VoL. 6.No. 9
HIGH-SCHOOL ESSAYS
1425
THE IMPORTANCE OF CHEMISTRY IN HEALTH AND DISEASE*
When they formulated our present government, our forefathers displayed the characteristic spirit of achievement that is America's most prized possession. This spirit has exhibited itself, occasionally, here and there throughout the world since the beginning of the American nation only to burn feebly or to die altogether. But in the scientific research laboratories of the world, and especially in America, it has been fostered and enriched until finally, sweeping the universe, i t has rocked the very foundations of disease and started millions on the highway of health. The excellent health of the majority of American people is an undying memorial to those frontiersmen whose names have gone down in the historv of chemistrv and medicine as "Architects of Health." While chemistry has exhibited its handiwork in nearly every field of human endeavor, its enterprises into the sphere of medicine have fiven the most gratifying results. The most outstanding of the medical problems that they have atC . JELLEFP CARR tempted to solve are the preparation of better and more powerful antiseptics, the isolation of active principles of the human glands, the discovery of better anesthetics, the building up of our knowledge of nutrition, and lastly the prevention of disease by the removal of the cause.
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Antiseptics As one enters Remsen Hall a t Johns Hopkins University and starts ascending the stairs, he comes face to face with a beautiful tablet bearing this inscription. "Behind this tablet repose the ashes of Ira Remsen 1 8 4 6 1927." Was there ever a more fitting memorial to any man? He slumbers * Prize-winning high-schwl essay, 1928-29
close to his beloved chemistry, so enriched, so broadened, by his undying enthusiasm. He has made approximately 180 original contributions to scientific literature, as well as eight textbooks. The dye phenolsulfonphthalein, discovered by Remsen, has served for a number of years as an indicator of the functional activity of the kidney. It was this dye, according to Krantz, that suggested to Geraghty and Dunning in 1912 the idea of combining with it an antiseptic metal. From this we have now available the drug mercurochrome, the powerful non-poisonous antiseptic which has largely replaced iodine. Chemistry has provided many other valuable substances which, within certain limitations, are of great importance in the treatment of local infections. Bichloride of mercury is a powerful antiseptic, hut like carbolic acid it is too poisonous, in high concentration, for internal use. Chlorine was employed in the past war as an antiseptic, in the form of Dakin's solution, but because it is intensely irritating and deteriorates rapidly, chlorine-containing antiseptics are not popular. Acriflavine is a fine example of the marvelous power of the chemist to construct the molecule he desires by removing or leaving off portions which are harmful and retaining those valuable for some particular purpose. Ehrlich started with acridine yellow, an aniline dye, and so juggled the atoms within the molecule to produce the compound acriflavine. This drug is now widely used for antiseptic purposes. Chemistry and the Glands of Internal Secretion While the synthetic preparation of an8septics which are quite deadly to germs and harmless to man offers an attractive field to future chemists, another equally promising, if not more important, field is that of endocrinology. The glands of internal secretion have been called the "glands of destiny," for their regular functioning is of utmost importance to our wellbeing. The pancreas, the thyroid, the adrenals, and the pituitary glands are most important in this class. When Remsen gave saccharin to the world and particularly to the diabetic, how fortunate that vast army of sufferers considered themselves. They could sweeten their coffee with a material four hundred times sweeter than sugar, and yet suffer none of the ill effects that the use of sugar would have brought about. Little did they realize that chemistry would do still more for them! In 1922 Banting and Best completed their classical work on the separation from the pancreas of animals of a hormone called insulin, which when injected hypodermically relieves the cardinal symptoms of diabetes. It can he said truly that there are thousands living today who would he unable to live if their supply of this extract was cut off. Unfortunately, insulin must be administered hypodermically, therefore, the diabetic must submit himself to frequent daily injections. This is a serious
disadvantage and there is perhaps no subject which has engaged the interest of a higher class of scientific minds than this one. In the United States there are Allen, Joslin, and Wilder; in other countries Banting, Best, MacLeod, Campbell, Von Noorend, and Minkowski all searching for a good substitute for insulin. Professor Frank, of Breslau, has prepared the most hopeful product as yet produced called synthalin, a guanidme derivative, but it is the opinion of Staub that synthalin is unsuited for oral administration in the treatment of diabetes. Whether this opinion is justified will doubtlessly be proved by future researches in this field. Besides synthalin there are other blood sugar reducing drugs, such as glukhorment and myrtillin, which seem to he still in the experimental stage and whether or not they will replace insulin has yet to be determined. We must not pass on without making some note of Abel's work of obtaining insulin in a crystalline form. Jensen and Geiling, working with Abel, determined the empirical formula of the crystals and found it to be CasHss0,pNllS.3H20. These