Title
Outline of the Amino Acids and Proteins
Author
Editor: Melville Sahyun, M.A., Ph.D.
Publisher: Reinhold Publishing Corporation
Image
Description
Edited by pharmaceutical researcher Melville Sahyun, this compact 1944 volume collects contributions from sixteen prominent scientists in biochemistry, including Carl L. A. Schmidt, Michael Heidelberger, and Armand J. Quick. The book offers a concise but technical summary of the chemistry of amino acids and proteins, with emphasis on physiological function, analytical chemistry, and wartime research priorities.
Condition
Solid and clean red cloth binding with modest edge and corner wear. Minor spine fraying at the head. No dust jacket present. Interior pages are crisp and well-preserved with minimal discoloration. Binding remains tight and intact. This wartime edition reflects high paper quality despite era-typical constraints.
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Historical context
Published in the thick of World War II, this scientific text reflects the wartime urgency for advances in protein chemistry—particularly in nutrition, pharmacology, and clinical diagnostics. Its editor, Melville Sahyun, was then Vice-President and Director of Research for Frederick Stearns and Company, a pharmaceutical firm later acquired by Sterling Drug. This book offered researchers and students a timely synthesis of biochemical knowledge when protein metabolism was a key area of medical and military interest.
Curious Facts, Ephemera, and Trivia
Editor Melville Sahyun is also credited with directing penicillin development projects in the U.S. during WWII. He also helped shape the pharmaceutical industry’s transition from proprietary elixirs to standardized therapeutics.
Excerpt
“Proteins are constituents of all living tissues, the amount and kind of protein varying with the particular tissue in question. Proteins are so universally distributed that it is not possible to ingest naturally occurring foodstuffs without including protein…”
(Chapter II, “Proteins: Occurrence, Amino Acid Content, and Properties” by Carl L. A. Schmidt)
The excerpt also highlights William Hyde Wollaston, an 18th-century chemist who discovered palladium and rhodium and first isolated cystine from a urinary calculus.
Why it is in the Cabinet
This book is a scientific time capsule from the era when amino acids were still being actively isolated, categorized, and structurally characterized. It bridges academic research and pharmaceutical application during a time when protein science directly supported military medicine, nutrition, and early antibiotic development. The inclusion of notable names in biochemistry marks it as an authoritative resource of its time.
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