The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1910-01-30
EXPERIMENTS 3 m'LEsUP ! 5 ;e?%sae!
LAIR
BY Prof. Flemming; of the University Of Berlin

Our animals were all paralyzed at five
miles, and the ascension apparently FASTENED
the death of all but of them.
Our animals placed on the outside Of
the car in cages. Our two rats had been in
jected with cancer bacli. One died on the
third day after our trip. From of
seven mice a piece Of skin third of inch
square had been removed to observe the eff
fects on wounds. Another one had been inoc-
ulated with the yellow pus bacillus, another
with the green pus bacillus; the other four
had not been infected and were kept for
troll purposes. Similarly treated were
left behind in the laboratory for control pur-
poses. The mouse from which the skin had
been cut showed, in comparison with the
similarly wounded one in the laboratory, a
more rapid shrinking and soaring of the
wound For wounds which do not heal quick
ly sun baths on the earth level are a splendid
healing agent, but our experiments showed
that the greater the height the greater the
healing effect of the sun
The mouse that had been infected with the
yellow pus bacillus died the third day, as
did the one which had been infected imme-
diately after the ascension with the same pus,.
while those animals kept under control in the
laboratory showed new symptoms
We paid special attention to the action of
sunlight. Glacier climbers and sporting bal
loonists. as is well known, report severe Bills
tering of the skin on uncovered parts of the
body. In order to learn of the effect upon
our bodies we left heads and necks uncov-
cred. The result of this beating down of the
sun for six hours unhindered, at a height of
1900 to 10000 feet disastrous to me, as
on account of my experiments l was more
posed to the suns direct rays than my friend.
Scorched Beyond Recognition.
A terrific swelling of the skin took place,
which, except for the absence of fever, was
just like erysipelas. 1t was only AS hours
after our trip that the inflammation reached
its highest point. 1t affected my scalp, neck
and my whole face, especially the eyelids
which swelled so on the morning after the
second night that the eyeball was completely
hidden.
The alteration of my facial appearance was
SO tremendous that even my most intimate
friends and relatives did not recognize me. 1t
was not until the third night that these symp-
toms and the terrible burning sensa-
the skin receded In the next eight days the
skin peeled off twice in long strips.
Our experiments on the propagation and de-
struction of micro-organisms in rarefed air
were very interesting. We had apparatus
consisting of two holders connected by
tube. one containing glycerine and the other
empty, with a balancing weight. The glycer-
inc, running from one cylinder to the other.
drew the air from outside the balloon into an
air filter through rubber tube BY revers-
ing the balance weight the same process was
repeated.
The air filter filled with gelatne
plates that caught the bacteria. These expert
ments were repeated at 5525 feet, 10000 feet,
at 14G25 feet and at 23,370 feet.
The number of germs caught at height of
6525 feet were in the small proportion Of OF
and O5 to a quart of air. This means that
there We're about one-fifth of the germs on
the earths surface, and the higher we went
the less bacteria found At the height of
fpatn nit,
found in the air.
Other experiments were made to ascertain
how far micro-organisms affected by
light in the higher air. For this purpose pure
cultures of bacteria were placed in normal
salt solution in considerable numbers In glass
test tubes. These were sealed at both ends
and marked with the names of the bacteria
inclosed. They placed on the outside of
the basket where they were subjected to the
sun rays.
For these experiments we used the bacteria
occurring in the atmosphere, such bacillus
prodgosus, bacillus keel, bacillus rosacea
etc, and several disease germs, including the
green and yellow pus bacnli, the typhus
cholera and tuberculosis bacilli.
The tuberculosis bacilli were dissolved in
one cubic centimeter of salt solution and in
jected into guinea pigs. We had left for CON
troll purposes in the laboratory 100000 colo
MES of bacteria protected from light.
In contrast with experiments made on earth
there occurred no determination, but an in
crease of bacteria when exposed freely to the
sun rays up to $4,000 feet. This shows that
bacteria are not killed at great altitude.
The disease germs opus. typhus and cholera)
survived longer time after the journey in
the upper air than those on the earth
OF the guinea pigs only one survived after
having been treated with tuberculosis germs
exposed to the sun at high altitude for two
and one half hours. The others showed typi-
cal tuberculosis symptoms and died at differ
ent times thereafter.