimulating answers. 



In biochemistry, the paper of Hopkins and Willcock, 

 Amino Acids in Metabolism, in 1907, foreshadowed the 

 very important discovery of vitamins. It showed that some 

 accessory food factors in the growth of an organism can- 

 not be chemically analyzed. 



Indirectly correlated with this field in its scientific 

 aspects is the work of Dr. Allen on the Artificial Culture 

 of Marine Plankton Organisms. His study showed that 

 organisms require, when developed artificially, chemically 

 pure solutions to be sensitized by natural waters before 

 they can live and breed in them. 



The work on vitamins, the discovery of their production 

 in relation with sunlight, etc., is of great concern not only 

 to the health of man, but of considerable practical utility 

 in connection with the production of his food supplies. 



Under biochemistry one should certainly mention what 

 J. Arthur Thomson considers one of the great milestones 

 in biology — the discovery of a "glutathione" by Sir F. 

 Gowland Hopkins in 1921. This is an organic substance 

 widely distributed in plant and animal cells which acts 

 as an "oxygen transporter," that is, as an intermediary 

 between the oxygen of the air and the food materials of 

 the tissues. Its biological importance is due to the fact 

 that "this transporter and liberator of oxygen accounts 

 for the energy-yielding combustions that take place at a 

 low temperature within the living cell. It explains how 

 the cell burns and yet is not consumed." 



