Evening star., 1932-12-12
SCIENCE MEASURES
| CELL MOVEMENT IN
BODY FIRST TIME
Carnegie Report Shows Red
Revolt in tra-CoSmo-
scopic "Government."
INSTITUTIONS WORK
OF YEAR AR-REACHING
Forces That Cause Splitting
Process That Produces Growth
Still Mysterious.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

In the dark of life's ultra microscopic
depths biologists Of the Carnegie Insti-
tuition of Washington have conducted
during the year researches of far
reaching significance.
| Results of the more important Of these
are revealed in the annual report of the
departments of embryology and genetics,
made public today.
DR. w. H Lewis has measured for
the first time the movements of cells,
the units of all living things. A mans
body, for example, might be nkened to
an enormous city Of countless billions
of these cells. most of them highly spe-
cialized for specific work like secreting
chemicals, or building bone, or thinking.
But, after fashion, they live their own
lives. Some, like blood cells, have con-
siderable independence. Some, like can
Ger cells, have thrown OFF re body gov
eminent in red revolt.
DR.. Lewis watched The behavior of
lymphocytes, rather large cells which
are found in the lymph fluid of the
body. He found them busy little crea-
lures. They moved on an average nine
teen -thousandths of a millimeter min
ute, or approximately % millimenters
IN the course of "a hours. Some we're
slow, moving only about eleven-thou-
sandths of millimeter a minute, and
some travelled more than twice as fast.
The distances were enormous, consider
ing the size of the moving bodies.
After a period Of motion, DR.. Lewis
found, the cells take long rests, varying
from a few seconds to many minutes.
Also. cell doesn't move at steady
pace. 1t speeds up and slows down.
After all, moving must be very difficult
for the poor lymphocyte. In order to
change its position it must alter the
shape of its whole body, every part of
it being affected in a complex fashion
observed by DR.. Lewis.
Division Of Cells,
The growth of a living organism
takes place by division of its cells, one
splitting into two, and so on indefinitely,
until the process is stopped by the mys-
teriouS forces that control the size of
various organs of the body. This is
generally Known as the phenomenon
Of mitosis and is at the very basis of
the structure of the organic world. But
nobody knows what the forces are that
cause the splitting process to take place.
It is known only that after a cell
reaches certain size it will grow no
bigger, but must become two cells.
In his researches this year DR.. Lewis
has succeeded in locating the seat of
the forces, If not their nature. In
each cell there are varying number
of minute rodlike objects known as
chromosomes, usually arranged in a
double row. They are the carriers, in
very complex fashion, of the quail
ties which distinguish the individual
DR.. Lewis found that just before
cell starts to split these chromosomes
begin actively to shift position in re-
lation to each other. This continues
, until the splitting starts. Thus, he con-
cludes, the forces, whatever they are,
reside in or about the chromosomes.
1t is not as If the cell were being
pulled apart. 1t is split by something
within its own nucleus. But as soon
as the splitting starts, he found. the
chromosomes become quiet. Other
forces, as yet unknown have come into
play to carry on the process. DR.. Lewis
measured the time of the different
phases of this phenomenon.
Malignant Tumor Cells.
Meanwhile Mrs. Lewis made special
studies of malignant tumor cells and
found, for the first time, what seems
to constitute a popularity of all Of
them. differentiating them from nor
NAL cells This popularity Is a definite
visible splitting of the chromosomes dur
ing the earliest phases or the cell di-
vision. Other peculiarities of cancer
cells have been found, but they are
not the same for all Of the numerous
types of these malignant growths.
Another study was of the action of
ether on these simplest Of living things
on the borderline of life, conducted by
DR.. M. Rosenfeld of the Carnegie staff.
DR.. Rosenfeld found that by Subjecting
cells from chicken embryoS to the ac-
ton Of ether vapor he could interrupt
the action of splitting at any phase and
cause the cell to return to normal. II
the ether is administered while the
chromosomes are undergoing division
they become clumped into one or more
masses, according to the stage OF the
mitosis.
Carnegie biologists report deep in
curSions into the complicated mysteries
of nerves" DR.. Marion Hines, member
of the institutes staff, worked at the
University of WurZburg, in Germany,
on the sense of touch. 1t has long been
known that after long continued pres
sure on the skin the sensitivity of that
portion to touch becomes greatly di-
miniShed temporarily and may be lost
altogether This has been explained as
due to paralysis of the constantly stimu-
lated nerve endings or to getting used
to- the stimulus. DR.. Hines proved
both these explanations probably wrong
1t is known that the nerve endlngS OF
! the tactile sense are close to the sur
face of the skin. while the nerve end
ings which carry the sensation of pain
are deeper down in the epidermis. The
Carnegie investigator, by del1cate
technique, was able to shut OH the
blood supply from the skin layer carry
ing the touch sense nerves without in
. terfering with the supply to the pain
sense nerve endings. She found that
: the sense of touch for that particular
part of the surface of the BODY d1Sap-
peared gradually while the pain sense
remained as acute as before. The ex-
pertinent also demonstrates clearly that
: pain and touch are two different sensa-
tionS.
Studies of Monkeys.
t Hitherto unsuspected trends" in evo-
luton in the primate kingdom were re-
= vealed by comparative studies OF
monkeys, apes and men by DR.. A. II:
Schultz of the Carnegie staff. He found
these characters in body size, hair, tail,
vertebrae, thorax, trunk, relative lengtn
of the limbs, hands and feet. This In
dicated clearly that there has been no
straight line development from the most
primitive of the lemurs TO man, as
old fashioned evolutionists may have
! thought. Some species have gone far
|. in one direction, some In another. II
= extreme Sc cialization in these features,
r characterized by departure from primi-
tive conditions among the monkeys
= constitutes superiority, DR.: schultz re-
d ports the human race has little to boast
S about. 1t has gone farthest in only a
n few respects.
I One Of these trends has been toward
getting rid of hair on the body. Dr.