Abstract
Enzymology as a distinct science is just over 100 years old, dating most notably to the work of W. Kühne (Gutfreund, 1976). Originally, enzymes were called ferments, reflecting the early interest in the nature of alcoholic fermentation. In 1876 Kühne presented to the Heidelberger Naturhistorischen und Medizinischen Verein a paper (reproduced in FEBS Letters, Volume 62, Supplement, 1976), in which he proposed that isolable ferments should be called enzymes. As we learn in elementary biochemistry courses, the word enzyme comes from the Greek for in yeast or leavened.
A reductio ad absurdam I admits but I cannot conceive how the living celt can behave as it doesj unless practically all the molecules inside it are under some kind of directed activity. (Peters, 1930)
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© 1986 Plenum Press, New York
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Welch, G.R., Clegg, J.S. (1986). The Organization of Cell Metabolism: A Historical Vignette. In: Welch, G.R., Clegg, J.S. (eds) The Organization of Cell Metabolism. NATO ASI Series, vol 127. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5311-9_1
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