Evening star., 1923-12-28
Present Age Liping Three Liues
Through Science, Expert Holds
National Scientific Body Told auto
Greatest Aid to Material and
Ethical Progress of World.

modern biologist goes a step further,
and ID looking for the origin or varia-
tions and the mechanism Of heredity.
problems far bevond Darwin,s times,
by Darwin, since the whole structure
foundation"
While. scientific Investigation re-
theory already has resulted In many
practical benefits to modern civilisa-
tion, the future holds even greater
promise Or. MeMurriSh said, and
pointed , out r, that the ,sa ultimate sffee,
eugenics cannot be foretold.
Besides discussing evolution. DR..
McMurrich gave q resume OF the sew
enty-five years of the associat tion's
existence, and urged that a more de-
science. Many people who held scien-
tific investigation in contempt did so
because Of ignorance, he declared.
Membership OF the association has
IT'S three-auarters OF century OF
work, he said.
DIR. McMurrfeh, HSasred.
During the session Or. McMurrich
had conferred upon him by the Uni
versity OF Cincinnati. host to the
association, the degree Of doctor Of
laws.
While last nights session officially
opened the program OF the association
proper. the almost 5000 persons at
tending the meeting heard speakers
traverse all OF the broad realm OF
science, from tie proper care Of potA-
toes to the chArting OF iceberSs in the
channels Of ocean liners at sectional
meetings held during the day.
Physicists in one room were dis
cussinE the construction OF the atom,
declaring that It's minute bulk-1ess
than one-thousandeh the size of a
|conceivably smaller particles; in the
next biologists were telling how it
was possible to tell the sex of a
chicken, while geologists, Dearby, de-
scribed what they held to be the first
animal life existing In the world
through the study Of fossils.
Creation OF an artificial cell that
eats and drinks and has a definite
life" or endurance Of from one to
four days was described by DIR. DAN
lei T. McDeugal1, director of botani-
cal research at the Carnegie Institute,
Washington. While the cell is not
alive IL acts in many ways like the
living cell OF nature, he declared,
taking In, absorbing and throwing
of material by the same physical
living root Of the plant.
Seeks Fc0A From Sunlight.
Declaring that q loaf or bread rep
resents only the stored-up energy OF
the sun as gathered by the wheat
stalk, DR.. MAcDougAll hopes 70 carry
his theory TO the point where he
may create edible food from sunshine
It may be possible. he believes, to
obtain the food energy directly from
| the sun without waiting for the slow
processes OF the plant. The expert
ments are being carried ON at the
Desert Laboratory 1t Tucson Arix.,
which ia under DR.. MacDougaiPs
direction.
The thymus, gland-like organ To-
Gated above the heart, was described
by DIR. Oscar Riddle OF the Carnegie
station for experimental evolution,
i Cold Spring Harbor. Long Island, as
| q sort of mother TO the human
race" although 1t 10 almost without
Iuse to the human race. In their prt-
mary stages humans were inverte-
brAte animals, he declared, and at
that point OF development the
thymus, now useless, excretNd q fluid
necessary In the production OF the
covering Of eggs. While the thymus
| now Is unnecessary for human life,
] 1t Still exists in the bodies Of both
! humans and mammals, he declared.
The scientists, who Will be in ses-
sion until January 2, will continue
their eroup discussions tomorrow, and
tomorrow night viii gather again
| for GeneeAj oeegicnffl& wAich physi-
cists viii describe th6 eeslts ok their
Work, ~. III ~ 49, ~ = -s -