SOME CATALYTIC ASPECTS OF DISEASE AND DRUGS 237 



in vitro. "That this change was originally brought about by some 

 stimulus from the crown gall organism seems clear. That its 

 maintenance is not dependent on the continued presence of the 

 bacterium is equally clear." 44 



These results are understandable on the basis of transmissible 

 change in biocatalysts or catalyst systems, either through the 

 modification of, or the creation of, self-duplicating catalysts, or 

 through inhibitions of individual catalysts. Conceivably, these 

 heritable changes may be carried by the genes or by the cytoplasm; 

 but the original stimulus must form some new autocatalytic (self- 

 duplicating) specific area or template. 



45 



Fasciation 



The commonest example of fasciation is the cockscomb (Celosia 

 cristata), which came from Asia where the wild normal form (C. 

 argentea) is widely distributed. Professor Orland E. White of the 

 University of Virginia says 46 that "the term fasciation, like the 

 term cancer, has been used to describe a series of phenomena, the 

 most striking of which is regions of uncontrolled or unregulated 

 and disordered tissue growth, resulting in an increase in weight 

 and volume of plant tissue . . . When fasciation occurs in a specific 

 structure, such as a branch, a stem, an inflorescence, an androecium 

 or a root, it may remain localized in these structures, or it may 

 occur as a general phenomenon fundamentally and simultaneously 

 affecting the whole plant . . . Fasciation bears an analogy to cancer 

 from the standpoint that apparently the same character is produced 

 in a given organism by many different causes some of which are 

 primarily and fundamentally environmental, while others are 

 heredity mutations." 



A species of tropical mistletoe (Phorodendron) seems to exist 

 only in fasciated form. Fasciation is widely distributed geograph- 

 ically, climatically, ecologically and taxonomically, and is recorded 

 from over 102 of Engler's vascular plant families. Though its 

 effects in the growing point are most striking, it may occur in 

 practically any part of the plant. 



It is evident that quite a number of different kinds of chemical 

 and physical initiators, some heritable, some environmental, may 

 lead to the dreadful syndrome found in the clinical cancers. 

 Science, through sanitation, engineering, chemistry, medicine, etc., 

 is saving many lives; but as the average span of life grows longer, 



