Evening star., 1936-07-09
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY

with the aid of his book of magic form
ulas, he determines the direction from
which came the particular malady. Then
he walks hundred steps in that direc-
tion and throws away the water with
which he has washed his patients face.
When sick person is at the point of
death the lama has him carried out
side the tent, for it is considered a dis
grace for a Mongol to die except under
the open sky. The dead are considered
as impure, and if one should die in q
house the building no longer can be
used as dwelling. 1t is forbidden to
carry out the corpse through a door.
Instead it must be carried out through
an opening made in the wall. Another
method is to construct second door of
straw in front Of the regular door. Then
the wandering ghost will not be able
to recognize the real door after the
straw one has been burned, and hence
will not be able to return to do harm
to the survivors.
At the moment of death the lama
pulls out hair from the brow of the
dying person so that the soul can make
its exit. AS soon as death has come the
priest places the body in a sQuatting
position with the hands joined, and puts
a blue scarf on the head which falls
over the face. The relatives also bring
their scarfs and supplies of tea, butter
and -four for the welfare Of the dead.
Mourning lasts 10 days after a death.
During this period shaving is forbidden
When friends meet they do not greet
each other, but make a slight bow in
silence.
Curious and hitherto Unexpected spe-
ciflc effects of wave lengths of visible
light on the growth and behavior of
plants are reported from the division
OF radiation and organisms of the Smith
sonian Institution.
In the experiment oat seedlings were
exposed to the light of an electric lamp
which was split up into its constituent
wave-lengths by passing through prism.
The exposure was arranged in such a
way that only a narrow band Of visible
wave-lengths of light fell upon each
plant, and from horizontal direction.
AS was expected by Dr. Enoch Karrer,
who conducted the experiment, the
seedlings exposed to the blue region
were bent toward the source of the illu-
mination-the ordinary phenomenon of
phototropiSIn. But, in addition, he
found the tips of these seedlings were
bent toward each other, while in the red
region of the spectrum they were bent
away from each other. He also noted
the following specific effects:
The greatest growth in length was
in the two regions where were found the
greatest conveyance and divergence of
the tips.
The greenest growth was In those
plants illuminated only in the orange
part of the spectrum. The yelowest
growth was in the blue-green region.
Roots grew longest in the extreme blue
and shortest in the orange-red.
The implication of these findings Is
that different wave-length bands of
light give rise to different forces in the
physiology of plant development. This
renders much more complex the already
extremely complicated relationships Of
life and light. At different stages of
growth q plant may have need Of all
the wave-lengths in the visible light
spectrum, with one or another exerting
the dominant influence ut any one
period.