Moritz Traube
Encyclopedia
Moritz Traube was a German chemist (physiological chemistry) and universal private scholar.
Traube worked on chemical, biochemical, medical, physiological, pathophysiological problems, he was engaged in hygienics, physically chemistry and chemical basic research. Although he was never a staff member of a university and earned his living as a wine merchant, he was able to refute theories of his leading contemporaries, including Justus von Liebig
, Louis Pasteur
, Felix Hoppe-Seyler and Julius Sachs, and to develop significant theories of his own with solid experimental foundations. The chemistry of oxygen and its significance to the organism were the central objects of his research and provided the common thread uniting almost all of his scientific activity.
Moritz Traube was a younger brother of the famous Berlin physician Ludwig Traube (physician)
, the co-founder of the German experimental pathology. A son, Wilhelm Traube
, evolved a process of purine synthesis. Hermann Traube
, another son, was a mineralogist.
. Traube graduated from the Gymnasium
in the provincial town of Ratibor when he was only 16 years old. His older brother Ludwig advised him to begin scientific studies at the University of Berlin (1842-1844). He studied experimental chemistry
with Eilhard Mitscherlich
, chemistry and stoichiometry
with Heinrich Rose
, mineralogy
with Christian Samuel Weiss
, physics
with Heinrich Wilhelm Dove
; and practised experimental chemistry in the laboratory of Karl Friedrich August Rammelsberg
.
He moved to Giessen to participate in Liebig's practical-analytical course in 1844/45. He attended lectures in botany
(Hermann Hoffmann
) and logic
(Moritz Carrière
). In 1845 he returned to Berlin (geology with Heinrich Girard
). In 1847 he received his doctorate with a thesis entitled "De nonnullis chromii connubiis". The later well-known botanist Nathanael Pringsheim
supported him. For a while Traube worked in a Berlin dyeworks (1848/49), then continued his studies: anatomy with Friedrich Schlemm
, physiology and comparative anatomy with Johannes Müller
, pathology with Rudolf Virchow
and pharmacology with Eilhard Mitscherlich. For a few weeks he attended lectures in clinical disciplines such as surgery
(with Bernhard von Langenbeck
) and auscultation
and percussion
(Ludwig Traube). The extraordinarily wide spectrum of his qualifications was a basis of his universal research.
In a poorly-heated attic of his house, lacking time and money, isolated from scientific communication, he developed his extensive chemical-physiological projects. He completed numerous well-planned, accurately executed experiments, the correctness of which his contemporaries were forced to acknowledge.
Traube was also successful as a wine merchant. Together with his brother Ludwig he donated 500 Taler to the Ratibor Gymnasium for students' prizes. He married Bertha Moll of Lissa
in 1855. The marriage produced 3 daughters and 2 sons.
and in the Physiological Institute of Rudolf Heidenhain
. Later he erected his own, well equipped laboratory and employed assistants. Every year he travelled to Hungary
to survey and purchase wine himself. One of his customers was Otto von Bismarck
. In 1886 Traube resigned from business. From 1866 to 1890 he was a member of the "Schlesische Gesellschaft für vaterländische Kultur“. He was elected to the board of this society in 1884.
in Berlin.
intake but fell after protein
consumption. Additionally he demonstrated the unrestricted intestinal absorption of fats in diabetics. He thus contributed to the scientific basis for a diabetic diet. For diagnosis he proposed to measure sugar levels at specific, regular intervals: in the morning before breakfast and after meals. He thus anticipated modern principles of blood sugar measurements. Elsewhere he investigated the laxative
qualities of lactose
.
