THE NEW FRENCH INSTITUTE OF PHYSICO-CHEMICAL BIOLOGY1
A bequest of 30 million francs for the establishment of an Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology was made about three years ago by Barou Edmond de Rothchild. Since then the form of organization of the Institute has been determined, many members of its staff selected, and the construction of the new laboratories completed. Barou Edmond de Rothchild became interested in the development of science many years ago and his previous gifts include 10 million francs for research in physics and chemistry. The revenues from this fund are used to aid investigators and for the purchase of apparatus and material needed by them. He is also one of the contributors to the recently established Henri Poimare Institute. Baron Rothchild was a personal friend of Claude Bernard and learned from him that the most effective development of biology requires the aid of both physics and chemistry. In a letter to M. Paul Appel, former rector of the University of Paris, Baron Rothchild mentions some of the reasons which led him to found the new institute. He wrote: I knew Claude Bernard intimately. He often came to dine a t our house with his friend Davesne and frequently brought Pasteur. As you know, Davesne was also a great genius whose superiority was not justly appreciated. To him is due the honor of being among the first t o recognize the existwce of the organisms responsible for diseases. I n the conversations which we had he emphasized the importance of this discovery. Since his time attention has been so intensh.ely directed toward the study of bacteria that most of the great work in general biology has been abandoned; cansequently, i t has appeared to me that research along this line should he resumed. It is necessary, however, in doing so that the aid of physics and chemistry should be enlisted t o the fullest extent since it is now evident t o the scien-c world that in reality life, after once inaugurated, does not continue except by physico-chemical reactions.
The investigations which will be pursued in the new institute are thus sharply defined. Biology will have a t its disposition all the resources which can he supplied by physics and chemistry. These three branches of science will be united in a single organization and thus be employed jointly in the study of problems which they could not solve separately. The new institution will provide facilities for biological research such as have not existed in France up to this time and will, therefore, not duplicate the work of any other French laboratory. The new Institute is being erected on Rue Pierre Curie in the university, or Latin, quarter of Paris and in the midst of the Institutes of Radium, Applied Chemistry, Physico-Chemistry, and that of Henri Poincare. Translation by A. Seidell, Hygienic Laboratory, U. S. Public Health Service, Washington, D. C. Doctor of Science, Assistant Biological Chemist.
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The site was a part of a large property which belonged to the University of Paris. Some 30 years ago it was occupied by a convent surrounded by gardens and wheat fields. It may he expected that the harvest which French youth will here cultivate with so much faith in science, will be as abundant and beautiful as the golden grain which formerly ripened on this hill of Sainte GeneviPve near the Sorbonne and Pantheon. The several E. de Rothchild foundations have been placed under the direction of a council consisting of twentyfour members. Some of these have been designated by scientific organizations and the others selected by the Council itself. M. Paul Appel has been chosen as president. There are two committees of the Council, one for physics and chemistry and the other for biology. Among the members of the latter are Messrs. Jean Perrin, dPArsonval,and Ch. Richet. The Council has also designated a permanent commission charged with the administration and with the coordination of the worE to be pursued in the Institute of Physico-Qhemical Biology. This commission is composed of Messrs. Perrin, Urhain, Mayer, and P. Girard, and it is to the last-named of these that the administration of the new Institute has been assigned. ~ ; , , ; t i , , , ,I,,,,,,.,.,. i ; , i , , , , , ~ I ~ s r r ' i . r r r "1: t Prr~src,,-Crm.~r~ There will be no courses of instruction, CAL BIULOOY. RUE I'ISKR* since the entire activities of the Institute CURIE, I'AR~S Theestablishmentof thisInstiwill be devoted to research. The work tute has been made possible will he conducted by trained scientists under the direction of the chiefs of the site, belonging originally to the several divisions. The Institute will have University of Paris,wasoccu~ied a permanent staff as well as offer its some 30 years ago as a convent. facilities to qualified persons who may desire to pursue special research in physico-chemical biology for longer or shorter periods. The seven divisions into which the work has been divided are: physics, chemistry, physiology, biological physics, biological chemistry, biologicalphysical chemistry, and experimental cytology. The chief of the division of physics is M. Jean Perrin, who is a member of
