Evening star., 1933-04-26
HUMAN NBAbyF0UND
similar TO MONKEY
Anthropoid Features Of Child
Distinguished From Those
of Adult.
BY THOMAS X. HENRY.


than the adult and passes through
various stages of his tree-climbing an
ceStors on his way to manhood.
This was reported to the National
Academy Of Sciences yesterday by DR..
Charles B. Davenport, biologist of the
Carnegie Institution of Washington,
and the conclusion was based on physi-
cal measurements of hundreds of chill
dren. 1t is well-known, DR.. Davenport
said. that before birth the human be-
ing "recapitulates" various stages in the
evolution of the species. Thus at one
time, he has the gill Sits of fish, at
another the kidney Of an amphibian,
and still later tail.
But the big ape stages, through which
the immediate ancestors of man must
have passed, remain until after birth.
At birth, said DR.. Davenport, Is an ap-
circular cylinder.
This" he said, "iS the generalized.
undiffcrentiated form OF chest. 1t Is
rather characteristic Of the adult tree
climbers and fits them for the undlf-
ferentiated movements required IN
climbing. In running quadrupeds, like
the horse, the depth OF the chest be-
comes greater than the breadth"
Thigh Grows Faster.
At first, he pointed out. the upper
and lower segments of the human leg
are very unequal and the thigh takes
the initiative in rapid growth. This
appears to be the undiherentiated con-
dition among mammals. Later the lower
leg grows rapidly SO that 1t is about 81
per cent as long as the thigh at the
eleventh or twelfth year. This condi-
ton is characteristic of tree climbers.
Later the thigh again forges ahead, a
typical human condition. The develop
ment of the long thigh takes the ado
leScent boy or girl out Of the class OF
climbing jumping and romping animals
into that Of walkers and runners.
The human foot" DR.. Davenport
said. shows remarkable adaptations for
distributing the great weight of the
cient fashion. But the adaptive changes
are completed only as adolescence ap-
pears The infant has an instep rather
like the anthropoid apes. This instep
increases to adolescence and gives val
liable residence to the step.
The human fetal foot is at first long
as compared with the lower leg. just as
in the anthropoid ape This may be
regarded as a generalized condition. In
later months this foot index diminishes
while it remains high IN the adult
gorilla and chimpanzee. A long heel
Is a human characteristic. The foetuS
has a relatively short heel bone. con-
dition that is retained by the adult
chimpanZee and the orang- -utan. but
the human heel bone increases in
childhood up to adolescence"
The strange parallelism between the
development of the individual and the
development Of the species, DR.. Daven-
port said. is clearly due to the fact
that the higher forms pass through the
same early stages that the lower forms
do, but go beyond the point at which
the less evolved species stop their de-
velopment.
Watch Dogs Of Blood Stream.
The actual effect of the recently dis
covered chemical substance secreted
from the cortex Of the adrenal gland
absence of which is fatal. was explained
by DR.. w. w. Swingle of Prince Uni
versity. Experimenting with dogs from
whom the adrenal gland had been re-
moved. DR.. Swingle found evidence that
the volume of blood decreased steadily
to the death point. The animals had
no ability to make use of water to add
to the plasma base Of the blood which
was lost through the capillary walls.
Cells which serve as watch dogs Of
the blood stream, removing bacteria
from the circulation and destroying
them. were described by Peyton Rouse
and j. w. Beard of the Rockefeller In
stitute for Medical Research. They also
remove damaged blood corpuscles and
particles of matter which get into the
blood stream. Hitherto these cells have
been inaccessible to direct study Rouse
and Beard were able to obtain them
alive from some deeply anesthetized ami
mails by injecting particles of highly
magnetic iron preparation into the blood
stream and then drawing them from
the liver with a magnet. The cells be-
came susceptible to the magnet when
they absorbed the iron particles. They
have been able to keep some of these
cells alive outside the body.
Discovery of the presence Of formalde-
hyde in primitive plants. indicating that
it may play a prominent part in for
nation of food from the soil by plants,
was reported by DR.. Fred Allison Of the
Alabama Polytechnic Institute through
the use of the celebrated magnetic-opti-
cal method of analysis which can de-
tect the presence of substances in pro-
portions as small as one part in mil
lion. He found the formaldehyde in the
cells of algae. 1t Is probable that its
formation is one step in the little un-
derstood process by which plants manu-
facture carbohydrates out of minerals in
the soil