Evening star., 1939-05-27
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas r. Henri,


Experimental production of curious
heart ailment in sheep through the
mind" alone has just been reported to
the National Research Council here by
Cornell University Psychologists.
Their experiments support the conten-
ton that there Is mental side to the
great "cardiovascular syndrome" which
now is the leading cause of death in the
United States, which is believed to be
on the increase, and which may be due
in part to the speed, worries and con-
fusion Of modrn life.
-Four years ago the Cornell scientists,
Drs O. D. Anderson, Howard S. Liddell
and Richard ParInenter, succeeded in
inducing neurosis, with queer behavior
bordering on animal insanity, in sheep
which ordinarily are among the most
placid and stupid of domestic creatures.
An animal was trained to stand quietly
IN loose harness and to discriminate
between bell signals indicating forth
coming mild electric shock to the foreleg
and other signals indicating that the
usual shock would be withheld. Soon
the sheep would lift its leg at the shock
signal, just as if the shock itself had
been given and would remain motionless
at the no-shock signal.
Then they got the animal all confused
by making the signals so similar that 1t
could barely differentiate them, situa-
ton somewhat similar to that faced by
human beings in times of stress This
would result in a nervous breakdown.
The sheep would become extremely rest
less, breathe rapidly and irregularly, and
respond in an extreme fashion to any
kind of stimulation. All its behavior
would be queer" and this condition
would persist for long time.
Now, they find, the neurosis was &C.
companied by definite physical changes.
In this study they used long distance
stethoScope, strapped over an animals
heart and extended by means of a rub
Der tube through the wall to an observing
room where the experimenters were hid
den. In the barn the sheep were allowed
to roam about freely, those in whom the
neurosis had been produced mingling
with others who were mentally perfectly
normal. Twice day for three days, at
noon and at midnight, the pulse rate
was taken, unbeknown to the animals.
The observers found first that, even
with no disturbance and when they were
lying down or moving about quietly, the
hearts of the neurotic sheep beat from
fac u
those of the normal animals. Also they
found that the pulse" of the sheep who
had had nervous breakdowns varied as
much as 48 beats a minute in the course
OF half hour. The greatest variation
in the normals was "a beats a minute.
They found strange irregularity in
the hearts of the affected animals. SINH
lar to type which sometimes puzzles
heart specialists when encountered in
human beings. They describe this as
IAN alienation between a very slow and
very rapid pulse, change which may
take place within from two to five Sec
onds Thus the pulse may be 10 and
within few seconds it may accelerate. for
no apparent reason, to level of 1OO and
then drop back again. Such fluctuations
may occur once or even twice in min
ute. None of the animals appeared to
be paying any attention to outside noises,
yet acceleration of the pulse in the neu-
rotic sheep often followed noises in the
night, such as the creaking of a wind
mill"
One symptom very prominent in an
animal in whom the experimental neu-
rosis had been established eight years
ago was a "galloping heart" which
sounded through the stethoscope like
the galloping of a horse on a pavement.
Great increases in heart rate, they
found, came in response to very mild
stimuli, such as buzzing noise which
had no effect on normal animals.
While fast or irregular heartbeat is
not considered necessarily a disturbing
symptom in human beings, it is pointed
out, such conditions accompany various
heart ailments. The experiments show
definite and permanent alteration of
the nervous control over the heart.
The Cornell Psychologists report at
length their experiments with one sheep
whom they describe as "just naturally
crazy" 1t proved an easy subject in
which to bring about an experimental
neurosiS by the buzzer and electric shock
method. In six months they found a
steady progression of the heartbeat in
crease whenever the buzzer was sounded
from 8 to 25 beats per minute.