Evening star., 1932-12-27
Science
MANY New" Facts Are
Revealed at Atlantic
City Convention.

BY the Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY. N. j.. December
27.-The latest medical instrument Is
an X-ray thermometer, an instrument
the size OF a lead pencil. Carried IN a
physicians pocket. 1t indicates when
he has been getting too much x-rays
for his own safety.
It was brought to the American As
sociation for the Advancement OF Sci
ence by DR.. Robert A. Millikan and Is
an invention of the California Institute
of Technology physics laboratory.
There are so far only three of them IN
the world.
A silverized quartz wire weighing
quarter -billionth of an ounce is the
secret. This little wire, when charged
electrically, stands out like a flag in
the breeze Too much X-rayS remove
the charge. causing the wire to droop.
A supposed iron meteor which turned
out to be rusted keg OF handmade
nails is shown by the American Museum
of Natural History New York. 1t was
sent there for analysis after being
found on a beach between Ortis and
Agate Beach, Oreg. The wood had
rotted of and rust had turned the
nails into q nearly perfect imitation
meteor.
An oyster can both be father and
mother simultaneously. This bisexual-
ity was reported by Prof w. R. Gee OF
Yale. 1t is rare oysters usually pre-
fer to be father one year and mother
the next this being an inherent change
in oysters.
A new treatment for heartworm dis
ease, which causes heavy economic
losses among pure-bred dogs, especially
hunting dogs, In the South and East
was reported by Paul c. Underwood
and Willard H. Wright Of the Bureau
OF Animal Industry, Washington. Fila
mentous worms attack the dogs hearts.
The new treatment injects synthetic
antimony compound into the muscles.
A change in the favorite American
way Of breeding better agricultural
plants was suggested by L. E. Kirk,
Phi D., Of the Dominion Experimental
Farms, Canadian Department of Agri-
culture. Ottawa. This method, he said,
is pollination from the same plant,
due to the fact that it Is the best
breeding system for grain, one OF Amer
ica's largest crops But for corn, red
clover, timothy and many other grasses
and legumes he said hybridiZation or
cross -pollinization will bring better re-
suits.
Airplanes have found plant disease
fungi floating at attitudes OF $4,000
feet, said E. B. Lambert OF the United
States Department Of Agriculture.
Mushrooms are asphyxiated by an
overdose of carbon dioxide in the air.
This Is shown by United States Depart
ment of Agriculture experiments
That intangible quality which at
tracts two persons to each other may
be partly ultra violet, a form Of light
invisible to the eye, but thought to be
given of by most living bodies.
Existence Of an ultra violet attraction
between butterflies and moths waS re-
ported to the association today by DR..
Frank E. Eutz and Richard Burlingame
OF the American Museum of Natural
History.
These insects, they said. can see ultra
violet colors. Apparently this is because
insect eyes are more sensitive to blues
and violets than reds as compared with
human eyes. Both butterflies and
moths have ultra violet colors, a fact
which can be detected with small In
struments.
Sometimes" the report stated, "the
male is more ultra violet than the te-
male but usually If there be any differ
ence, it is the female that Is more
brilliant in this color, which nature
seems to have reserved for the eyes of
those creatures that are presumably
most vitally interested"