Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-09-18
HUMAN PLANTS.
Plan t. Perfect Growth of Children BY
Electricity.

| \ remarkable experiment has been
carried out in one of the public schools OF
stockholm, whereby the mental and phy-
| steal growth of children has been greatl5.
| stimulated by electricity. The experiment
was made at the suggestion of the dis
| tinguished scientist. Professor Svante
Arrhenus. who recently advanced the
| interesting theory that life was spread
through the universe by germs driven by
| the force Of light from one star to an
other.
The walls and ceilings Of the school
| room were lined with a coil of wires,
| through which high frequency circuit
was passed. The children in the room
were then In the position of the iron core
in the centre OF a coil. Such core. as
everybody knows, becomes highly mag
netized
Fifty children were kept in the room
under the electric current while fifty
others of the same average age, size and
mental development were kept in an ad-
joining room without electrical treat
ment a careful comparison was made Of
the growth and mental progress of the
TWO sets of children.
Al the end of six months the children
under electrical treatment showed am
average growth of two inches, while
those without electricity only grew one
inch and quarter. The electrified chill
drcn showed an increase in weight and
other forms of development in proper
ton 10 their height
The electrified children showed am aver
age proficiency in their studies of 80 per
cent, and 10 of them showed 100 per cent.
The unelectriied children, oil the other
hand, were only 70 per cent proficient on
he average, and not one of them reached
100 per cent.
The electrified children appeared TO he
much brighter, quicker and more active
They were prompter in attendance and
much less subject to fatigue The teach
ers also showed superior working capacl-
" in the electrified room.
The experiment will be continued as
long as its good results are evident. and
II is hoped in this way to produce a race
Of practically perfect children. If the ex-
pertinent yields the results expected by
Professor Arrhenius and its other advo-
Gates, II will be the most important eyer
carried out for the benefit Of children and
the human race.
MdHS ulSllnSulS0eu sclentlStS nave
lately come to the conclusion that life
the vital force which actuates all living
animals and plants. is either electricity
or some force so closely resembling 1t
that it is impossible to distinguish be-
tween the two. a sufficient supply Of the
life force produces n perfect animal or
plant, while n defective supply leaves
creature weak diseased and inefiicien!
for its place in nature.
II electricity is life, then we can I'M
derstand that it would promote perfect
development. The problem is how to
convey artifeially produced electricity
into a body SO that 1t will become life,
and this appears TO have been solved in
Stockholm.
Professor Berthelot, the famous French
chemist has promoted the growth of
plants by electricity with great success.
The United States Government is now
using the electric current to increase crop
yields. but in this case the results are
attributed 10 heat. although perhaps not
entirely due TO it.
Luther Burbank, the American botanic
wizard. has shown how the lessons drawn
from plant life may be applied to human
beings. He has described how he would
produce race of perfect children by