German Scientist's Test

Horowhenua Chronicle, 24 June 1912, Page 4

German Scientist's Test

WHO IS NEAREST THE APE?

An attompb is to bo made at the Imperial Research Laboratory at Munich to determine, by blood-preci-pitin experiments, which of tho living races bears tho closest blood relationship to the apo.

Should tho experiment succeed it will settle many perplexing problems of science and may revolutionise the theories of ovolutioniets as woll as theologians.

As the caso now stands thero is general agreement among scientists that man and tho ape are desconded from a common ancestor; but as to whether the black, tho white, tho red, or the yellow man, the pigmy, tho giant, or the medium-sized man, was the original human type, there are strong differences of opinion. One body of theorists holds that tile nogro is a degenerated white type, while nnother insists tlint the white man is evolved from an ancient black type.

To apply tho blood-precipitin tests to the settlement of this problem it will be necessary only to advance 'i few steps further on experiments made by Prof. Nuttnll, of tho Univerbity of Cnmbridgo, England.

Sir Ray Lankoster give* .the following account of thos eexperimonta:—

"When into tho blood of a live rabbit a small quantity of the blood or liquid eerum separated from the blood clot of a man is introduced by injection in several doses separated ■by a day or two's interval, the blood of tho ra'bbit acquires a peculiar property. If tho rabbit be killed and some of its blood bo allowed to coagulate, the serum, or pale liquid part of tho blood, may bo collected and preserved in glass bulbs for cxperimont.

"It is now found that if a teatspoonful of a clear, transparent dilution of human blood, prepared either from fresh or from dried blood, be put in a test tube, and some of the prepared blood serum is poured into it, a. milky appearance is produced where the- two liquids meet, and as they mix the whole of the mixed liquid becomes clouded. The particles causing tho cloudiness gradually collect together and sink to the bottom of tho tube as a precipitate. ■Now, if serum from a rabbit not treated by an injection of human blood, Kiich as yielded the precipitate when mixed with the 'humanised , rabbit soruin, there will bo no precipitate at all.

"Thus we prove that there is some, thing presont in the blood of the 'humanised , rabbit which causes tho precipitate and which is not present in the blood of tho tinpropared rabbit. "What is this precipitin? Ls it the. human Mood itself, with which the first rabbit wnt> prepared, which simply brings it the precipitin ? "X'ot at all, as we show by pouring serum from ordinary human blood clot into a tube to dilute human blood. *?o precipitate is formed. It is, therefore, clear that the introduction of human blood into the living body of the first rabbit has set up a change in that animal's blood, resulting in tho formation of a .substance having the power to cause n milkineiss or precipitation in dilute human serum. There is little doubt that—as in tho production of anti-toxin—the precipitin is manufactured in tho rabbit's blood by a chemical change, of bodies present in the injected Human bloo.l ami in its own blood.

"'Hie strangest thing about it all i.s that the precipitin in the serum of the blood of the humanised rabbit will not cause a cloudiness in diluted dog's blood nor in that of any other animal except man and his nearest 'blood relations' among animals — namely, the ape* and monkeys.

It is found to bo possible to compare the degree of precipitation or cloudiness in different examples. In other words, those who have made and are making the experiments, claim that it is proved by the experiments that the blood of the chimpanzeo and the orang-outang, when tested with the humanised precipitin holding rabbit's blood, give a precipitate nearly as great as does tliat of man, while the common organ grinder's monkey—the macaque—gievs a good deal less. The South American monkeys—which differ in the number of their teeth and in their prehensile tails from man and the Old World monkeys—give only {!»< merest traces of precipitin. The lemurs give no precipitin at all.