Edward Schunck. 263 



In the chemistry of Indigo, Dr. Schunck's researches have also done 

 much to elucidate the formation of the several colouring matters from 

 the leaves of the indigo plant and from woad. In 1853 he succeeded 

 in extracting from the leaves of the indigo plant an unstable glucoside 

 which he named Indican. This glucoside on hydrolysis with acids 

 yields glucose and indoxyl, which, in contact with air, is at once 

 oxidised to indigo. For some years Dr. Schunck cultivated the plant, 

 Polygonum tinctorium, in his garden at Kersal, and showed that the 

 colouring matter, identical with the indigo-purpurin of Baeyer, only 

 appears in the mature plant. His experiments were published in a 

 very interesting monograph, illustrated with coloured plates, showing 

 the influence of various reagents in bringing about the formation of 

 indigo in the leaves of this plant. 



The last years of his active life Dr. Schunck devoted to the study 

 of the constitution and function of chlorophyll the green colouring 

 matter of leaves. With much care and ingenuity he devised a method 

 for preparing chlorophyll in the pure state, and then prepared from it 

 an important series of derivatives, among which the most interesting 

 are phyllotaonin and its derivative phylloporphyrin a body closely allied 

 in chemical behaviour and in its absorption spectrum to hcematoporphyrin 

 obtained from the haemoglobin of the blood. Dr. Schunck advanced 

 the theory that chlorophyll plays a part in the plant similar to that of 

 haemoglobin in the animal ; the first acts as a carrier of carbonic acid 

 as the latter acts as a carrier of oxygen. 



In all the difficult investigations which Dr. Schunck undertook, it 

 was his aim and delight to prepare the purest possible specimens of the. 

 substances he investigated. The laboratory which he built at Kersal 

 gradually became a museum of rare and most beautiful specimens of 

 " colour chemistry." His laboratory was also celebrated for the finely- 

 ornamented room in which he kept his large and valuable library of 

 scientific books. By his will Dr. Schunck bequeathed the contents of 

 his laboratory, including his collections and scientific library, to the 

 Owens College. He also directed that the College should have the 

 use of the laboratory and the adjacent buildings and garden, under 

 certain conditions, for twenty-five years. Dr. Schunck's executors 

 have agreed to allow the College to remove the laboratory to a site on 

 the College premises adjoining the " Schorlemmer " organic laboratory, 

 where it is now being erected as a permanent memorial to Dr. Schunck. 

 In accordance with his wishes the " Schunck " Laboratory will be used 

 exclusively for research work. 



The gift of his collections and library to the Owens College fulfils 

 a purpose initiated some years ago, when Dr. Schunck presented the 

 College with 20,000 for the endowment of chemical research in 

 Manchester. The Schunck fund has been spent chiefly in the purchase 



