The Washington herald., 1907-01-07
To prolong Youth.

Or Carl Snyder has written. under the
engaging title. THE Quest Of Prolonged
Youth an article Of absorbing interest
on the most fascinating mystery that in
thralIs the human mind-Hfe and death
and their causes. DR.. Snyder has ac-
complished the rare feat OF a scientist
profoundly learned in this branch Of in
vestigaJion and exploration of reducing
TO the common understanding subjects
and their cognates. which scientists too
often discuss IN terminology that appeals
only TO the erudite
His primary postulate is that the we'll
established principle Of cellular multi
plicaton accounts for all physical growth.
and, a priori, the cessation Of this process
accounts for decay and death. With a
courage that characterizes all honest In
vestigators, he stops and stands appalled,
In the presence Of the real mystery. which
is, What is the cause Of cellular muitipIi-
cation? What is the force or quality. and
whence comes It, which causes a cell to
divide itself into two or more organisms
Of exactly the same formation and power
as the original? And how happens it that
from this primordial organism widely
varying species are evolved, that run the
samut from the most rudimcntary ami
malculae TO man, the climax Of animate
life? Here the finite mind gropes hope
lcssly about and founders in a tenn
pestuCus and shoreless sea Of empirical
speculation and theory. Not until an
answer is found to this question will sci
ence be Of any aid in solving the real
riddle
The purely physical mystery is easily
soluble in the light OF modern discovery.
For example, it is pointed out by Dr
Snyder that after birth the rate of
growth. that is TO say. the rate Of ex-
pendituTe of life energy. grows slower
and slower in all forms OF animal exist
ence. 4 newborn child increases in
weight the first month . per cent BY
the end of the year this has fallen to
per cent. After that il is still smaller.
The rate Of increase for the first year is
200 per cent BY the seventh or eighth
year II hos fallen 60 10 per cent; az
twenty it has dropped to ] or . per cent:
al thirty, il has practically ceased alto
gether. What is the cause of this rapid
decline? 1t is then that the process Of
dying begins To arrest this process is
the task science has set itself. but until
science asCertains what constitutes and
whence comes the quality that enables
cells to multiply themselves. no progress
can be made in arresdng the process OF
decay.
A faint glimmer Of light seems to have
been shed upon this phase Of the mystery
by a German savant Or. Wolfgang
Weichardt He has experil. 1ted with
guinea pigs by putting them ,a "a minia-
ture treadmill and having them run until
they fell dead from exhaustion Then ne
cOnc0cted from the fatigued muscles of
these animals a juice or serum. When
this Juice was injected into the veins Of
urworked guinea pigs. they showed
promptly all the outward signs of fatigue
could support no effort, their eyes stuck
cut from their heads. and At the end of
twenty to forty hours they died The
juice concocted from the fresh. unworked
animals show no such effects. From these
experiments 1t is deduced that prolonged
muscular activity produces in the mus
cular system a poison which causes death.
DR.. Snyder says that IN late years scien-
lists have learned to fabricate antitoxiDs
which overcome the poisoning process
superindUced by muscular activity. Thus
it Is possible to-day 10 inoculate an animal
against this death producing fatigue.
How long this process can be kept up has
not yet been definitely ascertained. 1t is