IN HUMANITY’S CAUSE

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3345, 13 May 1926, Page 3

IN HUMANITY’S CAUSE

INFAM'IIit; I’ARAIjYSIS KESI ’.ARCH. ANIMAL MARTYRS TO SCIENCE. Most of us know the monkey as an entertainer ot no mean ability, wlicther in the circus, in ithc menagerie, or as a neecssary adjunct to a barrel organ. From time immemorial his whimsical contortions have given delight to succeeding generations or youngsters, and grown-ups as well. It is doubtful, however, if many who know the monkey merely as the comedian ot the animal kingdom, hav over given a thought to the Important part he plays in medical research, and in the assisting in the discovery ot the source of many Insidious disease, and the finding of a means to arrest their ravages. Last year, when the epidemic of infantile paralysis swept the country medical science was puzzled. Its source, its action and its ultimate effect wore all shrouded in mystery, and although it was known that this dread malady attacked different persons in different ways, and although a few fairly satisfactory cures were affected, a preventative had to bo found, an antitoxin which would kill the germ of the disease at its inception.

To this end (bo Government voted £2OOO to bo used for the purpose of investigating .the cause and prevention of this mysterious disease. Possibly because it most nearly approximated the human being in many ol its characteristics, the monkey was found lo bo peculiarly adapted loi this lino of research .and curiously enough it was also found to be the only animal which was susceptible to infaritile paralysis. Monkeys were therefore procured by the Health department for the purpose of experiment in the bacteriological laboratories of tlio Dunedin Medical School, and already much valuable data Jins born gleaned from their various reactions to the baccillus of the disease.

The method ,of inocula/ting the monkeys is interesting and require much cure, patience and skill. A portion of the spinal chord and brain of a patient who has succumbed to the malady are, placed in 7 per cent, glycerine, • which ban the elfcct of killing all other organisms but the germ of infantile paralysis. It is then ground up in a dtorilised mortar with sterilised sand, and dissolved in a liquid. The resultant is passed through a filter, and so infinitesimal is the germ that it also makes its way through the clay . The lluid having boon thus obtained, the time conics for Ithc monkey to do his part. Placed on a small operating table in a spotlessly clean theatre, he Is trephined—that is, a small circular pieee of hone is removed from ids skull without disturbing the inside membrane. A charge of the germladen fluid is then hypodermically injected into his brain, and the patient goes free, (to he kept under close observation. Tickets recording the date of each injection are attached to Pis cage for the guidance of the tn-

vi'stigutors. and so from day to day. llic experiments go on. I'Tom these injections and a close scrutiny of effect, it is hoped to find a means not only to cure but. eventually to prevent the deadly scourge which is becoming’ such a menace to the younger generation of the present day. At present the supply of monkeys is small, there being only five in the monkey housfe. Their number, however, will bo shortly increased as IT more, have been landed from Calcutta at Auckland to be forwarded to this city, 'fho.se at present housed at the Medical school appear contented enough, notwithstanding the fact that some of 'them have already been inoculated. A representative of the Otago Daily 'rimes was introduced to them till. Molly, Uncle, Spider, Marcud. and one quizzical little chap whose name he could not catch and they were, so far as lie could see. Just ordinary monkeys. Nevertheless they are all making a very real sacrifice in the cause of suffering humanity.

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