The skeptical chemist

CLINICAL CHEMISTRY, the science in whieh chemical and biologic analy-sis of body fluids and tissues is used in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, is undergoing rapid change. Engineers and physicists have entered the field and have designed automated and mechanized equip-ment which, some people postulate, eventually may replace not only the technician, but also the clinical chemist. I feel, however, that there is more to clinical chemistry than the mere performance of laboratory tests. The clinical chemist must be, as the playwright wrote, a man for all seasons. He must be a capable administrator of his laboratory, able to solve the many personnel and instrumentation problems that face him daily. He must understand the fundamentals of biochemistry and immunochemistry, and keep abreast of all of the rapid changes in these burgeoning fields. He must be able not only to initiate new organic and inorganic analyses of biologic material, but also to recognize and appreciate the development of physical science and engineering, and perhaps most importantly, to discriminate between industrial science fiction and reality. Finally, during his training, and perhaps also as a result of strenuous personal effort, he must have obtained at least a smattering of ignorance in the art of clinical medicine so that he can provide the clinicians with the proper counseling for their myriad of pathologic-biochemical problems. Therefore, I hope that the modern clinical chemist will not pass into the liml)o of medical and chemical history, dragging his pipets, burets, and AutoAnalyzers behind him. I hope he will not go quietly into the dark night, but instead, rage, rage against the monsters of mechanization and computer conformity. A review of the early history of clinical chemistry may help him arm against these modern horrors and help him gain an appreciation of the background of this hybrid science and of the many interesting individ-uals-scientists, physicians, priests, wizards, and charlatans-who have contributed to the development of the field