REGENERATION

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY BIOLOGICAL SERIES. VII.

REGENERATION

BY
THOMAS   HUNT   MORGAN,   Ph.D.
PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY, BRYN MAWR COLLEGE





New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd.
1901

All rights reserved


Copyright, 1901,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

To My Mother

PREFACE

If I may be pardoned a further word of personal import, I should like to add that it has seemed to me that far more essential than each special question with which the biologist has to deal is his attitude toward the general subject of biology as a science. Never before in the history of biology has this been more important than at the present time, when we so often fail to realize which problems are really scientific and which methods are legitimate for the solution of these problems. The custom of indulging in exaggerated and unverifiable speculation bids fair to dull our appreciation for hypotheses whose chief value lies in the possibility of their verification; but those who have spent their time and their imagination in such speculations cannot hope for long to hold their own against the slow but certain advance of a scientific spirit of investigation of organic phenomena. The historical questions with which so many problems seem to be connected, and for which there is no rigorous experimental test, are perhaps responsible for the loose way in which many problems in biology are treated, where fancy too often supplies the place of demonstration. If, then, I have tried to use my material in such a way as to turn the evidence against some of the uncritical hypotheses of biology, I trust that the book may have a wider bearing than simply as a treatment of the problems of regeneration.

I wish to acknowledge my many obligations to Professor H. F. Osborn and to Professor E. B. Wilson for friendly criticism and advice; and in connection with the revision of the text I am greatly indebted to Professor J. W. Warren, to Professor W. M. Wheeler, to Professor G. H. Parker, and to Professor Leo Loeb.

Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania,
June 11, 1901.

CONTENTS

REGENERATION

CHAPTER I

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Trembley’s first experiments were made in 1740, and the remarkable results were communicated by letter to several other naturalists. It came about in this way that before Trembley’s memoir had appeared, in 1744, his results were generally known, and several other observers had repeated his experiments, and extended them to other forms, and had even published an account of their own experiments, recognizing Trembley, however, as the first discoverer. Thus Réaumur described, in 1742, a number of other forms in which regeneration takes place; and Bonnet, in 1745, also described some experiments that he had made during the four preceding years. Widespread interest was aroused by these results, and many different kinds of animals were experimented with to test their power of regeneration. Most important of these new discoveries were those of Spallanzani, who published a short preliminary statement of his results, in 1768, in his Prodromo.

Trembley found that when a hydra is cut in two, the time required for the development of the new individuals is less during warm than during cold weather. He also found that if a hydra is cut into three or four parts, each part produces a new individual. If these new hydras are fed until they grow to full size, and are then again cut into pieces, each piece will produce a new polyp. The new animals were kept in some cases for two years, and behaved in all respects as do ordinary polyps.

Trembley also found that if the anterior, or head-end, with its tentacles, is cut off, it also will make a new animal. If a hydra is cut lengthwise into two parts, the edges roll in and meet, and in an hour, or less, the characteristic form may be again assumed. New arms may appear later on the new individual. If a hydra is split lengthwise into four pieces, each piece will also produce a new polyp.

If the head-end only of a hydra is split in two, each half becomes a new head, and a two-headed hydra results. If each of the new heads is split again, a four-headed hydra is produced; and if each of the four heads is once more split in two, an eight-headed hydra is formed. A hydra of this kind, in which seven heads had been produced in this way, is shown in Fig. 1, A. Each head behaves as a separate individual, and all remain united on the same stalk. If the foot-end of a hydra is split, a form with two feet is produced.

One of the most ingenious and most famous experiments that Trembley made consisted in turning a hydra inside out (Fig. 1, B, 1 and 2). The animal tends to turn itself back again, but by sticking a fine bristle through the body, Trembley thought that the turning back could be prevented, and that the inner surface of the hollow body remained on the outside, and the outer surface of the body came to line the new central cavity. Each layer then changed, he thought, its original characteristics, and became like that of the other layer. The details of these experiments will be described in a future chapter, as well as more recent experiments that have put the results in quite a different light.

Réaumur repeated Trembley’s experiment of cutting a hydra into pieces, and obtained the same results. He found also that certain fresh-water worms, as well as the terrestrial earthworm, regenerated when cut into pieces. At his instigation two other naturalists[1] examined the starfish and some marine polyps, and they concluded that it was highly probable that these forms also could regenerate. Réaumur pointed out that regeneration is more likely to occur in fragile forms which are more exposed to injury.

