Quantitative laws in biological chemistry / by Svante Arrhenius.

  • Arrhenius, Svante, 1859-1927.
Date:
1915
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Quantitative laws in biological chemistry / by Svante Arrhenius. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PREFACE The development of chemical science in the last thirty years shows a steadily increasing tendency to elucidate the nature and reactions of substances pro- duced by living organisms. The problem has been attacked in two different ways, firstly, by the aid of the highly developed synthetic methods of organic chemistry—it will be enough to mention the brilliant work of Emil Fischer, Kossel, and their pupils— and secondly, by the powerful technical means afforded by the modern development of physical chemistry. The studies founded on the methods of organic chemistry aim at investigating the structural composition of the molecules of the chief products of organic origin and subsequently building them up synthetically. The physico-chemical methods, on the other hand, give an insight into the nature of the chemical processes which play an important role in the living world. The work of organic chemists in this region has been generally recognized as being of high scientific interest, but the same cannot be said regarding the work of physical chemists in the domain of physiological chemistry. It may be enough to cite one of the least aggressive utterances,