to be based on experiments and elaborated consequently from the chemical point of view. The discovery in 1837 that yeast
was a living organism suggested that fermentation itself was a living process. Only a few scientists rejected this vitalistic
protoplasm
theory, notably Traube. He was the first to define enzymes as specific protein-like compounds and to formulate the necessity of direct molecular contact between enzyme and substrate
for fermentation to occur. He classified enzymes by reaction type, much as is done today. Long before Eduard Buchner
discovered non-cellular fermentation in 1897, Traube isolated an enzyme from potatoes which could turn guaiacum
blue, thus demonstrating the continued efficacy of plant enzymes after they had been extracted from the cell. Until recently, biochemical history has not noted that Traube began to investigate the kinetics
of reactions and also demonstrated a reciprocal relationship between reaction time and quantity of enzyme. To defend his theory, Traube had to argue vigorously against Louis Pasteur
and Felix Hoppe-Seyler. He contradicted Pasteur's assertion that fermentation could not occur without vital activity. In the context of these experiments Traube became the first to describe a process for making pure yeast. His differences with Hoppe-Seyler had to do with the mechanism by which oxygen was activated in fermentation reactions. Traube's experiments were designed to demonstrate activation via enzymes as catalysts and refute Hoppe-Seyler's hypothesis of oxygen
activation by nascent hydrogen produced by enzymes.
; these grew under infusion of water. (Other membranes were created with tannic acid plus verdigris
or potassium ferrocyanide
plus copper chloride
). These membranes laid the foundation for research into osmotic pressure in solutions (Wilhelm Pfeffer
and Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff
used them), and Traube himself did research on the manifestations of diffusion
and osmosis
.
he was the first to demonstrate via animal experiments that the organism has the ability to eliminate putrefactive
bacteria. In evaluating the results, he distinguished chemical poisoning from infection with microorganisms on the one hand, and pathogen
ic from putrefactive bacteria on the other. Further, he was the first to propose a relation between immune system to infections and active oxygen in the blood cells. In his last work Traube proposed disinfecting drinking water with calcium chloride
. This technique became very important. By 1914 the method was used in more than 100 cities in America. It was reintroduced to Germany after World War II via the American occupation.
for the generation of heat, formation and maintenance of structures and organ function. From his point of view biological oxidation takes place not only in the blood but in all tissues. Traube's theory of muscular metabolism is significant because it showed the close relationship between respiration, muscular activity and heat generation, thus contributed to the refutation of Liebig's theory of nutrients. The substrates for creating muscle power were thus primarily nitrogen-free compounds and not just proteins. To investigate the process of enzymatic oxygen activation in organisms Traube did experimental research into inorganic autoxidation
and oxygen activation. He thus demonstrated the role of water as active partner in slow oxidations and showed the intermediate character of hydrogen peroxide
generation.
and his own son Wilhelm Traube
. His biochemical concepts influenced later research. In his time he was especially noted for his clarification of the role of nutrients in metabolism and his work with semipermeable membranes. The University of Halle-Wittenberg conferred an honorary doctorate of medicine on Traube in 1867 and he was elected a corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
in Berlin in 1886. Louis Pasteur called Traube an excellent physiologist and professor; extensive appreciations were written by August Wilhelm von Hofmann
, Hermann Emil Fischer
and Ferdinand Cohn
. In 1875 Charles Darwin
had asked Traube to send him his work on cell formation. Philosophers, too, showed great interest in his results. In the 1870s Karl Marx
met Traube in Karlsbad
to learn more about inorganic cells because Friedrich Engels
was working on the relation between organic and inorganic nature, i.e., the dialectics of nature in Anti-Dühring
, and Traube's artificial cells served as models of living plant cells. When the young Robert Koch
in 1876 presented his discovery of bacillus anthracis
as the specific cause of anthrax
to the leading bacteriologist Ferdinand Cohn
in Breslau, Traube, who had by then achieved academic recognition, was one of the few invited to witness this momentous event.
Justus von Liebig
Justus von Liebig was a German chemist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and worked on the organization of organic chemistry. As a professor, he devised the modern laboratory-oriented teaching method, and for such innovations, he is regarded as one of the...
, Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist born in Dole. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases. His discoveries reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and he created the first vaccine for rabies and anthrax. His experiments...
, Felix Hoppe-Seyler and Julius Sachs, and to develop significant theories of his own with solid experimental foundations. The chemistry of oxygen and its significance to the organism were the central objects of his research and provided the common thread uniting almost all of his scientific activity.