investigators have also discovered some of the products of hydrolysis of the crystals. One can readily agree that with such knowledge being accumulated the ultimate nature of this hormone may be looked for in the near future. In 1895 Bahmann discovered iodine to he a normal constituent of the thyroid gland. This discovery led to the present treatment and prevention of goiter by administration of salts of this element. Iodine, finding itself replaced by more popular antiseptics such, as mercurochrome and hexylresorcinol, has come to the front in the treatment of goiter. In 1925 further research along this line led to the prepar%tion of a pure crystalline compound, isolated from the thyroid gland, containing 65% iodine and called thyroxin. It is principally used in the treatment of goiter to replace the material found to be lacking in thyroid insufficiency. A striking property of thyroxin is that it acts as a catalytic agent in the body; that is, it helps chemical reactions to occur hut is not destroyed by the reactions. I t stimulates the sluggish chemical processes of a thyroid deficient person. Only minute quantities are necessary to bring about marked physiological activity. Experimenters have shown that the total amount of thyroxin acting in the normal human body is not more than one-fifth of a grain. Adrenalin, the active principle of the adrenal gland, is perhaps the most powerful drug available to mankind. Oliver and Schafer in 1894-5 demonstrated that an extract prepared from suprarenal glands contained a substance which, in even minute concentrations, caused a remarkable rise in blood pressure in the body. This potent material is now known to be an amino alcohol and its composition has been definitely established. In 1906 Dr. Stoltz was able to prepare adrenalin synthetically, having availed himself of the knowledge handed down from year to year by organic cbemists, so that medicine is no longer dependent on the ox or sheep for its
manufacture. A remarkable illustration of the interrelation of the hormones of the body was shown by Britton and Geiling's research, which pointed out that epinephrine, as synthetic adrenalin is now called according to the United States Pharmacopeia, is utilized in the normal body to counteract to a certain extent the action of insulin. This bit of knowledge may or may not prove of value in the treatment of diabetes. The pituitary twins, the newest offspring of endocrinology, are the posterior and anterior lobes of the pituitary gland. Both seem to exhibit very remarkable and distinct physiological activity. Extracts prepared from these lobes have found wide use in obstetrical clinics and in the treatment of certain forms of diabetes. Dr. Evans and Dr. Kamm have given to humanity a great deal of information regarding this promising new subject and undoubtedly they will add zonsidera~ymore to it in the years to come. Anesthetics Modem surgery has made possible the alleviation of so many of man's ills that scarcely anyone is permitted to spend his span of years upon the earth without a t least one surgical operation. It is a t this time of peril that we make perhaps our only contact with ether, chloroform, novocaine, or ethylene, the helpmates of the surgeon-his anesthetics. These materials are pure chemical compounds. The story of their discovery and usefulness is interesting. In 1800, Sir Humphry Davy discovered the anesthetic properties of nitrous oxide (laughing gas), and Dr. Wells definitely suggested the use of it to render patients insensible to minor surgical operations. This was the humble beginning of a great boon to humanity. Since that time anesthetics have been turned out from organic chemical laboratories by the hundreds While general anesthetics are limited to hospital and clinical use, local ones such as the numerous cough remedies, sprays, and gargles are employed daily by the layman without his realizing that it is the anesthetic which soothes the imtated tissue and gives instant relief. From the field of organic chemistry will come the greatest anesthetic of all times, the non-habit-forming drug that may be used internally or externally, locally or generally. It has not come as yet, but chemistry has not failed mankind before, surely it will not in this respect Vitamins Until recent years foods were classified under four headings: fats, carbohydrates, proteins, and mineral salts. Recently various research workers have shown the presence of certain substances called vitamins to be of great importance in nutrition. People in general have become interested in this new branch of science and read enthusiastically the many articles on this subject appearing in popular current journals. "Vitamins" and "bal-
VOL.6. No. 9
HIOH-SCHOOL ESSAYS
1429
anced diet" have become ordinary household words. This field of nutrition, opened by Casimir Funk, was taken up by McCollum and Davis in 1913. These workers were able to prove the necessity of two previously unidentified substances in the diet. They called them Vitamin A and Vitamin B. The following list is interesting in that it contains the names of some of the greatest research workers of our day, associated with the vitamins they discovered. Lack of Vitamin A will produce xerophthalmia (inflammationof the eye), Funk, McCollum, Davis. Lack of Vitamin B will produce beriberi, Eijkmann. Lack of Vitamin C will produce scurvy, Holst, Frohlich. Lack of Vitamin D will produce rickets, Hess, Steenbock. Lack of Vitamin E will produce sterility, Evans, Bishop, Sure. Lack of Vitamin P.P. will produce pellagra, Goldberger. With vitamins assuming such a popular aspect, it is necessary that we do not obtain a too exalted idea of their importance, at the expense of other equally important dietary factors.
