94 
decomposing the oxygen molecule, as a result of which not only 
would they themselves become oxidized, but other substances as 
well. This last was an application of Hoppe-Seyler’s theory of oxi- 
dation (1878). On the other hand, Schmiedeberg observed that 
these aromatic compounds are more rapidly oxidized than phos- 
phorus. This, he says, is evident from the fact that in phosphorus 
poisoning in man following the administration of 0.1 to 0.2 gram 
of the substance, some of the phosphorus apparently remained in 
the body in unaltered condition after death. Hence he distin- 
guishes between synthetic oxidations and those like the oxidation 
of phorphorus, and points out that it is only substances containing 
hydrogen that lend themselves to such oxidations as the former. 
He concludes also that in the .apparent activation of oxygen in such 
synthetic oxidations the living tissue acts not upon the oxygen mole- 
cule, but upon the oxidizable substance; otherwise it would oxidize 
the phosphorus as readily as the benzyl alcohol or salicylic aldehyde. 
Essentially similar views have recently been advanced by Mathews ( 289 ) 
in order to account for the oxidation of the sugars (see footnote, p. 56). 
Schmiedeberg also pointed out that all of these oxidation processes 
have this in common, viz., that the final product of the oxidation 
occurs in the urine in the form of a conjugated compound in which 
it is paired with sulfuric or glycuronic acid, or with glycol. Hence 
the production of phenol in the organism following the administra- 
tion of benzene may result from the following changes: 
OH OH 
(1) so/ +o+h i c 6 h 5 =so/ +h,o, 
'on i x oc 6 h 5 
and 
/OH 
09 S0 2 < +H 2 0 = S0 2 (0H) 2 + C 6 H 5 0H. 
x o.c 6 h 5 'I, 
See also Baumann and Herter ( 40 ). 
As a matter of fact, Schmiedeberg found that a dog which had 
received 24 grams of benzene, in eight doses in twenty-four hours, 
excreted 1.6907 grams of phenol, of which 1.1005 grams were found 
in combination with sulfuric acid. 
Several years later this subject was reinvestigated by Jacquet ( 222 ), j 
who showed, first, that the blood alone does not possess the power 
of accomplishing the oxidation of such substances as benzyl alcohol 
and salicylic aldehyde; second, that certain animal tissues or cell- 
free extracts thereof in contact with blood or atmospheric oxygen 
have the power of accomplishing the oxidation of these substances; 
third, that while such extracts lose their oxidizing power on boiling, 
their oxidizing powers are not destroyed by carbolic acid, quinine,' 
