Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 298, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1916 — SCIENTIST PLANS AN APE COLONY [ARTICLE]

SCIENTIST PLANS AN APE COLONY

|'l Will- FOUOW DREAM OF FICTION WRITER AND FIRST STEFS WERE HALTED BY WAR « ; - ■— l will imraiE CERTAIN DISEASES Will Be of Croat Value in Research V.'ork About th* Various Diseases Boston “Not to go on all fours; that is the law. Are we not men?’’ , f Thus began the litany of the nearTT>en that. Dr. Moreau made from gorillas, swine, leopards, wplves and other animals, on an island in the Pacific Ocean. ■ He put into them brains equal to ♦ hose of lower humat)fc>. taug-bf them to talk and to walk upright* B<| always there was a tendency to revert to the anima) plane. ' | So he , taught them this litany], these rules ot conduct; that they might, by constant reiteration, keep their minds in such condition that they would retain the spark of humanity that he had placed in them. “Not to suck up drink; that is the w A r e we -iM>t men ?" continued the. i’tany. , “Not to daw.the bark of trees; that is the law. Are we not men?” “Not to eat flesh or fish: that is tue law. Are we,not men?” “Not to chase other men: that is the law. Are we not men?” But the tendency to revert became uppermost, and the beast men became beasts.

Of course, there never was a Dr Moreau, and he never conducted such experiments in vivisection, i'he whole is a product of the vivid imagination of H. G. Wells, and is presented in his iiighly fantastic story, “The Island of Dr. Moreau.” But this, as have others of Wells’ wild fancies, is in a fair way of becoming a reality. If the plans of Dr Jules Goldschmidt, member of the assembly of the Pasteur Institute, Paris, come to a fruition, there will, in the near future be jilst this sort of tropical island, peopled by the p higher species of apes and by investigating physicians. And such a plant for investigation. Dr. F. B. Mallory of thp faculty of the Harvard Medical School, who has dis covered the germ of scarlet fever ani. Las used monkeys in. his research work, told a reporter,- will undoubtedly contribute much of great value to the medical profession.

“You must understand," said the doctor, “that Were are certain diseases which are peculiar to human' beings. Cows have smallpox the same as do hunians, only we call it cowpox in the animal, and this gives us an animal upon which to experiment in controlling the disease. “How successful these experiments have been is shown by the success with which the disease is combatted by the use of vaccine. The same is true of rabies, peculiar to both men and dogs. But there are a great manj; diseases which fix upon man alone. “It has been proved that, the higher species of ape can be inoculated-with certain, and probably all, of these diseases. But again investigators -come up against the fact that these animals will not live for any great length of time when taken from their tropical haunts. They quickly fall victims of tuberculosis and other ailments. “But on such islands as dhe contemplated by Dr. Goldschmidt this difficulty would disappear. In such a place these diseases could be invest!gateeHLby using the gorilla, the chimpanzee! and the orang outang. The animals would be in practically the same surroundings as before, and conditions could be controlled so thaXthe researches would be most productive. “It would only be a question money. The animals would be easily obtainable and there would be plenty of men ready and willing to take up the work.’’ The plans of Dr. Goldschmidt and his associates of the Pasteur assembly were near completion when they were baited by the great war. The French government had granted t he use of the island of Kos, off the coast of Africa. This island is partially wooded, has a good water supply and is inhabited only by 150 fishermen, who it was contemplated, could be easily reinov ed to the mainland. It is very healthy and free from most of the i insects: which are the carriers of the infectious diseases of the tropics.