Moritz Traube was a younger brother of the famous Berlin physician Ludwig Traube (physician)
Ludwig Traube (physician)
Ludwig Traube was a German physician and co-founder of the experimental pathology in Germany.-Biography:...
, the co-founder of the German experimental pathology. A son, Wilhelm Traube
Wilhelm Traube
Wilhelm Traube was a German chemist.- Biography :Traube was born at Ratibor in Prussian Silesia, a son of the famous private scholar Moritz Traube....
, evolved a process of purine synthesis. Hermann Traube
Hermann Traube
Hermann Traube was a German mineralogist born in Ratibor, Silesia . He was the son of chemist Moritz Traube ....
, another son, was a mineralogist.
Education period
Traube's father was a Jewish wine merchant, the grandson of a rabbi from KrakowKraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
. Traube graduated from the Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in the provincial town of Ratibor when he was only 16 years old. His older brother Ludwig advised him to begin scientific studies at the University of Berlin (1842-1844). He studied experimental chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
with Eilhard Mitscherlich
Eilhard Mitscherlich
Eilhard Mitscherlich was a German chemist, who is perhaps best remembered today for his law of isomorphism , which states that compounds crystallizing together probably have similar structures and compositions...
, chemistry and stoichiometry
Stoichiometry
Stoichiometry is a branch of chemistry that deals with the relative quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions. In a balanced chemical reaction, the relations among quantities of reactants and products typically form a ratio of whole numbers...
with Heinrich Rose
Heinrich Rose
Heinrich Rose was a German mineralogist and analytical chemist. He was the brother of the mineralogist Gustav Rose and a son of Valentin Rose....
, mineralogy
Mineralogy
Mineralogy is the study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.-History:Early writing...
with Christian Samuel Weiss
Christian Samuel Weiss
Christian Samuel Weiss was a German mineralogist born in Leipzig. After graduation he was a physics instructor in Leipzig from 1803 until 1808...
, physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
with Heinrich Wilhelm Dove
Heinrich Wilhelm Dove
Heinrich Wilhelm Dove was a Prussian physicist and meteorologist. He was the father of Alfred and Richard Dove.-Early Years:...
; and practised experimental chemistry in the laboratory of Karl Friedrich August Rammelsberg
Karl Friedrich August Rammelsberg
Karl Friedrich August Rammelsberg was a German mineralogist from Berlin, Prussia.He was educated for the medical profession and graduated in 1837 at Berlin University. In 1841 he became privatdozent in the university, and in 1845 professor extraordinary of chemistry...
.
He moved to Giessen to participate in Liebig's practical-analytical course in 1844/45. He attended lectures in botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
(Hermann Hoffmann
Hermann Hoffmann
Heinrich Karl Hermann Hoffmann was a German botanist and mycologist born in Rödelheim.He studied medicine at the University of Giessen, and in 1839 furthered his education in Berlin as a student of physiologist Johannes Peter Müller. In 1842 he earned his habilitation at Giessen, where he worked...
) and logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
(Moritz Carrière
Moritz Carrière
Moritz Carrière was a German philosopher and historian.After studying at Giessen, Göttingen and Berlin, he spent a few years in Italy studying the fine arts, and established himself in 1842 at Giessen as a teacher of philosophy...
). In 1845 he returned to Berlin (geology with Heinrich Girard
Heinrich Girard
Heinrich Girard was a German mineralogist and geologist born in Berlin.He studied natural sciences in Berlin, receiving his habilitation in 1845. Afterwards he became an associate professor of mineralogy and geology at the University of Marburg, and in 1854 a full professor at the University of...
). In 1847 he received his doctorate with a thesis entitled "De nonnullis chromii connubiis". The later well-known botanist Nathanael Pringsheim
Nathanael Pringsheim
Nathanael Pringsheim was a German botanist.-Biography:Nathanael Pringsheim was born at Landsberg, Prussian Silesia, and studied at the universities of Breslau, Leipzig, and Berlin successively...
supported him. For a while Traube worked in a Berlin dyeworks (1848/49), then continued his studies: anatomy with Friedrich Schlemm
Friedrich Schlemm
Friedrich Schlemm was a German anatomist who was professor at the University of Berlin.He was born in Salzgitter. As his family could not afford higher education, he was apprenticed to a barber-surgeon in Braunschweig. This gave him the opportunity to study anatomy and surgery at the local...
