Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-01
SECRET OF LIFE ETERNAL
A NEW GOAL OF SCIENTISTS
Men Seeking Future Race of Methuselahs
Believe That They Can Pierce
Age-old Mystery of Death.

re-established in them. These means
found, then life" after death is no
longer dream.
Pigeons have been kept alive for years
after experiments on their brains, and
animals have been kept alive for vary
ing periods after their brains had been
entirely removed. InaSmuch as the sub
ject is still in its pioneer stage, DR..
Hernandez does not believe that the
actual application of such operations to
humans will be undertaken yet while.
Countless experiments have been made
in an effort to discover the secret Of
DEATH and it is these experiments that
the doctor would have catalogued and
discussed at the special center for
physiological researches in experimental
thanatology which he urged the con-
gress to consider establishing.
Il believe" said DR.. Hernandez, that
the main problem in this whole matter
is understanding the brain. physiol-
oglStS are learning more and more about
the heart and its actions. Very daring
operations have been performed upon
the human heart, and it is an organ
much less complicated than the brain.
When circulation and respiration nave
been re-eStablished the heart again
functions. But what the state of the
brain is under these conditions we do
not know
To Study the Brain.
1t is a study of the brain, not of its
mentality, but of its physical aspects,
that will occupy the thanatological re-
search workers next. While evidence
points to the possibility of preserving
the action of the brain, so that a sub
Ject under observation may sleep and
perform other natural operations, Dr.
Hernandez is not certain whether the
subject will retain consciousness.
And what" asked the doctor, SIS life
without consciousness"
"Just how long life may be prolonged
at present." Prof. Hernandez continued,
as not an answerable question. Animal
life, as I have said, has been prolonged
often for moments, sometimes longer.
But whenever human life has been pro-
longed the methods have been essen
TALLY artificial (Such as Dr. Harvey's
demonstration with the sound rays and
the toad and not completely certain"
What DR.. Hernandez seeks, with the
precision of science, is some method
which will have the certainty of result.
He does not despair, neither does he
propheSy overduly.
| searches are of no interest to other than
scientific persons.
AS final question, the doctor was
asked how soon he thought his studies
would be materialized.
"At present offer nothing concrete. +"
ne answered, a smile spreading over his
dark lace. and picked up the official
publication of the conference, which he
! searched until he came to his own ar
tlcIe.. At the end of this he had quoted
a selection from an American song,
ending with the words, when all my
dreams come true"
While Drs. Hernandez, Heymans and
kouolabko are searching for the secret
experiments with the resuscitation of
the heart through supersound rays,
other psychologists are seeking the foun-
tain Of eternal youth. Perhaps when
the former group has perfected death
less man the latter will have found
some way that he will be kept from
growing old, and the world will be peo-
pied with race of youth, lusty, strong
and fresh.
Principles of Masculinity,
The matter of rejuvenation has long
attracted the attention of the physiolo7
gistS, and those at the congress last
week heard of a new method that re-
qu1res neither monkey glands nor oper-
atoms, but which comes in a form of a
pill to be taken at the doctors order
The discoverer, DR.. Casimir Funk OF
Paris, has succeeded in isolating one of
the vital principles of maSculinity, the
male hormone, the effective agency be-
hind results of gland grating.
Although such claims have been made
before, DR.. Funk has photographs as
proof of his statements. He shows
rooster whose combs had wilted and
whose wattleS had shriveled through
loss of maleness. After taking the llor-
none extract in tablet form the rooster
felt like a new bird, evidently, for the
picture shows combs erect and wattles
filled out. DR.. Funk says that mas
much as the male hormone decreases
with old age. it can be logically as
sumed that oy supplying the male hor-
none at the commencement Of the
aging process this process can be coun-
teracted.
Other methods of staving off old age
were told the conference. too. but of
them all the one which attracted most
attention was the sensational one of
Hernandez-the method through which,
in years to come, it may be possible
to live forever, even after one Is Off
cially dead"