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the Institute of France and a professor in the Sorbonne. It is unnecessary to mention all of the admirable work to which this eminent physicist owes his renown. Attention may be called, however, to the decisive experiments by which he demonstrated that the cathodic rays, which are produced when an electric discharge traverses a rarefied gas, always cany with them negative electricity and are deviated by an electric field. More recently, generalizing from the results of his work on the phenomena of luminescence, he was led to the remarkable theory, according to which there are no chemical reactions without emission or absorption of infra red, visible or ultraviolet radiations. Finally, it will be remembered that in 1926 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discoveries in the field of the atomic theory of matter. While studying the law of distribution in a suspension of the grains of gutta gum he succeeded in determining the Avogadro number with a remarkable precision. This number enters into many formulas of physics and the knowledge of its value permits, among other things, the estimation of weights of molecules and of atoms in chemical compounds. M. Jean Perrin's son, Francis Perrin, will be in active charge of the division of physics. His researches have been directed particularly to the question of fluorescence from the standpoint of chemical kinetics. While studying the variation in the polarization of fluorescent light he succeeded JEAN PERRIN, OF in det&mining the mean duration of PHYSICS the active state during which a molecule is susceptible of reacting. He also found certain factors which can shorten this duration and provide an explanation of negative catalyzers. The chief of the division of chemistry is M. Georges Urbain, who, like M. Jean Perrin, is a professor in the Sorbonne and a member of the Institute of France. His name is intimately connected with the chemistry of the rare earths. His work on this subject has cleared up much of the confusion which previously existed. By means of systematic fractional crystallization and the use of bismuth as a differentiating agent he has developed a rational classification of the rare earths and has discovered the elements, lutecium and neoytterbium, the latter of which is now known as ytterbium.
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His determinations of atomic weights have been accepted by the International Commission of which he is a member. Finally, attention should be called to his work on spectroscopy, mapetism; and cathode phosphorescence. The assistants of M. Urbain, who will be directly in charge of the work in the division of chemistry of the new Institute, will be Messrs. Levaillant and Aug6. The chief of the division of physiology is M. ~ n d r kMayer of the College de France. He was among the first French biologists to employ physicochemical methods in the study of the osmotic pressure and viscosity of the Geono~sUREATX,Cnmr o r DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY liquids of the organism. He also conducted some of the earliest researches upon colloids, the colloidal state, and colloidal complexes, as well as upon the action of radium on colloids and living cells. In the field of physiology he has been occupied with urinary secretion and the mechanism of the injections used in the control of dialjetes. He has given much attention to developing the idea of the constant and characteristic composition of cells and tissues. His results show that certain elements are present in them in fixed proportions which may be considered as "cellular constants." The sum total of all these constants may be designated as "chemical biometrics." The most recent work of Professor Mayer is concerned with the relations between the composition of the cells and their function, particularly the oxidations of which they are the seat. The division of physiology is divided into a section of animal physiology and one of vegetable physiology. The former will be lodged in a separate pavilion connected with the main building by a closed passage way. It will be in MA,.En, C,,,,i,. D1vlslo~ PHYSIOLOGY charge of the young physiologist, Dr.