, physiology and comparative anatomy with Johannes Müller
Johannes Müller
Johannes Müller, Johann Müller or Hans Müller may refer to:* Johannes Müller von Königsberg , known as Regiomontanus, German mathematician and astronomer* Johannes von Müller , Swiss historian...
, pathology with Rudolf Virchow
Rudolf Virchow
Rudolph Carl Virchow was a German doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and politician, known for his advancement of public health...
and pharmacology with Eilhard Mitscherlich. For a few weeks he attended lectures in clinical disciplines such as surgery
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
(with Bernhard von Langenbeck
Bernhard von Langenbeck
Bernhard Rudolf Konrad von Langenbeck was a German surgeon known as the developer of Langenbeck's amputation and founder of Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery....
) and auscultation
Auscultation
Auscultation is the term for listening to the internal sounds of the body, usually using a stethoscope...
and percussion
Percussion (medicine)
Percussion is a method of tapping on a surface to determine the underlying structure, and is used in clinical examinations to assess the condition of the thorax or abdomen. It is one of the four methods of clinical examination, together with inspection, palpation and auscultation...
(Ludwig Traube). The extraordinarily wide spectrum of his qualifications was a basis of his universal research.
The period in Ratibor (1849-1866)
When another brother, who was to have taken over their father's wine business, suddenly died of diabetes, Traube's father ordered him home to Ratibor to help manage the business. After agonizing for several weeks, Traube complied. But he could not abandon science.In a poorly-heated attic of his house, lacking time and money, isolated from scientific communication, he developed his extensive chemical-physiological projects. He completed numerous well-planned, accurately executed experiments, the correctness of which his contemporaries were forced to acknowledge.
Traube was also successful as a wine merchant. Together with his brother Ludwig he donated 500 Taler to the Ratibor Gymnasium for students' prizes. He married Bertha Moll of Lissa
Leszno
Leszno is a town in central Poland with 63,955 inhabitants . Situated in the southern part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship since 1999, it was previously the capital of the Leszno Voivodeship . The town has county status.-History:...
in 1855. The marriage produced 3 daughters and 2 sons.
The period in Breslau (1866-1891)
To facilitate his research Traube moved to Breslau. He worked for a time in the laboratory of his friend Theodor PoleckTheodor Poleck
Thomas August Theodor Poleck was a German chemist and pharmacist born in Neisse.He studied at Giessen in the laboratory of Justus von Liebig, and in 1849 earned his doctorate at the University of Halle. Afterwards he worked in his father's pharmacy and for several years taught classes at a...
and in the Physiological Institute of Rudolf Heidenhain
Rudolf Heidenhain
Rudolf Peter Heinrich Heidenhain was a German physiologist who was born in Marienwerder, East Prussia . He studied medicine at the Universities of Halle and Berlin. After receiving his doctorate, he remained in Berlin as an assistant to Emil du Bois-Reymond...
. Later he erected his own, well equipped laboratory and employed assistants. Every year he travelled to Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
to survey and purchase wine himself. One of his customers was Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
. In 1886 Traube resigned from business. From 1866 to 1890 he was a member of the "Schlesische Gesellschaft für vaterländische Kultur“. He was elected to the board of this society in 1884.
The period in Berlin (1891-1894)
When Traube came to Berlin, he was already ill, probably from diabetes and coronary ischaemia. Here his two sons were employed at the university. He worked tirelessly even in the last year of his life. His death attracted great attention. He was laid to rest in the cemetery in Gudrunstrasse, Berlin-Lichtenberg. On the grave, no longer preserved, stood a bronze bust by the sculptor Fritz Schaper. The gypsum model survives in the Alte NationalgalerieAlte Nationalgalerie
The Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin is a gallery showing a collection of Classical, Romantic, Biedermeier, Impressionist and early Modernist artwork, all of which belong to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. The museum is situated on Museum Island, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site.- Founding...
in Berlin.
