8 Perkin, Chemical Researches of Edtvard Schunck. 



which results from the action of alcoholic potash on 

 phyllotaonin — is evidently closely allied to ha;uiatopor- 

 phyrin, a substance obtained from the haemoglobin of the 

 blood. Not only are the spectra of these two substances 

 practically the same, but they also show similar chemical 

 reactions. 



It is probable that chlorophyll may play a similar 

 part in the plant to that which haemoglobin plays in the 

 animal economy, and that its principal function is to 

 convey carbonic acid to the plant in much the same way 

 as haemoglobin acts as a carrier of oxygen. The proof of 

 the great similarity between chlorophyll and haemoglobin 

 must go far to break down any sharp line of demarcation 

 which may, by some, still be thought to exist between the 

 animal and vegetable kingdoms. 



One thing is most noticeable in all the work which 

 Dr. Schunck did, and that is the extreme care and 

 accuracy with which all his experiments were carried out. 

 The problems which he attemj^ted to solve were among 

 the most difficult in the whole range of organic chemistry, 

 and his results were frequently called m question, but in 

 nea.'y all cases it was subsequently found that his 

 statements were correct. Anyone who has had the 

 opportunity of examining his magnificent collection of the 

 specimens of the substances he had discovered and investi- 

 gated during the course of his many researches will, at once, 

 realise the great trouble he always took to obtain 

 everything in its purest possible form. 



His work was always a labour of love, and his 

 researches will always remain as models of what skill and 

 perseverance can do in elucidating the most difficult 

 of chemical problems. There can be no doubt that 

 Science, and especially Organic Chemistry, has lost in 

 Dr. Schunck an investigator of the front rank, whose place 

 it will be very difficult to fill. 



