24 



THE MUSEUM. 



chloride the successful medium for de- 

 velopment. 



Not content with his own assurance 

 that the eggs were entirely unfertilized, 

 Profesor Loeb took from each group 

 used a portion which he immersed in 

 sea water to develope in the natural 

 manner, and in each case they remain- 

 ed unchanged, showing no growth. 



Having succeeded in developing the 

 eggs by chemical means, he then began 

 experiments to learn why they did not 

 normally develop in sea water, with- 

 out requiring to be fertilized. He 

 added to his solutions various other 

 ions, and found that as the amount of 

 calcium or potassium in the water was 

 increased it became more difficult and, 

 at last, impossible to develop the eggs. 

 The fact was plainly established that 

 the milt needed to carry the 

 eggs to fertilization nothing more than 

 certain ions to counteract the restrain- 

 ing elements in the sea water. 



The possibilities of this little discov- 

 ery startled the little colony by the 

 seaside. Accustomed to examine the 

 lower forms of life for light on the 

 phenomena of the higher forms, the 

 scientist at once looked for a parallel 

 case in the human animal, and came 

 to the conclusion that all cancerous 

 growths are of a similar nature. Prof. 

 Loeb is not inclined to go so far. 



"We have made a wonderfnl discov- 

 ery, all of us at Wood's Holl together, " 

 he says: All have done something. 

 I only succeeded first in producing the 

 plutei. From that, wonderful possibil- 

 ities have opened before us. Many of 

 my associates think they see in it the 

 explanation of cancer. They do not 

 say so loudly yet, for there are so 

 many people who hold to the necessary 

 presence of a bacillus to form a cancer. 

 It may be a bacillus is there — if this 

 theory is correct — for a bacillus makes 

 secretions which may change the com- 

 position of the blood, or of the cells in 

 a certain neighborhood, making for the 

 absence of the restraint and allowing 

 the cells to divide and grow. We can 

 learn that only by farther experiments. 



I will not even say for myself that I 

 believe it explains cancer. It is won- 

 derful enough for me to say that that 

 is true which is proven. But it is 

 reasonable to believe that if a sea ur- 

 chin egg can develope itself so can the 

 egg of a mammalian." 



"Do you believe that this brings 

 you much nearer the production of life 

 in a test tube?" Dr. Loeb was asked. 



"Nearer, perhaps — in fact, much 

 nearer: but after all it may not be an 

 appreciable step when we come to 

 learn the whole distance." 



The discovery that a solution of 

 magnesium salt caused the develop- 

 ment of sea urchin eggs into normal 

 plutei led the scientists at Wood's Holl 

 to a long series of experiments to find 

 what effect the solution had on other 

 cells. A jelly fish, or sea anemone, 

 was taken as an illustration. This is a 

 transparent, jelly like mass that moves 

 through the sea, pulsating regularly, 

 waving with each motion a set of 

 streamers which drive food towards its 

 stomach. 



Norman already had shown that 

 when this ring of fibers was cut away 

 pulsation stopped, and it was therefore 

 dubbed the "nerve ring," and was be- 

 lieved to be the centre of motive pow- 

 er in the animal. This has now been 

 proven wrong, for when the remaining 

 portion of the jelly fish was put in wa- 

 ter containing no calcium and a large 

 percentage of magnesium, it immediate- 

 ly began pulsating rhythmically, as it 

 had in sea water with its rings attached. 

 Bit by bit the outer portions were cut 

 away, and at last the merest centre of 

 the mass was put in a magnesium 

 solution, when it pulsated as had the 

 rest. 



A frog's leg was then experimented 

 upon with similar results. In the frog 

 only the heart beat under normal con- 

 ditions. The leg was cut off and lay 

 inert. It was put into a solution of 

 calcium chloride, and was still motion- 

 less; finally it was put into a solution 

 of sodium bromide and then into one 

 of sodium chloride, and in each the 



