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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1902)
Has Professor Loeb Solved Life's Secret? : j: J; V i lli ft . i " - ir-.W ,5- - mi i - - Wlii' Mniiiiiniia f - ' 1 . corner in rnoFESSou loebs laiioiiatory. Copyright. V.i)2, by Herbert Wallace.) m m lie laci turn rrui. jucquea Liiiou, I I head of the biological department ttl luutlgu uiuvemiiy, utx-s lepiu- duccd the manifestations of phy sical life in certain chemical ac tions and has demonstrated that the S'.urce of nerve and muscle stimulus Is electrical, means nn.ro than was at first realized when the announcement of his discovery was made a few weeks ago. Dr. Loeb did not reveal all of the results of his experi ments at that time, nith'r did he stop his labors when he accomplished the first suc cess. He is not yet willing to lay claim to having discovered the great secret of what life is, how It begins and why it end, but he has left it to those who have seen the results of his recent experiments to draw the conclusion that he has arrived very clove to the most astounding discovery of a century. Certain it Is that a new physiology has been born, and a new phar macology as well. We shall have to re vise our text bcoks and oi'V syst-ms of treating with drugs. "There will soon be announced," said Dr. Loeb to the writer a few days ago, "an account of tha discovery that ensymes (the eli mental forces of life), which do not nominally exist in the human frame, may be actually created. Not by me is this announcement to be made." he added. "The work has been done by another scientist, and I can not talk about the matter yet. You see. there are others working on these; great problems." Can 1 fe be created at the will of man? f'an a scientist show how to avoid death? Is there Is a reasonable way of lengthening life? These are questims which every on asks. Fornn rly the answer would hav been, "Imprsslble!" Now the man in ths street is saying, "Possibly." and the bl i li gists who have been watching Dr. Loeb's work ate ready to say, "Probably." At any rate, that Is the conclusion to whlih a study of Dr. Loeb's experiments invariably lea.19. Here Is a scientist who has already, in a sense, created life. lie has taken unfertilized sea urchin eggs, from which, until they are brought Into contact with the sperm, no life can develop. and he has, I . v means of chemical soli tions, been able to d vclop these so that they are living ormnisms the same as though tliey h :.d In i n developed in the or dinary nianiu r. VI:h other solutions, sails and chlorides, ami other unfertilized eggs he has accomplished similar results. Other scientists have verified these conclusions by experiments of their own; the result is a matter of scientific history now, and what is called "artificial parthenogenesis" is a fact no longer to be questioned. Dr. Loeb lias gone further than this, however further than any previous biolo gist. He has determined that the living or ganism Is protoplasm in a liquid state; that death comes when the protoplasm pass s Into a more or less solid condition, and that life itself depend on the electrical charges of the protoplasm particles. 1; was shown some time ago that poisons ncted on the nerves in just this manner the colloidal substance of which the nerved are composed began to solidify under the action of poison. Here we may see the application of the new pharmacology. It is no longer necessary to administer medi cines blindly. The exact effect of every drug, every chemical, can be ascertained without difllcilty. The body, in illness ir health, must be in a certain chemical state, which will be shown by the new methods f diagnosis. Granted that this latter may be- accomplished, and it si ems now that Ii will be, it is easy to see how the proper chemicals or medicines, bearing the propi r charges of electricity in themselves, may be used to restore the body to its normal conditlrn. The scientists will have shown us a way to co,. rol physical life. This ii probably very near to what Prof. Loeb meant when he said that he wished to un derstand life, to take it in his hands and play with it as he chose. On what, then, does life depend? "The present theory," says Dr. Loeb, "Is that an electric charge keeps our proto plasm In a liquid condition, so as to prevent coagulation. Life depends on the liquid condition of certain parts if our proto plasm; death c ines with the coagulation of these parts, and the forces which make the manifestations of life possible are firs'. of all the electric charges of the particles of this protoplasm." If electricity is at the source of living energy, man's digestive apparatus is n.i longer to be n gar. led as a heat producing mechanism. His stomach is a dynamo and his nerves are the connecting media -the telegraph wires for communication be tween the different parts of the body and lti storage battery In his cranium. His heart is a big, muscular pump, which beats