October 6, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



483 



has too often shared the fate of the bat in 

 the fable: when we appeal for support to 

 the clinicians we are told that we represent 

 an experimental science, while when we at- 

 tempt to ally ourselves with the physiol- 

 ogists we are sometimes given the cold 

 shoulder as smacking too much of the clinic. 

 As a matter of fact, we should have a 

 footing in each camp, or, rather, in each 

 division of the allied forces. And the more 

 recent successes in the application of 

 pharmacology to diseased conditions are 

 now beginning to gain it a rather grudging 

 recognition from clinicians, while the alli- 

 ance with the biological sciences is being 

 knit ever more closely. The effect of chem- 

 ical agents in the living tissues has assumed 

 a new and sinister aspect since the enemy 

 has resorted to the wholesale use of poisons 

 against our troops, but I must leave this 

 for the discussion to-morrow. 



I wish to-day to discuss an aspect of 

 pharmacological investigation which has 

 not been adequately recognized even by the 

 pharmacologists themselves and which it is 

 difficult to express in few words. In re- 

 cent years great advances have been made 

 in the chemical examination of the complex 

 substances which make up the living organ- 

 ism, and still greater harvests are prom- 

 ised from these analytic methods in the 

 future. But our progress so far shows that 

 while general principles may be reached 

 in this way, the chemistry of the living 

 organ, like the rainbow 's end, ever seems as 

 distant as before. And, indeed, it is appar- 

 ent that the chemistry of each cell, while 

 possessing general resemblances, must differ 

 in detail as long as the cell is alive. No 

 chemistry dealing in grams, nor even micro- 

 chemistry dealing in milligrams, will help 

 us here. We must devise a technique deal- 

 ing with millionths to advance towards the 

 living organism. Here I like to think that 

 our work in pharmacology may perhaps 



contribute its mite; perhaps the action of 

 our drugs and poisons may be regarded as 

 a sort of qualitative chemistry of living 

 matter. For chemical investigation has 

 very often started from the observation of 

 some qualitative reaction, and not infre- 

 quently a good many properties of a new 

 substance have been determined long before 

 it has been possible to isolate it completely 

 and to complete its analysis. For example, 

 the substance known now as tryptophane 

 was known to occur in certain substances 

 and not in others long before Hopkins suc- 

 ceeded in presenting it in pure form. And 

 in the same way it may be possible to deter- 

 mine the presence or absence of substances 

 in living tissues, and even some of their 

 properties, through their reaction to chem- 

 ical reagents, that is, through the study of 

 the pharmacology of these tissues. A 

 simple example may render the point 

 clearer : It is possible that if the toxicity of 

 the saponins to different cells were accu- 

 rately known, the relative importance of 

 the lecithins in the life of these cells might 

 be estimated, and this might give a hint to 

 the chemist in approaching their analysis. 

 I do not claim that pharmacological inves- 

 tigation can at present do much more than 

 the qualitative testing of the tyro in the 

 chemical laboratory, but even a small ad- 

 vance in the chemistry of living matter is 

 worthy of more attention than this has re- 

 ceived hitherto. 



All forms of living matter to which they 

 have free access are affected by certain poi- 

 sons, and some of these have obvious chem- 

 ical properties which suggest the method of 

 their action ; thus the effects of alkalies and 

 acids and of protein precipitants hardly 

 need discussion. Others such as quinine 

 and prussic acid, which also affect most 

 living tissues, have a more subtle action. 

 Here it is believed that the common factor 

 in living matter which is changed by these 



