1. In 1884 there was a Cotton Centennial Exposition in the United States, one of the people attending was Jokichi Takamine from Japan. 2. A graduate of the University of Tokyo, he was one of a dozen bright young men who had been sent abroad by the Japanese government for further studies. 3. In the U.S., he met his future wife the two went to Japan to settle down. 4. Takamine served his country as an agricultural chemist, and he started an artificial fertilizer company. 5. As a result of his research, he isolated the enzyme which digests starch. 6. It has been named after him, it is called Takadiastate. 7. When Takamine and his wife moved back to New York, he established his research laboratory. 8. In this lab adrenalin was first isolated in its pure form and named as such because it was extracted from the suprarenal grand. 9. No glandular hormone had been isolated before, the discovery was quite remarkable. 10. Soon after epinephrine, a hormone similar to adrenaline, was available in the market for treatment of asthma and other problems.