Abstract - In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, the study of the living world placed considerable reliance on applied chemistry and chemical concepts. Paul Ehrlich, the subject of this paper, adopted from the mid-1870s principles of organic chemistry to devise procedures for use in histology, to suggest features of cellular structure, and to draw up cartoons that explained the nature of immunity. From a distinctly molecular basis, he devised meaningful experimental strategies and was inspired to develop speculative but effective theoretical models along the same lines that chemists had used to resolve problems of molecular structure and behavior. Thus, Ehrlich suggested that combining power and toxicity were independent properties of the antigen toxin. He succeeded to classify synthetic dyestuffs as stains, to use them for investigating molecular combustion, to adapt theories of dyeing to develop models for both combustion and immunity, and to exploit the properties of dyes in the development of chemotherapy. Ehrlich not only speculated on the behavior of synthetic chemicals toward his model of the protoplasm but also invoked biological specificity, a concept that would have a tremendous impact on immunology, drug development, and molecular biology. Keywords -- Paul Ehrlich; specificity; side chains; cellular structure; theory of immunity; chemotherapy
...MoreDescription On Ehrlich's work in organic chemistry, development of histology procedures, study of cellular structure, and understanding of immunity.
Book
Hüntelmann, Axel C.;
(2011)
Paul Ehrlich: Leben, Forschung, Ökonomien, Netzwerke
(/isis/citation/CBB001220501/)
Article
Deichmann, Ute;
(2007)
“Molecular” versus “Colloidal”: Controversies in Biology and Biochemistry, 1900--1940
(/isis/citation/CBB000831527/)
Thesis
Yamashita, Grant Joo;
(2006)
On the Germ-Soma Distinction in Evolutionary Biology: A Historical and Conceptual Approach
(/isis/citation/CBB001560834/)
Chapter
Jeffrey Allan Johnson;
(2016)
From Bio-organic Chemistry to Molecular and Synthetic Biology: Fulfilling Emil Fischer’s Dream
(/isis/citation/CBB095124609/)
Article
Benedek, Thomas G.;
(2005)
Ehrlich's Theory of Drug Action and Anti-Tuberculous Gold Therapy
(/isis/citation/CBB000630337/)
Article
Hüntelmann, Axel C.;
(2010)
Seriality and Standardization in the Production of “606”
(/isis/citation/CBB001023534/)
Article
Parascandola, John;
(1981)
The theoretical basis of Paul Ehrlich's chemotherapy
(/isis/citation/CBB000015923/)
Article
Reynolds, Andrew;
(2007)
The Theory of the Cell State and the Question of Cell Autonomy in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Biology
(/isis/citation/CBB000740749/)
Article
Lenoir, Timothy;
(1988)
A magic bullet: Research for profit and the growth of knowledge in Germany around 1900
(/isis/citation/CBB000038349/)
Article
Neill, Deborah;
(2009)
Paul Ehrlich's Colonial Connections: Scientific Networks and Sleeping Sickness Drug Therapy Research, 1900--1914
(/isis/citation/CBB000932787/)
Article
Ghesquier, Danièle;
(2002)
La centrifugation et la cellule: la déconstruction du protoplasme entre 1880 et 1910
(/isis/citation/CBB000770937/)
Article
Henning Hufnagel;
Robert Matthias Erdbeer;
Fank Jäger;
Nicolas Wanlin;
(2016)
Die „Erhaltung der Fühlung“. Haeckels Seelenzellen und der Stil der Esoterischen Moderne
(/isis/citation/CBB669479780/)
Book
Vignais, Pierre;
(2001)
La biologie, des origines à nos jours: une histoire des idées et des hommes
(/isis/citation/CBB000771872/)
Article
Morange, Michel;
(2010)
Apoptosis and Programmed Cell Death: When Biological Categories Are Blurred
(/isis/citation/CBB001034000/)
Book
Delgado Echeverría, Isabel;
(2007)
El descubrimiento de los cromosomas sexuales. Un hito en la historia de la Biología
(/isis/citation/CBB001022345/)
Article
Yi, Doogab;
(2007)
The Coming of Reversibility: The Discovery of DNA Repair between the Atomic Age and the Information Age
(/isis/citation/CBB000850131/)
Article
Morange, Michel;
(2011)
Recent Opportunities for an Increasing Role for Physical Explanations in Biology
(/isis/citation/CBB001023998/)
Article
Rossiianov, Kirill;
(2008)
Taming the Primitive: Elie Metchnikov and His Discovery of Immune Cells
(/isis/citation/CBB000850338/)
Article
Carlos Ramírez;
(2022)
Lipids, Chloroform, and Their Intertwined Histories
(/isis/citation/CBB384618008/)
Book
Oxana Kosenko;
(2015)
Kampf der Zellen Die Entstehung der Immunologie im Wissenschaftsdreieck Russland - Deutschland - Frankreich
(/isis/citation/CBB853869046/)
Be the first to comment!