SCIENCE PROGRESS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 116, 17 May 1924, Page 7

SCIENCE PROGRESS.

TRANSPARENT TISSUE. NEW RAY DISCOVERED. STUDY OV ENDOCRINE GLANDS. (From Oi.\r Own Correspondent.) SAN" FRANCISCO, April 10. Diagnosis in the case of patients suffering from miscellaneous ailments will lie made more positive by an announcenent just made in San Francisco wherei>y science has discovered a new ray :o pierce the body,- and in this announcement it is mentioned that for yeaff surgeons and scientist., have been workng to discover all the secrets of animal life. Dissection and vivisection disclosed certain principles, and Use X-ray added in opportunity of studying: internal conlitions without the use of the knife. Professor A. Naeff, of Ap.ldoorn, Th« Netherlands, has come to Sa.u Francisco now with a new discovery, and he is ible by a chemical process to make iving tissues transparent and thus enable the surgeon and tbe biologist to study anatomy in the minutest detail md without the use of dissecting instruments. Professor Naeff takes a rivbbit's _ar, a calf's leg. or any' part of the human body, and by placing it in his chemical solution renders it so transparent that every nerve and blood vessel may be traced without difficulty. He had with him in San Francisco about one hundred specimens, and gave his secret to universities, medical colleges and academies of science. The scope of his work, lie said, was limited only by the number of specimens he had been able to obtain. In looking at one of his specimens it was possible to see the density of the bone, the character of the flesh, the condition and the number of the nerves and blood vessels! Until his discovery has been followed up by investigations and comparisons it is impossible to say how far it wil reach. Professor Naeff believes it will add greatly to the medical and- anatomical knowledge now in existence. It is even possible that diseases affecting the nerves, circulatory system and bone tissues may be studied more closely and systematically than has ever been done before. tProfessor Naeff distributed his specimens among institutions of learning, and his chemical process is to be carried further by other scientific men. He is said to have the only pro- • cess by which it is possible to study every phase of animal organism without breaking down or tearing a single tissue. Ductlesa Glands Next. Science is making such headway in the study of the ductless glands tihat it is believed control of these glands will be the next achievement, Professor A. Biedl, of Prague. Czechoslovakia, eminent specialist on the endocrine system, told the convention of the American Congress on Internal Medicine, assembled in St. Louis a few days ago. Most important to science, Professor | Biedl asserted, is the thyroid gland, to I whose over-secretion or under-secretion o the world owes dwarfs, giants, fat monstrosities and living skeletons. It is the controller of body metabolism, bone growth and body proportions, he added. I Goitre is an affliction of the thyroid {gland, and Professor Biedl said that ; when Botticelli emphasised the characters of his canvases by* long, slender arms, hands and lingers, he uncon- • was lietraying a condition of ! "oitre among Florentine women of the time. At another ses s:on of the Medical Congress at St. Louis, hay fever or asthma patients, who are at a loss to explain the regular recurrence of their ailments, were notified that they may find that 1 the source of their troubles lies in a : Panama hat. a watermelon, duck feathers, gasoline, or a host of other articles not commonly regarded as disease carriers. In explaining how the sensitiveness which produces such ailments varie. j with persons. Dr. \V. W. Duke, of KanI sas City. .Missouri, enumerated many I possible sources of irritation, and advised physicians to experiment with the : patient Afflicted until he discovered the j toxin causing the reaction, j "One of the most interesting and ■peculiar rases of the sort which I have encountered,*' he said, "was a patient : sensitive to the blue rays of light, and who upon exposure to summer suni light for one-half minute, would not only have a violent skin reaction, manii fested by redness of the skin and intene itching, but when a sufficient area was exposed, would have chills, fever, and a serious general illness." Diphtheria Cure. American doctors have been greatly interested in a vaccine against diphtheria, invented by Dr. Jules Renault and Dr. Pierre Paul Levy, . a vaccine which it* originators declare ' makes epidemics of that disease practically impossible, according to the results cf I their experiments communicated to the I Academy of Medicine in Paris. I The vaccine, which is called "T plus .j A" and is injected subeutaneously, is . hyper-neutrali.ed and causes little in--1 convenience. Three hundred children 'treated with it were found to be ccnijjpletely immunised after three injections. ,| The inventors believe oven bitter re- ; | suits can 'be attained, and were reported |to be I'oninuing' their experiments, but nail the Academ'ciari.. agreed that the .! vaccine wii. a great improvement over . j the nni-toxin treatment. ]| .Inst tit i In' present juncture there is [a veritable diphtheria epidemic raging in • the I'niti'il Siates. and the American 1 doctors are intensely anxious to have ■ 'access to the new vaccine in order to t; abate tiie present outbreak of diph- •! theria in the country. . | A chemical discovery, one of the most '. important of the twentieth century, has iii-o just been made at the fixed nitrogen research laboratory at Washington, i Professor Arthur 1!. Lamb, cf Harvard, ' unnoiini c.l at Boston. It L_ that of a I new catalv.l which will bring about the ! permanent union of hydrogen and nitnI gen atoms, and will yield 14 per cent lof ammonia. Professor Lamb said. >! Two meat benefits will be derived. : Ti:e I'luted States, it is claimed, will i have at it- command an explosive twic. as effective as that discovered by the Herman* a few months before tin; World War. and American farmers will have the use of a much cheaper and ' more effective fertiliser. i Mai de-mar, an ailment which ocean j travellers have feared for ages, is liabl_ lo be cured, judging by another announcement in medical circle.-, and it is confidently believed that ocean liners • may cany oxygen tanks as unfailin<»lv !as lifebelts, following the statement of I Professor Raphael Dubois, 0 f t^e j Physiological Laboratory at Tamarisj sur-Mer. The profes.or said a sniff OT j two of oxygen cures both seasickne»» and mountain sickness.