MARVELS OF SCIENCE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3516, 30 June 1920, Page 2

MARVELS OF SCIENCE.

STIMULATING ANIMAL GROWTH. Mr Julian Huxley, the welVknowu scientist, in the course of an interview in London recently, explained the remarkable results of some of his recent experiments. “We may produce a creature that has not lived for perhaps 10,000 years,” he said. :‘We are only pursuing the same line as many other investigators, and. our experiments are in a very early stage. A few months ago we found that by giving tadpoles a preparation of thyroid gland their growth into frogs was stimulated. We found, too, that by removing the thyroid gland of the tadpole it could be prevented from following the course of Nature and becoming a frog.” Pursuing the same methods, Mr Huxley and a well-known chemist, who is associated with him in these experiments developed an axolotl into a kind of salamander resembling a newt. The two experiments afford confirmation of the surprisng properties of the thyroid gland, which is now definitely connected with the growth of animals. For some of these wilder flights, however. Mr Huxley withdraws with a thoughtful smile. “Our knowledge is too small at present to allow us to claim so much,” he says. “At the moment 1 scarcely think that tin* aged can bo restored to youth. Certain functions may be revived, but- that, 1 think* is all. We know that applications of certain special glands will change the sex characteristic. “L hope, however, to produce a creature that has not been seen since man kept records of these things. Friends arc obtaining for me some specimens of the protons, a strange, tadpole-like creature that never loses its gills and never changes into a perfect animal as it should. Perhaps wo may produce tills unknown salamander.

“But I don't '.vj in( you to think that I hope to change monkeys into men or .-anything of thajt kind,” he added, rather suspiciously. “iVe can oulv develop organisms within certain limits, hasten their development, and so forth.” Sir E. Ray Rankest er, the veteran naturalist, told the interviewer of his deep interest in Mr Huxley’s researches. “They certainly open up bewildering possibilities, although we should be very moderate in speculating regarding them. The development of tadpoles is. of course, hastened and modified by temperature and food. I mention those to show how the development of these rudimentary forms of life is often, side-traewed, and they develop a slight difference from the parent stock.”