Medicine and clinical chemistry
Traube showed that sugar excretion in the urine of a diabetic patient rose after starchStarch
Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...
intake but fell after protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
consumption. Additionally he demonstrated the unrestricted intestinal absorption of fats in diabetics. He thus contributed to the scientific basis for a diabetic diet. For diagnosis he proposed to measure sugar levels at specific, regular intervals: in the morning before breakfast and after meals. He thus anticipated modern principles of blood sugar measurements. Elsewhere he investigated the laxative
Laxative
Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...
qualities of lactose
Lactose
Lactose is a disaccharide sugar that is found most notably in milk and is formed from galactose and glucose. Lactose makes up around 2~8% of milk , although the amount varies among species and individuals. It is extracted from sweet or sour whey. The name comes from or , the Latin word for milk,...
.
Theory of fermentation
Traube's main work, the Theorie der Fermentwirkungen (1858) is the first comprehensive theory of fermentationFermentation (biochemistry)
Fermentation is the process of extracting energy from the oxidation of organic compounds, such as carbohydrates, using an endogenous electron acceptor, which is usually an organic compound. In contrast, respiration is where electrons are donated to an exogenous electron acceptor, such as oxygen,...
to be based on experiments and elaborated consequently from the chemical point of view. The discovery in 1837 that yeast
Yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...
was a living organism suggested that fermentation itself was a living process. Only a few scientists rejected this vitalistic
Vitalism
Vitalism, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is#a doctrine that the functions of a living organism are due to a vital principle distinct from biochemical reactions...
protoplasm
Protoplasm
Protoplasm is the living contents of a cell that is surrounded by a plasma membrane. It is a general term of the Cytoplasm . Protoplasm is composed of a mixture of small molecules such as ions, amino acids, monosaccharides and water, and macromolecules such as nucleic acids, proteins, lipids and...
theory, notably Traube. He was the first to define enzymes as specific protein-like compounds and to formulate the necessity of direct molecular contact between enzyme and substrate
Substrate (biochemistry)
In biochemistry, a substrate is a molecule upon which an enzyme acts. Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions involving the substrate. In the case of a single substrate, the substrate binds with the enzyme active site, and an enzyme-substrate complex is formed. The substrate is transformed into one or...
for fermentation to occur. He classified enzymes by reaction type, much as is done today. Long before Eduard Buchner
Eduard Buchner
Eduard Buchner was a German chemist and zymologist, awarded with the 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry thanks to his work on fermentation.-Early years:...
discovered non-cellular fermentation in 1897, Traube isolated an enzyme from potatoes which could turn guaiacum
Guaiacum
Guaiacum, sometimes spelled Guajacum, is a genus of flowering plants in the caltrop family Zygophyllaceae. It contains five species of slow-growing shrubs and trees, reaching a height of approximately but are usually less than half of that...
blue, thus demonstrating the continued efficacy of plant enzymes after they had been extracted from the cell. Until recently, biochemical history has not noted that Traube began to investigate the kinetics
Enzyme kinetics
Enzyme kinetics is the study of the chemical reactions that are catalysed by enzymes. In enzyme kinetics, the reaction rate is measured and the effects of varying the conditions of the reaction investigated...
of reactions and also demonstrated a reciprocal relationship between reaction time and quantity of enzyme. To defend his theory, Traube had to argue vigorously against Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist born in Dole. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases. His discoveries reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and he created the first vaccine for rabies and anthrax. His experiments...
and Felix Hoppe-Seyler. He contradicted Pasteur's assertion that fermentation could not occur without vital activity. In the context of these experiments Traube became the first to describe a process for making pure yeast. His differences with Hoppe-Seyler had to do with the mechanism by which oxygen was activated in fermentation reactions. Traube's experiments were designed to demonstrate activation via enzymes as catalysts and refute Hoppe-Seyler's hypothesis of oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
activation by nascent hydrogen produced by enzymes.
