JUGGLING WITH LIFE 



to another. Dr. Carrel's observations show that 

 there is a specific quality about the tissues of an 

 animal that is profound and individual. The kidney 

 of a cat seems to perform identically the same func- 

 tion as the kidney of a dog. But one cannot be sub- 

 stituted for the other in these experiments in trans- 

 planting members. The kidney of a dog may be 

 transferred to another dog; the kidney of a cat to 

 another cat; but the two must not be interchanged. 



Even where the organ experimented with is so 

 simple as the tube of an artery, it is with difficulty 

 that an exchange between animals of different spe- 

 cies may be effected. To all casual observation, and 

 even to close observation with the microscope, the 

 artery of a cat seems identical with that of a dog; 

 but there is a deep-seated chemical difference which 

 makes itself felt if, for example, a section of cat's 

 artery is made to replace an exsected portion of the 

 artery of a dog. 



It was a foregone conclusion, therefore, that the 

 attempt recently made by a Berlin surgeon to re- 

 place a diseased human kidney with the kidney of a 

 monkey would be a failure. The surgeon of the 

 future will doubtless replace diseased kidneys and 

 other vital organs with normal ones, but the substi- 

 tuted organs will be taken from human subjects, 

 say from the victims of accidents, or from executed 

 criminals. 



TRACING BLOOD RELATIONSHIP 



The specific quality which thus pervades every 

 tissue of an organism so that the remotest cell of 



157 



