The making of a biochemist II: The construction of Frederick Gowland Hopkins' reputation

Medical History

Volumn 40, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 415-436

  Weatherall, Mark W ^a   Kamminga, Harmke ^a  

^a Cambridge Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

VITAMIN;

ARTICLE; AWARDS AND PRIZES; BIOCHEMISTRY; HISTORY; HUMAN; PERCEPTION; UNITED KINGDOM;

BIOCHEMISTRY; GREAT BRITAIN; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMANS; NOBEL PRIZE; SOCIAL PERCEPTION; VITAMINS;

EID: 0030253668     PISSN: 00257273     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0025727300061676     Document Type: Article

References (128)

1. H Kamminga and M W Weatherall, 'The Making of a Biochemist. I. Frederick Gowland Hopkins' Construction of Dynamic Biochemistry', Med. Hist., 1996, 40: 269-92.
2. One's reputation among the Swedish scientists who sat on the committees that decided upon the awarding of the Prizes was, of course, particularly important, especially in the years before the Second World War. For a review of some of the issues involved in the award of the Prizes, see R M Friedman, 'Text, context, and quicksand: method and understanding in studying the Nobel sciences prizes', Hist. Stud. physical Sci., 1990, 20: 63-77.
3. The work for which Nobel Prizes were awarded was not necessarily that for which the scientist was best known. Einstein, for example, was awarded the Prize for Physics for his law of the photoelectric effect, and not for his theories of relativity. See Friedman, op. cit., note 2 above, pp. 66-8.
4. Material from the Nobel Archives relating to the Nobel Prizes in Physiology and Medicine and in Chemistry, respectively, was kindly provided by The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine and by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm.
5. F G Hopkins to L B Mendel and T B Osborne, 2.ii.1920, University of Cambridge Archives (UCA) Add MS 7620/A; F G Hopkins, 'Feeding experiments illustrating the importance of accessory factors in normal dietaries', J. Physiol., 1912, 44: 425-60. For details about the "standard bread" campaign, see M W Weatherall, 'Bread and newspapers: the making of a "revolution in the science of food'", in H Kamminga and A Cunningham (eds), The science and culture of nutrition, 1840-1940, Amsterdam, Rodopi, 1995, pp. 179-212.
6. F G Hopkins to L B Mendel and T B Osborne, 2.ii.1920, University of Cambridge Archives (UCA) Add MS 7620/A; F G Hopkins, 'Feeding experiments illustrating the importance of accessory factors in normal dietaries', J. Physiol., 1912, 44: 425-60. For details about the "standard bread" campaign, see M W Weatherall, 'Bread and newspapers: the making of a "revolution in the science of food'", in H Kamminga and A Cunningham (eds), The science and culture of nutrition, 1840-1940, Amsterdam, Rodopi, 1995, pp. 179-212.
7. F G Hopkins and A Neville, 'A note concerning the influence of diets upon growth', Biochem. J., 1913, 7: 97-9; F G Hopkins, 'Note on the vitamine content of milk', Biochem. J., 1920, 14: 721-4.
8. F G Hopkins and A Neville, 'A note concerning the influence of diets upon growth', Biochem. J., 1913, 7: 97-9; F G Hopkins, 'Note on the vitamine content of milk', Biochem. J., 1920, 14: 721-4.
9. The leading micronutrient researchers at this time were Thomas Osborne and Lafayette Mendel at Yale, Elmer McCollum and Marguerite Davis at Wisconsin, and Casimir Funk at the Lister Institute in London. It was Funk who coined the term "vitamine", later shortened at the suggestion of Jack Drummond to "vitamin" when it became clear that the factors were not in fact amines. Neither Hopkins nor Walter Fletcher liked the term "vitamine"; in May 1918 Fletcher wrote to Hopkins to suggest that they might be retermed "ergotropic [i.e. growth-promoting] factors" or simply "ergotropes", concluding "The more you laugh at this, the more it behoves you to suggest something better": W M Fletcher to F G Hopkins, 8.v.1918, Public Record Office (PRO) FD1/89. In a 1915 review Hopkins called them "exogenous growth hormones", and in a 1916 lecture to the Chemical Society he called them "food hormone factors": F G Hopkins, 'Progress in physiological chemistry', Annual Reports of Progress in Chemistry of the Chemical Society, 1915, 12: 187-209; idem, 'Newer standpoints in the study of nutrition', Trans. chem. Soc., 1916, 109: 629-49.
10. The leading micronutrient researchers at this time were Thomas Osborne and Lafayette Mendel at Yale, Elmer McCollum and Marguerite Davis at Wisconsin, and Casimir Funk at the Lister Institute in London. It was Funk who coined the term "vitamine", later shortened at the suggestion of Jack Drummond to "vitamin" when it became clear that the factors were not in fact amines. Neither Hopkins nor Walter Fletcher liked the term "vitamine"; in May 1918 Fletcher wrote to Hopkins to suggest that they might be retermed "ergotropic [i.e. growth-promoting] factors" or simply "ergotropes", concluding "The more you laugh at this, the more it behoves you to suggest something better": W M Fletcher to F G Hopkins, 8.v.1918, Public Record Office (PRO) FD1/89. In a 1915 review Hopkins called them "exogenous growth hormones", and in a 1916 lecture to the Chemical Society he called them "food hormone factors": F G Hopkins, 'Progress in physiological chemistry', Annual Reports of Progress in Chemistry of the Chemical Society, 1915, 12: 187-209; idem, 'Newer standpoints in the study of nutrition', Trans. chem. Soc., 1916, 109: 629-49.
11. Hopkins at this time was also lecturing about vitamins in several London lecture series on wartime conditions and post-war reconstruction, including those at the Royal Institute of Public Health in 1917, at University College, London in 1918, and at King's College, London, in 1919: F G Hopkins, On the choice of food in war-time', J. State Med., 1917, 25: 193-202; idem, 'War bread', Br. med. J., 1918, i: 157; idem, 'Vitamines: unknown but essential accessory factors of the diet', in W D Halliburton (ed.), Physiology and national needs, London, Constable & Co, 1919, pp. 27-49, summarized as 'The vital need', Lancet, 1919, i: 363. The MRC Report, published in 1919 by HMSO, was the 38th volume in the Committee's Special Report Series.
12. Hopkins at this time was also lecturing about vitamins in several London lecture series on wartime conditions and post-war reconstruction, including those at the Royal Institute of Public Health in 1917, at University College, London in 1918, and at King's College, London, in 1919: F G Hopkins, On the choice of food in war-time', J. State Med., 1917, 25: 193-202; idem, 'War bread', Br. med. J., 1918, i: 157; idem, 'Vitamines: unknown but essential accessory factors of the diet', in W D Halliburton (ed.), Physiology and national needs, London, Constable & Co, 1919, pp. 27-49, summarized as 'The vital need', Lancet, 1919, i: 363. The MRC Report, published in 1919 by HMSO, was the 38th volume in the Committee's Special Report Series.
