BACK TO LIFE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16352, 23 September 1913, Page 11

BACK TO LIFE.

.EVIVED AFTER BEING FROZEN

FOR MONTHS

(" New York Herald.")

A «eries of liquid, air experiments to emonstrato the possibility of the resusltation of the bodies of Captain Scott ad his companions who attained the louth. Pole have recently proved sucet>sfui in the physiological, biological nd histological department laboratories I the Johns Hopkins Medical School nd University. . The ; . tests, which have had to deal irinoirially with the colder-blooded aniia!3 and organisms, whose outward igns Of animation have been suependcfby the frozen air. have been productire of amazing results, which prove beond question that there is really an ntermediate state between life and leath. ; , , While the success of the expedients is unquestionable, and while they, 0 far as they" have gone, are to an exent conclusive, no connection is claimed iy the scientists between them and umanity, and the theory bearing upon he resuscitation of the perished explorrs entertained. The scientists ielieve &hat Captain Scott died from tarvation, and are. therefore, loth to omment on the possibility of his restortion to life. Nevertheless, the liquid ir tests" show vividly that the revrnil f frozen bodies is roally being carried n within the walls of the university. A history of a sinsrle experiment with old-blooded animals is quite interesting, iut with a warm-blooded creature it is mazing when one has witnessed the esults, obtained. In order to iully appreciate the rarity and astonishing haracter of thr tests, one must have a omprehensive knowledge of physics and iology at least. However, to the-mind 1 the'layman a simple explanation ol ,-hat is daily being done in the wonderul laboratories of Hopkins is to evoke cepticism at first, but ultimately the captation of the seemingly impossible. THE APPARENTLY DEAD IS BROUGHT TO LIFE! -

Rather a forcible statement, full 'of leaning and fruitful of a deep regard or the power of man that is continuously raising the hopes of humanity and hen'shattering them. Probably the process of resuscitation f the bodies whose animation has been uspendod by liquid air at a temperaure of more than lOOdeg below zero ia s been tried in various experimental nstitutions throughout the country nd possibly* Europe, but Baltimore s ustitution is the first to announce suc-

The! scientists of Johns Hopkins Um■ersity at first succeeded in producing atent life, a state resembling death hey were not satisfied with this. They volved a second process whereby the Kmate and seemingly life ess ,reathless body is again brought back o a knowledge and realisation of its "oTCursf'failiires along these lines rere numerous at first but with the lersistency peculiar to those men who lave made the Baltimore University amous they persevered and met witli— Access. They have gone a step furher They have in a few cases suceeded in-(efforts to revive warmhooded organisms. Chickens hearts mve been made to pulsate after months >f confinement in the vacuum of the iquid air jars. They have not lived oiig thereafter, it is true, but they lave lived. „.«._„ NOT DEAD, BUT FROZEN. Professor Woods remarked one day hat he believed that by a process of lis own he could freeze an ordinary oad to a point where, while not evilent, life would remain. He later be•ame enthusiastic and decided to try he- experiment. He tried it the next iay--and failed. He tried again and ailed. Then deciding that frogs wer<\ >ut of tho question, he experimented vith a lower reptile, with the result hat the\ creature was placed in a dornant state in which it remained several days and then died. Details of he experiment were rapidly evolved in he mind of the Professor, and finally, working in co-operation with his class, ie succeeded in accomplishing the feat rith a frog. This frog died, as did houaands of others thereafter for many nonths, but death was slow. It beame slower and slower as the test 3 wogressed, and finally success was aslurod.

,EVIVED AFTER BEING FROZEN FOR MONTHS.

Frogs, lizards, snakes, rats and even ish figure in the experiments. The nost successful are those involving ■eptiles and frogs. This is natural m dew of the fact that even in normal ife there are certain times of the year vhen animation is partly suspended in hese oreatures. Studies of the heart >ressure and resisting qualities of these inimals gauge the time during which hey are to remain in the frozen atmoiphere. Sometimes they remain in.the ars for weeks or. months. Then they ire "thawed out." and' revived by neans of massage, and respiratipn. The lormant state in which the subjects are cept during their ' imprisonment is mown to medical and scientific men in the latent life. The organisms or >odies have every appearance ol being ibsolutely void of lite, breath and coniciousuess—if such bodies possess any nich thing. Vitality is depressed to luch a state that even the most careful icrutiny will not reveal the slightest ispeot of animation. If a scientist were suddenly to come nto the laboratory, unaware of the ex>eriments, he could not possibly ascer;ain whether .the animal or organism night be dead or. alive. Microscopic >xamination will not show the slightest lign of life. In fact, the animal is dead x> far as the senses of the observer are

jonoerned. To most persons, nothing leems more easy than to distinguish >etween life and death. "When quesioned in this regard they at once think if beating hearts, pulsating arteries, >reath and colour, in contrast with the told and rigid body, in which the beatngs of..the heart have for ever ceased. To the scientist, to view these experinenfcal subjects, without a knowledge »f the history attached, it is the same. There are instances where even bac»ria are frozen in the liquid air jars it a temperature of more than thirty legrees below zero, and yet they snrrive for months because as minute irganisms they possess much destrucive ability, and therefore virtues of ■emarkable resistance to exterior elenents. Even snails have had their ives suspended for weeks and have revived upon an application of ohemical lolution. Fish have been frozen to such i /state as to allow their intestines to >e removed en masse. They have been •ovived but have not lived. These aninals and organisms are perfectly nornal when placed in the receptacles vhich keep them prisoners for weeks md months. When they are revived ;hey return to the normal state, and f other results follow they are not n evidence until several days after 'esuscitation.

EXPERIMENTS WITH CHICKENS. In warmer blooded animals ono does lot find such resisting power against jonditions tending toward death. Howjver, experiments with chickens have iteen partly successful and at times lighly satisfactory. Even chickens just jefore they leave the shell are frozen : or weeks and later removed. The leart action is renewed by means of electrical massage and chemical applijations, but in 210 instance have these ived more thtJn Several hours. Most jf them expjre several seconds after the ieart has pulsated. In the case of one test, -the heart of a partly grown chicken was removed with its arteries, which were closed at the ends, and frozen for several days. The organ pulsated twjce after being " thawed. Iho tails of rats have been amputated and nkved in refrigerating jars, and after

weeks have been grafted on other rata,, immediately after the amputation of their extremities. This proves the preservation of tissues, an essential necessary to the prolongation ot lite in a warm-blooded organism. > ' The deeply interesting inference from these experiments with latent Me and liquid air and suspended animation is that, though vitality cannot bo said to have gone, yet the organism during all the time of tho case is not taking food or other nutrition; is not giving out carbon dioxido or taking in oxygen and hydrogen. It accepts no water and gives out no chemical. It moves not unless moved. And in the animals through whose veins warm blood courses both the heart action and the respiratory activities are in abeyance. No state could possibly be more like death than that of suspended animation, known as'the latent life. It is not sleep nor a dormant state of any kind. It is the imago of death. Revivabihty is there, but vitality is depressed; masked, but not abolished. Can it be that humanity will in time be inohidod in these tests? Is it possible to resusoitato the rigid frozen.body of a man who, like the organisms, is to etl appearances dead? Will the scientifits go a step further P