ABSTRACT
I would be remiss if I did not €rst direct the reader to the comprehensive treatise on albumin by Theodore Peters,1 which was published in 1996. He notes that the €rst isolation of albumin was accomplished from urine in 1500. The term albumin dates back to 1853 when work was done on vegetable and egg proteins.2 Thus, the substance derived from egg white was described as an albuminoid substance. The term albumin was used to describe the natural substances that were later identi€ed as proteins; for example, €brin was described as coagulated albumin. The name albumin is derived from L. albus (white), as the various protein precipitates obtained from acidi€ed urine, egg white, or serum were white in color. Albumen, an early German term for protein,1 was the preferred term as late as 19033 and is used to describe the protein obtained from the egg white of various birds.4