13. Hopkins at this time was also lecturing about vitamins in several London lecture series on wartime conditions and post-war reconstruction, including those at the Royal Institute of Public Health in 1917, at University College, London in 1918, and at King's College, London, in 1919: F G Hopkins, On the choice of food in war-time', J. State Med., 1917, 25: 193-202; idem, 'War bread', Br. med. J., 1918, i: 157; idem, 'Vitamines: unknown but essential accessory factors of the diet', in W D Halliburton (ed.), Physiology and national needs, London, Constable & Co, 1919, pp. 27-49, summarized as 'The vital need', Lancet, 1919, i: 363. The MRC Report, published in 1919 by HMSO, was the 38th volume in the Committee's Special Report Series.
14. Hopkins at this time was also lecturing about vitamins in several London lecture series on wartime conditions and post-war reconstruction, including those at the Royal Institute of Public Health in 1917, at University College, London in 1918, and at King's College, London, in 1919: F G Hopkins, On the choice of food in war-time', J. State Med., 1917, 25: 193-202; idem, 'War bread', Br. med. J., 1918, i: 157; idem, 'Vitamines: unknown but essential accessory factors of the diet', in W D Halliburton (ed.), Physiology and national needs, London, Constable & Co, 1919, pp. 27-49, summarized as 'The vital need', Lancet, 1919, i: 363. The MRC Report, published in 1919 by HMSO, was the 38th volume in the Committee's Special Report Series.
15. Hopkins at this time was also lecturing about vitamins in several London lecture series on wartime conditions and post-war reconstruction, including those at the Royal Institute of Public Health in 1917, at University College, London in 1918, and at King's College, London, in 1919: F G Hopkins, On the choice of food in war-time', J. State Med., 1917, 25: 193-202; idem, 'War bread', Br. med. J., 1918, i: 157; idem, 'Vitamines: unknown but essential accessory factors of the diet', in W D Halliburton (ed.), Physiology and national needs, London, Constable & Co, 1919, pp. 27-49, summarized as 'The vital need', Lancet, 1919, i: 363. The MRC Report, published in 1919 by HMSO, was the 38th volume in the Committee's Special Report Series.
16. Memorandum for the Accessory Food Factors Committee, 15.ix.1921, PRO FD1/89.
17. It cannot be assumed that the introduction that appeared in the published Report exactly matches Hopkins' original text. The Report was edited by the biochemist Arthur Harden, and each of the chapters was discussed in detail by the whole committee before a final text was settled upon. Hopkins revised and updated the introduction for subsequent editions.
18. In his 1906 paper, Hopkins had noted that diets of pure protein, fat, and carbohydrate were insufficient to support life, and speculated that other dietary factors were required; he also linked this point to the possible ætiology of scurvy and rickets. F G Hopkins, 'The analyst and the medical man', Analyst, 1906, 31: 385-97. It is clear from the published discussion which followed the address that this point was lost on his audience, and the importance of this paper lies not so much in its immediate impact, as in its usefulness for Hopkins in his attempts to establish some sort of priority in vitamin research. He quoted at length from it in his 1912 paper in the Journal of Physiology (op. cit., note 5 above).
19. In his 1906 paper, Hopkins had noted that diets of pure protein, fat, and carbohydrate were insufficient to support life, and speculated that other dietary factors were required; he also linked this point to the possible ætiology of scurvy and rickets. F G Hopkins, 'The analyst and the medical man', Analyst, 1906, 31: 385-97. It is clear from the published discussion which followed the address that this point was lost on his audience, and the importance of this paper lies not so much in its immediate impact, as in its usefulness for Hopkins in his attempts to establish some sort of priority in vitamin research. He quoted at length from it in his 1912 paper in the Journal of Physiology (op. cit., note 5 above).
20. A similar challenge from Osborne and Mendel was countered by the exemplary work of Hopkins and Neville, who were stated to have used "very carefully purified ingredients" in their experiments. This paper was a direct reply to the inability of Osborne and Mendel to replicate Hopkins' findings: Hopkins and Neville, op. cit., note 6 above.
21. W R Aykroyd, Vitamins and other dietary essentials, London, Heinemann (Medical Books) Ltd, 1933, p. 46. The graphical presentation of average results greatly enhanced the clarity of Hopkins' case. His competitors' papers also included graphs, but by classical aesthetic criteria, they do not evoke as powerful a response as that elicited by Hopkins' graphs. The reason for this is clear; the Americans (Osborne and Mendel, in particular) were as concerned as Hopkins to demonstrate the replicability of their results, but chose to show this as part of their graphical presentation, thus making it crowded and complicated. By relegating the defence of replicability to the extensive tables in the appendix to his paper, Hopkins was able to mobilize aesthetic resources in his support.
22. McCollum himself always felt robbed of proper credit for the discovery of growth-promoting vitamins. His history of the subject does not refer to the award of the Nobel Prize to Hopkins: E V McCollum, A history of nutrition: the sequence of ideas in nutrition investigations, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1957. For an account of the priority claims in this field, see N Aronson, 'The discovery of resistance: historical accounts and scientific careers', Isis, 1986, 77: 630-46.
23. McCollum himself always felt robbed of proper credit for the discovery of growth-promoting vitamins. His history of the subject does not refer to the award of the Nobel Prize to Hopkins: E V McCollum, A history of nutrition: the sequence of ideas in nutrition investigations, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1957. For an account of the priority claims in this field, see N Aronson, 'The discovery of resistance: historical accounts and scientific careers', Isis, 1986, 77: 630-46.
24. W D Halliburton, Essential chemical physiology, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 10th edn, 1919; the 8th (1914) and 9th (1916) editions contain descriptions of Hopkins' work. The later editions follow the format of the 10th. Other textbooks that referred to the Report included W M Bayliss, Principles of general physiology, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 3rd edn, 1920; F A Bainbridge and J A Menzies, Essentials of physiology, London, Longmans, Green and Co, 4th edn, 1920; vol. 5 of L Luciani, Human physiology, London, Macmillan, 1921, in which the translator (the physiologist M S Pembrey) also directed readers to Hopkins' article on 'The practical importance of vitamines', Br. med. J., 1919, i: 507. Even Noël Paton, a staunch opponent of the role of vitamin deficiency in the cause of rickets, included an expanded discussion of the subject in his Essentials of human physiology, Edinburgh, W Green & Son, 5th edn, 1920.
25. W D Halliburton, Essential chemical physiology, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 10th edn, 1919; the 8th (1914) and 9th (1916) editions contain descriptions of Hopkins' work. The later editions follow the format of the 10th. Other textbooks that referred to the Report included W M Bayliss, Principles of general physiology, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 3rd edn, 1920; F A Bainbridge and J A Menzies, Essentials of physiology, London, Longmans, Green and Co, 4th edn, 1920; vol. 5 of L Luciani, Human physiology, London, Macmillan, 1921, in which the translator (the physiologist M S Pembrey) also directed readers to Hopkins' article on 'The practical importance of vitamines', Br. med. J., 1919, i: 507. Even Noël Paton, a staunch opponent of the role of vitamin deficiency in the cause of rickets, included an expanded discussion of the subject in his Essentials of human physiology, Edinburgh, W Green & Son, 5th edn, 1920.
