Evening star., 1937-04-20
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Old age and death may be delayed ten
years or more by drinking heavy water"
Such is the conviction Of DR.. James E.
Kendall, professor of chemistry at the
University of Edinburgh, who will be the
speaker at the meeting of the Washing
ton section of the American Chemical
Society tomorrow evening.
Heavy water is water in which the
hydrogen atom is replaced by the double
weight hydrogen isotope, deuterium
Chemically it is indistinguishable from
ordinary water, except that given
amount weighs more. 1t is mixed with
ordinary water in the proportion of about
one part in 5000. 1t was first prepared
by the electrolysis process at the Bureau
of Standards shortly after the discovery
of the heavy hydrogen atom.
Now the human body, like any other
machine, wears out" with the resulting
decrepacy and death even in the absence
of any specific organic disease. Usually
the weakest part breaks down under the
stress of living. The faster the rate of
living the faster the wearing out process.
This speed is in large part function of
the body temperature. Cold -blooded ami
mails live more slowly than birds or
mammals, and as result some of them,
such as the giant tortoises, may live 500
years or more.
The human temperature is fairly con-
slant. There is no known way of raising
or lowering it at will, except quite tenn
porarily. Mans ultimate life span, it
seems likely, was fixed with the constant
heat of his body.
But the chief constituent of the body
is water The speed of water reactions
are function of the temperature, but
they are also function of the weight of
the molecule. That is, heavy water acts
like ordinary water few degrees lower
in temperature. The water content of the
body constantly is being replenished. BY
drinking only heavy water, DR.. Kendall
believes, it would gradually replace a
good deal Of the ordinary water in the
system. Consequently the rate OF living
would be slowed down. Consequently
the wear and tear would be less and man
would live longer
Heavy water is no eliXer of longer life
for the present. Minute amounts for use
in chemical and biological experiments
are very expensive. The wealthiest man
on earth couldn't use it for drinking
water, even part of the time The cheap
est it ever has been produced is 81 a
gram.
DR.. Kendall is confident, however, that
IN few years methods of producing it
more cheaply will be devised.
"The important factor in the price Of
heavy water" he says, is the high
cost of electric power. It takes lot
of electricity to jolt apart the molecules
OF water. Since the process of securing
heavy hydrogen is fractional one, the
electrolysis must be repeated several
times, and unfortunately the heavy hy-
drogen is the last product to come off.
When you consider that ordinary water
contains only one part in 5000 of
heavy water, you can see that production
of even small amount of this substance
is q big job.
Cheap heavy water will not be de-
State, where labor laws have been
enacted, into States where no such laws
exist. His contention is that what is
needed is grant of additional power to
Congress through amendment of the
Constitution, and not merely a change
in the number of Supreme Court men,
bers-who might decide any way they
please. Senator Lodge is one Of the
forward-looking younger members of the
Senate. He fears political royalist'
Is much as he fears IN economic royal.
J 49,