“FOOD OF THE CODS” DISCOVERED.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 126, 13 May 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

“FOOD OF THE CODS” DISCOVERED.

SCIENTISTS SOLVING PROBLEM OF HUMAN STATURE HOW TO (IROW TALL. ‘The Food of tlio Gods,” foreshadowed bv Mr. 11. G. 55e1ls — the food that will produce a race of giants—is coming true .and scientists believe that one day they will be able to alter human stature at will. The secret of growth has been "So far.’’ in the words of Professor Arthur Keith, ‘’we have only unlocked the door. AVe do not know exactly ■nhat the room will contain when we enter it. hat wo think that when we do wo sbr.ll have the means of regulating tho size and stature of the bodv at v Hl ’’ He is the conservator of the museum iuul Hunterian professor at the Royal College of Surgeon’, and yesterdav he t ave the first of two address on giant and pigmies. ‘•Recent discoveries relating to the o.mso of giantism showed that the kev to growth was to be found in what is cal'od th' pituitary body nt the baseof tip skull. It is a little thing.” he >.tid. "v.hich would not fill a teaspoon. :.nd i< snril'er than a grape, vet we know it to be a tb.inf.' of very great importance. REGULATING GROSVTH OF NOSE. • It was di'Covered by a French phy--'cian. P'erre Marie, who found in easer tf abnormal growth that this small bodv at -Jm base of fbe skull had enlarged. He jumped to the idea that it must <n’,• somethin"' wine'’ somehow regnl ttid tb.o growth of the body. ‘‘ft was found that abnormal growth : mrietimes began after the ago of I tw ent when growth should have ’ tea«ed. and it was concluded that that wa« a -disease" caused bv the pituitary bodv. ar.-'l the name ‘acromegaly’ was 1 applied to >t. i ‘ Now wo ,-nn hope that smonoo mar j yet not only add to our stature, bur that -ho time might come when a person might go to a doctor and say: ’Mr nose is not growm-t q’lito the shape I wnit >‘t ’ to he told : T v ill treat you. am' bring vov.r nose to the exact shape von desi’-e ’ Last night. Is.ivs “Tho Daily Mirror"'. v.-*- -aw Profe-sor Keith, who hasbeen working for some time on th” tlioerv of growth. He ha- ,-om*' to the conclusion that I even when adults grow abnormally — when some part of tho body becomes exaggerated- it cannot be called a di- j sense, as the parts affected do grow.

and are not diseased, though they increase in size. SCIENTISTS’ DREAM. Hie whole importance of the discovery is that until it was made it was not known how general fas apart from abnormal) growth was regulated. Now it has been found that in the pituitary gland are secreted a number of liquid substances which are then deposited in the blood. One of those substances, at present not isolated from the others, controls growth when it gets into tho blood. Possibly at some future date scientists may be able to extract that one unknown and essential substance, and, bv feeding th--> subject with it, be able to make growth go on continuously, instead of. as is now the case, by fits and start’. Then the child, or youth would grow at a continuous rate more quickly than lie grows under normal conditions, and not only that, but also continue for long past the usual period when growth ’tops, namely, about twentytwo. until an enormous stature were attained. There are people now who do that owing to the action of their pituitary gland. ALICE’S MESH ROOM. Hie drawback, as seen in the light of present knowledge, is that the result would be that the subject would lemain a boy (or a gill), growing in height, but not in mind or shape. Siieme. however, to which all tilings are possible., may also find the way to make him grow in size ami become adult too. Alice in 55’onderland ate a mushroom to make her grow, but the proper thing is a pituitary sandwich. In "I'lie Food of the Gods” 55’ells hid tho right idea, and those who remember how the giant rats came to be a plague in that book will be inter- ' csted to know that scientists are now I feeding rats and mice on pituitary i gland i All these things. Professor Keith,was careful to point out. are still hidden in ; mystery, but the door has been opened. ! arid they kev is tho little pituitary : body in the base of the skull. GROWTH SI BSTANCE TO EAT. The pituitary glands of animals may have no growth value in the case of i humans, though they are effective in the cases of animals of the - -same specie-, but the chemist will in time be a’de artificially to make everything that + be physiologist requires, including tho growth extract in the pituitary gland. If the pituitary gland enlarg*?s bofore growth ceases; the result is a giant, such as Maehnow. who was exhibited | in London a few years ago. If it en-

, larges after growth generally ceases, the person becomes an acromegalic — that is. his face, his feet, his hands, or some other part of him, becomes Jmge. Now normal growth occurs in stages. There are weeks when the child stays the same size, followed by weeks when he grows, for the pituitary body is only active by fits. AVhat is foreshadowed is that, by giving the youth tho active growth substance in tho gland to eat, he will grow, not by fits and starts, but continuously. and more rapidly than in the normal growth intervals. The day is coming when the man of six feet will be a little fellow.