The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-09-28
Special to The Globe.

CHICAGO, ILL.,, Sept. 27.-From the
aVld1ty with winch our professors are
pursuing the mystery of creation and
attempting to initiate the processes Of
nature by evolving life from rudimen-
tary forms one would imagine that
there was danger of the earth becom-
j ing depopulated.
DR.. HOughton, formerly professor of
pathology Of the Hahnemann Medical
College here, is pursuing his investi-
cations with the greatest secrecy at
his private laboratory on Cottage
| Grove avenue. 1t has been an asser-
ton of DR.. Houghton's for some time
past that the crystals which he pro-
duces by certain chemical combination
possess life. by crystallizing sulphur
from bisulphide of carbon" says the
professor, ST found life as real as any
| thing that exists. 1t pulled two differ
! ent ways and lived for six weeks. 1t
| acted as if possessed of certain form
of intelligence.
II am now searching for the enZymes
and ion. When these are found l shall
produce life artificially. I have already
made sponges and shell which cannot
be detected from the production of ma
ture. I am only in the infancy of my
discoveries. I expect to- do many
strange things before I am through
/ have several forms of life that have
created now under observation but am
not ready to discuss matters further
for public purposes at present"
But Prof. Houghton is not the only
one engaged in such researches. At
| the Marine Biological Laboratory at
Woods Hole, researches of an equally
interesting character are being pushed
with all the rapiGity possible.
The researches into the ultimate
source of life at this establishment
hou in 5iy,o
coveries. The fusion in the embryo
is being watched with powerful mi
croScopeS and new additions are being
made to our store of knowledge of en-
bryonic life daily.
Maintained by conjuaation.
The fact that i1lfusoria and other
unicellar substances are maintained by
conjugation has been established. Fur
Their it has been shown that when this
lnfuSorial life reaches certain point it
degenerates, and if two individuals
then coalesce they may conjugate and
issue in a new rejuVenated Individual,
otherwise the embryo DIES The pro-
cess is similar to the ordinary method
of propogating life with the difference
that the parents expire in the birth of
the new individual. A peculiar point
about infusoria is that unless infusoria
conjugate they cease to exist.
Prof. Calkins, who has been promi-
nent in making these experiments, has
allowed millions of these infusoria to
sink to the last stages of degeneration
and then has brought them back to
life and started them on a new ca
reer.
Interesting as the experiments in in
fusoria may be-, however, the studies
in regeneration are equally so. If the
| same process can be carried out in adj
e., u. IL
easily effected in the lower we shall
| see no more cripples on the earth after
a few years. The experiments have
| shown that new limbs can be success
| fully sprouted or grated on the en-
! bryo, and that these grow as natur-
| ally a second time as they did the first.
| The question now arises "can one ami
! NAL be grated upon another?" Beyond
| this the mind of the inquirer runs to
| questions of whether life cannot be
perpetuallyI renewed by these processes
! of infusoria or egeneration-and
| whether the action of the heart and
| nerves can be simulated by a develop
! n1ent of the same line of treatment.
| The mind stands aghast at the posi-
bilities that are opened up to us by
| this new plan of biological discovery.
The utility of such inquiries may be
nil but the temptation to pursue them
is inconceivably strong.
Tempts Wizard Ito Sacrifice
The idea Of creating from the mani
mate and developing an intelligence
through it is enough to tempt the mod
ern wizard to sacrifice.
Quite recently at Woods Hole, sci
enlist divided some sea urchins eggs
artificially before they commenced to
develop and by this process produced
twins and triplets from a single egg.
4xx1o, ,+1,-x hot e.
nous European surgeon in lecturing to
his class declared his belief that the
day would come when the professor
would be able to give a demonstration
of foetus being made in a test-tube.
Every day brings us nearer to this full
filment of this remarkably radical
prophecy.
And as yet we have reached only the
material key to the mystery of creation
the creation that we now understand
pretty fully from all points but that
which is supposed to be the very
browning one of all.
Genesis tells us that after God had
| made the material man ''breathed into
him the breath of life" This was the
dynamic shock which set in motion all
the multiform forces and functions of
the body, from the threads of the res
piratory system to the convolutions of
the brain.
Are we then to stop short at such a
little thing as this, and, having formed
the perfect vessel, even given to it a
certain amount of automatic action, to
go no further?
If we stop here we allow ourselves
| to be outdistanced by the Hindoo. For
| generations this astute dabbler in the
mystic has perfected his mind in GER
tain processes which appear to enable
| him to do all kinds of marvellous things.
Not the least wonderful of these is the
| making of the manas. The manas is
| supposed to be a duplicate of his ma
| terial body of a fllmy character made
by him by means of mental processes,
and in which, when completed, his ego.
| unseen, can travel from place to place.
Manas the Vehicles.
< This manas Isl the mysterious vehi-
| Gle in which he travels to gain any in
formation he may require. The pro-
cess of making a manas can only be
undertaken by one who is mentally and
physically pure and in fit condition to
assume God-likei functions.
!. That, at least is what we learn au-
thoritatively from the yogi ofIndia, who
have made the most profound study OF
the occult of any living humans. The
yogi claim to be Athletic make this We
h1cle for the mind to travel in While
the body goes into a state Of suspended
animation. 1t is this ability to sepa-
rate the living, active part of the be-
ing from the body which makes it pos
sible for them to stand the test of be-
ing buried alive for SO many hours.
This feat seems very wonderful, but
it is after ALL if accomplished at all,
merely a manifestation of the powers
of the mind and body, involving moth
ing in the way of origination.
Now, the Hindu has not tried to Gre
ate literally, but the biologists OF this
country have no scruples about under
taking the role Of the Infinite. They