Evening star., 1932-01-24

IL from England,s Royal College OF Physl, yS,5
begun new experiments with his famous
cats and dogs.
Prof Cannon, in you do not know Is
one of the great psychologists Of the world.
During the World War he given the Dis
tinguiShed Service Medal for his work with
shelI-shocked soldiers. The University of Paris
conferred a number of degrees upon him.
England made him Companion Of the Bath,
and now the Royal Ccllege has given him its
most coveted distinction. American physicians
and scientists gathered recently at a testt-
monial dinner, made speeches in DR.. Cannons
honor all the day and half the night, and
finally unveiled portrait OF him. Prof. Can
non, they agreed, has contributed more to
physiology than any living person.
Physiology, If you little vague about 1t,
comes from two Greek words-physio, mean
ing nature, and ology, meaning science. Physi-
ology then, is the science of nature"
Biology is more familiar term and means
about the same thing. Bios was the old Greek
word for life. Biology means the science or
study of life. Prof Cannon studies life IN
living creatures, cats and dogs and men. In
his laboratory he works almost entirely with
cats and dogs but all his findings apply to
men.
You know, of course, that dogs and cats are
natural enemies. Put a strange cat and
barking dog in the same room and see what
happens. Watch the cat first. She Kisses.
She SnarlS And she SpitS. The pupils of her
eyes dilate, and her retract. She bares
her teeth and strikes out with her front paws.
The hairs ON her back and tail stand erect.
The enraged dog capers about. His eyes
flash. He trembles violently. His short hairs
stand literally end.
h low Prof Cannon makes use of this natural
enmity between cats and dogs to pursue
his physiological experiments After five min
utes of intense excitement he subjects both
animals to a medical examination.
Their hearts beating % times per min
ute faster than usual. Their nervous systems
are completely upset and their digeStionS tenn
porarily wrecked. Prof. Cannon X-rays their
stomachs and intestnes and can see exactly
what takes place.
You may have heard of peristaltc activity.
It means the churnng waves in the stomach.
Properly to digest food, these waves, or knead-
ing movements, are necessary.
When Prof Cannon X-rays the laboratory
animals he finds that after five minutes of
violent excitement their digestion is impaired
for IS minutes. PeriStaltic activity ceases. The
little churning Stled. The reason
for this is an involuntary release of adrenalin
from the adrenal glands
This adrenalin is discharged into the blood
stream and raises quite rumpus with virtually
everything in the body. 1t causes rush OF
blood to the heart, the lungs and the brain.
1t makes the heart beat faster and liberates
sugar from the liver into the blood-stream.
Ikastops the normal flow of digestive juices
and increases the blood pressure.
All strong emotions do the same thing. EX
treme nervousness is just as harmful as anger
Once at Yale game DR.. Cannon made a
few cursory examinations of some of the Har-
ward players. Excitement had increased their
blood pressure, and a test showed an unusual
amount of blood sugar The old adrenal were
working overtime.
These adrenals by the way little Jumps
of tissue, Just abaft the kidneys. Thry pour
a steady flow of their juices (called adrenalin)
into the blood. This is proper. Adrenaliu
Ia a very precious juice
fs,it swfrer the emotions are anleastscd these