Physiology of plants and the invention of artificial semipermeable membranes
In 1864 Traube was the first to produce artificial semipermeable membranes, recognizing them as molecular sieves and using them in developing the first physical-chemical theory of plant cell growth. The artificial cells were created by putting droplets of glue in tannic acidTannic acid
Tannic acid is a specific commercial form of tannin, a type of polyphenol. Its weak acidity is due to the numerous phenol groups in the structure...
; these grew under infusion of water. (Other membranes were created with tannic acid plus verdigris
Verdigris
Verdigris is the common name for a green pigment obtained through the application of acetic acid to copper plates or the natural patina formed when copper, brass or bronze is weathered and exposed to air or seawater over a period of time. It is usually a basic copper carbonate, but near the sea...
or potassium ferrocyanide
Potassium ferrocyanide
Potassium ferrocyanide is the inorganic compound with formula K4[Fe6]•3H2O. It is the potassium salt of the coordination complex [Fe6]4-. This salt forms lemon-yellow monoclinic crystals.-Synthesis:...
plus copper chloride
Copper chloride
Copper forms two stable chlorides:*Copper chloride , CuCl, mineral name nantokite.*Copper chloride , CuCl2, mineral name eriochalcite....
). These membranes laid the foundation for research into osmotic pressure in solutions (Wilhelm Pfeffer
Wilhelm Pfeffer
Wilhelm Friedrich Philipp Pfeffer was a German botanist and plant physiologist who was born in Grebenstein.- Academic career :...
and Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff
Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff
Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Jr. was a Dutch physical and organic chemist and the first winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry. He is best known for his discoveries in chemical kinetics, chemical equilibrium, osmotic pressure, and stereochemistry...
used them), and Traube himself did research on the manifestations of diffusion
Diffusion
Molecular diffusion, often called simply diffusion, is the thermal motion of all particles at temperatures above absolute zero. The rate of this movement is a function of temperature, viscosity of the fluid and the size of the particles...
and osmosis
Osmosis
Osmosis is the movement of solvent molecules through a selectively permeable membrane into a region of higher solute concentration, aiming to equalize the solute concentrations on the two sides...
.
Pathophysiology, bacteriology and hygienics
Traube also made an important contribution to the study of the etiology of disease. Together with Gscheidlen, an assistant of Rudolf HeidenhainRudolf Heidenhain
Rudolf Peter Heinrich Heidenhain was a German physiologist who was born in Marienwerder, East Prussia . He studied medicine at the Universities of Halle and Berlin. After receiving his doctorate, he remained in Berlin as an assistant to Emil du Bois-Reymond...
he was the first to demonstrate via animal experiments that the organism has the ability to eliminate putrefactive
Putrefaction
Putrefaction is one of seven stages in the decomposition of the body of a dead animal. It can be viewed, in broad terms, as the decomposition of proteins, in a process that results in the eventual breakdown of cohesion between tissues and the liquefaction of most organs.-Description:In terms of...
bacteria. In evaluating the results, he distinguished chemical poisoning from infection with microorganisms on the one hand, and pathogen
Pathogen
A pathogen gignomai "I give birth to") or infectious agent — colloquially, a germ — is a microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus that causes disease in its animal or plant host...
ic from putrefactive bacteria on the other. Further, he was the first to propose a relation between immune system to infections and active oxygen in the blood cells. In his last work Traube proposed disinfecting drinking water with calcium chloride
Calcium chloride
Calcium chloride, CaCl2, is a salt of calcium and chlorine. It behaves as a typical ionic halide, and is solid at room temperature. Common applications include brine for refrigeration plants, ice and dust control on roads, and desiccation...
. This technique became very important. By 1914 the method was used in more than 100 cities in America. It was reintroduced to Germany after World War II via the American occupation.
