SCIENCE SIFTINGS.

Shannon News, 14 October 1924, Page 1

SCIENCE SIFTINGS.

.—*,_—. .. amve without* a'boihc

Dr. Alexis Carrel,, or, the< Rockfeller* Institute, New York, who has kept alive for twelve years a chicken's heart divorced'from-the* body*- at 4 tended the annual meeting*', of • the Britsh Medical Association in Bradford

Dr; Carrel,. who; is regarded;! as the* wizard of experimental surgery, removed the heart from the bird and placed it in a special "culture." The organ has increased since then by one-fifth Alan original* flize;-. amUisvstilJ growing.

> Every two or three years, its is transplanted *•' into a fresh "culture," to which is added, from tim e to time, the blood of old and young hens. It has been shown thatithe* blood--of th«' old hens retards the growth of the organism, while that of the young ones accelerates it.,

From this scientists deduce the fact that there exists a certain chemical substance, peculiar to . youth, which is not present? in the organism of full maturity;

This gives rise-to the startling suggestion that therek*may elixir of life which* science may eventually segregate from the organism and transplant. The more daring followers of Dr Carrel's work in the United States have proposed that the next few generations may witness the actual manufacture~of.this,?elixir^

Twelve years ago Dr. Carrel startled his profession by a series of experiments which included the introduction of organs taken from dead aniv mals intordive' animals, which hadti mor e needdof*them>.

Dr. Carrel's experiments so far have been, made-on domestic*: animals although* im one?case he attempted to, graft a, sheep's kidney on*? the morgans of a woman. Thespatien't subsequently died, but at + <was?shbwn ithatther death" was only due to the opera- - . •

, The scientist's!, experimental "tro- ' phies" include* a; black dog on .whom was; grafted the a white dog in jsuch^avmanner that" the animal used [it quite naturally; He has accomplished, the growth of cancer tissue in [solution squite \apart"from the body it' [was-cut, fromr—Evening Braiiv.Poisoning.

I This; real mystery* of sleep-walking is themystery of a/*par.tially awaltenea 'iferain;: How»comes itthat r our eyes and slumber I; while our. feet are {quickened? Some-light on this ; dark-- problemlias r- recently been obtained by the [researches-of-, a group~of Russian -men bf science. They ■ have- founds that sleeppis;a more or lessi-wilful turning, jaway of the senses from the defriands- of ate the moment cannot be.sat'isfled;'.. !

When, we' are wearyj all our-senses —all our nerves-—are, so played out that they "turn-way ifrom life" atithe: same 4 moment. The brain so to speak, •goes to steep:in a lump; J When we are. sleepless, on the [other hand, this-is because our brains |ar e excitedi either.by;sane emotion or Iby the poison of a disease. In this jover-eager (state they>are able, for the time, to satisfy every'demand of life, [and so do not, will not, turn away, jfrom it..

\ It happens occasionally) that a part •of the brain is poisoned,; whereas the rest of the organ remains healthy. When the healthy parts fall asleey, the excited or poisoned parts-remain wakeful.

; One sees examples of this often ienough in the course of fevers. The patient sees,- but cannot;- or- dbes~ nothear, or he hears but seems unable to ■see # He is not blind; he is not deaf. All that is happening is that one. or jother sense has refused to fall asleep. I In the case of the sleep-walker, the part of the brain which controls the movements of the legs is awake while jth'e eyes and ears are sound asleep.^

1 In other words, the sleep-walker is.i suffering from partial brain poisloning.—Sunday Chronicle.