Evening star., 1932-04-28
PHYSICISTS HEAR
| EVIDENCE ON SIZE
OF ELUSIVE GENE
Unit of Heredity Has Mini
mum Diameter Of Eight
Millionth of Inch.
NATURE OF 'ATOMERG'
IS TOLD TO SOCIETY
Newly Postulated Unit of Energy
Described by Sponsor, Dr..
E. K. Plyler.

Some Of the physical principles Of
life were discussed in papers presented
at the opening meetings of the Amer
ican Physical Society at the Bureau Of
Standards today.
The physicists also made deep in
roads into the invisible world of the
atom and the vast reaches of the
spectrum which are outside the range
OF human sensory perception.
Inc elusive gene, unit of heredity. has
minimum diameter of approximately
Two dred-thCuSandthS Of a milli-
meter, not quite eight-millionths of an
inch.
Evidence to this effect, cleaned from
x-ray experiments, was presented to
the physicists by DR.. Oswald Blackwood
OF the University of Pittsburgh. The
gene is the hypothetical body which
carries a unit character of a species
from generation to generation. Thus,
eye color might be a unit character
IL would pass from parent to child
through one gene. Or it might be a
combination of unit characters passed
on through a stable combination cf
genes. The existence of the gene is
necessary to explain the phenomenon
OF heredity, although the body is far
below the limits of human vision.
Production of Sports"
DR.. Blackwoods investigation dealt
essentially with the possibility of pro-
ducing sports" individuals who show
some character striklngly divergent
from anything they could have Obtained
through the genes" of their immedi-
ate ancestors. Recent investigations
have indicated that such changes can
be produced by changes in the genes
themselves under the radiation of
A-rays-that IS, when they are bonn
oarded with minute, extremely fast
moving energy particles.
But In order to produce a change a
particle must hit gene" with sufi-
clent force to alter its structure. 1t af-
Ioros very small mark to aim at. Black
wood worked with fruit flies, the fayorite
insects for heredity experiments. His
calculations lead to the conclusion that
the energy required is between so and
1900 times that for X-rays. The
amount OF energy absorbed by the
gene from one X-ray excitation is not
sufnclent to cause mutation and he
suggests that multiple excitations are
necessary progressively to raise the
energy to an adequate value,
curious results from exposure of liv-
ing tissue to different X-ray intensities
ana to the gamma rays emitted by ra-
dlum were described by DR.. G.. Failla
OF the New York Memorial Hospital.
Tissues React Differently.
Living tissues are composed of atoms.
When these atoms are hit by the radia-
llon particles outer electrons are
knocked off and far-reaching conse-
quences are likely to follow. The i'm
portant result of the experiment was
to show that tissues do not react in
the same way to different kinds Of
radiation.
With one kind of radiation, DR.. Failla
reported, 1t was literally possible to
cut off the tails of young mice. That
Is. the tail fell off beyond the point
subjected to the radiation bombard-
ment. Other experiments resulted in
stunt1ng the linear growth of shoots
ana wheat seedlings, killing of fruit fly
eggs, reduction in linear growth OF
the tails OF young mice, taking the
skin of the tails of mice and the ears
OF rabbits, and reddening of the human
skin
The nature of the newly postulated
atomerg was explained by the phys
1cists by its sponsor, Dr. E. K. Plyler
OF the University of North Carolina.
The concept of the atomerg he said,
IS that OF a minimum of energy that
may be emitted or absorbed by an elec-
iron. Any other amount of energy is
a multiple of this minimum unit. Thus
the atomerg stands in the same relation
to energy as the atom to matter-the
smallest unit into which it can be di-
vided.
A body gives off the energy it has re-
celyed in the form of radiation. the
wave lengths of which are proportional
TO the energy itself and range from the
very long radio waves to the almost in
hnitely short and powerful coSmic rays.
Physicists have considered the progress
continuous and unbroken. There has
oeen no sharply drawn line between the
primary colors, for example, or between
violet light and the invisible ultraviolet
which lies just beyond it in the Spec
trum.
Spectrum DiSeOntinuOus.
But under the atomerg concept the
spectrum really is diScontinuous, each
step being made up of various distinct
multiples Of the atom of energy. The
steps are so close together, however,
that the breaks cannot be detected.
Gas that escapes from the soil may
give geologists a rough measure of the
mineral contents, Holbrook G. Botset Of
the Gulf Research Laboratory told the
physicists.
Practically all soil emits almost IN
finitely minute but still measurable
quantities of radon, the gas which is
the first product of the decomposition
of radium. There is a great local varia-
ton in the radon content of soil gas,
DR.. BotSet said, and measurement Of
the radon content over a known salt
dome showed definite increase along
the edge.
This soil was rich in heavy mineral.
A determination of the heavy mineral
content showed a definite correlation
with the radon content of the gas,
whence it was concluded that one Is
an indirect qualitative measure of the
other
There seemed to be no relationship,
he said. between the depth at which
the soil gas was obtained and the
radon content. but during rainy weather
this appeared to be definitely higher
than during dry weather.
A new method for making photo
graphic plates sensitive to the invisible
ultra violet light. as well as to the still
shorter beta and gamma rays emitted
by radium, was described by A. j. Allen
and r. Franklin of the University Of
Pennsylvania. BY covering the plate
with a durable coat of various salt
crystals they give a bright blue fluores-
cence when exposed to ultraviolet radi-
ations The suit Is obtained by con-
verting the short waves into longer
waves which will affect the plate through
the medium of the salt crystals.