January, 1929
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AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES Russell Henry Chittenden N E of the recollections of my youth is the reading of the it is a long time since anyone has thought such crass crudities, for the men who thus “wasted” became the leaders in their clear-cut medico-legal evidence given in a celebrated New Haven case by a young man named Chittenden. profession. Chittenden and his school provided teachers in physiological chemistry in thirty-one institutions. I was partly reared a t Guilford, Conn., upon the ancestral lands In his laboratory Chittenden worked unceasingly winter and of my maternal grandfather, which has been in the Chittenden family by direct descent since the first immigration in 1639. summer for many years until failing health brought doctors’ I t is of this young man Chittenden, of his influence and person- orders that he must seek recreation. Like Charles Darwin in a similar predicament, he a t first did not know where to find pleasality, that I am privileged t o write. ure outside of his own work. Fortunately, He was graduated a t the Sheffield Scientific however, he discovered that he was fond of School at the age of nineteen. He then purfishing, and the waters of Maine and Florida sued a special course in physiological chemhave brought him health and happiness. istry, was shortly made assistant in the subThey also gave the world a masterpiece, his ject, and on account of manifest fitness was “Physiological Economy in Nutrition,” which given charge of the laboratory. In 1880 and showed that health and strength could be again in 1882 he studied with Kiihne in maintained upon a low protein dietary. He Heidelberg, in the interim teaching at Yale. has recorded the laboratory findings upon I n 1880 Yale conferred upon him the degree himself during a period of a year and a half. of Ph.D., and in 1882, when he was twentyChristmas passed with no alteration of his six years old, he became professor of physregimen. Only once, on the occasion of the iological chemistry in the Sheffield Scientific annual dinner of the American Physiological School. This position he held for forty years, Society, did the daily protein intake show a but prior t o this he had been a student for slight increase, a proof-were any neededthree years and an instructor for seven, so of the humanity of his character. that fifty years of his life was intimately In the winter of 1918 Chittenden and I identified with that of the university. In went to Europe as members of the Interallied 1898 he became director of the Sheffield Scientific Food Commission under instrucScientific School and guided its destinies for tions from our Government to reduce the food twenty-four years. requisitions upon the United States to a Now what did he accomplish? He built up m i n i m u m . T h e Food Committee of the the first true school of scientific endeavor conRussell Henry Chittenden Royal Society had adopted 3000 utilizable c e r n e d with premedical education in this country; that is t o say, he formed a group calories per day as the requirement of an consisting of the master himself surrounded with pupils who in average man doing an average day’s work, and a t the Paris their turn became masters. And later as director of the Sheffield meeting of the Interallied Commission their representatives were Scientific School he added to the resources of the institution great inflexible in holding t o this position. Before one of the meetings, laboratories of mechanical and electrical engineering, the fine while walking over the Pont Royal which took us to the left dormitories of the Vanderbilt quadrangle, and many other buildbank of the Seine, Chittenden said to me, “Lusk, we are here ings, while his own department carried on in an ancient residence to aid these suffering peoples to the maximum of our power.” once the home of Mr. Sheffield, which had been converted into a -4few minutes later he said before the startled commission, “If laboratory. This old-fashioned house had few modern conven- you will not hear us we might as well go home.” This led to iences, which, however, counted as little in comparison with the the unanimous adoption of a modification of statement that read: high development of the mental processes of the human beings “It was agreed that in case this ration could not be provided a associated together for a great purpose. In the laboratory Chit- reduction of not more than 10 per cent could be borne for some tenden worked hard and demanded the same of others. One of time without injury t o health.” his students, who suffered from physiological laziness in college, Chittenden was a friend of Lord Bryce, whom he had enterhas said he never worked so hard for any man and nevertheless tained in New Haven, and others in England respected his was awarded scant praise for his endeavor. Another, the well- opinions, though in the nature of things the mission was not known pediatrician, the late Dr. John Howland, said t h a t he popular. He spoke well, clearly, and always forcibly. His received a greater stimulus from his course under Chittenden weekly letters to Mr. Hoover were models of accurate observathan was obtainable in the medical schools of that day. Chitten- tions transmitted from England, France, and Italy, and served den diverted Harvey Cushing from the contemplated study of to enlighten the Food Administration a t Washington with regard architecture into medicine. He inspired Theodore Janeway, to events during the difficult winter of 1918. This was a t a time I?. P. Joslin, Samuel W. Lambert, Richard P. Strong, Joseph A . when fifteen large British ships were being sunk weekly by subBlake, John A . Hartwell, Lewis A. Conner, L. B. Mendel, A . N. marines and unnumbered others were limping back to port, and Richards, Gideon Wells, and many others, and gave them the when food from the United States was of supreme importance. power t o become great teachers of mankind. He would persuade Chittenden is short in stature and slender in frame, with pierca pupil to spend an extra year with him after graduation and ing dark eyes which nothing escapes, a true born New Englander, work in physiological chemistry. One heard it said in those shrewd and able. By scientific conviction he is of frugal habits days that such a one was “wasting a year with Chittenden,” but and-except for fishing-he has never sought personal pleasure.
