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WALTHER LOB, STANLEY L. MILLER AND PREBIOTIC "BUILDING BLOCKS" IN THE SILENT ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE HUBERT P. YOCKEY* Stanley L. Miller (1930- ) [1, 2] is usually credited for being the first to find amino acids in a "prebiotic experiment," using the spark discharge and the silent electric discharge in presumed "prebiotic atmospheres." But as he acknowledged in his 1995 paper, biochemists, in particular Professor Walther Lob (1872-1916), the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had been exploiting the effects of the silent electric discharge (stillen ekktrishen Entlandung) to study the electrochemistry of gases with relation to the study of the fixation or assimilation of nitrogen and carbon dioxide in plants and the role that played in the formation of natural protein. The silent electrical discharge differs from the spark discharge in that it occurs between extended electrodes rather than point electrodes. This type of electrical discharge was used originally to make ozone, and thus they were often called ozonizers. Miller and Schlesinger and Miller cited Lob, who found glycine in the silent electrical discharge, but mistakenly stated that Lob used carbon monoxide , ammonia, and water in his silent electric discharge tube [2-4]. The German word for carbon monoxide is Kohlenoxyd, the word for carbon dioxide is Kohhnsäure (literally carbonic acid) . Although Lob referred in passing to having obtained glycine by the silent electrical discharge in an atmosphere of damp carbon monoxide {Kohlenoxyd) and ammonia, the main thrust in all of his experiments was in the assimilation of carbon dioxide (Kohlensäure) and nitrogen leading to the formation of protein [4] . This mistranslation may be why Löb's priority in this work has been overlooked. Miller cited Lob who began his paper with these words: *1507 Balmoral Drive, Bel Air, MD, 21014.© 1997 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0031-5982/97/4003-4023$1.00 •ectives in Biology and Medicine, 41, 1 ¦ Autumn 1997 125 "Das Problem der _&/ifewsä«reassimilation durch die Pflanzen führte mich vor einigen Jahren auf die Untersuchungen über die chemische Wirkung dei' stillen Entladung." [The problem of carbon dioxide assimilation by plants led me some years ago to research in the chemical effect of the silent discharge.] [2, 5] Lob began most of his papers with a declaration of purpose similar to that above. The mistranslation of Kohlensäure appears in Glockler and Lind's monograph on the electrochemistry of gases, which gives a discussion of the techniques used in glow discharge, silent electrical discharges, sparks, other forms of electrical discharges, and a fairly complete list of references up to about 1938 [6]. Anyone who wished to work in this field would have consulted that book. Lob is cited frequently. One finds on pages 190-191 the sentence referring to Löb's 1913 paper: "Tests for amino acids were also obtained from moist carbon monoxide and ammonia, which was the first time this synthesis was ever accomplished." Lob used carbon dioxide (Kohlens äure) not carbon monoxide (Kohlenoxyd) . The mistranslation oí Kohlensäure is repeated in Akerlof and Wills' 1951 reference book of abstracts, in an abstract of Löb's 1913 paper on page 125 [7]. Miller cited these two references and accepted the mistranslation ?? Kohlensäure [2], perhaps because Lind was a well-known authority in this field. At the turn of the century, electricity was beginning to be used in a large scale in commerce, industry, and science. Experiments in electrical discharges were very prestigious. Papers in the field were published in the German technical periodicals Beuchte der deutschen chemischen Geselkchaft (Reports ofthe German Chemical Society), Biochemische Zeitschrift (Journal ofBiochemistry ), and the ZeitschriftfürElektrochemie (JournalforElectro-Chemistry). The very existence of these journals is testimony for the extent of work in electrochemistry , radiation chemistry and their applications in biochemistry. Walther Lob had climbed the difficult ladder of promotion in German universities in the Imperial Germany of Kaiser Wilhelm II. He had attained the distinguished position of Director of the Biochemical Department at the Rudolf Virchow Hospital in Berlin. His last two papers were received in the offices of Biochemische Zeitschrift on 8 December 1914, and published in 1915. He died in Berlin at the age of 44, after...

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