Bonnet’s experiments were made on several kinds of fresh-water

worms, one of which, at least, seems to have been the annelid lumbriculus. His first experiments (1741) showed that when the worm is cut in two pieces, a new tail develops at the posterior end of the anterior piece, and a new head at the anterior end of the posterior piece. He found that if a worm is cut into three, four, eight, ten, or even fourteen pieces, each piece produces a new worm; a new head appearing on the anterior end of each piece, and a new tail on the posterior end (Fig. 1, G, G’). The growth of the new head is limited in all cases to the formation of a few segments, but the new tail continues to grow longer, new segments being intercalated just in front of the end-piece that contains the anal opening. In summer the regeneration of a new part takes place in two to three days; in winter in ten to twelve days, this difference not being due to the time of year, but to the temperature. Bonnet found that if a newly regenerated head is cut off, a new one regenerates, and if the second one is removed, a third, new one develops, and in one case this occurred eight times: the ninth time only a bud-like outgrowth was formed. In other cases a new head was produced a few more times, but never more than twelve. He thought that the capacity of a part to regenerate is in proportion to the number of times that the animal is liable to be injured under natural conditions.

Bonnet found that short pieces from the anterior or posterior end of the body failed to regenerate, and usually died in a few days. Occasionally two new heads appeared at the anterior end of a piece (Fig. 1, E), and sometimes two tails at the posterior end.

Another kind of fresh-water worm[2] was found that gave a very remarkable result. If it was cut in two pieces, the posterior piece produced at its anterior end, not a new head, but a new tail. Thus there is formed a worm with two tails turned in opposite directions, as shown in Fig. 1, F, F’.

Spallanzani made many experiments on a number of different animals, but unfortunately the complete account of his work was never published, and we have only the abstract given in his Prodromo (1768). He made a large number of experiments with earthworms of several kinds, and found that a worm cut in two pieces may produce two new worms; or, at least, that the anterior piece produces a new tail, which increases in length and may ultimately represent the posterior part of the body; the posterior piece, however, produces only a short head at its anterior end, but never makes good the rest of the part that was lost. A short piece of the anterior end fails to regenerate; but in one species of earthworm, that differs from all the others in this respect, a short anterior piece or head can make a new tail at its posterior end.[3] Spallanzani also found that if much of the anterior end is cut off, the development of a new head by the posterior piece is delayed, and, in some species, does not take place at all.

If a new head is cut off, another is regenerated, and this occurred, in one case, five times. If, after a new head has developed, a portion only is cut off, the part removed is replaced, and if a portion of this new part is cut off it is also regenerated. If a worm is split longitudinally into two pieces, the pieces die. If only a part of the worm is split longitudinally and one part removed, the latter will be regenerated from the remaining part.[4] Several contemporaries of Spallanzani also made experiments on the earthworm.[5]

Spallanzani found that a tadpole can regenerate its tail; and if a part of the new tail is cut off, the remaining part will regenerate as much as is lost. Older tadpoles regenerate more slowly than younger ones. If a tadpole is not fed, it ceases to grow larger, but it will still regenerate its tail if the tail is cut off.[6] Salamanders also regenerate a new tail, producing even new vertebræ. If a leg is cut off, it is regenerated; if all four legs are cut off, either at the same time or in succession, they are renewed. If the leg is cut off near the body, an imperfectly regenerated part is formed. Regeneration of the legs was found to take place in all species of salamanders that were known to Spallanzani, but best in young stages. In full-grown salamanders, regeneration takes place more promptly in smaller species than in larger ones. Curiously enough, it was found that if the fingers or toes are cut off, they regenerate very slowly. If the fingers of one side and the whole leg of the opposite side are cut off at the same time, the leg may be regenerated as soon as are the fingers of the other side. A year is, however, often insufficient in some forms for a leg to become fully formed. If an animal is kept without food for two months after a leg has been cut off, the new leg will regenerate as rapidly as in another salamander that has been fed during this time. If the animal is kept longer without food, it will decrease in size, but nevertheless the new leg continues to grow larger. Occasionally more toes or fewer toes than the normal number are regenerated; but as a rule the fore leg renews its four toes, and the hind leg its five toes.

In one experiment, all four legs and the tail were cut off six times during the three summer months, and were regenerated. Spallanzani calculated that 647 new bones must have been made in the new parts. The regeneration of the new limbs was as quickly carried out the last time as the first. Spallanzani also found that the upper and lower jaws of salamanders can regenerate.

If the tentacles of a snail or of a slug are cut off, they are renewed; and Spallanzani found that even if the entire head is cut off a new one is regenerated. Also other parts of the snail, as the foot, or the collar, may be regenerated. The head of the slug, it was found, regenerates with more difficulty than does that of the snail.

These justly celebrated experiments of Trembley, Réaumur, Bonnet, and Spallanzani furnished the basis of all later work. Many new facts, it is true, have been discovered, and in many cases we have penetrated further into the conditions that influence the regeneration, but many of the important facts in regard to regeneration were made known by the work of these four naturalists.

SOME FURTHER EXAMPLES OF REGENERATION

So many different phenomena are included at the present time under the term “regeneration,” that it is necessary, in order to get a general idea of the subject, to pass in review some typical examples of the process.

