[W]e do not think... that there is a "vital chemistry" different from ordinary chemistry. Some... peculiarly vital chemical processes have... been found... precisely similar to those that... in mineral and inorganic chemistry. Thus , once thought to depend upon living organisms... [are] processes... due to unorganised "s," secreted by the organism, and these enzymes are analogous to the "catalysts" of inorganic chemistry. ...[S]uch catalysts—finely divided ... is one of the commonest...— are "poisoned" by the same poisons — , prussic acid...[etc]—as are most deadly to life. ...The poison ...destroying ...activities of these catalysts... stops the processes.
— FREDERICK SODDY