ABSTRACT
The early workers on enzymes believed that a little 'vital force' resided in these particles, a belief analogous to that of primitive men in the magical nature of their own tools. One of the most characteristic things about an enzyme is its specificity. The enzyme which digests cane sugar not touch milk sugar or malt sugar, and conversely. The most active enzyme preparations, when dissolved in water, will break up ten times their weight of sugar per second and, as far as we know, will continue to do so indefinitely. Enzymes have been compared to keys which will only open certain locks. Our efforts in medicine are directed rather to enabling such enzymes as exist in the cell to act more efficiently than to supplying them in their absence. The enzymes not only of bacteria but of cancer cell, which seem to be slightly but significantly different from those of normal tissues.
