AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES: Thomas B. Osborne - Industrial

AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES: Thomas B. Osborne. E. Jenkins. Ind. Eng. Chem. , 1925, 17 (4), pp 433–433. DOI: 10.1021/ie50184a035. Publication Date: ...
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INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY

April, 1925

433

AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES Thomas B. Osborne T is rarely that a young man, with a taste for thc so-cal1i.d 'practical affairs of life, and skill and practice in mechsuical iuvention, turns from it to devote his whole life to the study of a very difficult chemical problem and wins succcss in it. Such is DT. Oshorne's story in brief. The genius of the inventor had shown in earlier work, before he ioined the staff of the Connecticut Agricultural Station, of which S. W. Johnson was then director. Perhaps this genius was in part inherited. His grandfather, Eli Wbitney Blake, named for his uncle, the inventor of the cotton gin, was also an inventor, and the Blake stoue-crusher, which he devised, made possible the unversa1 use of hard rock for road construction and is the hasis of sf1 the present rockreducing machines. Osbonie's invcntioii ui metliode of extracting, purifying. and then lireaking up proteins of diverse character into their smaller and more manageable iragmeots bas been as hard a job as the invention of machines for reducing igneous rocks. He has succeeded in separating in pure condition a large number of vegetable proteins, studying their properties, solubility, licat of combustion, specific rotation, anaphylactic reactions. and resolvina - tliem into their constituent radicals for further study. Thomas He has, one might say, been an anatomist, and later a physiologist, of the protein compkx. When as a boy I first studied chemistry, I learned that the formula of albumin was CrnHitoNmO~sPS. That was that, and as Dogberry said, "Why then, take no note of him *** and thank God you are rid of a knave." The work of others, Ritthausen, Klihne, and Chittenden, had taken note of this unsuhdued knave and bad contributed much, hoth in method and results, but Osborne's work remains prcerninent in this field. By it the ~~

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basis has been laid for new conceptions of the nature of digestion and assimilation, which has alievdv hecome of economic imnorlance to the physician and stock-feeder. It has taken thirty-five years of his life. in the study and laboratory entirely devoted to this particular object, putting aside tempting invitations t o engage in niore remunerative work elsewhere and the other temptation to exploit his work in popular articles. Pcrhaps the first public recognition of his work came in 1897 in a volume bv Griesmever. _ ,in Miinich. which consisted chie0y of translations and abstracts of Oshorne's work, witli this statement in the preface: "It was my object to bring to light these treasures buried in their American publications, which were skilfully planned and executed with the most scrupulous thoroughness." And still his thirst is unsatisfied. He is now studying protcins as they are found in the cells of the living plant. There is no space to do more than mention the studies which hc and I,. B. Mendel, of Yale, have made of the nutritive value of thhe different proteins, thhe development of a unique and successful method of carrying out long-time nutrition experiments with animals, and their work on the vitamins. These are more familiar to us all. His fellow bank directors and his familiar acauaintances a t the Graduate Club will testify that he is no recluse and that his is B. Oaborne no one-trsck mind. But for one who has been associated with him ior forty years and who has almost daily seen and admired his devotion to this research, his dogged perseveraim in overcoming difficulties, his disappointments and his successes, to write anything more intimate regarding the man liimsdf is not possible. Happy is the director of a n institution who has such a man for his example and his friend. ~~

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E. H. JENXINS

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