Evening star., 1938-07-08
OF STARS
MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook Of Science Profrss,
in Field, Laboratory
and Study.
Bv THONAS r. HENRY.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


States Bureau Of Standards eight years
ago, was reported to the American AS
sociation for tbs Advancement Of
Science last week as fatal to higher
animals when used to replace drinking
water.
DR.. H. q. Barbour Of Yale University
told Of killing rats In q week by sub
stituting the double weight hydrogen
water for ordinary water In their diets.
Given In smaller amounts 1t did not
prove fatal but showed effects entirely
opposite to predictions.
Presumably, because Of its slower re-
actions. it would slow down all bodily
processes. Instead. DR.. Barbour found.
when an animal Is kept one-fifth satur-
ated with the deuterium oxide all the
life reactions 60 on at faster rate. It
seems to act especially. DR.. Barbour
said, rs stimulus to the sympathetic
nervous system, In much the same way
as adrenaline, the emergency hormone
secreted by the adrenal glands.
What actually happens, the Yale ex-
perimenter believes, Is that heavy water
fixes" and prolongs the action Of adren-
alin. Ordinarily this acts very quickly
in response to an emotion such as fear,
speeding through the blood stream and
rapidly disappearing. Deuterium oxide
keeps 1t from decomposing. It pro-
duces a typical picture of terror in the
experimental rats, the hair standing on
end and the eyes popping out. It is
the adrenalin secretion which is lG-,,
sponsible for these symptoms In fear
itself.
Other experiments with q one-fifth
saturation Of deuterium oxide in mice
indicate that disease processes proceed
at a different rate when this kind of
water is put into the physiological
environment. Cancer in mice Is mark
edly slowed down although the victims
actually die sooner than from the orig
inal tumors. DR.. Barbour also has been
able to produce state Of catalepsy, or
suspended animation, In rats, cats and
q monkey by direct application Of the
heavy water to the outside Of the brain.
A blanket OF rare gas wrapped around
the upper atmosphere of the earth, upon
which depends the security of living
things from the poisonous ultra violet
light emitted by the sun, is thickest at
high ATTITUDES and thinnest at the
Equator, according to data presented
before astronomers of the American As
ISOLATION for the Advancement of
Science here today.
With its importance increasingly rec
ognized both as q biological necessity
and as q possible indicator of the
weather, the closing meeting of the
astronomlcaA section was devoted to
consideration Of this ozone layer, made
up OF triple-atom oxygen of q type
rarely found near the earth's surface
The need was stressed of a systematic
survey of the thickness Of the layer over
the North American Continent as soon
as more precise methods Of measuring
it have been devised.
DR.. Brian O'Brien of the University
OF Rochester told of a new method of
measuring the ozone thickness at any
particular point by photographing its
absorption lines from the earths sur
face. It has been found that the thick
ness OF the blankets varies not alone
with latitude but from place to place
with the direction Of upper air winds
and vertical air currents which, in turn,
are an increasingly important element
In weather prediction by the new air
mass forecasting methods now in use
by the United States Weather Bureau,
Traces Of wood-boring insects, prob
ably some species Of beetles, of almost
20O.OOO,OOO years ago, found In the logs
OF the Petrif1ed Forest of Arizona. are
described in a bulletin just issued by
the Smithsonian Institution.
These hosts Of ancient bugs" may
have been instrumental in killing some
OF the trees which afterward turned to
stone and now constitute one of natures
foremost curioSities.
They are, as described by their dis
coverer. M. v. Walker, National Park
Service naturalist, as peculiar ridges
and shallow channels, some of which
completely encircle the massive trunks.
To the average observer they are Just
funny marks on the trees, but when
examined carefully they seem to indicate
that they were made by some form of
animal life. The more they are studied
the more am convinced that they were
made by some insect larvae that had
attacked the forest. They apparently
represent the borrowings and cuttings
OF the larvae Of wood borers or bark
beetles"
Different groups are described by Mr.
Walker. One apparently made channels
just under the bark. One bored di-
rectly into the wood to q depth of 18
inches or more. Still others bored
through the wood In all directions. There
were apparently several species in each
group, distinguished from the form and
size Of the channels and holes they made.
Curiorsly enough. these ancient in
sects appear to have attacked only one
species of fossil tree, Araucarioxylon
arizonicum
1T seems logical to believe" Mr..
Walker says, that many of the trees
were girdled and killed In that way
one might account for such a concen-
tration OF logs as occurs at about the
3Oo-foot level in the Chinle of this
region where it is estimated that ap-
proximately so per cent of the log sec
tions show evidence Of having been
attacked by these borers.
The Petrified Forest trees grew during
the so-called Triassic period of the
earth's history when. it is known from
other evidence, insects were already
abundant. This period began about
271, 900 900 years ago.