26. W D Halliburton, Essential chemical physiology, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 10th edn, 1919; the 8th (1914) and 9th (1916) editions contain descriptions of Hopkins' work. The later editions follow the format of the 10th. Other textbooks that referred to the Report included W M Bayliss, Principles of general physiology, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 3rd edn, 1920; F A Bainbridge and J A Menzies, Essentials of physiology, London, Longmans, Green and Co, 4th edn, 1920; vol. 5 of L Luciani, Human physiology, London, Macmillan, 1921, in which the translator (the physiologist M S Pembrey) also directed readers to Hopkins' article on 'The practical importance of vitamines', Br. med. J., 1919, i: 507. Even Noël Paton, a staunch opponent of the role of vitamin deficiency in the cause of rickets, included an expanded discussion of the subject in his Essentials of human physiology, Edinburgh, W Green & Son, 5th edn, 1920.
27. W D Halliburton, Essential chemical physiology, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 10th edn, 1919; the 8th (1914) and 9th (1916) editions contain descriptions of Hopkins' work. The later editions follow the format of the 10th. Other textbooks that referred to the Report included W M Bayliss, Principles of general physiology, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 3rd edn, 1920; F A Bainbridge and J A Menzies, Essentials of physiology, London, Longmans, Green and Co, 4th edn, 1920; vol. 5 of L Luciani, Human physiology, London, Macmillan, 1921, in which the translator (the physiologist M S Pembrey) also directed readers to Hopkins' article on 'The practical importance of vitamines', Br. med. J., 1919, i: 507. Even Noël Paton, a staunch opponent of the role of vitamin deficiency in the cause of rickets, included an expanded discussion of the subject in his Essentials of human physiology, Edinburgh, W Green & Son, 5th edn, 1920.
28. W D Halliburton, Essential chemical physiology, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 10th edn, 1919; the 8th (1914) and 9th (1916) editions contain descriptions of Hopkins' work. The later editions follow the format of the 10th. Other textbooks that referred to the Report included W M Bayliss, Principles of general physiology, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 3rd edn, 1920; F A Bainbridge and J A Menzies, Essentials of physiology, London, Longmans, Green and Co, 4th edn, 1920; vol. 5 of L Luciani, Human physiology, London, Macmillan, 1921, in which the translator (the physiologist M S Pembrey) also directed readers to Hopkins' article on 'The practical importance of vitamines', Br. med. J., 1919, i: 507. Even Noël Paton, a staunch opponent of the role of vitamin deficiency in the cause of rickets, included an expanded discussion of the subject in his Essentials of human physiology, Edinburgh, W Green & Son, 5th edn, 1920.
29. W D Halliburton, Essential chemical physiology, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 10th edn, 1919; the 8th (1914) and 9th (1916) editions contain descriptions of Hopkins' work. The later editions follow the format of the 10th. Other textbooks that referred to the Report included W M Bayliss, Principles of general physiology, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 3rd edn, 1920; F A Bainbridge and J A Menzies, Essentials of physiology, London, Longmans, Green and Co, 4th edn, 1920; vol. 5 of L Luciani, Human physiology, London, Macmillan, 1921, in which the translator (the physiologist M S Pembrey) also directed readers to Hopkins' article on 'The practical importance of vitamines', Br. med. J., 1919, i: 507. Even Noël Paton, a staunch opponent of the role of vitamin deficiency in the cause of rickets, included an expanded discussion of the subject in his Essentials of human physiology, Edinburgh, W Green & Son, 5th edn, 1920.
30. Perhaps the most important was V G Plimmer and R H A Plimmer, Vitamins and the choice of food, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 1922, which went through many editions. See also A Harden, 'Biochemistry and fermentation', in E F Armstrong (ed.), Chemistry in the twentieth century. An account of the achievement and the present state of knowledge in chemical science, London, Ernest Benn, 1924, pp. 216-23; J C Drummond, 'The vitamins', in: H H Dale, J C Drummond, L J Henderson and A V Hill, Lectures on certain aspects of biochemistry, University of London Press, 1926, pp. 152-72. The influence of the MRC monograph is also clear in popular accounts of vitamins, such as Julian Huxley's essay 'The control of the life-cycle', originally published in The English Review, and reprinted in his influential Essays in popular science, London, Chatto & Windus, 1926, pp. 75-105, and J B S Haldane's essay 'Vitamins', reprinted in his collection Possible worlds, London, Chatto & Windus, 1927, pp. 51-6.
31. Perhaps the most important was V G Plimmer and R H A Plimmer, Vitamins and the choice of food, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 1922, which went through many editions. See also A Harden, 'Biochemistry and fermentation', in E F Armstrong (ed.), Chemistry in the twentieth century. An account of the achievement and the present state of knowledge in chemical science, London, Ernest Benn, 1924, pp. 216-23; J C Drummond, 'The vitamins', in: H H Dale, J C Drummond, L J Henderson and A V Hill, Lectures on certain aspects of biochemistry, University of London Press, 1926, pp. 152-72. The influence of the MRC monograph is also clear in popular accounts of vitamins, such as Julian Huxley's essay 'The control of the life-cycle', originally published in The English Review, and reprinted in his influential Essays in popular science, London, Chatto & Windus, 1926, pp. 75-105, and J B S Haldane's essay 'Vitamins', reprinted in his collection Possible worlds, London, Chatto & Windus, 1927, pp. 51-6.
32. Perhaps the most important was V G Plimmer and R H A Plimmer, Vitamins and the choice of food, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 1922, which went through many editions. See also A Harden, 'Biochemistry and fermentation', in E F Armstrong (ed.), Chemistry in the twentieth century. An account of the achievement and the present state of knowledge in chemical science, London, Ernest Benn, 1924, pp. 216-23; J C Drummond, 'The vitamins', in: H H Dale, J C Drummond, L J Henderson and A V Hill, Lectures on certain aspects of biochemistry, University of London Press, 1926, pp. 152-72. The influence of the MRC monograph is also clear in popular accounts of vitamins, such as Julian Huxley's essay 'The control of the life-cycle', originally published in The English Review, and reprinted in his influential Essays in popular science, London, Chatto & Windus, 1926, pp. 75-105, and J B S Haldane's essay 'Vitamins', reprinted in his collection Possible worlds, London, Chatto & Windus, 1927, pp. 51-6.
33. Perhaps the most important was V G Plimmer and R H A Plimmer, Vitamins and the choice of food, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 1922, which went through many editions. See also A Harden, 'Biochemistry and fermentation', in E F Armstrong (ed.), Chemistry in the twentieth century. An account of the achievement and the present state of knowledge in chemical science, London, Ernest Benn, 1924, pp. 216-23; J C Drummond, 'The vitamins', in: H H Dale, J C Drummond, L J Henderson and A V Hill, Lectures on certain aspects of biochemistry, University of London Press, 1926, pp. 152-72. The influence of the MRC monograph is also clear in popular accounts of vitamins, such as Julian Huxley's essay 'The control of the life-cycle', originally published in The English Review, and reprinted in his influential Essays in popular science, London, Chatto & Windus, 1926, pp. 75-105, and J B S Haldane's essay 'Vitamins', reprinted in his collection Possible worlds, London, Chatto & Windus, 1927, pp. 51-6.
