The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-12-22
LABORATORY FLYING
SAVES MANY LIVES

| IesSlO1 Is the flight surgeon This
specialist. the highest type OF medical
man connected with the air service. IS
charged with the maintenance Of the
physical efficiency of the aviators. 1t
is his duty to observe constantly and
under all conditions the aviators In
| his section. not only on the field but
in barracks, at mess and during recre-
| alton.
THE fight surgeon must detect the
beginning OF physical deterioration of
the aviator" Lieut.-Col. Lewis said.
Deterioration among high altitude
pilots is particularly rapid and must
be watched for with the greatest care.
, AS soon as any sign is noted II is the
duty of the surgeon to take the man
out OF flying for a day or a week and
| put him through a course Of training
| which will restore his efficiency and
prevent that dangerous fatigue known
| as staleness. The flight surgeon has
as his assistants men skilled In physi-
cal training and nutrition officers who
| look after the nourishment Of the
| fliers."
Have Discovered an Eighth Sense.
| Ma or Lewis Fisher. also attached to
! the Mineola research laboratory, de-
scribed to the physicians the mysteri-
! GUS eighth sense" a sense so subtle
that its existence was not suspected
by the medical profession until man
| took to the air.
! The ear is an organ Of two distinct
Senses" he said. Hearing and euui-
librium are both controlled in the in
ternal ear. The latter sense is ex.
tremely important in flying, for with
out II the aviator would not know
that his machine was tipping or
dropping in time to correct it,"
"A shining white chair much resem-
bling the revolving chair OF a barber.
but actually part Of the equipment OF
the air laboratory at Mineola, was used
by the surgeon to demonstrate this
eighth sense. \ volunteer seated in
the chair with eyes closed was whiried
violently around to the right and then
suddenly stopped.
Now which way are you moving"
asked the Major
ITO the left" responded the man
promptly. He continued to assert his
movement for three or four seconds af-
ter the chair had ceased to move.
Major Fisher explained that when
the motion to the right was started
liquid In the labyrinth OF the ear did
not partake OF the motion, tagging be-
hind as a petal afioat on a bowl o.
water will remain almost stationary
while the bowl itself is revolved. As
the whiriing continued, however, the
liquid finally flowed at the same rate
Of speed as the body. Then when tho
body was stopped suddenly The hauid
continued its circular movement, and
the brain Cor two or three seconds was
given the impression of leftward move
ment.
} Vertigo is caused by the derange-
ment Of the fluid or by something go
ing wrong in the nerve passage be-
tween the ear and the brain.
As result of the destruction Of the
labyrinth Of the ear in deaf mutes they
would be as helpless as blind men in
operating airplanes, according to Capt.
Fl. w. Lyman, who also spoke on the
subject. Motion pictures of deaf mutes
in whom both the auditory and euui-
librium apparatus was absent were
shown. Those so afflicted could stand
on one foot only so long as they kept
their eyes open. Deaf mutes taken M
in airplanes could not when bIirdfolGed
describe the evolutions through which
the pilot put the machine.
Capt. Lyman also exhibited motion
pictures taken at Mineola OF the orien-
tator, chair fitted with the usual mir
plane controls, which could be rotated
in any plane of motion, reproducing an
evolution OF the airplane from a whirl-
ing nose spin to a loop. This chair is
used to train students instead OF per-
hitting them to make dangerous and
costly trial night&