rhythmically, because of the electrical ihargis produced by chemical changes go ing on in the In dy. Ills lutig.3 are a set of bellows, which suck in oxygen and ex pel carbonic acid gas for a similar reason. The cranial sti rage bait cry is the seat of a mechanical Intelligence, which directs tho actions of its surface extremities and main tains an electrical equilibrium In the body. We have, tin n, in ourselvi s, each an air and liquid pump, a stnrugo battery and a sot of wires, all operated by electricity created I v chemical i hangi s. The body has a certain constant charge of electricity when in a normal condition, just as the earth is said to maintain a cer tain balance electrically, and Illness or death comes with a variation of this elec trical state. This is, indeed, a new physi ology. Tho simplest form of life is the single ei Hi d organism t he sea urchin is a gocd example. It was with this form that Dr. Loeb carried en most of his Important ox p r. mi ills at Woods Hull, Mass., and in tho Marine hs: rvatory in Naples, Italy. Kxperinienls f this sort were fundament ally Imp rtanl. for all life is dimply proto plasm In some form or other. If Dr. Loeb could determine what mused the move ments of the little mass of protoplasm which composes tho sea iirthin, he could then determine with certainty the causes of the functions of life in many complex cells of living matter. Few have probably Btopped to think what this theory means In Its relation to our former beliefs in life, its spiritual crea tion, its origlu and its end. Dr. Loeb has done that which has been puzzling the scientists for a century past he has linked the Inanimate world with the animate. "Will it not be more difficult," I asked, "to harmonize this conception of life with our present religious beliefs than It was for Darwin's theory of evolution to he finally accepted by the Christian world?" "I don't want to discuss that." replied Dr. Ioeb. "All I can say Is that for a lonn time I puzzled over the forces which rule in the realm of the animate and then I came to the conclusion that these forces were the same as those which ruled the inanimate." After the theory came the experiments. The biologist reduced conscious life to a mateiial basis by creating conscious life. To be sure, this creation has as yet been dene very crudely, but the significance of the result is no less Important. Now that he has accomplished the prolonging of the life of the simple-celled sea urchin, and more than that, the creation of life In these forms, he has brought the scientists and the churchmen face to face with the eternal why. The door of the mystery house of creation will probably remain closed to them. The greatest difTV'iilty of the blo'ogists Is to explain the chemical character of life. Much of the phonomt mil of life can be repro duced In the chemist's Iaboratoiy, but thus "Si" XT II.IUI M PUOKESSOK LO EH AT WORK. far only at such a high temperature that actual life is Impossible. No one could ex plain why the functions of I lie body could be tarried on at the low temperature at which they now operate. "For example." nays Dr. Loeb. "oxida tion, a fundamental principle of life, takes place at a low temperature In the body. Tho air is Inhaled by the lungs and the oxygen taken up by the blood In a very simple manner, but If the chemist attempts to reproduce this he requires a tremendous heat." Heretofore the scientists have been in the habit of attributing this illflereneo in temperatures at which the same chemical changes are brought about in the body and w ithout It to some mysterious principle or element of life. They enlied this ele ment the enzyme, a term, says Dr. Loeb, which covers up our present ignorance. It has been Dr. Loeb's chief labor to discover a way to control the enzymes, iind in this study he produced many of nature's processes. He made platinum in solution or in a very finely powdered form digest fat the same way as It Is digested by the stomach and glands. Likewise the action of bacteria in put r'factlon was reproduced by the powdered platinum, and many ether living functions were iiocompll-iii d. Indeed, Dr. Ioeb did what his predecessors had failed to do - he initiated much of the most secret life phenomena rl the same tempi rat ore as 'hat of the body. This In the heart of the wonderful success he has bad. "Our living matter has at least cine com mon quality with solutions of platinum." says Dr. Loeb, "namely, that they are col loidal niluilons, that Is, liquid rebalances. I should say th:it perhaps onn of tho most imiioitant features of the physical construc tion of living matter 1 this, that half of our living matter must be in u liquid state, and this liquid Male l of the charactir of colloid xolutliiii w ill the same funes as are in the pi it ilium eolliids. What are these forces? "Experiments have been made show lug the effect of an ilecliical current In water in which wire living iclls. These cells, hearing mgnllve charges, move toward tie