Evening star., 1937-01-02
SCIENTISTS TOLD
OF MOVING C|T|ES'
Convention Hears London
Farther From Washington
in Summer.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
STAN Correspondent Of The Star.


Washington is 80 feet closer to Lon
don on January than on July l.
At least it seems that way, DR.. Har'
Ian T. Stetson of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology told the
American Association for the Ad.
vancement of Science here yesterday
from the difference in time required
to transmit radio time signals between
Annapolis and Rugby.
The season difference in apparent
distance, DR.. Stetson said, appeared
consistently from 1929 to 1881, but in
1898 it seemed to disappear. Since
then, the nature of the signals has
not been such as to permit exact de-
Examinations.
This apparent pulling apart OF the
parallels OF longitude, DR.. Stetsor
pointed out, may be due to a solar
tidal effect which stretches out the
surface Of the earth when the sun Is
nearest. On the other hand, it may
be due to some meteorological erect,
or effect on the ionosphere Of the
atmosphere. which causes an actual
difference in the time of transmission
Of the signals.
Distance Seems to Stretch.
The distance seems to stretch, DR..
stetson pointed, at different times OF
each month due to the pull of the
moon on the earth, but when the
utmost value is assigned to this eflect
Il cannot account for the difference
between Winter and Summer. 1t will
he essential. DR.. Stetson said, to verify
the effect with q new series OF meas
urements before q definite cause can
be assigned.
A protozoan monster OF the micro
scopic world, seen only 10 times IN
tvo centuries, which gobbles up It's
fellow one-celled creatures 100 at q
time walks backward and forward
At once and hunts in packs, was oe-
.rr,hed before association zooiogists
hv DR. A. A. Schaef1er Of Temple UNI
versity.
Although itself almost microscope,
this creature is so times the Size Oh
the most familiar one-celled animal,
the parameci, an active little crea-
tIre which forms the dominant popu-
Iation of its microscopic world. II
moves among them like a great flesh
..tinp dinosaur in q world Of human
beings. It is q cumbersome, SLOW
moving mass Of protoplasm, but two
or three get together and completely
surround q large school OF parame-
ciae. Then these are divided up i'm
partially to form meals for the
captors.
First Seen In IT'S.
The creature, first seen by Lin
naeus in TITS, has the fearsome
scientific name Of Chaos chaos. i
differs from other one-celled crea-
lures in having several cell nuclei
Like the others it reproduces itself
by splitting but it divides into three
or more pieces, each new animal
simultaneously.
Ordinarily q chaotic, formless mass
It moves by stretching itself out into
. ribbon-like form. The rear END
stretches backward and the front end
forward and progression is by series
OF tugs Of war, with one end finally
giving way just before the creature
breaks in two.
It Is presumably very rare. 1t has
been reported only about once every
20 years. DR.. Schaeffer, however
has been able to start a colony OF
the strange creatures and hopes soon
to make a comprehensive study OF
their behavior. It may constitute q
missing link in the structure of life
between one-celled creatures, pre-
sumably the most primitive, and the
earliest multi-cellular animals Or IL
may be freak which has gone of on
IN evolutionary track of its own.
Another strange little creature re-
ported to the biologists today was q
hyperparasite-a parasite of a para
site which may prove significant in
both human and veterinary medicine
Found in F1ukes' Bodies.
It was found by Drs. Arne v. Hun.
ninen and Ralph Wichterman oI
Temple University in the bodies Of
. species Of fiukes, tiny worms which
tnfest sea eels. AS the eggs Of thu
nuke are laid the tiny hyperparasite.
bore into them and apparently null
tiply. Young never develop in q
parasitized egg. In some cases nearl,
all the hundreds Of eggs laid in thu
body Of an eel were found destroyed
IN this way and the fish apparently
"cured."
Attempts will be made to grow this
creature and find out If it will ac
Is . parasite on other fiukes. Espe.
cially In tropical countries. they are
responsible for some of the deadlies
diseases OF man. In the United State.
they have been responsible for vast
losses in the sheep industry. causing
the deaths of thousands of animals
Isolation OF a potent poison from
The bodies Of the periodic cicadas, OF
17-year locusts. which emerged all
over the East last Spring, and of an
other from the bodies of grasshopper.
was announced by DR.. David I. Mach,
Of Baltimore.
He cut the bodies OF the insects
IN two and prepared extracts from
both the rear and front parts. Wher
Injected into cats he found that both
had definite toxic effects in depress.
Ing the blood pressure and respira-
ton, but the abdominal extract was
much more potent than that from
the head and thorax.
The grasshopper poison seemed to
stupefy white rats. 1t also was found
70 contain considerable. amounts OF
vitamin A.