CHAPTER 1
An Introduction to Comparative Biochemistry
MARCEL FLORKIN and HOWARD S. MASON
Department of Biochemistry, University of Liege, Belgium, and Department
of Biochemistry, University of Oregon Medical School, Forüand, Oregon
I. The Comparative Point of View in Biology
1
II. The Comparative Point of View in Biochemistry
9
III. The Scope of Comparative Biochemistry
13
References
14
I. The Comparative Point of View in Biology
The phenomena of life are so numerous and so diverse that no human mind, whatever its genius, has been able to arrange them entirely
within the framework of a single classification. Nevertheless attempts
to do so have been made since ancient times. The objective knowledge
of life acquired by the world of antiquity was systematized by
Aristotle. During the two thousand years which followed, dogmatism
and verbalism replaced inquisitiveness in a society into which no fresh
sources of objective knowledge were admitted; but from the beginning
of the sixteenth century, new experience forced new kinds of comparisons. Chief among these were the objects (and ideas) brought back
to Europe by explorers, and the fantastic new world which was revealed by the discovery of the microscope. The character of these discoveries and observations was so striking that the techniques of collecting, drawing, and cataloguing became very important, and introduced
an element of classification which had been lacking until that time. It
became necessary to compare organisms with others of their kind and
to revise notions of similarities and differences in the light of previously
unsuspected knowledge. This flowering of Renaissance biology was not
the product of any special human genius but was forced by observation. Thus, when anatomy became an exact science, i.e., after Vesalius,
several physicians studied other mammalian species and compared them
with man. The monograph of Luini on the horse, at the end of the six1
An Introduction to Comparative Biochemistry
MARCEL FLORKIN and HOWARD S. MASON
Department of Biochemistry, University of Liege, Belgium, and Department
of Biochemistry, University of Oregon Medical School, Forüand, Oregon
I. The Comparative Point of View in Biology
1
II. The Comparative Point of View in Biochemistry
9
III. The Scope of Comparative Biochemistry
13
References
14
I. The Comparative Point of View in Biology
The phenomena of life are so numerous and so diverse that no human mind, whatever its genius, has been able to arrange them entirely
within the framework of a single classification. Nevertheless attempts
to do so have been made since ancient times. The objective knowledge
of life acquired by the world of antiquity was systematized by
Aristotle. During the two thousand years which followed, dogmatism
and verbalism replaced inquisitiveness in a society into which no fresh
sources of objective knowledge were admitted; but from the beginning
of the sixteenth century, new experience forced new kinds of comparisons. Chief among these were the objects (and ideas) brought back
to Europe by explorers, and the fantastic new world which was revealed by the discovery of the microscope. The character of these discoveries and observations was so striking that the techniques of collecting, drawing, and cataloguing became very important, and introduced
an element of classification which had been lacking until that time. It
became necessary to compare organisms with others of their kind and
to revise notions of similarities and differences in the light of previously
unsuspected knowledge. This flowering of Renaissance biology was not
the product of any special human genius but was forced by observation. Thus, when anatomy became an exact science, i.e., after Vesalius,
several physicians studied other mammalian species and compared them
with man. The monograph of Luini on the horse, at the end of the six1