Fifty Years of Progress in Animal Physiology

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Abstract
The achievements of research workers in the Land Grant Colleges and Agricultural Experiment Stations, and in various organizations for agricultural research throughout the world have been far greater than their founders expected or dreamed possible. It was anticipated that the researches would be practical and capable of direct application by producers of crops and animals. While our original objectives may have been toward applied research, the nature of the problems we have studied have demanded the most fundamental approaches. When we summarize the accomplishments it is gratifying to discover that while we have doubled or tripled the growth rates of animals, we have gained insight into the most intimate details of the cellular and intercellular phenomena of growth; that while we have increased the prolificacy of farm animals, we have also led in the solution of problems in gametogenesis, fertilization and embryology; that while we have modified the animal and the environment to suit each other, we have solved the riddle of the role of light in endocrine function and have learned of the relationship of cosmic radiation in gene change; and that in the process of doubling or tripling milk production, we have learned more about the nature of the secretory process than is perhaps known about any other biological product. Copyright © . .