"SUPER SHEEP"

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1926, 26 October 1926, Page 7

"SUPER SHEEP"

IM.BW "WIONDEIRS UN SURGERY

Experiments ajrie being carried on under the auspices of the FJ.m-ch Government, and which may have a farreaclv.ng effect upon tlja woc,] - inUistry and upcto anlimal raiding generally (writlsls "Tjß." in the Melbourne Argus). The experiments .consist of th|e| grafting of certain glands from -one animal into another. This operation was originated by Professor Sergius Veronoff. a Slav surgeon, who claimed that he had succeeded 8n riejuVenalt'ing the human body by grafting glands from the chimpanzee in!to it. Prom the successes claimed) it appeared that the prolongation of the term of physical and mental activity n'cw granted Ito the human race which had evleir been dreamed of and longed: for might be attained. But the chimpanzee is scarce, and the operation dedicate and costily, and vleiry few persons appear to have been willing to undergo it. Thlaj iremairkable influence o!f certain gl'ainds upon the development of the btody is 'beyond! doubt. A striking instance is tlhat of the thyroid, gland from a sheep. Veronoff L\iscoveied that not only could he compensate for the lack of secretion from some glands by supplying the deficiency by an extract, from similar glands taken from other animals of the same irace, 'but that if he ire-en-forefcd the action of a healthy gland by grafting another healthy gland upon it, the grafted animal benefited, and most important of all, was able to transmit the improvement effected to its progeny.

Bjeports concerning Veronoff's experiments have appeared from time to time in European magazines. IHe expelrimantei'i upon pigs, cattle, horses, and mccip, dhiefly sheep. The following !.s taken from the Italian journal II 'Sec'olo: A ram, which at 12 yisars had about reached the normal iMmit of liife. a poor trembling beast, with scarcely any wool, which had beeh allbwed to live because it ha'd. ILlsen a playmate of a child wbjich had died young, was operated upon by grafting into it a gland taken from a youngram aged about Itlwb* years. In 'two months it was .rejuvenated, its '1113606 becomling thick and soft. Used as a si(r|e;, it 'produced 11 offsprings, three of them being males. The last, ait six. months, weighed 601 b. When itlh'e animal 'operated (upon was 19 years oi'Jd a fleecla taken from i|t, weighed 81b. Other experiments harvlsl shown that similar resuilts are the rule and not the exception. ODdl shjelep, wbJicihj belfoie the operation gave scarcely any wool, yielded fleeces abnormal in quantity and quallity. Thesis! marvellous results having tjeen obtained wilth seinile ani'maiia, tihe experiments were extended to those in the prime of life. The ;f----fcts Avre equally striking, and showed a clo'se association between glandular activity and the production of wool and hair.

Iln French .experiments (three young rams wi=,re selected, welighing .respeetivly 381 b., Sllto., and! 641 b.. , The first was grafted, the second k(ept as a control, and the tfrijrd castelrated!. Ten ■months later the grafted animal had gained 3-SVb.. ithlei control 2811 b., and Hie casltratfad 101 b. The grafted anima/1 gave a. fleece o'f l|lb. t'he heavier. Thesisi results caused the Fr'ench Government to place a fiook 'of 3000 sheisp at Veronoff's disposal, wilt.li wellequipped laboratories and a staff of veterinary -surgeons specially .trained in (the delicatlsl grafting operation. Alecording to the caJble message recently puhllishedi, the grafting of ne'w ©lands on the sheep has increased thb production of wbol by one-lthird and t'he production of muttoii by one-quarter. AM the offspring wiere "super sheep" from ths day of tblaiir toiifdh.