Evening star., 1935-04-23
AGE CLUE FOUND
|NLENS OF EYE
Academy Of Sciences Hears
Way to Determine Life
Expectancy.
Continued From First Paee.)


many and the United States and have
obtained some remarkable correlations
to uphold their thesis that the degree
Of eye.hardening Is an indicator Of
the probable normal life expectancy.
11-Year Range.
Five thousand cases studied In Ger
many were followed from the time of
the eye tests until death. They were
divided into three classes-sub- normal,
normal and Supernormal preSbyopes.
AL causes of death except heart and
brain strokes were thrown out since
they were found to have, at the best,
q very slight relationship to the eye
condition. For the others, however,
an average difference of II years was
found between the SubnormalS and
the supernormals.
In the United States the measure
ments were made with greatly i'm
proved measurements and correlations
made according to families. There
was found to be a close family rela-
tionship, showing that the speed Of
this character of aging runs IN the
blood. The heredity Of the aging pro-
cess, they found, is due to factors
which act in the same way in both
sexes. The fact that women live a
year longer, on the average, than
men, therefore, is not due to any
hereditary causes, but to the differ
ence in their conditions of life.
Growth Tempo Hereditary.
DR.. Franz Boaz of Columbia pre-
sented data to show that the tempo"
of growth between the sixth year and
maturity also Is in part hereditary.
Children who are developing rapidly
in the sixth year will continue to do
so and reach adult life more quickly
than those who are retarded at that
time. A study of the growth curves
of brothers and sisters of rapidly
developing children show that these
also will develop rapidly and that the
brothers and sisters Of the retarded
will develop slowly.
On the other hand, DR.. Boaz pointed
out, environment also has compli-
Gated effect On growth, as shown by
comparison between immigrants and
their descendants. It is we'll known,
he said, that stature in Europe has
been constantly increasing. The stat
ure of immigrants, on the other hand,
between 1860 and 1920 has remained
constant, while that of their Amer
ican-born children has shown a pro-
gressive increase.
There are at least two-and prob
ably more-kindS of memory, each
with distinct neurological mechanisms,
DIR. c. F. Jacobsen of Yale University
told the academy, on the basis of ex-
periments. in which various parts OF
the brain cortexes Of apes were re-
moved. Many psychologists have tried
to account for the phenomenon OF
memory as a process Of building up
association pathways In the nervous
system, and this has been the basis
for most of the memory systems pro-
posed from time to time. According
to this view, which DR.. Jacobsen found
little to support, learning and memory
is unitary process.
Tests Out Monkeys.
Distinctions have been made be-
tween various forms of memory-motor
habits, associative memory, conditioned
ref1exes, logical memory, recognition
and recall. DR.. Jacobsen first taught
his monkeys and chimpanzees various
simple tasks and, when the learning
was well established, cut away parts
of their brains. After the LESSONS had
healed their ability to repeat the same
tasks was tested.
After certain areas in the frontal
lobe OF the brain had been removed
on both sides, he found, the animals
lost the capacity to do those tasks
which involved reproducing Of Sit
uation. Not only were they unable to
do the tasks in which they had be-
come proficient before the operation
but they could not be taught to do
them again. Evidently these two
frontal association areas" Of the
brain constitute the organs of re-
productive rnemory-such as would
be needed by q human being, for
example, in memorizing poem or a
piece of music. On the other hand.
these animals showed no failure in
their ability to discriminate and make
selections on the basis Of previous
learning. They were as proficient as
ever, for example, in finding their
ways through mazes. They could
learn new determinations just as
easily as before. Neither did extern
sive LESSONS in other parts Of the brain
impair this function.
Evidently, DR.. Jacobsen concluded,
there is a general memory capacity
of which the whole cortex Of the
brain acts as an organ and special,
more highly developed memory func-
tions which have specific center in
the front Of the brain.
Beefsteaks Grow.
The lowest of all animals" are the
one-celled protozoa, only few OF
which are visible to the naked eye.
DR.. C. A. Kofoid of the University Of
California described to the academy
today the most highly evolved forms
of these simple animals yet known
recently discovered in the intestinal
tract Of q mad elephant. Apparently
they are common to all elephants.
These creatures evidently have found
an ideal pasture where they are pro-
tected, have plenty Of food, and where
a single line may normally expect a
life Of about 100 years without dis
turbance.
Because of the presense of these
tiny creatures, Or. Kofoid said, the
elephant literally grows his own
beefsteak in his own stomach" The
elephant is essentially q vegetarian.
But as soon as the animals food Is
swallowed, it is attacked by these
highly developed protozoa ana trans
formed by the digestive process into
meat" One Of these proto8oans DR..
Kofoid said, will have q small splin-
ter Of wood running entirely through
its body while the digestive process
is going on and apparently without
being inconvenienced.
The East Indian ''Yogi" may have
discovered "a mental hump in the
mind-body process" according to q
paper by Or. walter r. Miles Of Yale
University. DR.. Miles conducted ex-
tsnsive experiments with q Hindoo
follower of the, Yogi method, which
consists largely Of bringing about .
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