THE APPLICATION OF THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES TO COSMETICS By LLOYD W. HAZLETON, Ph.D.* TuE OBJECTIVE in presenting this paper is to plot a course for integrat- ing biological and physical sciences in basic cosmetic research and in new product development. Since chemical research per se can no more be productive in evaluating new potentials than can biological research, a corollary objective is to explore the utility of biological re~ search as a chemical research partner. Historically, biology, in its broad sense, far antedates chemistry. Let us then examine very briefly these two sciences. In the beginning there was man. At least, we are not interested for the present topic in going back beyond that. Man was surrounded by plants and by other animal life. The plants in particular were essential to man's life, for he is a dependent organism having no appreciable capacity to convert soil, sun, and water into essential chemi- cals. Man was, therefore, forced to in- terest himself in plants and in animals as basic and intermediate chemical plants necessary for his existence. He did not, however, * Haz!eton Laboratories, ]Falls Church, Virginia, U.S.A. understand any small part of this cycle except the obvious necessity. Consequently, man's first interest was biological he learned to culti- vate plants and to domesticate animals. He learned, probably by observation, to use animal by-pro- ducts for enriching the cycle, still without chemical knowledge of what he was doing. Perhaps this goes back a bit too far to pick up relationships, but even in its brevity it should serve as a reference point. Indiscriminately skipping over anthropological time zones, we might next look in on the situation of about a century ago. By this time chemistry, as a science, was stirring restively. Biological sciences were likewise progressing and starting to undergo schism into various fields. Foremost was divi- sion into plant and animal special- ties, the latter being our interest at present. Anatomy, the science of body structure, perhaps, was the lead~off. Then physiology, the science of the normal function, fol- lowed by biochemistry, or the chem- istry of life, and more recently by pharmacology, the study of the effects of chemicals on structure, 168

THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND COSMETICS function, and chemistry of the animal organism. Chemistry also, as you well know, was leaving the alchemistic era and entering its own golden era. But let us not lose sight of the inter- dependence. Oxygen, arsenic, nitro- gen and its oxide, mercury, and, in fact, almost all chemicals were studied for their effect on animals. If they were poisonous, their effect was obvious if not, little was known of their action or function. Perhaps a slight digression to br/ng the plant science progress into perspective would be justifiable and illustrative. In this case the com- plex chemical, represented by the plant, was known both botanically and in the medical and apothecary arts. Therefore, the biological activ- ity could, and did, serve as a guide to the progress of the phytochemist. Under this co-ordinated double attack nature began to yield its secrets, but the attack still continues with all its intrigue witness corti- sone from "yams." Without the biological guidance, the production of cortisone, as a chemical, would have stirred not the slightest ripple of interest. Quite possibly it would not have been synthesised at all without the biological incentive. Certainly its importance would, to date, have been nil. Through all these years, from "in the beginning there was man" to the mid-point of the twentieth century, there has been going on another irresistible type of biological screen- ing. This is the knowledge built up through trial and error experience. Else how could we account for the bountiful knowledge of folklore ? They came bringing incense and myrrh, materials--complex chemi- cals-known for their biological attraction and benefits. Other plants, not too different in appear- ance, were screened for their deleteri- ous effect in the same manner--the calabar or ordeal bean as the basis for tribal rituals, the blistering action of croton oil, the dramatic suicide by poison hemlock. With such biological guideposts the chemist has been able to isolate and some- times to synthesise the active chemi- cal ingredient.. The work continues, and only recently it was my pleasure to meet and talk with the prominent Swiss chemist, Dr. Max Stoll, who received this year's Fritzsche Award from the American Chemical Society for his productive work in the field of aromatic chemicals. His work was guided by odour, a biological end-point. What has this to do with modern cosmetic chemistry in an era recog- nised as the golden age of chemistry ? I think the answer is that it is funda- mental and inescapable. The objec- tive of cosmetic chemistry is biologi- cal and, hence, biological guidance is indispensable. The great bulk of usable materials available to the cosmetic chemist to-day has been biologically screened by the trial and error method. The list of really new materials being added to the armamentarium, even in this age of chemical progress, is not impressive. It is not going to become impressive until there is a major swing back 169