Berzelius and catalysis

This was not surprising. Within two years there was an extensive paper comparing the effects of diastase and acid on a variety of starches, leading to the preparation of crystalline sugar (Guerin-Varry, 1835). 

The implication that catalysis was a degradative power is intriguing, just as is the old use of the term analysis, instead of the modern word synthesis . It is also interesting to see what now we would regard as chemical and biochemical examples of catalysis freely taken together. The action of fibrin in degrading hydrogen peroxide (Table 1.2) presumably was due to a small amount of catalase with which it was contaminated. Elsewhere (Jorpes, 1966), Berzelius wrote of diastase that  

One can hardly assume that this catalytic process is the only one in the vegetable kingdom. On the contrary, it gives reason to believe that within living plants and 

Decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in add and alkali Decomposition of hydrogen peroxide by platinum and manganese dioxide 

Conversion of sugar into carbonic add during yeast fermentation 

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