Biological oxidation
Traube developed a homogeneous concept of the critical significance of cellular respirationCellular respiration
Cellular respiration is the set of the metabolic reactions and processes that take place in the cells of organisms to convert biochemical energy from nutrients into adenosine triphosphate , and then release waste products. The reactions involved in respiration are catabolic reactions that involve...
for the generation of heat, formation and maintenance of structures and organ function. From his point of view biological oxidation takes place not only in the blood but in all tissues. Traube's theory of muscular metabolism is significant because it showed the close relationship between respiration, muscular activity and heat generation, thus contributed to the refutation of Liebig's theory of nutrients. The substrates for creating muscle power were thus primarily nitrogen-free compounds and not just proteins. To investigate the process of enzymatic oxygen activation in organisms Traube did experimental research into inorganic autoxidation
Autoxidation
Autoxidation is any oxidation that occurs in open air or in presence of oxygen and/or UV radiation and forms peroxides and hydroperoxides. A classic example of autoxidation is that of simple ethers like diethyl ether, whose peroxides can be dangerously explosive. It can be considered to be a slow,...
and oxygen activation. He thus demonstrated the role of water as active partner in slow oxidations and showed the intermediate character of hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is the simplest peroxide and an oxidizer. Hydrogen peroxide is a clear liquid, slightly more viscous than water. In dilute solution, it appears colorless. With its oxidizing properties, hydrogen peroxide is often used as a bleach or cleaning agent...
generation.
Accolades and appreciations
In consistently applying chemistry to physiology, Traube was a follower of Liebig and peer of Hoppe-Seyler. Traube produced 51 publications, lectured and occasionally taught. His significant pupils were Guido BodländerGuido Bodländer
Guido Bodländer was a German chemist. After graduating from the University of Breslau in 1882, he became an assistant to Moritz Traube in his laboratory in Breslau. Later, Bodländer worked as a chemist in Bonn and Göttingen. In 1899 he became a professor of chemistry in Braunschweig...
and his own son Wilhelm Traube
Wilhelm Traube
Wilhelm Traube was a German chemist.- Biography :Traube was born at Ratibor in Prussian Silesia, a son of the famous private scholar Moritz Traube....
. His biochemical concepts influenced later research. In his time he was especially noted for his clarification of the role of nutrients in metabolism and his work with semipermeable membranes. The University of Halle-Wittenberg conferred an honorary doctorate of medicine on Traube in 1867 and he was elected a corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
Prussian Academy of Sciences
The Prussian Academy of Sciences was an academy established in Berlin on 11 July 1700, four years after the Akademie der Künste or "Arts Academy", to which "Berlin Academy" may also refer.-Origins:...
in Berlin in 1886. Louis Pasteur called Traube an excellent physiologist and professor; extensive appreciations were written by August Wilhelm von Hofmann
August Wilhelm von Hofmann
August Wilhelm von Hofmann was a German chemist.-Biography:Hofmann was born at Gießen, Grand Duchy of Hesse. Not intending originally to devote himself to physical science, he first took up the study of law and philology at Göttingen. But he then turned to chemistry, and studied under Justus von...
, Hermann Emil Fischer
Hermann Emil Fischer
Hermann Emil Fischer, Emil Fischer was a German chemist and 1902 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He discovered the Fischer esterification. He developed the Fischer projection, a symbolic way of drawing asymmetric carbon atoms.-Early years:Fischer was born in Euskirchen, near Cologne,...
and Ferdinand Cohn
Ferdinand Cohn
Ferdinand Julius Cohn was a German biologist.Cohn was born in Breslau in the Prussian Province of Silesia. At the age of 10 he suffered hearing impairment. He received a degree in botany in 1847 at the age of nineteen at the University of Berlin. He was a teacher and researcher at University of...
. In 1875 Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
had asked Traube to send him his work on cell formation. Philosophers, too, showed great interest in his results. In the 1870s Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
met Traube in Karlsbad
Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary is a spa city situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately west of Prague . It is named after King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who founded the city in 1370...
to learn more about inorganic cells because Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
was working on the relation between organic and inorganic nature, i.e., the dialectics of nature in Anti-Dühring
Anti-Dühring
Herrn Eugen Dührings Umwälzung der Wissenschaft, commonly known as Anti-Dühring, is a book written in German by Friedrich Engels, published in 1878. It had previously been serialised in a periodical. There were two further editions in German in the lifetime of Engels...
