Evening star., 1939-05-15
Raw Meat Substance
Found Beneficial
To Sick|y Children
Experiment With Cats
Leeds to Discovery
Reported at Meeting
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star STAFF Correspondent.

By THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star STAFF Correspondent.
ST. LOUIS, May 15.-Raw meat
contains vitality substance which
produces remarkable results" in
sickly children and kittens.
This hitherto unknown raw meat
constituent, the effects of which
seem to pile up from generation
to generation of cats, was described
before endocrinologists meeting here
yesterday in conjunction with the
American Medical Association, by
DR.. F. M. Pottenger of Monrovia,
Calf.
The discovery was pure accident.
He had been experimenting with
cats deprived of their adrenal
glands, keeping them alive by sub
stitution therapy They we're fed
with scraps from the table, mostly
cooked meat Kittens born to these
cats were sickly and usually died
or were killed by the older animals
AS the experiments progressed the
number of cats became so great
that it was necessary to buy meat
scraps from the butcher for them.
Very quickly DR.. Pottenger noted
that the kittens were healthy and
almost always survived They also
were fed on raw meat and their
kittens were still more vigorous. It
was then that the raw meat was
placed in the diet of children suf-
fering from glandular deficiencies
in DR. Pottengers clinic. He did not
amplify his statement that the
results. combined with hormone
therapy, were remarkable.
No Progress on Isolation.
Whatever the substance, it is
quickly rendered inactive by heat,
DR.. Pottenger said. The best results
with cats came when they were fed
whole animals, like mice
No progress has been made to-
wards isolating the material, which
presumably exists in extremely min
ute amounts. There is some indi-
cation that it may be related to one
of the male hormones. 1t is also
possible that it is one of the vita
Minis. 1t was noted that the most
striking results, in cats, were with
the males. Females, at least in
the first generation, showed fewer
deficiencies. 1t may be the stuff
that makes wild cats wild, at least
in part. Male kittens whose par
ents had been deprived of it were
decidedly "sissies."
Most of all, diet deprived OF the
substance seems to be a devolution
diet. Each succeeding generation is
sicklier and weaker. The best DR..
Pottenger and his associates have
been able to do is to rear three gen.
erations of kittens on a cooked meat
diet. The effects can be seen in
both the general vitality of the ami
mails and in the shape of the heads
In this respect the cooked meat
diet seems to be exactly the reverse
of that obtained with a diet of high
calcium and other ingredients by
psychologists of Columbia Univer-
oiey, ChpCl lullCllClllS Will ldIS. 1llcy
have proved that an hereditary
force is set into action which is
cumulative in general health and
length of life from generation to
generation. The California expert
menters have not yet been able to
prove the reverse of their findings
that raw meat diet would produce
better and better stock in succeeding
! generations.
Popular Idea Gains Support.
The findings seem to support q
popular idea long maintained with
out scientific support-that eating
raw meat makes man tough"
Insulin, the sugar -metabolizina
hormone of the pancreas, slows
down the spreading" of cancers ir
rats and rabbits.
This was reported in a series OF
papers reported before the endo-
crinologists. In one case, described
by DR.. Milton o. Lee of the Har.
ward University Medical School, II