The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-11-11
FOUNTAIN or YOUTH
May Be Discovered BY Scientists and
Men May Live Forever.

From the Chicago Tribune.
Is Ponce de Leon finding mis- fountain,
after all?
lie did not find it in the sixteenth CEN
fury; but neither did he ever die He was
reincarnated, and reincarnated in every
son and daughter of Mother Earth. All
are looking for the shining waters os
youths eternal spring.
and some, it appears, some few pre-emi-
nently wise and diligent of Mother Earl'1's
sons, perhaps are en- the verge OF finish
ing the quest, and in triumph Forty
years ago they began to understand the
nature of disease. Today they are be-
ginning to begin to understand old age
nay possibly death itself
Metcnnikoff has found that - aging
OF the body Is the aging of its cells
Muhlmann has built up a geometricaI
proposition not altogether infallible that
size and complexity of structure are the
determining factors in the duration of
life. Weismann conceves that death and
old aSe simply are a part of the uni.
Versal adaptation of organisms to their
environment, and, finally, hosts and
hordes Of experiment ers have made null
titudes and myriads of experiments which
delightfully."- illuminate the problem for
all those who can see and understand
those who see and understand. and he
hopefully begs those who would likewise
see and understand to lay hold of an
idea much insisted upon by Muhlmann-
namely, that old age begins with the be-
ginning of individual life. We might al
most picture an organism as a sort of
clock wound up to run for certain
period, then stop. In a less fanciful way
the life energy may be drawn out in a dia-
gram or curve, just as they do for n
steam engine or other machine. From its
beginning the curve falls steadily to the
end of life; at first the rate of fall Is
extraordinarily rapid. Within the first
three months of life the human embryo
has increased in weight something like
four hundred million times that of the
germ cell whence it springs. In the sue
ceeding three months this rates of in
crease has fallen to 5000 times; In the next
three to 2O50 times.
After birth the rate of growth, that is,
the rate of expenditure of life energy,
grows slower and slower. new born
child increases in weight the first month
25 per cent. BY the end of the year this
has fallen to 2 per cent. After that it still
Is smaller The rate of increase in the
first year is 200 per cent. BY the seventh
or eighth year 1t has fallen to 10 per
cent. At 20 1t has dropped to | per cent
or 2 per cent. At 80 it practically has
ceased altogether What Is the cause Of
this rapid decline?
Just a CLEAN of light was afforded by
the interesting experiments of young Cal
kins the New England zoologist. 1t IS
we'll known that the microscopic beings
of one cell, of the amoeba variety, repro
duce their kind simply by dividing them
selves in two. This process of division
goes on at a lively rate for a time, with
the resulting production of an enormous
number of individuals, yet little by little
II begins to slacken, and finally comes
to an end Just exactly as happens when
the cells remain united in colonies to form
mltcelular organisms. The cause of this
decline of energy must lie In the cells
themselves
Calkins showed that the inner cause was
chemical; that with a simple change Of
diet the dividing process has resumed
with the same energy as before He FOL
lowed the divisions of a single species
through 600 and more repartftions or gem
erations, proving that with careful man
agement the process could be Kept up
forever. He demonstrated that Weis-
mans idea of the Immortality of the
one celled protocol was correct
1t is far cry indeed from a single
celled microscopic organism so minute
that a considerable number are needed to
populate a pin point to the billions upon
billions of celled metazoa such as whales
and elephants and monkeys and men. In
these organisms the countless cells are so
differentiated that they form all the
bones of the skeleton, the hard coat of the
eyes, the solidified guile of the nails, the
hairs of the head, the enamel of the teeth.
the wonderful substance of the brain,
which may pulsate with poetry in Shakes
peare, with music in Wagner, or plan
Waterloo or Gettysburg. Still one cannot
reflect upon Calllins experiments without
that he has clpw
II o. man can find a way TO renew the
substances of a single cell he may be
able to find way TO renew cell colony.
Sir John Lubbock, new Lord Avebury,
succeeded in keeping alive queen ants for
thirteen and fifteen years. There Is no
essential difference between the organza-
ton of ants and the organization of men.
Authentic cases are known of men and
women who lived to $50 years and more,
and in proportionate possession of their
faculties. This is full twice the tradition
al three score and ten. And pious folk
do not forget Methuselah
The energy of vitality is the energy of
matter, says the microscope. Every
nights rest is restoration OF a fabric
partly destroyed.
Life can restore vital activity is a re-
storation. a caily and hourly restoration
How can we get hold of the process so
as to control IL artlficially?
Dr. Wolfgang Welchardt, German ply
siclan lately has made long and ardu-
Gus series of experiments, 500 or more.
lie puts test animals, like guinea pigs,
on a miniature treadmill and runs tLem
until they fall dead from exhaustion.
Then he extracts from the fatigued mus
Giles of these animals a juice or sap When
this sep is injected into the veins of I'M
worked guinea pigs they show all the
outward signs Of fatigue, can endure no
effort. their eyes stick out from their
heads. at the end of 20 to 40 hours they
die. The sap from fresh unworkcd pig
gies shows no sncn effect.
DR.. Meichardt then has found fatigue
s,hstance lie calls il a fatigue toxin,
or fatigue poison. He has also found its
anti-toxin and has shown that both ami
mails and men may be inoculated against
fatigue and work much longer than when
thew have not been inoculated.
This marvelously is near an Idea OF
Metcnnikof's. He thought some toxins