NEW LEGS FOR OLD.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18639, 18 May 1932, Page 10

NEW LEGS FOR OLD.

BDME DAILY MIRACLES; f 3 3 The extent to which Nature can t make good the ravages of acoidenti or time—has within the last few year* » been the subject of much study, and ■ has been turned to good aocount. i Skin, muscle and bone are all capabl* ■ of a remarkable degree of regeneration, writes E. G. Boulenger in the i London Daily Telegraph. The creatures nearest akin to man , .with any capacity for effectually re- • placing lost parts are the amphibians. , The common newt, a peculiarly defenceless creature, sometimes loses a limb, as when it falls foul of a nesting stickleback. The entire limb may be made good, but should the mem* I her attacked be ionly partially removed a second may develop alongside. Power of Lizard*, The power which lizards have td renew a section of their caudal appendage is well known. These reptiles readily part with their tails--* the gyrations of the detached portion usually engaging the aggressor’s attention, thus effectually covering th* lizard’s retreat. In these creatures Injury may result in the tail becoming duplicated. This phenomenon one® caused that famous naturalist, Dr. Albert Gunther, who was at one tim® keeper of zoology afc the British Museum, considerable embarrassment. As a Small boy the great scientist was as notorious for mendacity as later he was for his veracity and learning, and when he was six years old his outraged father promised him a beating the next time he was found perverting the truth.- Shortly after th® parental warning the youthful Gunther beheld for the flrsT time a lizard with two tails—a discovery which h® promptly reported to the family, and for which he received a good thrashing. A crab or a lobster can still “carry on” after the loss of both claws and several of Its walking legs. New limbs, small but still effective, will appear at the next moult and In a few successive moults these will regain their normal proportions. At the Zoo Aquarium fights between lobsters are frequent, and ineivtable, since these usually take place at night. The ring may be found strewn with detached daws, and the reserve tanks always bold a number of combatants “in retirement," awaiting the growth of new limbs. Capaolty for Regeneration. Lower still in the scale of life com® the starfish, with an even more complete capacity for regeneration. The starfish is, in fact, not so much on® animal as a collection of five, and some species habitually reproduce by detaching limbs. Most worms can make good almost any amount of damage, and this takes an extraordinary form amongst the flat worms, or Planarlans. The hind portion may refuse to follow the head portion, and the result is sometimes a fierce tug of war and a dramatic split. The two halves then proceed to reinstate themselves, the one with a new tail and the other with a now head.

The very lowest of creatures, th® protozoa, ran even be rubbed through a fine sieve. Ihe disruption so far from destroying the creatures, causing them lo increase a million fold. It is regeneration at its highest—a faculty which remains as a mere vestige with ourselves in the capacity to make good by the healing of a cut finger.