Evening star., 1937-12-30
BLOOD CELL BOMBS
FOUND IN DISEASE
BacterioIogists' Society Told
of Scarlet Fever
Effects.

1nfinitesimally minute "bombs"
which explode blood cells in scarlet
fever and measles were reported to
the Society of American Bacteriolo-
eists meeting here today by Drs Jean
Broadhurst and Gladys Cameron of
Columbia University.
When the blood or nose membranes
OF scarlet fever patients are examined,
they reported. very minute bodies can
be detected inside certain cells, one
or more to cell. They had pre-
viously found larger particles Of the
same kind in measles patients. These
bodies, they reported, are not bacteria.
Certain blood cells, they said, show
bubbly eruptions and explosive pro-
jections which release small, rounded
bodies OF various microscopic sizes.
When tissue cultures are inocuiated
with such blood the effect On the
tissue cells is marked. They are
literally blown apart and release
many definitely staining bodies.
Blood Free Of Poliomyelitis.
The virus Of poliomyelitis, the
dreaded infantile paralysis which
sweeps the country in epidemics,
cannot be transmitted by the blood
of Its victims and apparently does
not exist in the blood, according to
experiments reported by Ors. F. b.
Gordon and Edwin H. Lennette Of
the University Of Chicago.
First they inoculated monkeys with
the virus, either directly into the
brain or through the nose. All de-
veloped the disease. Then healthy
animals we're given blood transfusions
from them. None was infected.
At the society's annual banquet last
night at the Mayflower Hotel DR..
Frank L. Horsfall, jr., of the Rockefeller
Foundation, was announced as the
winner of the Eli Lilly Award. He was
chosen as the scientist under 81 years
of age who accomplished the most
outstanding research in bacteriolosy or
immunology" In the United States
this year.
The work for which he was honored
has been largely responsible for de-
velopment and use Of rabbit anti
pneumonococcu serum In treatment
Of pneumonia. The award is given
annually by Eli Lilly & Co., phar-
maceutical hrm.
He will receive $1,000 and bronze
medal. His selection was based on his
investigations Of the properties Of i'm
munizing serum, carried out at McGill
University, Harvard University and
more recently at the Rockefeller 1nsti-
tute for Medical Research.
The story Of how An American
housewife provided one of the basic
tools Of q science through remember
ing an old family cooking recipe was
told for the first time today by Arthur
P. Kitchens and Morris G. Leikind Of
the Army Medical School.
Practically all cultures Of germs, BY
means Of which science has been able
to conquer some Of the most devastat-
ing diseases, are kept in 4 jelly.like
substance obtained from seaweeds
known as agar-agar. without this
some Of the basic procedures Of bac-
terioloey would be impossible.
wife Of German Doctor.
It originated, the two doctors said,
with Mira. Fanny Hesse, 4 Jersey City
girl, who married DR.. william HAsse,
. German doctor, while on 4 tour OF
Germany in the late seventies. The
science Of bacteriolosy WAS just getting
under way. Her husband had studied
in the laboratory Of the celebrated
Robert Koch, one Of the great figures
Of modern medicine.
He was continuing the studies In
his private practice but had difficulty
keepine his bacteria. Ordinary SelA.
tn proved . poor 1fdium. Tn'a hr''