Svante Arrhenius / by Sir James Walker.

  • Walker, James, Sir, 1863-1935.
Date:
1929
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Svante Arrhenius / by Sir James Walker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    cal Chemistry Applied to Toxins and Antitoxins.” Madsen was responsible for the experimental methods, Arrhenius for the theoreti¬ cal treatment. They maintained that the toxin-antitoxin combina¬ tion (held by Ehrlich to be a firm chemical union) was in reality reversible, and governed by the ordinary mass-action law. The immunological phenomenon of antitoxin action was likened to the interaction of a weak acid and a weak base, such as boric acid and ammonia, which only partly neutralize each other. The work con¬ stitutes a classical study among the early researches into the under¬ lying nature of immunity phenomena, and contributed to laying the foundation of “ immunochemistry,” a term first applied by Arrhenius himself to a branch of biological research in which reactions of markedly specific character occur between biological principles of unknown chemical nature. Arrhenius pursued this type of research for a decade, and published two books dealing with it, Immunochem¬ istry in 1908, and Quantitative Laws in Biological Chemistry in 1915. In the year 1905 Arrhenius happened to be in Berlin and was asked by the university adviser of the Prussian Ministry of Education if he would be inclined to accept a position in the Prussian Acadamy, similar to that held by van’t PXoff. This was a very tempting pro¬ posal, but Arrhenius, with his usual patriotism, requested time to consider it, and asked and was granted permission to speak of it to the Minister of Education in Sweden. It had been the intention of the Academy of Sciences to found a Nobel institute for chemistry and one for physics, but the wish having been expressed by King Oscar II that Arrhenius should not be allowed to leave Sweden, the academy resolved to found forthwith, instead of the two pro¬ posed institutes, a Nobel institute for physical chemistry, and of this new foundation Arrhenius was appointed director. It was housed at first in temporary quarters in Stockholm, but at Experimental- faltet, a pretty park in the neighborhood of the town, a small labo¬ ratory was erected with an official residence attached. The laboratory was inaugurated in 1909. Here, with an assistant and a few re¬ search workers as guests, Arrhenius could work and write under ideal conditions on such problems of physical chemistry, physiologi¬ cal chemistry, immunochemistry, meteorology, and cosmic physics as might please him. The stormy period of Arrhenius’s career was now definitely over, and from the time of his appointment to the Nobel Institute life went very smoothly with him. From being a scientific outcast in Sweden he became a scientific oracle, known and respected by all classes of the people. He himself did little practical work in the new laboratory, but stimulated and encouraged others. One of his chief pleasures was