Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-28
HOLDS BRAIN NEEDS
BUT LITTLE FOOD.
Half a Peanut Supplies Fuel
for an Hour of Thinking,
Scientists Find.
CONTINUED From First Pagel

were at rest. They found that thinking
really involved considerable activity OF
muscles and glands inside the body. IN
the body, as in any other engine, WORK
changes fuel into heat. The heat pro-
duced Is measure OF the Iooo COLI
sumed by the effort.
DR., Benedict expressed surprise at the
remarkably small fuel requirement OF
the thinking machine" He found also
that there Is no cumulative effect OF
heat production, the increases follow
ing and subSiding Immediately upon tne
effort.
A new microscope, which makes use
Of invisible ultraviolet light, by wmcn
the scientist can photograph the inter-
for of living cells with nagnihcatlon
Of 5000 diameters, was explained by
Francis F. Lucas of the Bell Telephone
Laboratories.
The average living cell is about one
three-thousandth Of an inch in diane.
ter. With the penetrating ultra-vlolet
radiation, Lucas Is able to take ABOUT
80 interior photographs OF eacn cen;
The sections photographed are spaced
about d-thouSanotn OF an
inch apart. All this is done without IN
terfering with the normal living actlvl-
~ of the cell. The efficacy OF this
method Il was stated, Is about twice
that of any other known means. IL
Is expected to prove OF great value IN
the study Of such diseases as cancer,
which is due to obscure aonormaIles
Of the cells.
Fish Aren't Deaf.
F,sh are far from deaf, the academy
WAS fold by Prof Karl Won Frlscn OF
tire University Of Munich, Germany. Elk.
nerirnenting with n1innows be 1ouno
thev could be trained to react TO tuning
Sorlss and whistles. The sounds were
made simultaneously with feeding them.
Then the fish were blinded. AlCer .
few DAYS they began to snap for the
food as soon as the sound was gNeh'
before it was put In the wafer
They have about the same nearing
acoIteness. Won Frisch said, as men un
der water. The minnows were trained
In distinguish between two SOUNDS: one
meaning punishment by tapping tnem
nth a GLASS rod and the other meaning
food The best fish, he said, could as
tinr1lish perfectly between two SOUNDS.
Some have maintained that nSn haSe
practically no sense OF nearing, puC te
act to sound because of the enect OF
so,,nG waves on their specially developed
sense of equilibrium. Won Friscn re.
moved the apparatus by which the
sense of equilibrium operates, mcluolng
the serni-circular canals. ana loullu
Sthat they could be trained to scanns as
easiIy as normal fish, In the same tutle'
within the same limits and WIN 1ne
same acuteness." .-o,,.
There's something mysterious apouC
roackerel, said DR.. oscar e. Settle OF tne
TnEnhr,Sse Museum of Comparative
ZooIory. During the last century, the
annual catch has been as large as ~
mo mo and as low as 1000 600 pounos.
STn;s has been explained in the past, he
said as due to the fact that che nsner-
nav, were not fishing in the right places
during Door years. Recent mVesClsa-
lions of the Bureau OF F1snerles sIlow
there is actually an enormous 3nt y. ~
in the number Of these nsn In ule
sea.
Shawn Survival Is Cause.
The difference, DR.. Settle said seems
TO be due to the survival OF tne spaw .,I
Some years great numoers. ~, ss1 fsbernnen
ity and the next year the nSner ,.
rcay, a harvest. Other years sometnins
unexplained happens n the sea WHICH
causes an enormous mortality.
T1he tlfbercle bacillus, one OF man
worst enemies In the animal klngoom'
annearH In several varieties, salo .. "a.
Petroff of the Trudeau Sanitarlum AZ
TrIIdeau, N. z. Some varlauonS are
more virulent than others, possibly eX *.
nlAlnlnR
- one Time than another. Hitherto all
t,,hercle bacilli have been considered the
same sort of micro-organ1sns.
In chickens he found three breeds.
One looks like a moth ball. When IL
0ets into q flock, there Is an enormous
Death rate. Another is fiat and moist
With a smooth surface. Still another Is
Fat and dry, Its center looking IKE
lot of tiny pebbles. Neither OF the
latter are extremely vlrulent' IKE tne
He found approximately the same
+vnes ia bovine tuberculosis. The moth
hall type almost always produces
Tuberculosis in rabbits and guinea pigs.
THE others seldom have this effect. The
breeds have not been isolated in human
tuberculosis, he said, but it seems likely
thee exist and must be taken into con-
alteration in further studies.
A remarkable towering plant 1r9tn
the sandhills of Southeastern Can
forria. which lives on the roots OF other
nlants, and which may become OF com
Ynercial importance, was described py
Or. Walter T. Swingle of the Depart
Yr1ent Of Agriculture. This Is the am
rnobroma. 1t Is found nowhere else In
the world and Is practically unknown
among botanists. The plant has stem
8 or 4 feet long, which is good TO eat.
1t grows almost entirely unoergrn utlo'
only the tips appearing above the sand
Takes Food" from Others.
II makes use of the roots Of other
plants. some Of them about twentieth
of its size, to get carbohydrates and
other food materials from the soil. In
addition, it has a root system OF It's
own for water and mineral salts. The
victimized plant does not seem to SUI
fer, Swingle said. Possibly the ammo
broma, like benevolent tyrant, gives II
water In dry seasons. -.
The plant is known as sand root
BY the nearby Indians, who used to eat
IL In great quantities. Everybody who
has eaten it says it is delicious. Swim
gle said ii might be canned like as
paragus and made an important COM
mercial crop.
Some of the filterable viruses, the
smallest known living organisms, which
cannot be detected with microscope
and whose existence Is known only be-
cause they will pass through walls OF
porcelain in a test tube, attack especial
" the human nervous system, said DR..
Simon Flexner of the Rockefeller 1nsti-
tute. They produce diseases, he said, In
many plants and in almost all forms OF
animals. Science is just beginning to
learn, he said, the frequency with which
the nervous system is attacked py tneSe
mysterious little organisms.
The Representatives, TO a micro
organism which accompanies recovery
from a disease is unnecessary, said DR..
Arnold r. Rich Of Johns Hopkins Medi-
cal School.
Products are modified in the blood
stream to resist the invading organism,
he explained. Thereafter they mobilize
instantly when similar organisms get
into the blood stream, causing in
famation and destruction of tissue in
the process. This is c serious problem
in such diseases as tuberculosis. The