Evening star., 1939-02-04
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.

oy 4HOUtuo ~. AC|Iy.
The slopes of the Appalachians are
spotted with ghost forests.
Little more than generation ago.
perhaps, the most characteristic tree of
the region was the chestnut. 1t was
taken as matter of course.
About 1904 an Oriental fungus known
as endothia parasitica appeared on the
trees in New England. It spread rapidly
through the entire chestnut region, at
tacking the bark, girdling the trunk, and
killing the trees. There was nothing to
be done about it. The spores of this
fungus were extremely light, so that
every little breeze waited them into new
regions
Today probably 95 per cent of the
chestnuts are gone. The few left, which
have escaped largely by accident, are
doomed But a few years ago a few
healthy trees were transported bodily to
the campus of the North Carolina State
College at Raleigh, 200 miles from their
usual habitat and away from the path
of the blight.
For four years, according to report
just issued they have escaped infection
and remain healthy and thriving. 1t is
hoped that they will live to become the
ancestors of other great chestnut forests
when all the trees in the mountains have
been killed and the fungus goes with
them because it will have nothing more
to live on
Meanwhile a series of cooperative eX-
periments is being undertaken by the col
lege and the Department of Agriculture
in an effort to discover a preventative
for the blight. A variety of chestnut in
Japan and another in China have been
found which appear resistant but they
are inferior to the American variety
However, few are being grown on the
Raleigh campus side by side with the
fugitives from the Appalachians and ef-
made to produce crosses which will re-
tain the fungus-resisting qualities.
y X
The most powerful permanent magnet
in the world, which will lift about 1880
times its own weight, has been devel-
oped in the research laboratory of the
General Electric Co. 1t weighs only
1i250th of a pound. 1t will lift five
pound fiat iron.
1t is made of an alloy. of aluminium
cobalt, nickel and iron, first developed as
heatresisting alloy and found to have
powerful magnetic properties.
Children suffer more severely from
some diseases than older persons because
certain body cells are immature and un-
able to act as protective agents, accord
ing to experiments just reported by DR..
James T. Culbertson of Columbia Uni
Versity.
While this phenomenon has been noted
in the past it generally has been ex-
planned as due to the fact that the
grown-ups have acquired resistance.
The experiments were performed on
rats inoculated with so-called blood
parasites. The nurslings were found to
be less resistant, suffering more and
dying more frequently, than the adult
animals. When the younger ones were
vaccinated against the parasite they did
not become immune as did many of the
older members of the colony.
The difference Dr. Culbertson found,
probably is due to the maturing Of the
reticula endotheial system, which is
comprised of cells found throughout the
body, especially in the liver, spleen and
bone marrow, whose job it is to destroy
foreign substances likely to cause in
jury.
This system produces and mobilizes
white cells in the blood, which act as
protective agents. AS soon as infection
started the older rats showed big in
creases in the number of these protective
white cells in the blood stream. In the
younger ones the increase was very, small
Animals which showed an increase in
the white cells survived. Those which
did not died. The single surviving men,
Der of the younger group was the only
young animal that showed any note
worthy increase. The single older animal
that died was the only one of this group
which failed to show an increase
The second reason why the older rats
are able to combat infection better, Dr.
Culbertson says is the maturity of their
fixed ''phagocytic cells" which are able
to swallow foreign particles which might
cause harm. These cells, the Columbia
experiments show, are not able to func-
ton so we'll in young as in older animals
All this, DR.. Culbertson says, is in
addition to the fact that older animals
have more ability to mobilize specific
antibodies against particular infection