Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 53.djvu/129

Rh and practical medicine was only beginning to be felt even in Germany.

Up to 1874 only an occasional student availed himself of the opportunities afforded by the new course in biology in the Sheffield Scientific School, and physiology and physiological chemistry were taught only in name. In the class of 1875, however, there were six or seven students taking the new course, and it was decided to start an independent laboratory of physiological chemistry. Nominally under the charge of one of the professors of chemistry, the laboratory instruction was really placed in the hands of the inexperienced and youthful assistant, who, although not yet a graduate, had manifested remarkable ability in both acquiring and imparting knowledge in this direction. The laboratory was a single small room provided with the simplest of equipments, but the young man was full of enthusiasm, and by hard and persistent work managed to keep ahead of his class and pilot them safely through a moderate course of study.

Immediately after his graduation Mr. Chittenden was appointed instructor in physiological chemistry, which position he held until 1878, acquiring each year added experience and facility. Further, each year witnessed the completion and publication of some piece of scientific research in his favorite branch. Having now made up his mind to devote himself to physiological chemistry, and feeling the necessity of a broader knowledge of the subject than could be acquired in this country, he decided to go abroad, and accordingly 1878 and 1879 were spent in Germany, chiefly at Heidelberg with Professor Kühne, where the time was occupied mainly with the study of experimental physiology, physiological chemistry, and histology. Not only were routine courses pursued, but Mr. Chittenden's natural bent for scientific investigation led to constant work in the laboratory, with the result that in 1879 three papers on physiological subjects were published by him in the Untersuchungen aus dem physiologischen Institute der Universität Heidelberg, and one in the English Journal of Physiology. Returning to America in the fall of 1879, Mr. Chittenden took his former position at New Haven, more fully equipped for his life work. The establishment at this time of the American Chemical Journal led to an invitation to write a series of reports upon recent progress in physiological chemistry, which were continued for several years.

In 1880 he received from Yale the degree of Ph. D., and in 1882 he was appointed professor of physiological chemistry at Yale, and member of the governing board of the Sheffield Scientific School. In this same year he received an urgent invitation from Professor Kühne to come to Heidelberg and join with him in a series of investigations upon the physiology of digestion. Accordingly, on the 1st