SAVED FROM DEATH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20792, 7 February 1931, Page 7 (Supplement)

SAVED FROM DEATH.

USE OF PURIFIED HORMONE,

Restoration of a man from death's door to apparently perfect health in forty-eight hours was revealed at tho biological laboratory in New York recently. Tho man saved, a patient at tho Mayo Clinic at Rochester, Minn., had Addison's disease. 1

At the clinic a purified hormone was injected directly into the veins of a farmer, thirty-nino years old by Dr. Leonard- G. Rowntroo and Dr. Carl 11. Greene.

" J3eforo-its use," they reported, "the patient was excessively weak, bedridden, depressed, nauseated, losing weight and showed evidence of failing circulation. Within forty-eight hours lie had taken a new lease of life, his appetite was excellent, his strength was greatly improved and ho appeared to bo in perfect health. Addison's disease, due to failure of man's adrenal glands, has been recorded in the past in medical literature as invariably fatal. The honnono used was an extract of tho cortex of the adrenal glands of cattle, obtained in tho last few weeks in unusually pure form by Dr. W. W. Swingle and Dr. J. J. Pfiffner, of tho biological laboratory in New York and of Princeton University.

These scientists first announced tho extract in March, last year, but it was not then entirely pure, containing somo epinephrine, a powerful heart stimulant which is secreted by the same glands. Presence of this stimulant made it dangerous to inject tho new remedy directly into tho veins of human beings. It had to be administered by a slower method, subcutaneous injection, which caused considerable irritation.

Drs. Swingle and Pfiffner now announce that recently they have found a method of getting the extract so pure that it contains only ono part in ono or two million of epinephrine.

SECRETS OP CELL LIFE. Ultra-minute details of cell structure never before seen aro now made visible through the use of a new type of microscope. Professor William Scifriz, of the University of Pennsylvania, described the instrument and its work at a lecture in Philadelphia recently. Structures on the cell wall and in the living protoplasm itself one fifty-thousandth of an inch or less in width can now bo examined and measured.

The secret of the new microscope is a tiny mirror of gold or platinum deposited on the inner side of the lower-most lens in such a way that it reflects light directly downward on the object to be observed. The light is reflected back again from the object, enters the lens around the sides and passes upward to the eye of the observer. It is the invention of a Swiss scientist, Charles Spierer, who has carried on some of his researches in co-operation with Professor Seifriz.

Under the intimate illumination made possible by this mirror-bearing lens, the inner layer of a plant cell wall is shown to have a structure as though it were made up of a multitude of exceedingly fine rods, like a close-set pole fence. These are termed "micelles," and aro believed to be made up of bundles of carbohydrate molecules, which are too small to bo visible- by any microscopic treatment. x Living protoplasm shows a similar structure, of fine, closely parallel strands of fibres, with thickenings on them in places, in a more uniform background of grey substance. The two structural types are so similar in appearance that it is hard to tell them apart, Professor Seifriz says. However, he is not ready to commit himself to the opinion that the solid stripes of the non-living cell wall aro due simply to a direct hardening or precipitation action of the fluid living protoplasm.