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His greatest joy lies in the realization of the help he has given to the many distinguished men who have been his pupils. Through the Chittenden school of biological chemistry and largely through his personal influence the subject which he expounded has attained greater prominence in the United States than in any other country. As Germany honors a Kossel, so this country, did it have a like appreciation of scientific values, would honor a Chittenden. It is reported that Henry Ford is interested in scientific nutrition. No more appropriate undertaking could be imagined
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than a Chittenden Laboratory of Nutrition a t Yale University. The statement that water can flow no higher than its source is contradicted by the appearance of the great Imperial Government Laboratory a t Tokyo in charge of a pupil of Chittenden. There is no reason why an institute of nutrition should not be as extended as the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, for this country consumes the equivalent of twelve billion dollars worth of food per annum and exports a large surplus. There is every reason why such an institute should bear the name of LUSK Russell Henry Chittenden. GRAHAM
BOOK REVIEWS Annual Survey of American Chemistry. Volume 111-July 1, 1927, to July 1, 1928. Prepared under the auspices of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the National Research Council. Edited by CLARENCE J. WEST. 395 pages. The Chemical Catalog Company, Inc., New York, 1928. Price, $3.00. Fifty-three experts, many of them of considerable distinction, have reviewed the year’s contribution t o chemical advancement in America. This work has been classified under forty-six chapter headings and it would seem improbable that anything had escaped. But, for instance, one does not find a chapter on electrochemistry, and it is not likely that all the contributions in this field have received adequate notice elsewhere in the book. It is a very impressive demonstration of the amount and character of work done in our country. Moreover, most of the chapters make very interesting reading and will undoubtedly prove helpful t o workers in the several fields. Having demonstrated how well their task can be accomplished, cannot those responsible for the enterprise be induced to make future volumes truly worth while by including reviews of the year’s foreign work as well as the domestic? After all, chemistry is not American, nor can there be such a thing as a n American Chemistry. Some of the contributors have done little more than list titles, so that the reader learns that Smith worked on so and so, but nothing of what Smith found or accomplished. Others have been bold enough t o offer occasional running criticisms, which, in every case this reviewer noted, have been t o the advantage of the text. Again, other contributors have proposed, in more or less specific terms, subjects for research. This does not appeal t o this reviewer as worth while, competent workers will find their problems of themselves. Perhaps a minor criticism is the :ornewhat lurid use of prepositions in many of the chapters. Crystallizing out,” “crystallizing out of,” “flattening out,” “scaling off of” are unfortunate expressions frequently encountered. The book must appeal t o every chemist who has an occasional hour t o “browse,” and he will find it, among other things, a pleasa n t and profitable task t o see how one and the same article has made its different appeals to two or more of the experts responsible for the various chapters.-FRANK K. CAMERON
