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The first U.S. nominee for the Nobel Prize, Jacques Loeb was trained in experimental physiology in Germany, joined the biology faculty of the new University of Chicago in 1892, later taught at the University of California at Berkeley and then moved to the Rockefeller Institute. Loeb's career provides the vehicle, in this book, for an examination of the foundations of biotechnology.
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Controlling Life Monographs on the History and Philosophy of Biology RICHARD BURIAN, RICHARD BURKHARDT, JR., RICHARD LEWONTIN, JOHN MAYNARD SMITH EDITORS The Cuvier-Geoffroy Debate: French Biology in the Decades Before Darwin TOBY A. APPEL Controlling Life: Jacques Loeb and the Engineering Ideal in Biology PHILIP J. PAULY Beyond the Gene: Cytoplasmic Inheritance and the Struggle for Authority in Genetics JAN SAPP Controlling Life Jacques Loeb and the Engineering Ideal in Biology PHILIP J. PAULY New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1987 Oxford University Press Oxford New York Toronto Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi Petaling Jaya Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town Melbourne Auckland and associated companies in Beirut Berlin Ibadan Nicosia Copyright © 1987 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pauly, Philip J. Controlling life. Includes index. 1. Loeb, Jacques, 1859-1924. 2. Biology—Philosophy—History. 3. Biologists—United States—Biography. I. Title. QH31.L73P38 1987 574'.092'4 [B] 86-12826 ISBN 0-19-504244-1 (alk. paper) 246897531 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper For Michele Acknowledgments This project began in discussions with Donna J. Haraway, in the Johns Hopkins University Department of the History of Science, about the nature of experimental biology at the beginning of this century. She taught me to think of scientific work as cultural activity and guided me through the initial stages of research and writing with patience and sensitivity. Much of what is here is also hers. At the Joseph Henry Papers Nathan Reingold and Arthur P. Molella provided a stimulating environment for preparing a first draft, and led me to see the project in the broader framework of American science. John C. Burnham of Ohio State University helped me to transform a dissertation into a book; without his encouragement and his insight into the nature of scholars and scholarship I would not have known how to finish. I have benefitted greatly from the recollections of the late Professor Leonard B. Loeb, as well those of John H. Northrop and B. F. Skinner. Lawrence R. Blinks, Horace W. Magoun, William A. Arnold, and Samuel Meites provided information that was as valuable as it was unique. The archival staffs listed on p. 239, as well as the Pacific Grove Historical Society, the Easthampton, Massachusetts, Historical Society, the Naples Zoological Station, and the Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz, were indispensable. Toby Appel, Alan Beyerchen, Stephen Cross, Scott Gilbert, Reese Jenkins, Keith Neir, James Reed, Leonard Reich, Robert Rosenberg, John Servos, Michael Sokal, and Lester Stephens helped me to understand the issues and encouraged me to produce the best possible results. Paul Clemens, Harold Man, and Jane Maienschein read the complete manuscript at different stages and offered valuable suggestions. Polly Beals provided research assistance at a c