positive eli el rude. When they come In contact wilh it they lose their charges of eleiiriiily nnd die. Tho same thing Imp pens practically with platinum solution The negatively charged partliles move in ward the positive pole, and when they com i in iv ii I in t wilh it Hie platinum sinks to I lie bet nun of (he Jar. It Is bcciiiiHe of the ileciric charges that parllcas of heavy specilic gravity like plat ilium can remain in solution. The purl ides of any solution treated ill litis way move toward the poles, and when the electrically charged particles reach their opposite poles they give up their i barges and we have tho pro cess of coagulation. This In the living w . rid la death. "Our lives ilep int upon 111' electrical l ondiion of our pro! 1 ism. Death Is the process if ci 'iigulal ii ii Su it seems, that the chief force' whli !i render these inani fi stations of l.fe d "pi ml upon the electrical condition of our protoplasm and that the T roe which makes H e po slide Is primarily the electric ehaige. II would be very one sided to think i h it fr un the electrical point of view nil in inifi sl at ions of life coll ii be explained. In ibis we tun t remi inli r that changes in temp ratine niUlit I ring about i oagulat Ion. Our study now is the fori i a which exHi in the liquid part of pro'op- I '!!!." Are we any nearer the great mystery'.' Man may create conscious l.fe, play with It. prilli ng it by chemical or electrical means, and yet. what Is it that, back of all, breathes inl o the organism the conscious ness of life Itself? Moods and Tenses of Bench and Bar W HEN Judge Barnard was on the bench and holding court in Poughkeepsle, reports the New York Times, a lawyer who C'A not like him chanced to see a 1- cent ilia lying in the ilutir. licking it up and holding it forth in ostentatious display, he said: "I imagine, your honor, from the value of this coin, that it must belong to the court." "And I imagine," replied Judge Parnard, "that if it was not such a small coin the court never would have seen It." A clever answer In court was that given t Chief Justice Coleridge years ago. when he was defending a woman who had Income a Sister of Mercy and was expelled from the convent for refusing to obey ill ' rub's. She had brought an action for expulsion Hid libel. In the coiiise of the trial Cole ridge assumed that breaches of discipline are trivial, contemptible and should never be notici d. "What has Miss Sawin done?" he asked Mrs. Kennedy, a mistress cf novices. "Well," saiil the woman, "she has, for example, eaten strawberries." "Eaten strawberries? What harm is there in that?" "It was forbidden, sir," said Mrs. Ken nedy. "But. Mrs. Kenn dy, what trmble was likely to come from eating st raw bi rries ?" "Well, Mr," said Mrs. Kennedy, "you might as well ask what trouble was likely to come from tating an apple; and yet know what trouble did come from it." That ( losed the discussion. At Philadelphia a suit for personal in juries was on trial before Judge McMUbael. on the stand was a nervous little Irish man who had assumed a frigid attitude when cross-examined by the city's legal guardian. The question at Issue was: "Was hud swern for many i;s!;ed the answer. there a hole in the s'reit. aril vas it y reason of the existence i f litis hole tfc it the plMntiff was thrawn diwn and badly Injured?" A si ore of w i ness s that the hole had been there weeks. The lii-h r.i n vm:s stereotyped question. "No. sor." was th ini;hatio "there was no hole there." "What?" said the attorney, "no hole? Why. all the others swear thi r. was a Us hole. You must be mis'akin." "No. sor, I'm not; th'Te was no hole there." "Now, my ib ar sir. remember you are under oath. You certainly don't want to perjure youiself. Answer me, now. Was there a hole In that pirtiiular spot or was there not?" "There was not," came back the snappy answer. "May your honor please " began the attorney. "Yer honor." alunst screamed the wit ness, "may I say a word?" There was a silence as th' witness reached umb r the stand for his derby bat. "Now, yer honor." he cont iniied. "do you see that hat .' Well, if 1 brick it in like Ilia! (denting it) I don't be niaKIn' a hole in it; if I put my fist through it (h re h suited the action to the word) there'll b a hole in it. A hole goes all the way through. And he glanced withering scorn upon th lawyir. who Joined bench, Jury and audl en -e in the laugh. Attorney Oeneral Hi rbert Parker of M isachuaetts says that in I he earlier days of his experience at the bar he was examin ing a voung witness from the country who displuyt ! evidence of unusual mental at ileneB. In one passage of arms bfc-t- himself and the witness Mr. Par ker was distinctly a poor second, but he fail, d lo profit by the exper; m e and con tinued In i'lvile trouble. Pretty soon he get into hot watir again. This timi the Double was over all apparent ci i.llief be tween the lad's ti stiiiiony, as given before a lower court, and that whl h he off ere 