John Jacob Abel the position of chair of the department until he retired at the age of 75 in 1932. Ever since his early years in Europe, Abel showed great interest in isolating pure form of internal gland hormones. The first work that led to his international reputation as a pharmacologist and biochemist was the isolation of epinephrine from adrenal medulla. However, he was only able to isolate a monobenzoyl derivative of epinephrine. While he was improving his processes on decomposing the benzoyl derivative to obtain salts of epinephrine using saponification, a Japanese chemist J. Takamine, who had visited his lab, was able
Elijah Abel Nauvoo, Illinois in 1839. While living in Nauvoo, Abel continued to perform many duties for the church. One such duty was performing baptisms for the dead, of which Abel is known to have performed at least two: one for a friend "John F. Lancaster" and one for his mother. Another of Abel's duties included acting as a mortician at the request of Joseph Smith. Abel also worked in Nauvoo as a carpenter, and it is clear that while Abel was in Nauvoo he was personally acquainted with Joseph Smith. In 1841, Abel was part of a group of seven men