Archibald Byron Macallum (April 7, 1858 – April 5, 1934) was a Canadian biochemist and founder of the

National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; french: Conseil national de recherches Canada) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research & development. It is the largest federal research ...

. He was an influential figure in the development of Medical School of Toronto from a provincial school to a major institution. His scientific work centred on studies of ionic composition of cells and of blood.

Education and academic career

Macallum was born in Belmont,

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...

, the son of a Scottish immigrant and one of twelve children. He grew up speaking

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

at home, learning English at school. He attended high school in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

and became a teacher after graduation. After saving money for several years he entered the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. There he was influenced by biology professor Ramsay Wright; at 22 he earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(B.A.) degree and was awarded the medal in natural science. Over the next several years, he taught high school in

Cornwall, Ontario Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Central Canada, Ontario and Quebec and the state of New York (state), New York converge. It is the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Unit ...

and continued scientific work under Wright's direction. In 1883, he became a lecturer in biology at the University of Toronto and started work on a medical degree, studying both with Wright and with H. Newell Martin of

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. In 1888 he earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins, and two years later completed a medical degree from the University of Toronto; he then became the first chair of

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

at Toronto. In his first years as physiology chair at the University of Toronto, Macallum and several other biologists trained by Wright (

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

chair James McMurrich and pathology professor J. J. Mackenzie) fought to replace the Toronto medical school's traditional medical education with a curriculum based on biological science. They had largely succeeded in this by 1908, when Macallum became Chair of Biochemistry, a newly created position. In 1917, he left academia to organize the

National Research Council National Research Council may refer to: * National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development * National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome * National Research Council (United States), part of ...

. In 1920 he returned to chair the new Department of Biochemistry at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

, where he stayed until retirement in 1928.

Scientific work

Most of Macallum's scientific work involved measurements of small concentrations of salts and

ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...

s in biological fluids. In 1901, he showed that the

chromatin Chromatin is a complex of DNA and protein found in eukaryotic cells. The primary function is to package long DNA molecules into more compact, denser structures. This prevents the strands from becoming tangled and also plays important roles in r ...

in cell nuclei contains

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

, and in his early years at the University of Toronto he adapted measurement methods for a number of ions (

chloride The chloride ion is the anion (negatively charged ion) Cl−. It is formed when the element chlorine (a halogen) gains an electron or when a compound such as hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water or other polar solvents. Chloride salts ...

potassium Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosphe ...

and

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

) for use with tissue and

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery ...

samples. Using these methods, he found that some chemicals are localized within cells, e.g., being present in the

cytoplasm In cell biology, the cytoplasm is all of the material within a eukaryotic cell, enclosed by the cell membrane, except for the cell nucleus. The material inside the nucleus and contained within the nuclear membrane is termed the nucleoplasm. The ...

but not the

nucleus Nucleus ( : nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: *Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom * Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucl ...

. In 1906, he was recognized for this work by election to the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. Building on his ion measurement work, Macallum's subsequent long-term research focused on the ionic content of

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the c ...

and other biological fluids. He found that in many animals, ions of

sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable iso ...

calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...

and

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...

occur in close proportion to the ionic content of

seawater Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has appro ...

, providing a strong argument for the marine origins of land vertebrates. Macallum argued that the vertebrate blood, with a total ion concentration of about one-third of seawater, indicates that vertebrates left the sea in the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

period or before, when the ion concentration of the sea was much lower. Macallum's series of experiments and arguments became a central part of the broader field of biochemical evolution in the first half of the 20th century, which attempted to apply biochemical work to problems in evolution and general biology. Macallum trained many biochemists during his time at the University of Toronto, including the university's first PhD candidate, F. H. Scott;

Maud Menten Maud Leonora Menten (March 20, 1879 – July 17, 1960) was a Canadian physician and chemist. As a bio-medical and medical researcher, she made significant contributions to enzyme kinetics and histochemistry and invented a procedure that rema ...

Clara Benson Clara Cynthia Benson (1875–1964) was a Canadian chemist, the sole female founder of the American Society for Biological Chemistry (now the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)) and one of the first two women to earn a ...

, and

James Collip James Bertram Collip (November 20, 1892 – June 19, 1965) was a Canadian biochemist who was part of the Toronto group which isolated insulin. He served as the Chair of the Department of Biochemistry at McGill University from 1928–1941 a ...

Notes

References

* * *

External links

Macallum, Archibald Byron
- ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''
Archibald Byron Macallum archival papers
held at th
University of Toronto Archives and Research Services
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macallum, Archibald 1858 births 1934 deaths Canadian biochemists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada McGill University faculty University of Toronto alumni University of Toronto faculty Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)