The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1940-05-10
Sci ence Steps
Ahead in 1889
Notable Progress Made in
Solving Some Age-Old
Mysteries of Life.

CASAASO IA SAASs
Observation-Disclosures progre~ 5
has been made in 1899 in answerin :
some age-old mysteries of the sci
ence of life.
Can plants lose their green color
and still "eat"?
How did primitive vegetable cells
grow?
Can a baby rabbit have only one
parent?
Summarizing some of the biologi-
cal achievements during the past
year, the National Geographic So
Getty says: at has been believed
that plants live by the absorption
Cf the suns energy which they store
in the foods that they make, such
as starches and sugars. The theory
has been that plants can carry on
THIS process (known as 'photosynthe-
$50 only in the light, but DR.. E. D.
McAlister, Smithsonian institution,
found that it goes on in the dark
as well. The process is regulated
~ chemical as yet unknown. The
action of the chemical, which is set
n motion by light, creates time
lag, so that photosyntheSls does
not start Immediately when light
falls on the plant and continues after
ne plant is in the dark.
Mysterious But Common.
The green matter in plants (chlo-
TophylD which enables them to con-
vert carbon dioxide and water into
carbohydrates (Starches, sugars,
etc.) by means of sunlight, is one
e the most common things in the
WOrld, and one of the most mystic
Iious. Study of this substance was
IuTther complicated when Drs. 0.
L. Inman, Antioch college, and A.
F. Blakeslee, Carnegie institution of
Washington, reported the discovery
IN jimson weed grown from X-rayed
seed of a second type of chlorophyn.
This is the first such discovery to
&c made.
''Since the presence of chlorophyll
IS regarded as the fundamental dis
tinction between plant and animal
life in the one-celled section of the
Biological world, Dr. Andre Lwoff's
discovery in his laboratory at the
Pasteur institute, Paris, that a
s.ngle-celled plant can be forced to
lose its green coloring, or chloro-
phyll, and to feed itself on vegetable
matter was of especial significance.
Further experiments may reveal
how animal beings evolved from
plant growth, so that life on earth
was not restricted to vegetation.
lone of the problems in studying
plant life is the difficulty of isolating
living plant cells so that elemental
life, not complicated by specializa-
ton, can be investigated. The first
pure cell culture was believed to
have been achieved by DR.. P. r.
White, Rockefeller institute. The
original substance was bit of prim-
tive cell material about the size of
grain of mustard, cut from wart-
ike bump on a tobacco plant. In
theory at least, if the cells had been
provided with ideal food and not
Smothered by their fellows, Chat is
if part of the growth had not been
periodically discarded) the culture
would have developed into mass
coo 900, 900 miles in diameter within
40 weeks.
A Fish Just the Same.
"A fish caught off the tip of South
America was found to be coela-
rs Gch
viously believed to have been ex-
tinct for $4,000 years. The identi-
fication was made by DR.. j. L. B.
Smith, Rhodes university college,
Grahamstown, South Africa.
"Rhesus monkeys, most useful of
all animals TO medical research
workers in the study of such dis
eases as infantlle paralysis, tuber-
culosis, and leprosy, proved to be
good pioneers. In an effort to OBJ
tain the animals more cheaply for
research in America, a number of
these Jungle folk were taken from
their native India to Santiago island.
a half mile off San Juan, Puerto
Rico. Within less than year near
ly 100 monkeys have been born In
the colony.
"Climaxing years of research, DR..
Gregory Pincus, Clark university,
was able to bring to normal birth
a rabbit which was produced with
only one parent (by scientifically in
duced parthenogenesiS). The ovum
from which the fatherless rabbit de-
veloped was not fortified in the usu-
al manner but was subjected to .
saline solution and heat, and was
then implanted in a host female
rabbit. BY the laws of heredity
only female offspring can result
from this procedure. The fatherless
rabbit has already produced litter
of young in the ordinary way"
Popular Marriage Age