Introducing the concept of metabolism into physiology

LIEBIG, Justus.

Die organische Chemie in ihrer Anwendung auf Physiologie und Pathologie.

Braunschweig: Verlag Friedrich Vieweg u. Sohn, 1842.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Good. Item #001862

8vo (207x132 mm). xvi, [2], 342, [2] pp. including half title. Contemporary cardboard with handwritten paper label; interior foxed throughout, half title with chipping to fore-edge. ----

Garrison-Morton 677; PMM 310b; Waller 5796; Wellcome III, p. 515; Norman 1351; Sparrow 133. - FIRST EDITION. "With this book Liebig introduced the concept of metabolism into physiology" (Garrison-Morton). Liebig envisioned his book, titled Die Thierchemie in later editions, as a complement to his researches into the chemistry of plants. In it he showed, "like Lavoisier, that animal heat is not innate, but the result of combustion, introduced the concept of metabolism (Stoffwechsel); and classified animal foodstuffs as fats, carbohydrates and proteins according to their function. He thus became the founder of the modern science of nutrition" (PMM). The work aroused "sharply divergent reactions... Even those who reacted against it, however, began to view the chemical phenomena of life differently than they had before, for Liebig had provided one of the first comprehensive pictures of the overall meaning of the ceaseless chemical exchanges which form an integral part of the vital processes... As with his agricultural chemistry, Liebig's physiological writings provided an impetus which outlasted the refutation of some of his specific theories" (DSB).

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