Evening star., 1939-12-27
Scientists Are Told
Of Mental '0omph,'
Success Factor
New Function, 'Ioto,'
Described us Necessary
In Achieving Fame
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star stan Correspondent.

BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star Stan Correspondent.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 27.-Evi-
dence of a hitherto unsuspected
brain function. the iota, was
presented to psychologists of the
American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science here today by
DR.. Charles A. Drake of the Univer-
sity of West Virginia.
1t is that OF mind growth, entirely
unrelated to intelligence or scholar
ship, which may continue into the
middle decades of life and be
responsible for the startling sue
cesses in all lines of the most
unpromising sort of people.
When colleges look over their
alumni, DR.. Drake said, it often is
found that the really big men among
them, including great scientists, pro-
fessional leaders and business execu-
tives, are fellows who attracted no
particular attention in school and
whose scholarship was mediocre. At
the same time the brilliant men in
college often are found to have
sunk rapidly into obscurity.
Measured by Gains.
This is due to the difference in
"iota," he said. 1t can be measured
roughly not by school grades per Sc,
but by gains in these grades from
year to year. An A-plus student
may lead his class from the begin
ming of school to the end but show
no "iota." On the other hand,
D student as a freshman who has
advanced to B grades in his senior
year shows a definite "iota" and
probably has greater chance Of
success.
While the ideal would be person
of high intelligence and high iota,
DR.. Drake said, one of medium
intelligence and iota is preferable to
one with intelligence alone. 1t was
suggested that colleges have separate
iota grades and that they consider
iota grades in secondary schools in
admitting students.
The curious thing about the iota,
he explained, is that it tends to
increase with age up to a certain
point, whereas growth of absolute
intelligence stops with the teen
years. Thus a stupid fellow with a
very high iota is likely to be a
world beater at 40.
The function seems to be dis
tributed among people according to
a normal distribution curve, like
most other mental and physical
functions, he said. It also shows a
pattern of growth curve peculiar to
itself and strikingly different from
that of intelligence.
The educator who pays much
attention to intelligence scores with
out considering the iota scores at
the same time, he indicated, is most
likely to be putting his money on a
bad bet.
Solid Water Demonstration.
A priest with a 10-cent store toy
pistol today demonstrated to men,
bers of the association the produc-
ton of solid water for the first time
on earth and at the same time
showed a zone of potential frozen
Immortality
1t is immortality, however, only
for thin leaves, micro-organisms,
and tiny bits of the tissues of higher
animals.
A thick wall of frozen death stands
between all higher organisms and
the eternal life of absolute cold.
Solid water differs from ice in
that it has no crystal structure. 1t
is not frozen but vitrified-made
into glass. In order to accomplish
this it is necessary to pass the water
through the temperature range from
freezing to about SO so rapidly that
ice crystals do not have a chance
to form.
The demonstration was by DR.. P.
Luyet of St. Louis University. A
drop of water is allowed to drip
between two small, fiat surfaces
which have just been dipped in
liquid oxygen at temperature of
about 200. AS the drop falls the
two surfaces are snapped together
by the toy pistol, to which one of
them is attached. 1t is caught be-
tween the two like an animal in a
steel trap, with the result that thin
films of the new solid water are
formed on the surfaces of the plates.
Upper Temperature Limit.
1t already has been demonstrated,
Father Luyet said, that there is an
upper temperature limit to life at
about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. There
is, he maintains, no lower limit, once
the critical range of crystal forma-
tion in water is passed. He showed
leaves of plants, protozoa which
are the most minute members of the
animal kingdom, and bits of the
muscle of higher animals plunged in
the liquid oxygen BATH The water
in the cells passed through the ice