1 in d r I'erker's cross-exam I nut ion. "Why do you t-il a dlff rent story now from what y-iu told In the pilice court'.''' aski d the lawyer. "Because," came the ready ritort, "there was a bright lawyvr examining me then and I got rattled, but I'm not rattled now end I can ti II the truth." Anecdotes of the lute Noah Davis as law yer and Judge are currtut in the New Yora papers. In January, 1S73, Willluiu M Tweed was arraigned before Justice Davis, accused of nfty-nve dU-tinct acts of crim inal fraud. Counsel fur the people In sisted on trying him on every one of them. The case had been Juggled from calendar to calendar until It had become a public Joke. Tweed had for his counsel the most prominent members of the bar of New York state, among I hem such nu n as Davll Dudley Field. Wilber Post, William O. Bartlett, John Graham, Willard Bartlett, at present a Justice of the supreme court, and Elihu Hoot. When the case came up before Judge Davis tho prisoner's counsel asked upon which count the prosecution was going to try the defendant, and the prosecution re plied: "I'pon all of them." "What?" said Mr. Field, "why, there ar.-fifty-five distinct offenses charged and four counts on each offence 220 In all." "More counts than in a German princi pality, eh?" said Justice Davis. "But your motion to dismiss the case is denied." Throughout the famous trial the presid ing Justice enlivened the serious proceed ings wltb flashes of humor. When Garvey. the (3,000,000 court bouse plasterer, told how Twnd had Hied to buy senate commit tees his lounsil shiuiiil, pi intiii-? lo Hi witness, who was shifting about uneasily in his chair: "Watch that man's fine n.i he looks at Mr. Tweed!" Win n the law yer had finished his outbur-t Justice Davis rapped for i rh r, and then remarked dryly: "Do you want me to app int somebody to - his face?" Whi-n Painilii J. Tillen, the chief witness of the trial, was on the stand, Mr. Field ibjecti d to his txplaining ci rtaln figur s wilh the aid of an assistant, but the court ruled against him, whereupon Mr. Field cried: "But, your honor, I submit - " and here he broki' off. "That Is right, Mr. Field," said Jusiic' Davis, "always submit. Crier, adjourn court." When the trial of Tweed flr-t b gi.n bis counsel asked Justice Davis In have I he trial of the case I ransfi-rred to uuoiher Judge for the reason that the prison r ci uld not get Justice before him bee iiis' tf certain influences brought to bear u;,on him. After listening lo th's strange re quest Justice Davis fined two of th- n-nio-counsel for the defense $2."0 each for con tempt of court. Kl i tin Hoot and Willanl Bartlett were not fined, on account of Ihelr youth. One of the leading Jurists of Baltimore has been accustomed for some years lo visit dally a certain tonsori.il establishment for his morning shave. The barber wh i habitually shaved him manifest! d a desire to elevate himstlf and decided to read law In his Idle moments. In order to encour age him the Judge loaned him law books and dally Inquired Into his progress. Before many weeks the burlier begun pro pounding legal problems for solution by his patron and mentor. "Now, Judge," be would say, "suppos such and such a question arose, what would you do in that case?" And with much care and d liln rail, n the Judge w. uld inter Into Hie pins and cons of the. cast and s: t forth his leas n.i ami decision. Several mi nlhs elajisi d lie fire a friend if the Judge n prised him that the opinions he hud bein handing down lo I lie burlier wir In rtulity ii in ii parallel ceses brought to the thrifty barber by his fiiinds, wh: set grout store by his s Ulid Judgment an I uciimen and who gladly paid a small fee In return. At first the equilibrium of the astute Jurist was s iiely dist iniied. When he visited the shop the next tin ri.lng the con versation opened up in mil h the same maimer. Judge," said til.' burlier, "I've been thinking if a must Inter, st log case." lie I hen askid: "Now what wi uld yi u ad vise?" Aftir a long pause the Judge replied; "What would 1 advise? Will, let me sec. Why, I'd advise Dial you come to my olllei. and bring a iirtiflnl eacok for H() and I will be glad lo I t you know. Good morning " - Timothy lleuly. who is a king's counsel, us well as a memlier of Parliament, was lately oppised in I lie assize courts lo a distinguished barrister, remarkable for his capacity to talk against time. This lawyer asked for the postponement of a trial in which he and lleuly were Interested on opposite sides. "On what ground do you seek this post ponement?" queried the court. "Me Lud." replied the barrister, "I have been arguing a case all day In "ourt II and I am completely exhausted." At this point Mr. Healy arose and ex plained that he, too, was weary and would gladly consent to a postponement. "What have you been doing to tire your self?' asked the now curious Judge. "Me Lud," answered Healy, with Just a suspicion of a yawn, "I have been listening to my learned brother,"
