Evening star., 1938-08-13
OF STARS,
MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Profress
in Field, Laboratory
and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Summer heat waves cause q much
greater increase in death rates than has
been attributed to them, It Is shown by q
statistical analysis just made public by
the United States Public Health Service.
The increase in mortality associated
with a hot spell is masked by the fact
that heat seldom is given as the actual
cause of death. It was found, for exam
pie. that during July, 1894, in Kansas
excessive heat was given as the reason
Tor only one-quarter Of the excess
deaths. The remainder Of the excess
was distributed largely among diseases
OF the heart, cerebral hemorrhage,
nephritis and pneumonia. But since the
excess came In close proximity to rec
ord temperatures 1t is fair to assume that
heat was an essential secondary factor.
In 5 OF the 13 years from 1925 to 1887
1t Is found by Mary Glover, associate
statistician of the Public Health Serv.
ice, summer weekly rates Of mortality in
large cities rose as high as the average
rate for January. In at least three of the
remaining seven years smaller increases
in mortality occurred.
The sharp increases, she found, occur
most frequently In July, but sometimes
can be detected in June and August.
The area most often affected, she found,
includes the States Of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska.
The big jumps In the mortality curve are
sometimes found for Michigan, Wiscon-
sin. Minnesota and the North Atlantic
States The areas least frequently az
fected are the Far South and the Pacific
Coast. This seems to indicate clearly
that the deaths are not due to the heat,
per &c. but to the big deviations from
normal summer temperature to which
1olks have not become acclimated. SyS-
TENS already weakened by some other
disease cannot make the necessary rapid
physiological adjustments. Summers are
hotter In the South. but the tempera-
lures are more eQuable from day to day.
Daily maximum temperatures for
groups Of cities and for individual cities
In affected areas show that the excess
OF mortality is preceded by at least sev-
eral successive days of extreme temper
ature. The excess mortality during
second such period in any one year is
slight when compared with that during
the first major heat wave OF the sum-
mer, even when the second rise in tenn
perature Is much greater.
In the past five years there has grown
up new science-aerobiology 1t is the
study OF life in what hitherto had been
supposed to be the lifeless desert of the
upper air. 1t is not lifeless. All sorts
of fungi, bacteria and viruses drift in
the high air currents for long periods
before they finally drop back to earth
far from their starting points.
Aerobiology may be considered to have
originated with flight by Col. Charles
A. Lindbergh and DR.. Fred C. Meier,
principal pathologist of the Department
of Agriculture, in 1893. They brought
back samples of the upper air obtained
by means Of "sky hook" an instrument
especially devised for the work. Abund-
ant evidence was accumulated that there
was very significant field to be explored
by means of this cloud fishing and this
has been added to ever since.
Now the study is to be systematized in
a cooperative project between the De-
partment of Agriculture and the Ma
tional Research Council, to be directed
by DR.. Meier. 1t is expected to shed new
light on the spread of micro organisms,
viruses, pollens and dusts and to suggest
new methods of control. Already VAL
liable information has been obtained on
the aerial movements of organisms such
as those which cause the black stem rust
of grain, the white pine blister rust, the
cedar rust of apples and downy mildew
on onions.
The expansion Of aerobiology also may
aid some Of the older sciences, DR.. Meier
says. Medicine should benefit by infor-
nation providing another basis for de-
veloping more effective methods of DEAL
ing with hay fever and other allergic con-
ditions and 4 better understanding Of
the possible spread Of certain bacterial
and virus diseases of man. The new
science can contribute something to
entomology by charting the movements
through the air of insects that carry
disease, as we'll as those that attack
animals and plants.
~ +A
method which in week measures
the effects Of normal aging processes on
leather for 10 years now Is being used at
the United States Bureau of Standards.
The sample of leather or rawhide is
PAoSSu AL GA OAySCA OOIAO, WllCIc IL Is
subjected to an atmosphere of oxygen at
pressure of 100 pounds to the square
inch. The various deteriorations due
to combinations Of oxygen with various
constituents of the feathers themselves
and the materials used to tan them take
place very rapidly. The results COM
pare favorably with those obtained when
similar feathers are aged under normal
conditions for q decade.
X
This seems to be q smallpox year,
according to reports to the United States
Public Health Service. Everywhere ex-
cept in the North Atlantic States the
incidence of this malady is considerably
above the average for recent years. The
number Of cases reported, 1886, repre-
sents an excess Of 80 per cent over the
preceding flve-year median.
The smallpox center seems to be in
the Northern Pacific, Mountain and
North Central areas. For years past
cases have been most numerous in this
general region. Since 1894, however, the
malady has gradually spread into other
areas which normally have q very low
incidence. In the East South Central
region, for example, the incidence for