Obituary. 
167 
BENJAMIN MOOEE, M.A., D.Sc., F.E.S. 
It is with great regret that we have to record the death of 
Benjamin Moore, Whitley Professor of Biochemistry in the 
University of Oxford, at the early age of 56 ; he had made a 
partial recovery from an attack of influenza, but succumbed from 
heart failure on March 3rd. 
Moore was born and studied in Belfast, and at one time thought 
of following the profession of engineering, in which he had taken 
a Bachelor’s degree in the Queen’s University. He, however, came 
under the influence of Professor Edmund Letts, of Belfast, of whose 
teaching he always spoke with enthusiasm. From Belfast he came 
to University College, London, to study medicine — he did not, 
however, proceed to his final examinations until many years later, 
but was for five years assistant to Professor Schafer in the Depart- 
ment of Physiology. During these years he acquired such a reputa- 
tion, not only in biochemistry but for experimental work, that he 
was invited to Yale University as Professor of Physiology in the 
Medical School ; a few years later he returned to London to become 
lecturer in Physiology at the Charing Cross Medical School ; about 
this time he proceeded to the degree of Doctor of Science in his 
original University. 
In 1902 he was appointed to the newlyUounded Johnston 
Chair of Biochemistry at the Liverpool University, the first Chair 
in that subject to be established in this country. He held this 
professorship for twelve years, promoting research, and, as Dean of 
the Medical Faculty, taking an active share in the development 
of the Medical School during a period of rapid expansion. In 
1907 he qualified as M.B.C.S.(Eng.), L.B.C.P.(Lond.), and for a 
time devoted some attention to medico-political affairs. It was 
during this time that, in conjunction with Mr. Whitley, he founded 
the “ Biochemical Journal,” now the Journal of the Biochemical 
Society. He was elected F.E.S. in 1912. 
Always keenly interested in the problems of public health, 
Moore relinquished the Liverpool Chair in 1914, and accepted 
an invitation to join the Department of Applied Physiology under 
the Medical Eesearch Council. It was in this capacity that he 
investigated with his accustomed earnestness the problem of 
trinitro- toluene poisoning, which was causing so much trouble in 
munition factories. Finding the chief danger was due to the 
absorption of the material through the skin, he urged precautionary 
measures which were ultimately adopted. Less than two years ago 
he was elected to the Chair of Biochemistry at Oxford, then 
founded by Mr. Arthur Whitley, and became a Fellow of Trinity, 
the founder’s college. 
Moore’s field of interest in science was very wide — a man of 