34. Perhaps the most important was V G Plimmer and R H A Plimmer, Vitamins and the choice of food, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 1922, which went through many editions. See also A Harden, 'Biochemistry and fermentation', in E F Armstrong (ed.), Chemistry in the twentieth century. An account of the achievement and the present state of knowledge in chemical science, London, Ernest Benn, 1924, pp. 216-23; J C Drummond, 'The vitamins', in: H H Dale, J C Drummond, L J Henderson and A V Hill, Lectures on certain aspects of biochemistry, University of London Press, 1926, pp. 152-72. The influence of the MRC monograph is also clear in popular accounts of vitamins, such as Julian Huxley's essay 'The control of the life-cycle', originally published in The English Review, and reprinted in his influential Essays in popular science, London, Chatto & Windus, 1926, pp. 75-105, and J B S Haldane's essay 'Vitamins', reprinted in his collection Possible worlds, London, Chatto & Windus, 1927, pp. 51-6.
35. Perhaps the most important was V G Plimmer and R H A Plimmer, Vitamins and the choice of food, London, Longmans, Green & Co, 1922, which went through many editions. See also A Harden, 'Biochemistry and fermentation', in E F Armstrong (ed.), Chemistry in the twentieth century. An account of the achievement and the present state of knowledge in chemical science, London, Ernest Benn, 1924, pp. 216-23; J C Drummond, 'The vitamins', in: H H Dale, J C Drummond, L J Henderson and A V Hill, Lectures on certain aspects of biochemistry, University of London Press, 1926, pp. 152-72. The influence of the MRC monograph is also clear in popular accounts of vitamins, such as Julian Huxley's essay 'The control of the life-cycle', originally published in The English Review, and reprinted in his influential Essays in popular science, London, Chatto & Windus, 1926, pp. 75-105, and J B S Haldane's essay 'Vitamins', reprinted in his collection Possible worlds, London, Chatto & Windus, 1927, pp. 51-6.
36. R McCarrison, 'Vitamins. Medical Research Council's Report', Br. med. J., 1924, i: 331. While in Britain the MRC Report had indeed become the standard, in the United States this was not so. American textbooks for the most part do not refer to it, instead citing works by Funk, Sherman and Smith, Eddy, McCollum, or Ellis and Macleod. Of these, only Sherman and Smith follow the MRC Report in ascribing credit to Hopkins for the discovery of the growth-promoting vitamin; it is noteworthy that they reproduce Hopkins' graphs in their introductory section. Ellis and Macleod's account is more typical; they concentrate on the achievements of Osborne and Mendel, and relegate Hopkins' contribution to having merely produced "somewhat similar results": C Funk, The vitamins, Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins, 1922 [authorised translation from the 2nd German edn by H E Dubin]; H C Sherman and S L Smith, The vitamins, New York, Chemical Catalog, 1922; E V McCollum, The newer knowledge of nutrition, New York, Macmillan, 1922; C Ellis and A Macleod, Vital factors of food, vitamins, and nutrition, London, Chapman & Hall, 1923.
37. R McCarrison, 'Vitamins. Medical Research Council's Report', Br. med. J., 1924, i: 331. While in Britain the MRC Report had indeed become the standard, in the United States this was not so. American textbooks for the most part do not refer to it, instead citing works by Funk, Sherman and Smith, Eddy, McCollum, or Ellis and Macleod. Of these, only Sherman and Smith follow the MRC Report in ascribing credit to Hopkins for the discovery of the growth-promoting vitamin; it is noteworthy that they reproduce Hopkins' graphs in their introductory section. Ellis and Macleod's account is more typical; they concentrate on the achievements of Osborne and Mendel, and relegate Hopkins' contribution to having merely produced "somewhat similar results": C Funk, The vitamins, Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins, 1922 [authorised translation from the 2nd German edn by H E Dubin]; H C Sherman and S L Smith, The vitamins, New York, Chemical Catalog, 1922; E V McCollum, The newer knowledge of nutrition, New York, Macmillan, 1922; C Ellis and A Macleod, Vital factors of food, vitamins, and nutrition, London, Chapman & Hall, 1923.
38. R McCarrison, 'Vitamins. Medical Research Council's Report', Br. med. J., 1924, i: 331. While in Britain the MRC Report had indeed become the standard, in the United States this was not so. American textbooks for the most part do not refer to it, instead citing works by Funk, Sherman and Smith, Eddy, McCollum, or Ellis and Macleod. Of these, only Sherman and Smith follow the MRC Report in ascribing credit to Hopkins for the discovery of the growth-promoting vitamin; it is noteworthy that they reproduce Hopkins' graphs in their introductory section. Ellis and Macleod's account is more typical; they concentrate on the achievements of Osborne and Mendel, and relegate Hopkins' contribution to having merely produced "somewhat similar results": C Funk, The vitamins, Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins, 1922 [authorised translation from the 2nd German edn by H E Dubin]; H C Sherman and S L Smith, The vitamins, New York, Chemical Catalog, 1922; E V McCollum, The newer knowledge of nutrition, New York, Macmillan, 1922; C Ellis and A Macleod, Vital factors of food, vitamins, and nutrition, London, Chapman & Hall, 1923.
39. R McCarrison, 'Vitamins. Medical Research Council's Report', Br. med. J., 1924, i: 331. While in Britain the MRC Report had indeed become the standard, in the United States this was not so. American textbooks for the most part do not refer to it, instead citing works by Funk, Sherman and Smith, Eddy, McCollum, or Ellis and Macleod. Of these, only Sherman and Smith follow the MRC Report in ascribing credit to Hopkins for the discovery of the growth-promoting vitamin; it is noteworthy that they reproduce Hopkins' graphs in their introductory section. Ellis and Macleod's account is more typical; they concentrate on the achievements of Osborne and Mendel, and relegate Hopkins' contribution to having merely produced "somewhat similar results": C Funk, The vitamins, Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins, 1922 [authorised translation from the 2nd German edn by H E Dubin]; H C Sherman and S L Smith, The vitamins, New York, Chemical Catalog, 1922; E V McCollum, The newer knowledge of nutrition, New York, Macmillan, 1922; C Ellis and A Macleod, Vital factors of food, vitamins, and nutrition, London, Chapman & Hall, 1923.
40. R McCarrison, 'Vitamins. Medical Research Council's Report', Br. med. J., 1924, i: 331. While in Britain the MRC Report had indeed become the standard, in the United States this was not so. American textbooks for the most part do not refer to it, instead citing works by Funk, Sherman and Smith, Eddy, McCollum, or Ellis and Macleod. Of these, only Sherman and Smith follow the MRC Report in ascribing credit to Hopkins for the discovery of the growth-promoting vitamin; it is noteworthy that they reproduce Hopkins' graphs in their introductory section. Ellis and Macleod's account is more typical; they concentrate on the achievements of Osborne and Mendel, and relegate Hopkins' contribution to having merely produced "somewhat similar results": C Funk, The vitamins, Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins, 1922 [authorised translation from the 2nd German edn by H E Dubin]; H C Sherman and S L Smith, The vitamins, New York, Chemical Catalog, 1922; E V McCollum, The newer knowledge of nutrition, New York, Macmillan, 1922; C Ellis and A Macleod, Vital factors of food, vitamins, and nutrition, London, Chapman & Hall, 1923.