, and Traube's artificial cells served as models of living plant cells. When the young Robert Koch
Robert Koch
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch was a German physician. He became famous for isolating Bacillus anthracis , the Tuberculosis bacillus and the Vibrio cholerae and for his development of Koch's postulates....
in 1876 presented his discovery of bacillus anthracis
Bacillus anthracis
Bacillus anthracis is the pathogen of the Anthrax acute disease. It is a Gram-positive, spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, with a width of 1-1.2µm and a length of 3-5µm. It can be grown in an ordinary nutrient medium under aerobic or anaerobic conditions.It is one of few bacteria known to...
as the specific cause of anthrax
Anthrax
Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
to the leading bacteriologist Ferdinand Cohn
Ferdinand Cohn
Ferdinand Julius Cohn was a German biologist.Cohn was born in Breslau in the Prussian Province of Silesia. At the age of 10 he suffered hearing impairment. He received a degree in botany in 1847 at the age of nineteen at the University of Berlin. He was a teacher and researcher at University of...
in Breslau, Traube, who had by then achieved academic recognition, was one of the few invited to witness this momentous event.
Sources und literature
- Henrik Franke: MORITZ TRAUBE (1826-1894) - Leben und Wirken des universellen Privatgelehrten und Wegbereiters der physiologischen Chemie. Med. Dissertation 1994, Universitätsbibliothek der Humboldt-Universität Berlin Signatur 94 HB 1449.
- Henrik Franke: Moritz Traube (1826-1894) Vom Weinkaufmann zum Akademiemitglied, "Studien und Quellen zur Geschichte der Chemie", Band 9, Verlag für Wissenschafts- und Regionalgeschichte Dr. Michael Engel, ISBN 978-3-929134-21-6
- HOFMANN, A.W.: Begründung des Vorschlages von MORITZ TRAUBE zum korrespondierenden Mitglied der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin vom 10. Juni 1886 (Zentrales Archiv der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Sign. II-III, 123, S. 115-117, 5 Bl.)
- TRAUBE, M.: Brief an K. G. J. WEINHOLD vom 11. Juni 1888 (Zentrales Archiv der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, NL-Weinhold 1419, 4 Bl.)
- TRAUBE, M.: Briefe. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. Preussischer Kulturbesitz. Handschriftenabt. Sign. Slg. Darmstaedter G 1 1875 (12)
- BODLÄNDER, G.: Moritz Traube. Ber. d. deutschen chem. Gesellschaft 28 (1895)
- COHN, F.: Nachruf und Nekrolog Moritz Traube. Jahresber. der Schlesischen Gesellsch. f. vaterländ. Kultur 72 (1894/1895). II. Abt., b. Sitzung d. zoolog.-botan. Section v. 1.11.1894, 63-64; Nekrologe 16-19; Allgem. Bericht 1-14
- FISCHER, E.: Dr. Moritz Traube. Ber. d. deutschen chem. Gesellschaft 27 (1894) 1795-1796
- FRAENKEL, M.: Moritz Traube. Das Lebensbild eines genialen Oberschlesiers. Oppeln (1931)
- HOPPE-SEYLER, F.: Über Gährungen. Antwort auf einen Angriff des Herrn Moritz Traube. Ber. d. deutschen chem. Gesellschaft 10 (1877) 693-695
- LIEBEN, F.: Geschichte der physiologischen Chemie. Leipzig und Wien (1935)
- MÄGDEFRAU, K.: Geschichte der Botanik. 2. Aufl., Stuttgart, Jena, New York (1992)
- MÜLLER, K.: Moritz Traube und seine Theorie der Fermente. Zürich, Univ. med. Diss. 1970
- SOURKES, TH. L.: Moritz Traube, 1826 - 1894: His contribution to biochemistry. J. of the History of Medicin 10 (1955) 379-391