"ELIXIR OF LIFE."

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 104, 1 May 1920, Page 17

"ELIXIR OF LIFE."

THYROID GLAND MARVEL. I CONTROL OF SEX AND GROWTH. [J discovery of great possibilities Iα- been made in a laboratory in the t< 'ord Museum by Mr. Julian Dvx- .''.',, a Fellow of A'cio College, Ox■■,l'i, one. of the many briWiamt uoung men of science in Die United hirir/dom who is pursuing a subject ■ ■;■■», tl. vp by various English and .'. mcrican scientists.] The secret of perpetual youth and relieved vigour, the determination of t-i-.-, and tlie curing of certain human di.—.-asfirs are some vi the problems illustrated by a series of discoveries now being unearthed principally in laboraL»i R'o at Oxford, observes the "Daily jMuil." Actual achievements in the last few years include: — Change of tadpoles Into frogs within thrc « ei-ks. I'rodueiioQ o-f a Dew sort of creature. Jiuiioration of a nativorin to youth. Control of the sex or frogs' cgss, producing W per ctuL. juuici at wlii. Two English men of science) both with famous names, have now associated themselves to hunt down the clue. One is -Mr. Julian Huxley, a .Fellow of Kew College, Uxlord, one of the most brilliant of our young biologists. Mr. Huxley discovered in December last that by giving a preparation of the thyroid gland (lrom any animal) to tadpoles, he could change them into frogs in three weeks or so instead of three months odd, which ia the natural period. On the other hand, by removing this minute gland they could be kept as tadpoles till he gave them thyroid, when they began to develop into frogs. He has now done a second and more difficult transformation trick. He has given thyroid to the axolotl —a Mexican tadpole-like creature that has only two or three times in its known history developed into a sort or frog or salamander. But Mr. Huxley by his thyroid diet lias easily persuaded it to make the complete change, and even to produce certain joint characteristics never before seen. The. creatures thus treated were shown to the Linnaean Society. Mr. Kendall, an American chemist, not a biologist, has taken the marvel a step further. He has concocted in his laboratory a chemical that is similar to the thyroid; and this chemical—chief! y iodine—can bring about very much the same transformation as does the living gland. A mere chemical can bring about a vital change. An American, a Danish, and a Czech biologist have independently and nearly simultaneously arrived at similar results with the thyroid gland—though not with its chemical imitation. An American has actually restored a certain rudimentary animal known as the flatworm to youth; and it hae lived in this recovered youthful state through 18 generations of worms descended from its sister. , DOUBLED ENERGY. ' The astounding effect of applications of thyroid gland in certain human diseases, especially on cretinous (stunted in mind and body) children, has besn known for some time. The whole faue can be changed by its application, as well as the mind and health. But with this application Mr. Huxley is not directly concerned, though doctors will follow his researches with close atten- . tion. It has been found that the speed of vital processes of a man may be increased several per cent, by an application of no more than the 30,000 th part of an ounce of this "elixir of life and youth." Mr. Huxley is a son of Dr. Leonard Huxley, editor of the "Cornhill Magazine," and a grandson of the famous biologist, Thomas Henry Huxley. He was for some years professor of biology at a university in Texas, and lately came to Oxford as a iTellow of New College. NEW VISTAS OF SPECULATION. A prominent university biologist, discussing Mr. Huxley's discovery, said that, along with previous discoveries, it opened completely new vistas of speculation. "The thyroid gland, whether taken out of an animal or composed in the laboratory, is nearer than anything we have known to the 'elixir of life' that the mediaeval chemiets used to eearch for. Theoretically and speculatively, we should be able to make a man as well as a tadpole develop, that is, grow up, or cease developing, that is, keep young, at will. We have known something of this for some time, but these new biological experiments have been bo complete and quick that a completely ntvr view of the elixir's powers is opened out. "But," he added, "quite incidental discoveries made in connection with the main discovery are yet more suggestive. Simply by delaying the date at which frops' eggs are fertilised, over 90 per cent, of males can be produced instead of the more usual 50. "If this can T>e aone with frog*' spawn there is., no speculative reason why sex should not be determined in higher animals." ENTHRALLED BY CHEMISTRY. A very famous chemist at Oxford is to assist the biologist; and Mr. Huxley said himself that he is becoming enthralled by the chemical side. He said also in the course of discussion that his work and discovery would have scarcely been • possible without the help of a young Etonian, Mr. Leney, now an under-graduate at New College. He was famous at Eton for his management of the museum in the school, and has proved at Oxford —where I found him tucking up salamanders and tadpoles in their beds —a genius for rearing and preserving the health of the tiny creatures under investigation. Mr. Huxley himself used the phrase "elixir of youth," and his imagination is fired by the remoter consequences of these recent discoveries and experiments in England and America. His heredity suggests imagination. Eis mother was an Arnold—a sister of Mrs. Humphry Ward; his father, both poet and man of letters; and his grandfather, the famous Huxley, the best writer among British men of science of any age. Experiments are proceeding and promise further results within a few weeks. One of the immediate requisites of the moment is a curious blind creature known as the Proteus, found chiefly in the caves around Fiume. It is confidently believed that a dose of the thyroid gland or of its chemical equivalent wfll make it develop into a creature never before Eeen in the world,