41. A phrase used by the writer of a leading article on rickets in Nature, 1922, 110: 212.
42. F G H[opkins], Physiol. Abstr., 1922, 7: 579.
43. R E Kohler, 'Walter Fletcher, F G Hopkins, and the Dunn Institute of Biochemistry: a case study in the patronage of science', Isis, 1978, 69: 331-55.
44. J Austoker, 'Walter Morley Fletcher and the origins of a basic biomedical research policy', in: J Austoker and L Bryder (eds), Historical perspectives on the role of the MRC, Oxford University Press, 1989, pp. 23-33.
45. W M Fletcher to F G Hopkins, 22.iv.1920, PRO FD1/89.
46. W M Fletcher to W B Hardy, 20.iv.1920, PRO FD1/89.
47. R E Kohler, From medical chemistry to biochemistry, Cambridge University Press, 1982, p. 85.
48. W M Fletcher to A V Hill, 20.i.1927, PRO FD1/1948.
49. On his disappointment, see: N W Pirie, 'Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins (1861-1947)', in: G Semenza (ed.), Selected topics in the history of biochemistry: personal recollections (Comprehensive Biochemistry, vol. 35), Amsterdam, Elsevier Science Publishers, 1983, pp. 103-28.
50. Hopkins' Nobel speech, 'The earlier history of vitamin research', is reprinted in J Needham and E Baldwin (eds), Hopkins and biochemistry 1861-1947, Cambridge, W Heffer & Sons, 1949, pp. 191-200.
51. W M Fletcher to F G Hopkins, 8.ii.1921, Archives of the Medical Research Council (MRC) PF106.
52. A V Hill to W M Fletcher, 5.ii.1927, PRO FD1/1948.
53. F G Hopkins to W M Fletcher, 10.viii.1924, MRC PF106.
54. W M Fletcher to FG Hopkins, 22.xii.1924, MRC PF106.
55. Comment by A V Hill: Churchill College Contemporary Archives Centre (CC) AVHL I 3/38.
56. Meetings of the Financial Board, 5.iii.1924, 16.vii.1924, 3.xii.1924, 4.iii.1925, 6.v.1925, 13.v.1925, 20.v.1925: UCA Min.II.8.
57. F G Hopkins to G H A Wilson (Secretary, Financial Board), 12.v.1925, 19.v.1925: UCA Min.II.8.
58. Barger, an organic chemist of repute, had studied at Cambridge between 1898 and 1901. After a spell as demonstrator in botany at Brussels, he returned to Cambridge in 1903 before becoming (with Dale) a member of the staff of the Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories. In 1919 he became the first Professor of Chemistry in Relation to Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.
59. Details of these negotiations are contained in the as yet uncatalogued archives of the Beit Trust held at the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London (CMAC). Box 56 of these archives is entitled 'Proposed professorial fellowship for F G Hopkins'. We are grateful to Dr E M Tansey for informing us of the existence of this archive, and to Ms J Sheppard for her assistance in locating the relevant documents. A V Hill's part in the scheme is also documented in his correspondence with Hopkins (CC AVHL I 3/38) and Barger (CC AVHL 4/6).
60. When informed of Bulloch's opposition, Dale told Elliott that they should "need a cow-catcher to sweep all bovine obstruction from the rails": H H Dale to T R Elliott, 27.vii.1927, CMAC Beit Papers, Box 56.
61. CC AVHL I 3/38.
62. T R Elliott to J K Fowler, 28.vii.1927, CMAC Beit Papers, Box 56.
63. F G Hopkins to J Colman and W M Fletcher, UCA BCHEM 3/3 (26); PRO FD1/1836.
64. G Werskey, The visible college. A collective biography of British scientists and socialists of the 1930s, London, 2nd edn, Free Association Books, 1988, pp. 77-100.
65. F G Hopkins to G H A Wilson, 19.v.1925: UCA Min.II.8.
66. W M Fletcher to F G Hopkins, 28.vii.1927, PRO FD1/1836.
67. Note by A L Thomson of meeting with Hopkins, 3.ii.1936, PRO FD1/3794; F G Hopkins to S C Roberts (Cambridge University Press), 29.iv.1936, UCA Pr.A.H.816. Hopkins did not have to retire because his appointment to the chair predated Royal Commission reforms of the early 1920s which instituted a mandatory retirement age of 65 for professors in the University of Cambridge. His appointment also predated the introduction at Cambridge of a superannuation scheme for university teachers; for Hopkins to retire on an adequate pension he therefore had to rely partly on a supplementary pension scheme run by the University which promised (but did not guarantee) a reasonable percentage of his professor's salary, and partly on being appointed to a life Fellowship by Trinity College. As the physiologists had discovered in the late 1920s, however, one had to have been a fellow of Trinity for 25 years to qualify for such an appointment, and Hopkins had only been so honoured in 1910. In 1929 Hopkins told the American biochemist L B Mendel: "I am already somewhat old to occupy my Chair, and yet find it essential that I should postpone resignation for a few years longer. This being so, I must do all that I can to remain efficient.": F G Hopkins to L B Mendel, 14.iv.1929, UCA Add MS 7620/A.
68. It is not clear whether Hopkins had any influence over who would succeed him. At the time of the proposal to grant him a professorial fellowship, Hopkins told Elliott that if Barger were not to agree to the plan, he did not know who else would be suitable: F G Hopkins to T R Elliott, 14.vii.1927, CMAC Beit Papers, Box 56. The only other scientist whom he mentioned as a possibility was Edward Mellanby. In May 1933 Mellanby was offered a Cambridge chair in pharmacology: 'Report of the Council of the Senate on the establishment of a Sheild Professorship of Pharmacology', Cambridge University Reporter, 1932-33, p. 1102. Mellanby refused the offer, probably because he had been invited to succeed Fletcher as Secretary of the MRC: 'Report of the General Board on the establishment of a Sheild Readership in Pharmacology in the Faculty Board of Biology 'B' and of a Sub-Department of Pharmacology in the Department of Physiology', Cambridge University Reporter, 1933-34, p. 366.
69. It is not clear whether Hopkins had any influence over who would succeed him. At the time of the proposal to grant him a professorial fellowship, Hopkins told Elliott that if Barger were not to agree to the plan, he did not know who else would be suitable: F G Hopkins to T R Elliott, 14.vii.1927, CMAC Beit Papers, Box 56. The only other scientist whom he mentioned as a possibility was Edward Mellanby. In May 1933 Mellanby was offered a Cambridge chair in pharmacology: 'Report of the Council of the Senate on the establishment of a Sheild Professorship of Pharmacology', Cambridge University Reporter, 1932-33, p. 1102. Mellanby refused the offer, probably because he had been invited to succeed Fletcher as Secretary of the MRC: 'Report of the General Board on the establishment of a Sheild Readership in Pharmacology in the Faculty Board of Biology 'B' and of a Sub-Department of Pharmacology in the Department of Physiology', Cambridge University Reporter, 1933-34, p. 366.
