The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1897-11-12

ATALE OF MANY TADpoLrs
HALvED AND SLICED, THEY GROW TO.
eETnER AND LIVE.

nHAIinA
properties Of u salve he was Wedding
county fair faktr once re,o,,L.s.
Gentlemen, here's what We did. W.
cut on the tail Of a dry, rubbed son,s
Of this saavc on The stump. and Insids
OF three weeks he had u brand.now
tall. But tl'at isn't tho most wonder.
full part u 1t. We put a little ~ ~.
stnif On the did tail, and, by pracIons
befnre the end VI tw0 months 4 n...
dog had grOwcd on to itm Tho -.
markablc experiments which = Co..
man scientist. DIR. Born, In. hos,
Conducting during the last few ye,,.
had = somewhat different object in
view, but are almost equally startling
Aud, what IL more, the story IL M, .
Mnnchausenism, but . w~ell.authen,i.
Gated narrative.
In fact, II might b. called n tale ~,
tail; for what DR.. lhDrn really dId in
many cases, was u splice the rc,r eua
OF one troy while yet In a laryal stats,
on to the front end ~ another. Tins
getting only ohe Hive, busln,ss.I,k.
animal out Of two ~undcvcloped speci.
mems, whereas the mcndaclous ndd,.,
OF ointmcnts claimed To have sccu,sa
two dogs In place Of one.
Among the achievements ~ modern
surgery arc the grating OF bits 81
skin taken from one pers,n un,n ina
arm. NNly or scalp NJ someone clse,
In like manner, bnnes and lei vcr h,ya
been transplanled. Helpful 40 such
operations are, they are merely patch.
work. They were designed only 10 70.
pair damage done by accident 10 some
limited region or Tart OF the budy.
While the aim NJ DR.. Hprn's researches
Is not altogether clear, IL will he scen.
nevertheless, that their scupe ia
broader, inasmuch ~ he spljccd IN.
gctlcr, with success, halves Of entirely
different frogs.
All Of these experiments tm,k for
their starting point that very carly
stage In the life history Of the
b%atrachafns when they were in an w.
shell. but nearly ready 10 hatch out
into tndpolcs. The larvae were gently
removed fr"m their gclatinous cascs.
subjected to marvellous surgical treat.
mcnt, reared In salt water until they
reached the proper Matching time, and
then, as f~ullncdged polliwors IN one
may imagine aquatic creatures to lie
flcdgcd at all, they were transferred
to fresh water. When the time for
final mctamOrpiiosis into frogs ar.
rived, many Of the specimens died,
probably through accident. But q
few Of them survived the crisis.
Al FIRST DR.. Born would transfer
small piece 0f lar,a, MS n graft, to an.
other. A tail or a head would lc
transplanted, for instance. 1t would
take root and grow. not perhaps In
proportion ~ the principal larvs, or
stock as a nnrscrym,n would call
the Inter. But even " deficient In
size, the grated piece would ncvrrthc.
less cont inuc To develop in the organi.
cation OF It's structure 1T precisely the
same rate rs the Ut her larva, II II sue.
recdcd in establishing connections
with the iOud supply. 1t usually fail.
ed, however, to unite Its nerves with
those of the stock. Consequently, II
the rxpcrimcntcr tlckled the 'acccs.
sorry" tail, II would wiggle. but the
main one would not. So, tm, the ex.
ira head might be excited into snap
ping or biting. but not the principal
head. On the otter hand, II the
stimulus were applied to the head or \
tail Of the stock, the graft would not
respond.
In later and more important con
blnatIOns, though, nerves US well -
the alimentary canal and other organs
for ned o perfect union. Larvae would
be sliced In two lcDgthwise Or cross
wise, and then joined. A degree OF
manipulatlve skill that Is absolutely
incredible was required in such work;
that the various severed organs could
be lifted precisely 10 each other 10 a.
most as wonderful u feature Oi these
Undertakings ~ that they should
unite, survive tile mctamOrphOsis
from tadp0le 10 frog and perform their
afterward. THIS was true
even Ut the spinal cord.
A number OF amusing as well as
c~Onjcctures are provoked by
me instance reported by DR.. horn. lie
tho foremost two-thirds Of one
)olliwoy and the rear ~twnthirds OF
mother, and brought them together.
rho weld, to borrow a smile irom the
trade, was a success, and
he resultant frog u very long.bodied
mel was alive at last accounts. Must
Investigators would be so anxious to
Ind out how the business OF digestion
vas conducted ly the snpcrabundant
nterInr machinery that they would
acrIncc the specimen and hold .
'ost.morteni. hut Dr.. Born has been
bile tO curb his curiosity fur the
resent.
The possibility Of grating parts OF
aryae VI one species upon parts Of arr
Their, and even Of thus com0inlng
Nrtions of different genera, has been
arefully considered BY the biologist
vh0sc work IL here cited; but II Is not
.n0wn thut such a thing he's yet been