BIOCHEMISTRY IN NEW YORK TWENTY 



YEARS AGO^ 



E. E. SMITH 



The Status of biochemistry in New York City, in 1891, is well 

 depicted by an incident that occurred in that year at the library of 

 the New York Academy of Medicine. The writer had just come to 

 the city and was seeking, for reference, a copy of Maly's Jahres- 

 bericht für Thier-Chemie. In reply to an inquiry, he was informed 

 that such a work was not in the Academy library and would most 

 likely be found at the Veterinary College. Chemistry was, indeed, 

 well established at that time in the curriculum of the medical schools 

 of the city, but it consisted largely of descriptive organic and in- 

 organic chemistry, and found relatively scant application in physiol- 

 ogy and pathology.^ 



To the younger graduates of Yale, the pioneer work of Chitten- 

 den was known, but it had not been implanted here. It did lead, 

 however, to the Inspiration of Dr. C. A. Herter, then beginning to 

 specialize in neurology ; and when he came to realize, as he soon did, 

 how closely related was this field to the pathology of nutrition and 

 determined to establish a laboratory for the investigation of this sub- 

 ject, he naturally turned to Prof. Chittenden for someone with tech- 

 nical training to undertake this work. 



^For previous special contributions to the history of biological chemistry in 

 New York see the Biochemical Bulletin, 191 i, i, p. 245, and 1912, i, p. 377. 



*"To appreciate the significance of all this, it should be remembered that, 

 with the exception of the work in the pathological laboratories of the Colleges, 

 the work of the Board of Health, and the work done by Dr. S. J. Meltzer, there 

 was practically no scientific investigation in medicine worthy of the name in 

 New York City at that time (when the 'Laboratory of C. A. Herter' was 

 created). What was true of New York was essentially true of the country at 

 large. . . . Dr. Herter found the study of the nervous System so abounding in 

 confusion that he soon turned his attention to chemical problems, especially those 

 connected with pathological conditions. Among those intimately associated with 

 him in this work have been E. E. Smith, A. J. Wakeman and, of late, H. D. 

 Dakin." Lusk: Science, 191 1, xxxiii, p. 846. [Ed.] 



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