70. A Todd, A time to remember, Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp. 61-2. Chibnall's interests lay in protein chemistry, but a recently initiated research project which he brought with him to Cambridge - an attempt to understand the relations between the structure and function of insulin - may have seemed to fit in more appropriately with existing Cambridge interest in the control of intermediary metabolism. Chibnall himself claimed that the Cambridge biochemist Shirley Hele had written to him in 1943 to tell him that he was the unanimous choice of "the people here", though it is unclear whether he meant in Cambridge, or in the Dunn Institute: A C Chibnall, 'The road to Cambridge', Annual Rev. Biochem., 1966, 35: 1-22.
71. A Todd, A time to remember, Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp. 61-2. Chibnall's interests lay in protein chemistry, but a recently initiated research project which he brought with him to Cambridge - an attempt to understand the relations between the structure and function of insulin - may have seemed to fit in more appropriately with existing Cambridge interest in the control of intermediary metabolism. Chibnall himself claimed that the Cambridge biochemist Shirley Hele had written to him in 1943 to tell him that he was the unanimous choice of "the people here", though it is unclear whether he meant in Cambridge, or in the Dunn Institute: A C Chibnall, 'The road to Cambridge', Annual Rev. Biochem., 1966, 35: 1-22.
72. Chibnall, op. cit., note 46 above. In their Royal Society obituary notice of Chibnall, Synge and Williams state that Robinson may have been keen to have a more "chemical" biochemist appointed: R L M Synge and E F Williams, 'Arthur Charles Chibnall', Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1990, 35: 55-96. Todd recalled that Robinson was one of the people keenest to persuade him to come to Cambridge, and indeed was instrumental in his accepting the Cambridge chair of Organic Chemistry in 1945: Todd, op. cit., note 46 above, pp. 63-4.
73. Chibnall, op. cit., note 46 above. In their Royal Society obituary notice of Chibnall, Synge and Williams state that Robinson may have been keen to have a more "chemical" biochemist appointed: R L M Synge and E F Williams, 'Arthur Charles Chibnall', Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1990, 35: 55-96. Todd recalled that Robinson was one of the people keenest to persuade him to come to Cambridge, and indeed was instrumental in his accepting the Cambridge chair of Organic Chemistry in 1945: Todd, op. cit., note 46 above, pp. 63-4.
74. Chibnall, op. cit., note 46 above. In their Royal Society obituary notice of Chibnall, Synge and Williams state that Robinson may have been keen to have a more "chemical" biochemist appointed: R L M Synge and E F Williams, 'Arthur Charles Chibnall', Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1990, 35: 55-96. Todd recalled that Robinson was one of the people keenest to persuade him to come to Cambridge, and indeed was instrumental in his accepting the Cambridge chair of Organic Chemistry in 1945: Todd, op. cit., note 46 above, pp. 63-4.
75. Todd, op. cit., note 46 above, p. 62.
76. Chibnall, op. cit., note 46 above, pp. 17-18.
77. A C Chibnall to E Mellanby, 5.xi.1945, PRO FD1/362. Norman Heatley has informed one of us (MWW) that the Institute was widely known as 'Hoppy's Dating Agency'.
78. A C Chibnall, 'Post-war needs of the Department of Biochemistry', UCA BCHEM 1/2* (original emphasis). A draft version of this document with Joseph Needham's amendments is in UCA BCHEM 4/2 (21i).
79. A V Hill to H H Dale, 28.iii.1949, CC AVHLI 3/12.
80. M Stephenson, 'Frederick Gowland Hopkins, 1861-1947', Biochem. J., 1948, 42: 161-9.
81. M Dixon, 'Sir F Gowland Hopkins, OM, FRS', Nature, 1947, 160: 44-7.
82. R A Peters, 'The faith of a master in biochemistry. The First Hopkins Memorial Lecture', Biochem. J., 1959, 71:1-9.
83. J Needham, Opening Address [of a Symposium on Biochemistry and Nutrition to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins]', Proc. R. Soc. B, 1962, 156: 289-94.
84. See, for example, Hopkins' correspondence with the Financial Board of the University: UCA Min.II.8.
85. H A Krebs, Reminiscences and reflections, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1981, p. 92. Krebs is here paraphrasing the comments of Joseph Needham in Hopkins and biochemistry. Holmes, in his biography of Krebs, suggests that the latter's reluctance to desert Cambridge for a planned research institute in Palestine expressed "not just a contractual obligation, but a personal one": F L Holmes, Hans Krebs. Volume II. Architect of intermediary metabolism, Oxford University Press, 1993, p. 110.
86. H A Krebs, Reminiscences and reflections, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1981, p. 92. Krebs is here paraphrasing the comments of Joseph Needham in Hopkins and biochemistry. Holmes, in his biography of Krebs, suggests that the latter's reluctance to desert Cambridge for a planned research institute in Palestine expressed "not just a contractual obligation, but a personal one": F L Holmes, Hans Krebs. Volume II. Architect of intermediary metabolism, Oxford University Press, 1993, p. 110.
87. E Baldwin, 'Hopkins, Frederick Gowland', Dictionary of Scientific Biography, vol. 4, pp. 498-502; M Stephenson, 'Sir F G Hopkins' teaching and scientific influence', in: Needham and Baldwin (eds), op. cit., note 27 above, pp. 27-38.
88. E Baldwin, 'Hopkins, Frederick Gowland', Dictionary of Scientific Biography, vol. 4, pp. 498-502; M Stephenson, 'Sir F G Hopkins' teaching and scientific influence', in: Needham and Baldwin (eds), op. cit., note 27 above, pp. 27-38.
89. Pirie, op. cit., note 26 above, p. 124.
90. Ibid, p. 125.
91. Needham was closely involved with the development of the history of science in Cambridge, and himself was the author of several historical works and the instigator of the massive Science and civilisation in China project.
92. R E Kohler, 'Innovation in normal science. Bacterial physiology', Isis, 1985, 76: 162-81.
93. J Needham and D E Green (eds), Perspectives in biochemistry, Cambridge University Press, 1937.
94. Hopkins and biochemistry was prepared by an editorial committee comprising Joseph and Dorothy Needham, Vernon Booth, Malcolm Dixon, Leslie Harris, and Marjory Stephenson.
95. Stephenson, op. cit., note 59 above, p. 37. Hopkins did in fact sign a contract with the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press to produce a textbook of biochemistry in the early 1920s, but he never even began to write it: F G Hopkins to S C Roberts, 11.xi.1924, 28.x.1930, UCA Pr.A.H.816.
96. Needham and Baldwin (eds), op. cit., note 27 above, p. 321.
97. P Randle, 'Frank George Young', Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1990, 36: 581-99.
98. Needham recapitulated his construction of the "Hoppy tradition" at length in an extensive appreciation published in 1962: J Needham, 'Frederick Gowland Hopkins', Perspect. Biol. Med., 1962, 6: 2-46.
99. J S Fruton, Molecules and life. Historical essays on the interplay of chemistry and biology, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1972; idem, Contrasts in scientific style. Research groups in the chemical and biochemical sciences, Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1990; idem, A skeptical biochemist, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1992; F L Holmes, Hans Krebs. Volume I. The formation of a scientific life, 1900-1933, Oxford University Press, 1990; idem, op. cit., note 58 above; idem, Between biology and medicine: the formation of intermediary metabolism, Berkeley, Office for History of Science and Technology, 1992; M Teich with D M Needham, A documentary history of biochemistry 1770-1940, Leicester University Press, 1992; David Keilin's The history of cell respiration . and cytochrome, Cambridge University Press, 1966, also belongs in this category, as does the volume of Cambridge biochemists' historical lectures edited by Joseph Needham entitled The chemistry of life. Eight lectures on the history of biochemistry, Cambridge University Press, 1970. In his introduction to this volume, Needham wrote that it should be considered as "one more laurel-wreath for 'Hoppy'".
