Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-21
THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH.
Problem of Renewing Tissues of the
Body Wasted. bY Age.


Ponce de Leon tried to solve by ex-
ploration and discovery the problem of
renewing his wasted tissues and. OF
course, was disappointed. The old alche-
mists sought an elixir in physical and
chemical processes. some of which are
startlingly like those reported by Alexis
Carrel. the. Nobel prize winner Of the
Rockefeller Institute. From the time of
Paracelsus onward their experiments in
Guided prepar atoms of .humors'' drawn
from the bodily fluids and tissues. DR..
Carrers article in the current number of
the Journal of Experimental Medicine is
a sequel to one appearing January l last,
in which he reported successful attempts
10 ''activate artifcially the process of re-
pair by dressings made with the pulp
of tissues and organs. He then found
that connective tissue preserved and
growing in glass farS might be acceier-
ated in growth by these extracts from
about three to forty times the normal
rate. The juices of chick embryo, of the
adult spleen. of a type of cancer and Of
muscular tissue, severally brought about
this significant change: pulp of the thy
roid gland deposited OH the wounds OF a
dog Increased marvelously the healing
process. IL the rate of reparation of it's
sues could be activated ten times only.
DIR. Carrel calculated skin wound would
heal in less than twentyfour hours. and
a fracture OF the leg would be cured in
four or five days.
The present report goes deeper and Is
more significant The fact that con-
slant relation exists between the rate of
growth Of tissue and the composition of
the medium by which il is surrounded
and penetrated leads DIR. carrel to be-
lieve that problems of multiplication.
growth and senility might now b. inNes-
tigated proiitapiN" tIt first determined
that the strains Of connective tissue cells
taken from animals Of varying ages We're
activated according to their aGe-'thc
younger the animal that supplied the
rlasma. the greater the growth OF the
tissue. When the pla Sna of an adult
animal. whether fowl or dog. was used.
the connective tissue lived for several
weeks. but its mass did not increase;
after fiftyfive da-s. the fragments We're
no greater than . I the first day. But
when the juices of young animal or en-
bryonic juices were mixed with the me-
dunn. the volume of tissue increased
with great rapidity. and was so alum
dant that it had to be divided repeatedly.
By this means ii was demonstrated that
connective tissue which had lived in a
glass jar for more than a year could
greatly increase its mass in a short time.
The cells. even of old animals. mad not
lost their vigor 1t was question not Of
cells and their age, but of the medium in
which they were growing. Or. CaiIel
hazards this guess
1t might be assumed that cells which
were actively developing in "A medium
markedly modified the latter and rem
dered il progressively unsuited to their
life Normal death of cultivated it's
sues was considered as possibly brought
about by the exhaustion of the nutritire
substances contained in the medium, and
By the accumulation therein of certain
catabolic substances
Thexnew law Of growth discovered by
DR. carrei has led TO the result that ne
can indefinitely multiply connective It's
sue cells kept alive outside the organiza-
ton The fragments of a chick embryo
heart which had been pulsatinS in glass
jar for 1o4 days were still alive after
sixteen months of independent life. ana
their rate of proliferation exceeded that
of fresh connective tissue taken from an
eight day-old embryo chick. DIR. car
rel concludes:
1T appears therefore. that time has
no effect on the tissues isolated from
the organization and preserved by means
of the technique described above. Dur
ing the sixteenth month of life In vitro
the cells increased rapidly In number
and were able I'm short Tune 10 produce
a large quantity of new tissue. This
fact therefore definitely demonstrates
that the tissues were not in state OF
survival. as WAS the case in certain ear
Iier eyneriInents, but in a condition of
real life since the cells Of which they
were composed. like micro-organisms,
multiplied indefinitely in the culture me
dunn.
II this discovery can lead to the prac-
teal results foreshadowed in this and in
DIR. Carrel's earlier report, it may prove
the most significant made in the history
of medicine.