IMPORTANT NEW THEORY

Evening Star, Issue 25745, 19 March 1946, Page 4

IMPORTANT NEW THEORY

NERVE AND MUSCLE TRANSMISSIONS DR J. C. EGGLES READS PAPER IN HEW YORK The results of many years’ intensive research into neuro-physiological problems, embodied in a new theory that he has developed on nerve and muscle transmissions, were presented in a paper which Dr J. O. Eccles, professor of physiology, at the Otago Medical School, read at an _ international gathering of physiologists in New York last month. Dr Eccles admits modestly that his theory won “ pretty general acceptance,” but he emphasises it is as yet only of value in assisting in the understanding of the subject, although it should ultimately be of importance in treatments. A preliminary account of the research and theory was published in the magazine ‘ Nature,’ on December 8 last, and full details have now been published in the proceedings of the New York Academy of Science. Dr Eccles was invited to address the gathering in New York, which was the first. international conference of physiologists since the start of the war. More than 300 physiologists were present, including some of the outstanding. world authorities. In addition to American members, there were present physiologists from Canada, Franco, Belgium, and China. TO STUDY IN DUNEDIN. An interesting development arising from the visit of Dr Eccles to America will be that two first-class physiologists, both Guggenheim fellows, will come to Dunedin later to study the practical application of the new theory, and the complicated electrical apparatus which has been constructed at the Medical School to advance the knowledge •of the subject. They are Professor Brooks, of Johns Hopkins University, and Professor Acheson, of Harvard. The new theory developed by Dr Eccles is an attempt to. explain problems of nervous transmissions which had formerly eluded investigators. The nervous system is made .up of nerve fibres which carry electrical messages through all parts of the nervous system, much like the action of telephone wires. In addition, there arc junctions, or relay stations, between one fibre and tho next, and between nerve fibres and muscles. A great deal is now known about the electrical events which cause the propagation of nerve impulses along the nerve fibres, but the fundamental nature of tho transmissions across the junctions, or synapses, as they are called, has yet to he determined. A great deal of experimental work has been done on the subject in various parts of tho world, including Otago, and the hypothesis Dr Eccles has put forward is an attempt to give a simple explanation of tho synaptic transmissions in terms of an electrical ■model. He has been able to explain practically all the existing experimental observations and also to devise experiments which will test these hypotheses and either confirm them or show how they must be modified in various directions. The principal advantages are that the theory has reduced to order a great dpal of hitherto unrelatable observations and has provided a' stimulus for many new experiments which will now be undertaken at the Otago Medical School and in various laboratories in America. The junctional regions of the nerves and muscles are of great importance, because it is believed that there all the subtlety of the action of the brain occurs. An analogy is provided by the fact that in a telephone system the essence is to 1 be found in the central exchange. WIDELY DISCUSSED.

The theory has already. been widely discussed, and. the developments will he closely studied, i Dr Eccles travelled by steamer from New Zealand to Honolulu. He reached Hawaii at midday on. February 5, only three days before the conference was about to begin. He was provided with air transport, and reached New York on the evening of February 7 —half an hour late for 'the opening dinner. After the gathering he gave lectures at several American universities, including Cornell, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, and Yale, and held informal discussions with many American and European research workers. After a delay in San Francisco on his homeward journey, he travelled from America, to Melbourne by Skymaster aircraft in three days, and crossed from Sydney to Auckland by flying boat.