The regeneration of different parts of the salamander shows some characteristic methods of renewal of lost parts. If the foot is cut off a new foot is regenerated; if more than the foot is cut off, as much is renewed as was lost. For instance, if the cut is made through the fore leg, as much of the fore leg as was removed, and also the foot, are regenerated; if the cut is made through the upper part of the leg, the rest of that part of the leg and the fore leg and the foot are regenerated. The new part is at first smaller than the part removed, although it may contain all the elements characteristic of the leg. It gradually increases in size until it has grown to the same size as the leg on the other side of the body, and then its growth comes to an end.

Other parts of the body of the salamander also have the power of regeneration. If a part of the tail is cut off, as much is renewed as has been removed; if a part of the lower or upper jaw is cut off, the missing part is regenerated; if a part of the eye is removed, a new eye is formed from the part that remains; but if the whole eye is extirpated, or the whole limb, together with the shoulder girdle, is removed, neither structure is regenerated.

In other vertebrates the power of regeneration is more limited. A lizard can regenerate its tail, but not its limbs. A dog can regenerate neither its limbs nor its tail.

It has been stated that the new limb of the salamander is at first smaller than the one removed, but it may contain all the elements of the original limb. We find this same phenomenon in other forms, and since it is a point of some theoretical interest, a few other examples may be given. If the tail of a fish that has a bilobed form is cut off near the base, as indicated in Fig. 40, G, there appears over the exposed edge a narrow band of new material. The new part

now begins to grow faster at two places than at intermediate points, as shown in Fig. 40, H. The new tail, although very short, assumes, as a result, the characteristic bilobed form. The point of special interest is that the new material that appears over the exposed edge does not first grow out at an equal rate at all points until it reaches the level of the original fork, and then continue to grow faster in two regions to form the lobes of the tail, but the two regions of most rapid growth are very soon established in the new tail. Subsequent growth in all parts of the new tail enlarges it to the full size.

In some cases of regeneration, in which the new part is at first smaller than the part removed, the new part represents at first only the distal portion of the body, and although the new part may grow to the full size, the whole of the part removed may never come back. This is illustrated in the regeneration of the anterior end of the earthworm; for example, in the red-banded earthworm, or brandling (Allolobophora fœtida).[7] If one segment of the anterior end is cut off, one segment is very quickly regenerated (Fig. 2, B); if two segments are cut off, two come back (Fig. 2, C); if three segments are cut off, as many are regenerated (Fig. 2, D); if four are cut off, generally four come back (Fig. 2, E); when five are cut off, four or five come back (Fig. 2, F); but if six or more are cut off, only four or five are regenerated (Fig. 2, G). It is found in this case that a limit is soon reached beyond which fewer segments are produced than have been removed. The new segments form the anterior end or head that enlarges to the characteristic size; but the missing segments behind the new head are never regenerated, and the worm remains shortened throughout the rest of its life. If the reproductive region has been removed with the anterior part, new reproductive organs are never formed and the worm remains incapable of reproducing itself.

This same relation between the number of segments cut off from the anterior end and the number that is regenerated seems to hold good throughout the whole group of annelids, although the maximum number that comes back may be different in different species. Thus in lumbriculus six or seven or even eight new segments come back if more than that number have been removed.

If we examine the method of regeneration from the posterior end of a piece of an earthworm, we find that when several or many posterior segments have been removed a new part comes back, composed at first of a very few segments. The terminal segment contains the new posterior opening of the digestive tract. New segments are now formed just in front of the terminal segment, the youngest being the one next to the end-segment. The process continues until the full complement of segments is made up (Fig. 3, C, D, E). Comparing these results with those described above for the anterior end, we find, in both cases, that only a few segments are at first formed, but in the posterior regeneration new segments are intercalated near the posterior end. This process of intercalation is the characteristic way in which many annelids add new segments to the posterior end, as they grow larger and longer.

Amongst the flatworms the fresh-water planarians show remarkable powers of regeneration. If the anterior end is cut off at any level, a new head is produced (Fig. 4, C). The new worm is at first too short, i.e. the new head is too near the pharynx, but changes take place in the region behind the new head that lead to the development of new material in this part. The new head is, in consequence, carried farther and farther forward until the typical relations of the parts have been formed, when the growth in the region behind the head comes to an end (Fig. 4, C¹). Similar changes take place when the posterior end is cut off, as shown in Fig. 4, B, B¹. The new part contains the new pharynx that is proportionately too near the head, but the pharynx is carried farther backwards by the formation of new material in front of it, until it has reached its typical distance from the head. In these planarians the results are somewhat complicated, owing to the old part changing its form, especially if the piece is not fed; but the main facts are given above, and a more complete account of the changes that occur will be given in another place.