altogether from the influence of the involved construction of the original text, nor of its descriptive terms, as evidenced in the legend “Powdery Dynamites” for Chapter XIX, when in English the terms “pulverulent” or “granular” are commonly used. The most serious matter for criticism is the use of the term “permissible” in the title and throughout the text of Chapter XXIII, which deals with nitroglycerin explosives for use in gaseous and dusty coal mines. “Permissible explosive” IS a highly specified term adopted by the U. S. Bureau of Mines t o designate such explosives as have passed its prescribed tests in its particular form and design of apparatus, the first such list having appeared May 15, 1909. This chapter opens, however, with a historical review of the development of systems of testing explosives for use in gaseous and dusty coal mines, beginning aoproximately in 1884, and the author points out in great detail that, because of the differences in the conditions surrounding the making of the tests and the varying practices that prevail in different countries, the list of these official explosives for use in coal mines varies with the country issuing the list. As “permissible explosives” are designed to protect life and property by decreasing the dangers attending coal-mining, it is most unfortunate that this confusion has been introduced. Through the make-up of the book, with other dimensions the same, the thickness of the translation is 6 cm., where that of the original is but 2 cm. I n fact, the book is so large as t o be cumbersome and, with the large increase in the rate of publication of books, one is led t o wonder where, if their sizes increase at such a rate as this, we may find the space in which to store them. Notwithstanding the above criticisms, this work is the most authoritative and up t o date on its subject eXtant.-cHARLES E. MUNROE Colloid Symposium Monograph. Volume VI. Papers presented at the Sixth Symposium on Colloid Chemistry, University of Toronto, June, 1928. Edited by HARRYBOYER WSISER. 346 pages. The Chemical Catalog Company, Inc., New York, 1928. Price, $6.50.
The Sixth Colloid Symposium became an international meeting with speakers from Canada, England, Germany, and the States. In this volume are published the twenty-five papers presented. About two-thirds of these papers are equally divided Nitroglycerine and Nitroglycerine Explosives. BY PHOKION between biological topics and various aspects of adsorption and interfacial phenomena. Several papers illustrate industrial NAOUM,translated into English by E. M. SYMMES. The problems with colloid features; the remainder treat of gels, World Wide Chemical Translation Series, edited by E. EM- coagulation, and miscellaneous topics. The place of honor is deservedly held by an essay in which MET REID. 469 pages. The Williams & Wilkins Company, Sir William B. Hardy, pioneer in the field of colloid science and Baltimore, 1928. Price, $7.00. guest of honor a t the Symposium, offers a fascinating discussion When the original of this text, written by the director of the of the intriguing physico-chemical problems presented by living research laboratories of the Nobel Dynamite Company in Ham- matter. Other biological papers attracting the reviewer’s attenburg, appeared in 1924, it was widely reviewed and highly tion are H. A. Abramson’s describing the remarkable permeapraised. It is fortunate that its translation into English has bility of various gels t o blood cells and other microobjects been undertaken by an American chemist who has had a con- undergoing cataphoretic migration; A. Stamm’s ingenious use siderable and intimate contact with the dynamite works of the of various colloid and capillary phenomena to reveal the strucHercules Powder Company. The chief adverse criticism of the ture of wood; and the coordination of the surface properties and original text was its omission of any reference to American phagocytosis of bacteria by Stuart Mudd, et al. Useful technics are described by J. B. Nichols (ultra-centrifuge), E. A. Hauser practice. The translator has met this criticism by introducing (micro-vulcanizer), and D. R. Briggs (electrokinetics and surface observations from his experience in American manufacture, conductance). An interesting c o d i c t in viewpoint appears in generally in the form of footnotes. The translation of so large a book on so technial a subject was papers by W, D. Harkins and J. W. McBain concerning the cause for discrepancies between Gibbs’s adsorption equation and a considerable undertaking, which Mr. Symmes has, on the whole, performed very well. He has not, however, escaped direct measurements. Harkins’ argument seems the more con-
