Evening star., 1935-12-31
ORIGINS OF LIFE
H|NTED IN PROTEIN
Substance Acts Like Link
Between Non-LiVing and
Living Matter.
BY HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE,
Associated Press Science Editor.

covered at the Rockefeller Institute,
was described to the American As
sociation for the Advancement Of
Science today.
The protein acts like link be-
tween living and non-living matter.
1t promises completely to change the
medical idea of the nature of Yiruses,
the invisible diSeaSe-making agents.
which have been considered as ultra
small, but living relatives of bacteria.
The discovery definitely opens the
way to new chemical dealings with
the viruses and their dangers to man.
This protein was extracted from to-
bacco mosaic virus, a well-known
plant disease, by DR.. w. M. Stanley
of the Rockefeller Institute. Un-
doubtedly, he said today, this thing
Is not living in the ordinary sense.
Yet it reproduces itself, and re-
production is one of the scientifically
accepted cardinal evidences of life.
Like Minute Crystals.
The protein is minute crystal.
1t contains 1876 per cent nitrogen,
48 per cent carbon and 6.6 per cent
hydrogen. Passing it through filters
proves its size is less than that of
moIecule of albumen. Too much al
kalinity or too much acidity inacti-
Yates. or kills its activity, the same
as they kill living things. Tempera-
ture of 201 Fahrenheit kills it. Pep
sin digests it.
Most significant of all, it causes
the plant disease the same as the
mosaic virus.
THE fact" DR.. Stanley's report
states, that the crystalline protein
from many different patches of start
ing has the same chemical compost
tlon, optical rotation and virus activ-
ity, and that the same characteristics
remain constant during many crystal
1iZations and absorptions and elutions
(removalS) of the protein, and the eX-
perlnients on cryStallizationS, frac-
tional crystallizations and partial in
activation are very strong evidence
that the crystalline material is pure
and that it is tobacco mosaic virus.
However, most workers in the virus
field have for a long time regarded
Viruses as invisible living organisms.
Yet it is exceedingly difficult to con-
ceive living agent which may be
not only crystallized but recrystallized
repeatedly with retention of constant
physical, chemical and biological
properties"
1t may be possible to find a chem
ical explanation for the ability of the
substance to reproduce itself in the
presence of living cells and even to
explain the immunity after virus dis
ease The virus immunity most
sought today is that against infantile
paralysis.
Two woman scientists announced
solution of major mystery of sci
ence. the origin of cellulose
Cellulose is the product of all trees
and plants, used to make synthetic
silks, paper and the thousands of
household articles which cause chem
lists to call this the "cellulose age"
No one previously has ever been able
to see how plants make their cellulose.
The discovery is a first step toward
possibility of manufacturing celluloSe
partly by machine, without aid of
plants, a change which would make
available linitless supplies of paper
and clothing and mean another chem
ical revolution.
The microscopes of Mrs. Wanda K.
Farr. associate cotton technologist OF
the United States Department of Agri-
culture, and DR.. Sophie H. Eckerson
spied out the origins of celluloSe. Both
work at the Boyce Thompson Institute
for Plant Research at Yonkers, N. Y.
While examining fibers of cotton,
which is 90 per cent pure cellulose,
they saw Natures cellulose- making
process in action in the cytoplasm of
cotton cells.
CytoplaSm is clear substance like
the white of egg surrounding the
nucleus of cotton cells, just as the
white around the yolk in eggs. All
living ceAs-man, plant or animal
have this same structure and similar
cytoplasm.
Earth Core Held Solid.
Earthquakes prove to Rev. James B.
MacElwane of st. Louis University that
the interior of the earth is solid and
resistant and not glowing, puttylike
mass of molten metal
on years of SeiSmographical study.
The shocks of quake could not re-
suit from anything but sudden frac-
ture of immense resistant materials, he
said, coming suddenly after stresses
and strains of many years. With ex-
plosive force great layer of rock will
break deep down in the earth or a
chemical reaction may occur which
skaters the underlying beds.
If the earth'S core were a soft, hot
ball, Father MacElwane said, these
sudden and powerful breaks could not
occur.
LeprOsy Study Launched.
A new worldwide intensive study of
the cause, occurrence and possible cure
for leprosy was outlined
Perry Burgess of the American Lep-
rosy Foundation. New York City. told
the medical section of the association
a skilled scientist is to be appointed
to arrange for cooperation of for
eign scientists and their govern
ments in the first cooperative attack
on one Of the oldest diseases known
to man.
Burgess emphasized that no specific
cure is now known for leprosy and
that no prediction of one could be
made. The study should bring about
for the first time, however, he added,
a comprehensive knowledge of the
disease.
He told several little known facts
about the disease: That "the weight
of evidence is that leprosy is not
easily contracted; that few adults
contract it; that there are about
5000. 900 lepers in the world, accord
ing to estimates, of which about
100000 are ablebodied; that it is not
believed to be inherited by children
from their parents