100. J S Fruton, Molecules and life. Historical essays on the interplay of chemistry and biology, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1972; idem, Contrasts in scientific style. Research groups in the chemical and biochemical sciences, Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1990; idem, A skeptical biochemist, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1992; F L Holmes, Hans Krebs. Volume I. The formation of a scientific life, 1900-1933, Oxford University Press, 1990; idem, op. cit., note 58 above; idem, Between biology and medicine: the formation of intermediary metabolism, Berkeley, Office for History of Science and Technology, 1992; M Teich with D M Needham, A documentary history of biochemistry 1770-1940, Leicester University Press, 1992; David Keilin's The history of cell respiration . and cytochrome, Cambridge University Press, 1966, also belongs in this category, as does the volume of Cambridge biochemists' historical lectures edited by Joseph Needham entitled The chemistry of life. Eight lectures on the history of biochemistry, Cambridge University Press, 1970. In his introduction to this volume, Needham wrote that it should be considered as "one more laurel-wreath for 'Hoppy'".
101. J S Fruton, Molecules and life. Historical essays on the interplay of chemistry and biology, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1972; idem, Contrasts in scientific style. Research groups in the chemical and biochemical sciences, Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1990; idem, A skeptical biochemist, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1992; F L Holmes, Hans Krebs. Volume I. The formation of a scientific life, 1900-1933, Oxford University Press, 1990; idem, op. cit., note 58 above; idem, Between biology and medicine: the formation of intermediary metabolism, Berkeley, Office for History of Science and Technology, 1992; M Teich with D M Needham, A documentary history of biochemistry 1770-1940, Leicester University Press, 1992; David Keilin's The history of cell respiration . and cytochrome, Cambridge University Press, 1966, also belongs in this category, as does the volume of Cambridge biochemists' historical lectures edited by Joseph Needham entitled The chemistry of life. Eight lectures on the history of biochemistry, Cambridge University Press, 1970. In his introduction to this volume, Needham wrote that it should be considered as "one more laurel-wreath for 'Hoppy'".
102. J S Fruton, Molecules and life. Historical essays on the interplay of chemistry and biology, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1972; idem, Contrasts in scientific style. Research groups in the chemical and biochemical sciences, Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1990; idem, A skeptical biochemist, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1992; F L Holmes, Hans Krebs. Volume I. The formation of a scientific life, 1900-1933, Oxford University Press, 1990; idem, op. cit., note 58 above; idem, Between biology and medicine: the formation of intermediary metabolism, Berkeley, Office for History of Science and Technology, 1992; M Teich with D M Needham, A documentary history of biochemistry 1770-1940, Leicester University Press, 1992; David Keilin's The history of cell respiration . and cytochrome, Cambridge University Press, 1966, also belongs in this category, as does the volume of Cambridge biochemists' historical lectures edited by Joseph Needham entitled The chemistry of life. Eight lectures on the history of biochemistry, Cambridge University Press, 1970. In his introduction to this volume, Needham wrote that it should be considered as "one more laurel-wreath for 'Hoppy'".
103. J S Fruton, Molecules and life. Historical essays on the interplay of chemistry and biology, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1972; idem, Contrasts in scientific style. Research groups in the chemical and biochemical sciences, Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1990; idem, A skeptical biochemist, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1992; F L Holmes, Hans Krebs. Volume I. The formation of a scientific life, 1900-1933, Oxford University Press, 1990; idem, op. cit., note 58 above; idem, Between biology and medicine: the formation of intermediary metabolism, Berkeley, Office for History of Science and Technology, 1992; M Teich with D M Needham, A documentary history of biochemistry 1770-1940, Leicester University Press, 1992; David Keilin's The history of cell respiration . and cytochrome, Cambridge University Press, 1966, also belongs in this category, as does the volume of Cambridge biochemists' historical lectures edited by Joseph Needham entitled The chemistry of life. Eight lectures on the history of biochemistry, Cambridge University Press, 1970. In his introduction to this volume, Needham wrote that it should be considered as "one more laurel-wreath for 'Hoppy'".
104. J S Fruton, Molecules and life. Historical essays on the interplay of chemistry and biology, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1972; idem, Contrasts in scientific style. Research groups in the chemical and biochemical sciences, Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1990; idem, A skeptical biochemist, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1992; F L Holmes, Hans Krebs. Volume I. The formation of a scientific life, 1900-1933, Oxford University Press, 1990; idem, op. cit., note 58 above; idem, Between biology and medicine: the formation of intermediary metabolism, Berkeley, Office for History of Science and Technology, 1992; M Teich with D M Needham, A documentary history of biochemistry 1770-1940, Leicester University Press, 1992; David Keilin's The history of cell respiration . and cytochrome, Cambridge University Press, 1966, also belongs in this category, as does the volume of Cambridge biochemists' historical lectures edited by Joseph Needham entitled The chemistry of life. Eight lectures on the history of biochemistry, Cambridge University Press, 1970. In his introduction to this volume, Needham wrote that it should be considered as "one more laurel-wreath for 'Hoppy'".
105. J S Fruton, Molecules and life. Historical essays on the interplay of chemistry and biology, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1972; idem, Contrasts in scientific style. Research groups in the chemical and biochemical sciences, Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1990; idem, A skeptical biochemist, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1992; F L Holmes, Hans Krebs. Volume I. The formation of a scientific life, 1900-1933, Oxford University Press, 1990; idem, op. cit., note 58 above; idem, Between biology and medicine: the formation of intermediary metabolism, Berkeley, Office for History of Science and Technology, 1992; M Teich with D M Needham, A documentary history of biochemistry 1770-1940, Leicester University Press, 1992; David Keilin's The history of cell respiration . and cytochrome, Cambridge University Press, 1966, also belongs in this category, as does the volume of Cambridge biochemists' historical lectures edited by Joseph Needham entitled The chemistry of life. Eight lectures on the history of biochemistry, Cambridge University Press, 1970. In his introduction to this volume, Needham wrote that it should be considered as "one more laurel-wreath for 'Hoppy'".
106. J S Fruton, Molecules and life. Historical essays on the interplay of chemistry and biology, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1972; idem, Contrasts in scientific style. Research groups in the chemical and biochemical sciences, Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1990; idem, A skeptical biochemist, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1992; F L Holmes, Hans Krebs. Volume I. The formation of a scientific life, 1900-1933, Oxford University Press, 1990; idem, op. cit., note 58 above; idem, Between biology and medicine: the formation of intermediary metabolism, Berkeley, Office for History of Science and Technology, 1992; M Teich with D M Needham, A documentary history of biochemistry 1770-1940, Leicester University Press, 1992; David Keilin's The history of cell respiration . and cytochrome, Cambridge University Press, 1966, also belongs in this category, as does the volume of Cambridge biochemists' historical lectures edited by Joseph Needham entitled The chemistry of life. Eight lectures on the history of biochemistry, Cambridge University Press, 1970. In his introduction to this volume, Needham wrote that it should be considered as "one more laurel-wreath for 'Hoppy'".
