Show oo fr oi- oi oioi oi- oi oioi oi- oi T. T fr 4 t. tb Chey Y S k tb me great at BY DY HERBERT W WALLACE I I A few days dars ago it was announced that two men one a German born the theother theother other a native of America had to together together together to- to gether solved solved the secret o of nerve and muscle stimulus and immediately the names of Ja Jacques ques and Albert Mathews were placed in heavy display t type pe in ever every large new newspaper paper In the country and under various head headings InS's was vas given the story of their Investigations Investigations and prophecies as to what these di discoveries would mean to the world Now It is a good thing for the public to applaud even even though not one in a thousand understands what are ions electrons energy part parthenogenesis parthe parthe- he- he or other similar r terms terms' in which the experiments of f. f these scientists scientists scientists are described We have been told that the discoverIes disco prove our physical energy to be due to electricity and not heat that thus thus- thusIs is explained the beating of the heart the effects ol or drugs and that we have taken a aStep astep astep step toward the solution of the problem problem problem lem of life and death We realize somewhat vaguely but none the less surely that all this means a a. a wonderful a-wonderful achievement has been made And so though we may not come within Intellectual Intellectual intellectual In in- In- In hailing distance of the discovery discovery discovery dis dis- dis- dis covery we are prepared to laud the themen themen themen men who have placed America on an equal plane ne with Europe In the domain of pure science For this Is what Profs Loeb and Mathews have done e. e The first meeting wl with h Prof Loab is a surprise One expects to to see an elderly pale heavy devotee of the midnight oil Instead one sees a aman aman aman man who looks barely 30 springy of step and quick to a degree of nervousness nervousness nervousness nervous nervous- ness in his actions Then when one one- recalls the chronological record which places him hint at nearly 40 e the first thought IS Is that he has found in his Investigations s some m me elixir r of life which he is using himself lC and had not let the world know about It ft We have a away away away way of Jumping to the conclusion that If IC he has has' prolonged the life of a single cell he may have found the way to prolong the life of some countless numbers numbers num num- bers bels of cells which n make ake up human life No one is quicker h however wever to discount discountenance nten n nc nc such a g generalization xi r than Prof Loeb Lop May l be In years to come he said to me we shall know what life is and be able to to control c nt it b but t n not Cn now w not yet ret For an Investigator who has s accomplished accomplished pUshed a long stride toward the Great I Unknowable table Prof Loeb Is is i modest The most that any anyone one can do he says is t to tp add a single drop to the sea of human knowledge I am not at all sure that I have hav done that It r remains for the fut future re to snow show The longer I live the themore more more I realize that ephemeral fa fame e c counts for nothing If the few men who really understand what I 1 am trying g to do recognize my work as good then tl-en I shall be satis- satis fled Prof Loeb has been connected with Chicago university for s several veral years but for many years b before fore his coming to this country he had been working on the the- physiological problems of life Born in in ina a small German village and educated in Berlin university are the only two facts of his earl early life which he le has made public My work must speak for me me- after that he replies to questions for details There is s indeed enough in his w work wok fk to tp speak volumes Nb No oc c content with anything n l less ss than h ii original investigation he began by studying the lowest form of animal life ife and shortly discovered that these beings were attracted or repelled by light ight heat gravity and various chemIcal chem- chem cal Ical substances He was not ready for forthe forthe forthe the generalization that since these forms of energy were ivere electrical in nature na- na na ture ure all al life force was was' stimulated elec- elec ele- ele But he went on and at the I Naple Naples laboratory and at Woods Wood's hallin hall hallin in n Massachusetts he found that he could stimulate chemically the life of sea urchin eggs Then ame came his in investigations investigations in- in into the secret seret of muscle stimulus He was progressing toward the he problem of life and death At Just the right time along came a young man who who- had be been studying physiological problems all al his life His Jib His mind was wa not nt confused with the difficulties which Pr Prof f. f Loeb Lob s saw w because because be be- cause