PROBLEMS OF CHEMISTRY 311 



THE AWESOME PROTEIDS 



Finally, let us remove our hats and shoes, and, bowing 

 low, ask with bated breath: What about the proteids? 

 What about them, indeed ? Let us, rather, go back to cellu- 

 lose and starch and recover our courage and our heads. 

 This atmosphere is stifling. I always feel like running 

 away when any one begins to talk about proteids in my 

 presence, and here I am, trying to write something about 

 them. I ought to be ashamed of myself. Quoting from a 

 text-book of physiology: " These [proteids] form the prin- 

 cipal solids of the muscular, nervous, and glandular tissues, 

 of the serum of blood, of serous fluids, and of lymph." 

 That tells the story. What could we do without them ? It 

 is not for me to say what we know about proteids. In my 

 youth I had a desire to attack these dragons, but now I 

 am afraid of them. Fortunately, there is no occasion here 

 for enlarging upon them. I only want to make clear the 

 fact that they are unsolved problems of chemistry; and, 

 let me add, they are likely to remain such for generations 

 to come. Yet every one who knows anything about chem- 

 istry and physiology knows that these proteids must be 

 understood, before we can hope to have a clear conception 

 of the chemical processes of the human body. Fortunately 

 for us, there are always some chemists who delight in 

 working upon the most difficult problems and are not will- 

 ing to take "No" for an answer. So that there is always 

 some one working on the proteids, and something is coming 

 of it. 



In the field of synthetic chemistry perhaps the most im- 

 portant problem among those that are unsolved is that 

 presented by protoplasm. I have recently heard of a 

 school, and a primary school at that, where the small chil- 

 dren are introduced to the mysteries of life by being told 

 "all about" protoplasm. If I were a pupil in that school, 

 I might be able to tell my readers what protoplasm is, but, 

 as I have not that privilege, I shall have to acknowledge 



