298 LUTHER BURBANK 



no peculiar interest for me. Perhaps it seemed 

 less wonderful than it really is because my con- 

 ception of the fundamental unity of plant and 

 animal life makes it appear inherently plausible 

 that such transplantation of members should take 

 place under proper surgical conditions. 



The only difference is that the method of graft- 

 ing plant tissues one upon another has long been 

 familiar, whereas no one knew just how such 

 grafting could be accomplished in the case of the 

 animal until Dr. Carrel found the way. 



We have already seen how the experiments of 

 Dr. Nuttall, of Cambridge University, demon- 

 strated that the quality of felineness or canine- 

 ness, so to speak, penetrates to the last drop of 

 the blood; so it is not surprising to find from this 

 independent source that the same characteristic 

 differences extend to the solid tissues. 



And of course we are at once reminded of the 

 similarity of experiences of the grafter of plants. 

 Here also there are sharp limits fixed to the fea- 

 sibility of the grafting method. You may trans- 

 fer the twig of an apple to the limb of another 

 apple tree, however widely different, with success. 

 You may similarly, although with far less pros- 

 pect of success, make a graft between twigs of the 

 apple and the pear. In the same way you may 

 combine branches of the different members of the 