cuse he had not gone through wih with the he same experiments As Prof Loeb remarked I h had d reached a certain point in my investigations and was looking coking one way when whim I Should have another Prof Mathews came along saw what I 1 was doing and looked looked looked-In In the direction I had ad had missed The he result was wa-s the of nerve stimulus and the co operation o oCth of oC th the he two theories into int a practical gener- gener gener gener- Prof Mathews was b born rn in Chiago Chicago Chi Chi- ago cago thirty years ago j Just st after the great fire which swept the city up to within two blocks of the Mathews Mathews' lathews' lathews home iome His father father now the known wel musical critic and editor edior of a magazine a published In Chicago was wa at that time timea I a member of the fire fre patrol which saved what little was left of the city Young foung Mathews lathews received his first trainIng train train- Ing ng under Prof in inthe the Evanston Evanston Evanton Evan- Evan ston ton high school who was then c con con- n- n the greatest educator in the I 1 1 4 4 r 4 iL C iL j t AW 54 5 f 4 S x F ba 5 i 4 e- e ft t- t 5 I is t k S 5 S s- s 4 S I Dr DAber Albert p P B. D Loebs Loeb's O C hief Associate in His Scientific exL exi ex- ex e- e et i t L West When Math Mathews vs went East for college he was asked what education he had h High Wg school FOO he replied Where re x xIn In Illinois Humph there are only only only two high schools school in Illinois replied the examiner exam exam- in inc iner r Princ Princeton ton and Evanston Yes and I came from one of them hel f. f replied d Mathews triumphantly triumphant As Asa a a matter of fact Prof established the high school at Princeton Princeton Prince Prince- ton and then moved to Evanston Evanton Albert Mathews was vas s the best student ever turned out ot At the Massachusetts Institute te of Technology g the boy was as denied admission bec because use he was too to young The following year sear he appl applied d. d for admission again aan He tTe was still sti a y year a under age ae but buta a special special cial dispensation tonof of the authorities ot ies gave I him entrance hr Throughout his c urse there he distinguished sled hiis himself l beyond previous record He Was vl a scholarship student student and and had come e down to study electricity b but t nto gonto J in Yi st stead ad Prof Sedgwick took a a- a liking for the young man and they did a t I great deal of original research work together One very practical result of I their association was the tracing down o n of the cause of the New England diphtheria theria therLa so preval prevalent nt at the time to the I milk which came came cam down from the Mer- Mer county The ving folo following summer summer lt Mathews went about New England examining ex- ex water supplies wells wels and town town- pumps Many May of these latter latter he found full of germs gems and he had hd them closed up In 1892 he was graduated from from tile tHe Ue Technology institute and then followed followed fol lowed a fellowship for two two years at Columbia two vo years In Marburg g university university uni unI- Germany a summer in the tha International Marine and andL Biological l station at Naples another term at at- Colum Columbia bl a two years as professor of of- physiology at Tufts ts col college e and nd a year fear in Harvard He went to Chicago university last September It If was Was' in in- in Germany that he began his experiments ments There h he worked with and anti other eminent physiologists and ad ald took up his investigations first in the analysis of albumen At Naples he tried ned experiments similar to those of oC Prof Loeb but with wih less su successful results at the tha time At Tufts he organized or- or o- o the department of ot physiological physiological logical chemistry and at Har Harvard Haryard rd he he carried earned on more original experiments He has been going to Woods Wood's hall ev every r summer summer except except those when when- he he was abroad since abroad since he was wras a student In the Institute of Technology During late years ears he has been ben one on of the princ 11 tl school there lecturers lecturers- at t the summer and It was wa at this place where greater greatel part of his work work on nerve stimulus was done Here also Prof Loeb carried on on- his experiments and anti the two m men n worked together f for fot som some 1 I time At present both are closely cosely associated as as- I and while Prof Loebs Loeb's work is more exhaustive and complete that of his younger colleague Prof Mathews Mathews Mathews Math Math- is none the less of consIderable considerable consid consId- erable Importance Together they are working on the further problems which their discoveries have opened up c If H S J I ji I 1 itT 1 lM l- l M 4 I-I I I 1 C 1 i i d S S I Loeb His in-His Dr In Hs Laboratory i I 1 j g |