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I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
VOl. 18, N o . 9
AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES John Jacob Abel R. JOHN J. ABEL, although officially classified as a pharmacologist, can very properly be identified with chemical science in America. His early training with some of the leading chemists and biochemists of Europe, his continued interest in the application of chemistry t o medicine, and most of all his own original investigations in biochemistry and the chemical side of pharmacology and physiology entitle him t o a n important place in the ranks of contemporary American chemists. After graduating from the University of Michigan, Dr. Abel spent a year in graduate study with the physiologist Newel1 Martin in the Johns Hopkins University, and from 1884 t o 1891 he was studying chemistry and medicine in some of the leading universities of Europe. The anatomists His, Braune, and Schwalbe; Carl Ludwig and Oswald Schmiedeberg, the leading figures of physiology and pharmacology of their time; the biochemists, Drechsel and Hoppe-Seyler ; the chemist, Wislicenus; great clinicians such as Wagner, Kussmaul, Erb, and Naunyn; and the pathologists Arnold and von Reckliarghausen were among his teachers during this period of European study. Their names and their specialties are sufficient evidence of the broad fundamental training which he received. After taking his medical degree a t Strassburg, he spent a year “walking the wards” in Vienna t o prepare himself better for practical medicine, which at t h a t time seemed the only outlet for a scientific career, owing t o the lack of full-time opportunities in scientific medicine in this country. To J. J . satisfy his keen desire for investigational work, he was drawn back t o the laboratories after this year of graduate clinical experience. Berne was the scene of his further activities, and there Von Nencki, the distinguished biochemist, was the drawing card. In January, 1891, Dr. Abel returned t o the United States to become professor of materia medica and therapeutics in the University of Michigan. Two years later he was called to the Johns Hopkins University as professor of pharmacology, a chair he has filled continuously for the last thirty-three years. During his first year as professor of pharmacology in the Johns Hopkins University, when the first class of eighteen members was the only one in the school, he lectured on physiological chemistry and gave the practical courses on that subject, and for many years thereafter the subject remained under his direction until his former associate, Dr. Walter Jones, was made professor of physiological chemistry in 1908. The research work of Dr. Abel deals with a wide range of subjects in the fields of biochemistry, physiology, and pharmacology. Among his more strictly chemical or biochemical investigations may be mentioned the discovery of ethyl sulfide in dog’s urine, chemical studies on the pigment of the negro’s skin, the isolation of the active constituent of the adrenal glands a s a benzoyl compound (epinephrine), his studies on the poisons of toadstools, the synthesis of new organic antimony derivatives
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for the treatment of sleeping sickness, the isolation of epinephrine and bufogine from a secretion of a Jamaican toad, the isolation of several amino acids from the circulating blood by means of his process of vivi diffusion, and his recent chemical investigations of the active principle of the pituitary gland. In the past few months he has announced the preparation in pure crystalline form of insulin, the chemical product of a portion of the pancreas which for the last five years has been so widely used as a crude extract in the treatment of diabetes. Of his other more strictly pharmacological researches mention will only be made here of those on the various phthaleins, which, in the h a n d s of h i s pupils, Rowntree and Geraghty, have led to results of great importance for practical medicine. I n addition to his own research work, Dr. Abel has been of great service in the advancement of science in this country by training men for important posts in his field, by founding scientific societies, and by starting journals for the publication of scientific work in special fields.’ Of his list of loyal and devoted pupils and their accomplishments, space prevents detailed mention. In October of this year his pupils and friends are expressing their great regard for Dr. Abel by publishing a memorial volume of their researches in his honor on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Johns Hopkins University. The founding of the American Society of Biological Chemists and the American S o c i e t y of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics was due t o Dr. Abel’s efforts. I n 1905, conjointly with the late Abel C. A. Herter he founded the Journal of Biological Chemzstry, which now appears in four volumes a year. I n 1909 he ceased editing this journal in collaboration with Dr. Herter and A. N. Richards, the assistant editor, and founded the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, which he still edits in association with Dr. Dixon of Cambridge, who has just succeeded the late Prof. A. R. Cushny as co-editor. Another aspect of his influence on medical science is t h a t exerted personally with the men with whom he comes into intimate contact. No one can associate long with Dr. Abel without appreciating his untiring devotion t o his scientific studies, his idealism and enthusiasm, his remarkable capacity for turning apparent defeat into victory, and his unique ability in dealing with minute amounts of complex chemical substances of biological importance. The following incident in connection with his most recent research on insulin is an a p t illustration of his pcrsonality. The day t h a t insulin crystals were first obtained after many months of laborious work, Dr. Abel had the misfortune t o suffer an accident, in which he sustained a broken leg. This painful fracture occupied only a minor portion of Dr. Abel’s thoughts compared with his insulin crystals. So great was his enthusiasm and desire t o complete his fundamental discovery, t h a t only a single day was lost from the laboratory. H e found that with the aid of crutches and a plaster cast the work could be continued as effectively as before. E. K. MARSHALL, JR.
