The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-03-01
SCIENTISTS AWAIT RESULT OF
LOEB'S BERKELEY EXPERIMENTS
Chicago Professor Hopes Demonstrate Correctness of His Teor
Secrets of Life and Death of California
Where He Directs Physiology Biology Departments

San Francisco, Feb. 2S.-Professor Jacque
| l. eb formerly of the University of Chica
go. is now at the head Of the department
| of physiology and experimental biology a
| the University OF California. and the eye.
of the greatest scientists are turned ex
pectantly toward Berkeley.
II he has not already discovered tn,
great secret of life and solved the hitherto
unsoivable mystery Of death, he is in 9
better position to do 50 now than ever be.
fore.
And for that very reason his personality
is dOubly interesting. He fe a German by
BIRTH only 43 years old. In appearance he
is 4 stoutiy built. red-faced, mercurial lit
tie man. who puDctuates his talk. when he
does talk, with many gesuculations and ex-
CARNATIONS. He is a graduate of the scien-
tific departments Of the universities OF
Strassburg. Berlin and Munich.
For a time he was an instructor at Strass.
burg, and from there went to the Govern
ment biological station at Naples. At the
present time he is associate eIitor of the
American Physiology.
In series Of three papers read before the
American Physiological Society, which met
in Chicago last year. Professor Loeb gave
, an answer to the eternal riddle of life and
death. 1t is a startling and fascinating
thecry-so fascinating. indeed. that the
University of California has brought the
great scientist here for no other purpose
than to prove it. for scientific men in all
branches Of learning agree that IL is the
most astounding and subtle explanation that
has vet been offered 10 explain the riddle,
Upon a minute scale the secret of eter-
nal life is in the power OF mankind. Death
is not a cessation of action. but a morpho-
logical process.
That is to say. the great change known
as death is but an episode In a chain Of life
and will end at a time which no man can
The basis Of life is electricity.
ELECTRICITY CHECKS DEATH.
1t is electricity which checks the positive
death agent which forever contends with
life for the mastery.
Electricity is at the bottom of all life
phenomena: 1t acts upon the nerves and
up the heart beats. ~
In an article written for the American
journal Of Physiology last year Professor
Loeb gives the gum total Of his startling
discoveries in a nutshell. He said:
by former experiments It has been
proven that the unfertilized mature eggs
of a sea urchin die comparatively soon
when deposited in sea water. The same
eggs, however. live a longer time when
caused to develop either artificially by
extracting certain amount of water
from them or naturally by allowing a
spermatozon to enter.
From this there was no other conclusion
to be drawn. but that there are two kinds
of processes going on in the egg--one which
leads to the death and disintegration OF the
leads to cen divisions and further develop
ment. The latter process inhibits or modi-
fies the mortal process.
With this assumption the problem OF the
prolengation of life of the cell was given
concrete form According to this idea death
and DISSATISFACTION, are due to specific proc
esses which take place in the egg, and pos
sibly in other or all living matter These
PROCESSES must be checked in order to rem
der life possible.
The specific life phenomena are. so far