PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY IN THE 

 SERVICE OF MEDICINE. 



I. On Physico-chemical Methods and Problems in 

 Medicine.* 



THE last decades have brought with them an amal- 

 gamation of two sciences, physics and chemistry, 

 which have no doubt always had mutual relations, 

 although formerly these were not so intimate or extensive 

 as they are now. 



This amalgamation was undoubtedly inaugurated 

 through physics, and must be attributed primarily to 

 the stimulus which brought with it the establishment of 

 the laws of thermodynamics. 



I cannot here sketch even briefly the development of 

 thermodynamics. As is well known, the law of the 

 conservation of energy as most clearly enunciated by 

 MAYER forms its foundation. The remarkable experi- 

 ments of JOULE next led to an exact determination 



* tJber physikalisch-chemische Methoden und Probleme in der 

 Medicin, Wien, 1900, M. Perles. Address delivered to the K. k. 

 Gesellschaft der Aerzte, Vienna, November 10, 1899. 



