DAVID L. DRABKIN 



Table HI. Relationships of Total Chromoproteins to Body Mass, 

 W, and Surface Area, S n 



* Values based on complete analyses of individual organs. 

 t Values based on (total muscle cytochrome c) /0-8. 

 X Steeplechase thoroughbred, out-of-training. 



I would like to add a disturbing point about cytochrome c. The 

 isolated and relatively pure pigment can be shown to possess biological 

 activity, but the activity is far smaller than that deduced from such 

 measurements of tissue oxygen consumption and cytochrome c con- 

 centration, as presented in Table II. Have we gone too far in insisting 

 that the goal is to work with pure enzyme systems ? Is not the real 

 goal the activity of the living cellular structure ? Are we missing 

 something ? Barcroft 13 had this to say about the early work on 

 cytochrome, before component c was isolated or its structure known : 

 ' I will at once concede to the organic chemist of the purist school that 

 such a material is less satisfactory than if it had been isolated, but I 

 claim for those who are prepared to study " life as a whole " that a 

 man places an undue limitation on his intellect if he is not prepared 

 to look at living things as they are, but will merely study artifacts 

 about which he can obtain more precise information '. 



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