Evening star., 1933-04-25
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Discovery Of q new chemical secretion
which circulates in the blood ane
mimics the behavior Of that part Of tn,
nervous system which controls the un.
conscious behavior Of the body in it!
effects was announced before the Ma.
tional Academy Of Sciences this morn.
ing by Dr. Walter B. Cannon. pro-
fesSor Of physiology at Harvard Uni.
versity.
This new substance Is secreted by the
smooth muscles. These are the muscle.
Of the internal organs as differentiated
from the striped muscles Of the limbs
and skeleton. These get their nerve
supply from the sO-called sympathetic
nervous system which lies outside the
central nervous system and Is respon-
sible for such things as glandular Sc
cretions, sweating, blushing, speed Of
heart beat, etc.
DR.. Cannon calls his new substance
"sympathin" It Is secreted in two
forms which have opposite effects, just
as the two divisions Of the sympathetic
system have opposite effects One kinC
Is secreted when the smooth muscle !:
made to contract. This gets into the
blood stream and causes excitatory
effects throughout the range Of the
sympathetic system. The other L
secreted when the smooth muscles 1.
made to relax and causes inhibitory
effects.
Acts Like Adrenalin.
In its excitatory phase sympathin be-
hayes similarly to the celebrated adren.
ain which is secreted from the adrenal
gland. and the discovery of which was
one of the outstanding developments In
modern medicine. DR.. Cannon at first
thought that sympathin and adrenaiir
were identical until he discovered the
inhibitory effects Of the former sub
stance Adrenalin never has shown
such effects.
The isolation Of a crystalline protein
from pepsin which was able to digest
with great rapidity other proteins-a.
they are digested in the stomach-was
reported by DR.. John H. Northrop Of
the Rockefeller Institute OF Medical
Research.
Discovery OF what apparently Is 9
new hormone from the anterior lobe OF
the pituitary gland at the base OF the
brain was reported by Herbert M. Evan:
of the Rockefeller Institute. Two power
full chemicals are obtained from thi:
part OF the pituitary. One controls
growth. The other has important
effects on sexual development. Tht
new substance does not have either oi
these effects when used alone but
greatly increases the potency Of one ol
them when mixed with 1t.
The ordinary person sitting quietly
loses in weight about 80 grams pei
hour, DUE chiefly to vaporization o.
water from the lungs and skin. 1t wa!
reported by DR.. Francis G. Benedict o.
the Carnegie Institution OF Washing
ton This "insensible perspiration," h
said. Is closely correlated with th'
total heat production and hence varies
with the size of the individual and witt
the metabolism.
Evolutionary Holiday Seen.
Measurement of it. he said. has i'm
portant relations to studies Of the SO
called water balance. and Is OF signih
,, canoe in cases where metabollsm can
not be measured directly.
Man may be enjoying an cvolutionar.
holiday At least the civilized portion
OF the human race was pictured by Prof
Thomas Hunt Morgan of the Californi
Institute of Technology as in the mids
of a respite from the hard law OF tn
survival of the fittest which may har
far-reaching effects on the race OF tn
future. Prof. Morgan. past president o
the academy and one OF the world
foremost authorities on genctics. de
scribed last night the knowledge OF tn
mechanism of heredity, which has beel
cleaned largely from experiments witt
| the fruit fly, a creature almost ideall
adapted for this purpose. But essen
TALLY the same laws which govern in
heritance in the fruit fly apply to tn
entire animal and plant kingdoms, in
Guiding man.
One of the latest discoveries Is con
cerning the ways so-called sports" ar