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Th. Cahn, who was formerly a t the University of Strasbonrg. His laboratory will be provided with an aseptic operating room, as well as the usual research laboratories and necessary equipment required for physiological studies such as animal rooms, kitchens, etc. The section of vegetable physiology, for which hot and cold plant propagating houses are being built, will be under the direction of Dr. I,. Plantefol. This investigator has given attention particularly to the rBle of water in the life process of mosses. This work is designed to form the basis of a general biological study of the relation between the morphology, the physiology, and JACQUES D u c ~ ~ uCxH. I E F OP DIVISION the ecology of a given vegetable OF COLLOIDS species. Dr. Plantefol has also devoted considerable attention to the measurement of gaseous exchanges and has constructed for this purpose a eudiometer of high precision and published tables of constants for it. The divkion of physico-chemical biology is under the direction of Dr. Pierre Girard, who has devoted much attention to the part played by contact electricity and the polarization of membranes in biological phenomena. He has succeeded in preparing models which exhibit selective permeability, such as occurs through the cornea and ciliary vessels. More recently he has demonstrated an unstable electrostatic equilibrium in the case of a membrane functioning as a separator of ions. The passage of some of the ions of the molecules and not of the others in this case adjusts the equilibrium and remarkable catalytic oxido-reduction effects are obtained. The direction of the Institute's efforts in the important field of colloids
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has been delegated to Dr. Jacques Duclaux of the Pasteur Institute. He was among the first to give expression t o ~ t h echemical theory of colloids. He also called attention a t about the same time as McLewis and J. Perrin to the r81e of radiations in ordinary reactions. The division of biological physics is in charge of Dr. RenC Wurmser who is the director of the laboratory of biophysics of the &ole des Hautes fCtudes. His attention has been directed particularly to chlorophyllic assimilation and questions of photo-chemistry. His researches have also included problems of physical chemistry which arise in other types of synthesis, such as accompany the development of microorganisms. He has shown that the theory of oxido-reduction may find an experimental confirmation in the comparative study of cellular potentials and of the potentials of the various organic compounds which occur in organisms. These studies, which will be continued in the new Institute, have already furnished important information on the non-activity of oxygen in cells and upon the existence of a reversible form of sugar solely capable of entering into reaction with the acceptors of hydrogen. The chief of the division of chemical biology is Dr. EugPne Aubel, formerly professor of biological chemistry a t the University of Bordeaux. His work has been concerned with intermediate metabolism both in animals and in unicellular organisms. He has also given attention to oxido-reduc-
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tions and their r81e in fermentations and synthesis. In recent years he has sought to substitute for the hypotheses based solely upon structure, which have guided the studies of intermediate metabolism, a conception founded on energy constants. By means of this he has developed an explanation of specific dynamic action which he is now subjecting to laboratory verification. Finally, the chief of the division of experimental cytology is Professor Faur&Fr&miet of the Coll2ge de F-ance. He has studied and discovered many species of protistes, simple organisms which are neither animal nor vegetable. He is one of the pioneers in the study of the energetics of the development of the egg. He has also cleared up many points in the chemistry of the mitochondries, which are the minute bodies constantly present in protoplasm and which are apparently composed of a complex of protides and lipides. It is in his laboratory that tissue culture will be continued in the same manner as already so actively prosecuted in his laboratory a t the Coll6ge de France. The new Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology will therefore bring together many scientists already widely known and admired, and of whom their past achievements are a certain guarantee of their future success. There will also be a large number of younger workers of whom much may be expected. The combined efforts of this newly constituted group of highly trained scientists should certainly result in the sblution of many fundamental biological problems and contribute largely to the advancement of science.
Cheap Aluminum Chloride. Aluminum chloride is a particularly effective reagent, but its high price has hitherto prevented its industrial use. It is thus of interest to note that Dr. McAfee, of the Gulf Refining Co., Texas, has developed a process whereby the price is reduced t o only a few cents a pound. The process, work on which was started in 1915 and which has withstood patent litigation, is as follows: Bauxite ore (low in iron and silica) is calcined in a n internally heated rotary kiln a t 1800°F. and mixed with a good coking coal (bauxite 3 pts., coal 1 pt.). The mixture is then pulverized, mixed with a liquid binder (wax tailings, melted asphalt), briquetted under 3000 lb. pressure per sq. in. to 2-lb. briquets. These are heated t o 1500DF.to remove hydrocarbons and moisture, the briquets then containing 82% bauxite and 18% carbon. They are then charged to the chlorinating furnace (internal diameter 5 ft.. height 20 ft., capacity 40,000 lb. aluminum chloride per day), built of two courses of firebrick, protected by a layer of powdered bauxite with an external iron jacket fitted with inlets a t the top for chloride and a t the bottom an outlet for aluminum chloride leading through a coder to iron pipe condensers. A charge consists of 20 tons of carbonized briquets, which are heated by a blast to some 1600°F.. when chlorine is turned in for 8 to 10 hrs., and then the charge is replenished and heat restored. A lining has a life of about 100 days. The aluminum chloride made is used by the company for refining petroleum oils, but any surplus will be available for sale.-Clremidry end
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