Prevention of Disease The old adage, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," is certainly applicable to our lives in so far as our health is concerned. Drugs or chemical compounds are mants.most useful weapons in fighting disease and a t the same time his best tools in preventing poor health. From the memorable work of Pasteur and d s t e r we have evolved our modern ideas of sanitation, the foundation of good health. These men demonstrated that infections were caused by bacteria, thereby exploding the older theory of spontaneous generation. Pasteur evolved the antirabies serum, for the treatment of rabies by injection of a virus, of gradually increased strength. The importance of this classical work cannot be overestimated for it has been responsible for the saving of thousands of persons inflicted with hydrophobia. The outstanding achievement of Lister was the application of antiseptics to surgery. It has been said that the Panama Canal could have been constructed by any huge construction company were it not for the apparently insumountable barrier of disease that prevented all attempts a t construction. The United States Government, realizing the importance of overcoming yellow fever and malaria in the tropics, sent Dr. Walter Reed and his valiant company of workers to Panama. Reed, suspecting that an organism was responsible for yellow fever, conducted his researches along this line and was able to show definitely that this parasite was carried by the mosquitoes, abundant in that part of the country. To substantiate his work he called for volunteers from the army to expose themselves to the bites of infected
mosquitoes. One brave fellow sacrificed his life on the altar of truth that others might live from the knowledge gained thereby. A striking similitude, it seems, to the will of God that saw fit to take Patricia Garvan from this world. Because she died, thousands have been able to live or have been benefited by the knowledge brought to light through the generosity of her parents, who have sponsored in her memory tremendous enterprises in the fields of chemistry and of medicine. Conclusion Huxley once said. "The two greatest imperfections of the human race are lack of attention and accuracy." Possibly the great advances science has made have been due to the realization of the importance of these two things by scientificworkers. Mathematical accuracyand careful attention to minute irregularities are the stepping stones of progress. They lead to the portals of a new future which, when thrown aside, will reveal to mankind a happy life, as radiant as the refreshed morning sun giving promise of a day of joy when pain and disease are no more. Surely we can look to the future with unswerving hearts and with optimism, not founded upon false illusions, but with an assurance greater than any our ancestors could have felt. We move forward with our hopes, ideals, and ambitions founded deep in the principles of science and our trust in the banner of chemistry. If we, traveling upon the highway of life, are so unfortunate as to make the wrong turn at the crossroads of health, then we must look to chemistry and medicine for the righting of $ur error. They alone offer the greatest support and encouragement for our wayward health. In the words of the beloved poet, Edgar A. Guest, "We are the waiters of the world, Debtors to every test tube curled. Ours is to wonder while we live What next the scientist will give." Bibliography Krantz, J. C., Jr., "Pharmaceutical Chemistry," C. V. Moshy Co., St. Louis. 1928. Staub, H., Journal American Medical Science, 176, 881 (Dec., 1928). Harrow, Benjamin. "Eminent Chemists of Our Time," D. VanNostrand Co., N. Y., 1920. Muzzeys, "The American People," Ginn & Co., N. Y., 1928. Herty, Chas., "Ultimate Mission of Chemistry," Chemical Foundation Inc., N. Y. Beaumont and Dodds, "Recent Advances in Medicine," 3rd edition, P. Blakistons' Son & Co., Phila.. 1926. Slosson and Caldwell, "Science Remaking the World," Doubleday, Page & Co.,
N.Y. Ira Remsen's Life, J . Am. Chem. Soc., 50, 67 (1928). "Chemistry in Medicine," Chemical Foundation Inc., N . Y., 1928.
