Januaey 10, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



37 



the pure alkaloids by the chemist has put into 

 your hands the swift weapon of intravenous 

 injection and the same promise is held out for 

 the pure isolated principles of glands. 



Isolating and investigating pure principles 

 of food, of excretion, of physiological secretion, 

 even to the point of the structure of their 

 molecules, is a great and important task of 

 pure chemistry, but it deals with only half of 

 the great problem. Life is dynamic, it is 

 material in action, and hence there is another 

 great side to the problem of the chemistry of 

 life, namely, the relations of the laws of chem- 

 ical action to life. Every advance in our 

 studies in physical chemistry, the branch of 

 chemistry in which we study chemical dy- 

 namics, has found its important reflection, 

 often its immediate reflection in its applica- 

 tions to life phenomena. Thus, the principle 

 of the conservation of energy in chemical 

 changes forms the basis of a large and vital 

 part of the work on food values and their re- 

 lation to proi)er sustenance. Then, we have 

 the applications of the laws of solutions and of 

 the theory of ionization in the use of saline 

 injections, in the problems of fertilization as 

 studied by Loeb, in the study of the r^ulation 

 of the heart beat. We have the application of 

 the laws of reversibility and equilibrium by 

 Hill and by Emmerling to demonstrate the 

 reversibility of enzymic action and thus to 

 account in some measure for the synthetic 

 processes of protoplasm, without which life 

 would be impossible. The studies of the laws 

 of catalysis or acceleration of action is another 

 study fundamental for the understanding of 

 life, for, as Ostwald has said, our bodies are 

 wonderfully controlled machines in respect to 

 that fundamental factor of nature, the time 

 factor. I need not emphasize the significance 

 of the time factor in medicine, for we all 

 know that health and disease are distLuguished 

 in no way more characteristically than by such 

 time factors as heart-beat, respiration, rate of 

 growth, rate of elimination, of decay. Our 

 time controlling devices are essentially the 

 catalyzing enzymes and the investigations of 

 their mode of action, of their production and 



control in the body belong to the most im- 

 portant ones in medicine. Such diseases of 

 nutrition as gout and diabetes are most likely 

 the result of abnormalities of enzyme supply. 



How rapidly a discovery in physical chem- 

 istry may find its application in the study of 

 life activities is well illustrated by this in- 

 stance: Professor Wilder D. Bancroft at Cor- 

 nell University a few years ago made some 

 extremely interesting observations connecting 

 emulsions of oil in an aqueous medium with 

 the presence of sodium and calcium oleates 

 in the medium of the emulsion. By varying 

 the ratios he could produce at will an emulsion 

 of oil in the aqueous liquid or an emulsion of 

 the water fluid in tlie oil. These genial ob- 

 servations were hardly published when Dr. 

 Clowes, of Buffalo, applied their principles 

 successfully to such problems as the clotting 

 of blood, the coagulation of milk, the chem- 

 ical fertilization of eggs, a la Loeb, and to 

 anesthesia! This work is a brilliant instance 

 of the role played by colloid chemistry, the 

 chemistry of colloid dispersions, in life phe- 

 nomena. Since the major part of our bodies 

 is a complex aggregation of colloid systems 

 and since every particle of protoplasm is itself 

 a colloid, the importance of this side of chem- 

 istry for the study of life can not be over- 

 estimated. 



It is evident, therefore, that all phases of 

 physical chemistry as well as the analytical 

 and synthetical sides of pure chemistry are 

 finding vast fields of investigation for chem- 

 ists in the domain of medicine and its funda- 

 mental sciences, fields drawing to themselves 

 ever increasing numbers of ardent workers. 

 The friend and collaborator whose memory we 

 are cherishing to-night was himself an in- 

 defatigable worker in this great cause, whose 

 ultimate goal is a complete and masterful 

 knowledge of the science of living matter. 

 We can in no way pay greater tribute to his 

 memory and devoted career than to pledge 

 ourselves anew to continue our own modest 

 efforts toward the upbuilding of this monu- 

 mental undertaking of man's courage and 

 genius, although we well know that only fu- 