107. J S Fruton, Molecules and life. Historical essays on the interplay of chemistry and biology, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1972; idem, Contrasts in scientific style. Research groups in the chemical and biochemical sciences, Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1990; idem, A skeptical biochemist, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1992; F L Holmes, Hans Krebs. Volume I. The formation of a scientific life, 1900-1933, Oxford University Press, 1990; idem, op. cit., note 58 above; idem, Between biology and medicine: the formation of intermediary metabolism, Berkeley, Office for History of Science and Technology, 1992; M Teich with D M Needham, A documentary history of biochemistry 1770-1940, Leicester University Press, 1992; David Keilin's The history of cell respiration . and cytochrome, Cambridge University Press, 1966, also belongs in this category, as does the volume of Cambridge biochemists' historical lectures edited by Joseph Needham entitled The chemistry of life. Eight lectures on the history of biochemistry, Cambridge University Press, 1970. In his introduction to this volume, Needham wrote that it should be considered as "one more laurel-wreath for 'Hoppy'".
108. In Fruton's Molecules and life, for example, there are three references to Hopkins and Cole's work on tryptophan, two to further work by Hopkins on proteins, two to Hopkins and Retcher's work on muscle, and only one to glutathione, which serves as a lead into a discussion of Szent-Györgyi's
109. Holmes' books about Krebs largely concern the latter's elucidation of the metabolic cycle that bears his name, and so it is unsurprising that Hopkins' work with Fletcher is emphasized both in these volumes and in his work on the formation of intermediary metabolism, a book which Holmes notes grew out of his investigations into the scientific background to Krebs' researches: Holmes, Between biology and medicine, op. cit., note 70 above, pp. 8-9.
110. Fruton, Contrasts in scientific style, op. cit., note 70 above, p. 275. In another account he does not give a reference for this viewpoint; this is particularly curious since he later quotes Todd's unfavourable view of the Cambridge Institute in 1943 as an instance of how critical study of autobiographical accounts can furnish historians with important information about noted scientists: Fruton, A skeptical biochemist, op. cit., note 70 above, pp. 192-3, 225-6.
111. Fruton, Contrasts in scientific style, op. cit., note 70 above, p. 275. In another account he does not give a reference for this viewpoint; this is particularly curious since he later quotes Todd's unfavourable view of the Cambridge Institute in 1943 as an instance of how critical study of autobiographical accounts can furnish historians with important information about noted scientists: Fruton, A skeptical biochemist, op. cit., note 70 above, pp. 192-3, 225-6.
112. Fruton, Contrasts in scientific style, op. cit., note 70 above, p. 109fn.
113. See works by Holmes cited in notes 58 and 70.
114. Kohler, op. cit., note 24 above, pp. 47-55, 73-92.
115. Ibid, p. 74.
116. Ibid, p. 2.
117. Kohler's methodological approach to the study of discipline building privileges the role of the scientist-entrepreneur, a concept derived from the work of Charles Rosenberg on the American agricultural research stations. To apply this post-World War II American concept to fundamental research of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is problematic, to say the least. We here share the concern of Joseph Fruton that "those social historians of science who have projected into the nineteenth and the early twentieth century the 'political economy' of the present-day biochemical sciences may have been unduly influenced by the current social climate of these sciences": Fruton, A skeptical biochemist, op. cit., note 70 above, p. 193. More recent historical scholarship has begun to provide us with a more thorough understanding of what the notion of a scientific discipline actually connoted in the past. An excellent recent study is K M Olesko, Physics as a calling: discipline and practice in the Königsberg seminar for physics, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1991.
118. Kohler's methodological approach to the study of discipline building privileges the role of the scientist-entrepreneur, a concept derived from the work of Charles Rosenberg on the American agricultural research stations. To apply this post-World War II American concept to fundamental research of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is problematic, to say the least. We here share the concern of Joseph Fruton that "those social historians of science who have projected into the nineteenth and the early twentieth century the 'political economy' of the present-day biochemical sciences may have been unduly influenced by the current social climate of these sciences": Fruton, A skeptical biochemist, op. cit., note 70 above, p. 193. More recent historical scholarship has begun to provide us with a more thorough understanding of what the notion of a scientific discipline actually connoted in the past. An excellent recent study is K M Olesko, Physics as a calling: discipline and practice in the Königsberg seminar for physics, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1991.
119. Details of those working in the laboratory can be gathered from the annual reports of the Department's activities submitted to the General Board of Studies, and published in the Cambridge University Reporter.
120. Bound volumes of the collected papers of the Department of Biochemistry are held in the Library of the Department.
121. Ibid.
122. The almost complete absence of Hopkins' brief alliance with the agriculturists from Kohler's account suggests that Kohler has unduly privileged Hopkins' problematic relationship with the Cambridge physiologists in order to cite it as an example of a more general schism.
123. Of Hopkins' obituarists, only two (Marjory Stephenson and Henry Dale) suggested that he had attempted to establish biochemistry as a "separate discipline". Both clearly understood "discipline" in terms of scientific approach rather than in any institutional sense: H H Dale, 'Hopkins, Sir Frederick Gowland (1861-1947)', Dictionary of National Biography 1941-1950, pp. 406-08; Stephenson, op. cit., note 53 above, p. 168.
124. Of Hopkins' obituarists, only two (Marjory Stephenson and Henry Dale) suggested that he had attempted to establish biochemistry as a "separate discipline". Both clearly understood "discipline" in terms of scientific approach rather than in any institutional sense: H H Dale, 'Hopkins, Sir Frederick Gowland (1861-1947)', Dictionary of National Biography 1941-1950, pp. 406-08; Stephenson, op. cit., note 53 above, p. 168.
125. F G Hopkins, 'Autobiography', in Needham and Baldwin (eds), op. cit., note 27 above, p. 18.
126. F G Hopkins, 'The clinician and the laboratory worker', in Needham and Baldwin (eds), op. cit., note 27 above, p. 206. These comments should be set against the background of the ongoing debate of that period about the control of medical research, as should be Hopkins' vehement denunciation of clinical science in his 1934 Presidential Address to the Royal Society: F G Hopkins, 'Address of the President', Proc. R. Soc. B, 1934, 116: 403-27.
127. F G Hopkins, 'The clinician and the laboratory worker', in Needham and Baldwin (eds), op. cit., note 27 above, p. 206. These comments should be set against the background of the ongoing debate of that period about the control of medical research, as should be Hopkins' vehement denunciation of clinical science in his 1934 Presidential Address to the Royal Society: F G Hopkins, 'Address of the President', Proc. R. Soc. B, 1934, 116: 403-27.
128. This received view can be found in our previous publication dealing with Hopkins: M W Weatherall and H Kamminga, Dynamic science: biochemistry in Cambridge, 1898-1949, Cambridge, Wellcome Unit Publications, 1992. This booklet was prepared to accompany an exhibition on Cambridge biochemistry; although it contains some original work on the period up to 1924, it is otherwise largely derived from accounts by Hopkins' colleagues and by historians.