274 The American Naturalist. [April, 
glands and organs, and that the physician of the future will 
be able partly to maintain the metabolic equilibrium of the 
body, or to restore that equilibrium when disturbed, by supply- 
ing the missing substances. 
The composition of the yeast-cell, its metabolism when fed 
on different substances and under different conditions, the de- 
termination of the sugars which it will, or will not ferment, and 
the isolation of its special ferments, are problems important for 
the brewer, the winemaker and the baker. 
The questions thus brifly indicated form a well-defined 
group. They constitute the problems of one science. Many 
of these problems cannot be satisfactorily dealt with either by 
the organic chemist alone or the physiologist alone. The 
biochemist needs both a theoretical and practical knowledge 
of animal and plant morphology and physiology, which is 
largely superfluous in the analysis and synthesis of the great 
majority of organic substances. On the other hand these 
problems cannot be left to the physiologist, for few physiologists 
have the time or opportunity to acquire the necessary chemical 
knowledge. Even pure physiology alone is so broad that one 
is rarely found thoroughly familiar with more than a portion 
of it. 
It is for these reasons desirable that the independent posi- 
tion of biochemistry should be recognized, and equipment and 
means provided for its development. And it is an encouraging 
sign of the times that so eminent an organic chemist as Emil 
Fisher, has recently spoken strongly for the independent posi- 
tion of biochemistry. 
In Europe, largely owing to the winning personality and 
untiring labors of the late Felix Hoppe-Seyler, the science is 
now beginning to receive recognition. The modern science of 
biochemistry, indeed, may be said to have been founded by 
this illustrious man; for, although previous to him work had 
been done in a biochemical direction by chemists, physiolog- 
ists, agriculturists, and others, he was the first to urge the inde- 
pendent position of this science. An Institute and Professorship 
of Physiological Chemistry were established for him at Strass- 
burg. He founded a journal in which papers treating of bio- 
