Nov. 1st, 1887.] 



SCIENTIFIC 'NKWS. 



209 



gerated, being scarcely perceptible in the original. The 

 height is somewhat shortened, owing to the fact that it 

 was necessary to represent it tipped forward a little, to 

 show some of the interior, This somewhat injures the 



Steel Goblet forged by hand without Drilling 

 OR Boring Tools. 



fine effect of the work at the junction of the stem and body. 

 It is a perfect goblet in every particular, the section through 

 the body being very thin and even, and the interior per- 

 fectly formed and very smooth. — American Machinist. 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, DUNDEE. 

 Opening Address by Professor Carnelley. 



PROFESSOR CARNELLEY said that in selecting a subject 

 for his address, it seemed to him that it would be a fitting 

 opportunity to give an account of a branch of chemistry which 

 promises to be one where some of the greatest discoveries of 

 the future will be made — discoveries which will be of the 

 greatest interest, not only from a scientific point of view, but of 

 the greatest importance as regards the welfare of the human 

 race and of those portions of the animal and vegetable kingdoms 

 which more especially minister to the needs and comforts of 

 man. This branch of chemistry we may conveniently term bio- 

 chemistry, or the chemistry of living things. It is that science 

 which treats of chemistry in its relation to life and its attendant 

 phenomena. It treats in brief of the action of dead matter on 

 life, and of the mutual action of life on dead matter. 



THE WONDERS OF THE LIVING ORGANISM. 



The elements of which the earth's crust is composed — viz., 

 oxygen, silicon, aluminium, iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, 

 and sodium — with the exception of aluminium, were absolutely 

 necessary for life. The living organism was a great chemical 

 laboratory — great not in a passive, but in an active sense ; not 

 as " being " but as " doing " ; not great in the outward sense to 

 the eye as occupying much space, and as having many elaborate 

 appliances, but truly great to the inward sense — to the mind, as 

 doing great and mighty things with small and apparently insig- 

 nificant means, and yet doing all silently, surely, and perfectly. 

 Think of the chemical changes brought about by the living 

 organism, how silently and how surely its ends are reached — 

 ends which are attained by the chemist in his laboratory only 

 by the mo.st crude and clumsy methods after many failures, and 

 often very incompletely and imperfectly, and only after the most 

 careful and elaborate thought. Think of the vegetable cell, so 

 minute, apparently so simple in structure, and so poor in means, 

 and yet a perfect laboratory in itself, carrying out many chemical 

 changes within its small compass, and producing compounds 

 which, at present, at least, are far beyond the ken of the most 

 accomplished chemist. 



WOHLER'S GREAT DISCOVERY. 



Formerly it was thought that the compounds produced by living 

 organisms were entirely distinct from those produced by the 

 chemist in his laboratory, and that the former could only result 

 from the action of the vital furce. This distinction was, how- 

 ever, done away with when in 1S2S Wohler produced urea arti- 

 ficially from inorganic materials. Since his day a very large 

 number of substances, such as alazarin, indigo, etc., formerly 

 only obtained from plants or animals, have been prepared 

 artificially by the chemist, and it was known that the same laws 

 regulate the chemistry of the products of both animate and 

 inanimate worlds. So much so is this the case, that when the 

 chemical constitution of any animal or vegetable product is 

 known, the chemist is able, as it were, to make it to order. 

 Though the chemist may make artifically most, if not all, the 

 compounds resulting from the action of the vital force in the 

 animal or vegetable cell, yet how the living organism produces 

 the same result is still as complete a mystery as ever. Nor do 

 our laboratory processes assist us in the least. For we cannot 

 suppose that a plant goes through the processes of distillation 

 and filtering treatment with such energetic agents as bromine, 

 chlorine, sodium, etc., as the chemist would employ in the 

 laboratory. 



THE ACTION OF DRUGS. 



The relation of chemical compounds— ?>., of non-living matter 

 — to living organisms is twofold:— (i) As regards the action of 

 the chemical compound on the living organism; and (2) as 

 regards the action of the living organism on the chemical com- 

 pound. The action, however, is a mutual one. Just as in 

 mechanics we have the well-known Newtonian law " that action 

 and reaction are equal and opposite," so in the case of the 

 administration of a drug, not only does the drug e.xert an influ- 

 ence on the living organism, but the latter in its turn exerts an 

 influence on the drug. Thus the first and proper physiological 

 action of morphia on the body is to produce sleep, and a 

 distinctly soothing effect upon the stomach in allaying vomiting. 

 In its passage through the body, however, the morphia not only 

 acts upon the organism as described, but the organism likewise 

 acts upon the morphia in such a way as to convert it into a 

 substance called oxydimorphia. Now, the physiological action 

 of the latter is almost the exact opposite of that of morphia 

 itself, so that instead of having a soothing effect it produces 

 excitement, with nausea or vomiting. Considerable judgment 

 is therefore required in the administration of morphia. 



MINUTE FORMS OF LIFE. 



The action of living organisms on chemical compounds was, 

 on account of the essential part which minute forms of life play 

 in affecting chemical changes, which are necessary for the well- 

 being of animated nature, of great importance. In many kinds 

 of fermentation, such as brewing, baking, extraction of dyes from 

 the woods ; in putrefaction, which is so necessary for getting rid 

 of deleterious organic matter ; in the nitrification of the soil, 

 whereby plants obtain the nitrogen required for their growth, 

 and more especially for their fructification ; in a large number, 



