Evening star., 1939-06-20
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henri.

~ AfhObs~c ASs AACNT ~
The newly isolated vitamin X, neces-
sary for blood clotting, may save the
lives Of many hitherto doomed infants,
it was reported to the American Associa-
ton for the Advancement Of Science at
Milwaukee today by Drs. Armand J..
Quick and Arthur M. Grossman Of Mar
quette University.
Since Biblical times, they said, 1t has
been recognized that the blood Of new
born baby will not clot and that fatal
hemorrhages are especially likely in the
first few days of life. Necessary for
clotting is substance normally found
in the blood, prothrombin. A child is
born with a normal supply Of 1t but, for
some unknown reason, 1t drops to prac-
tically nothing during the first day or
two of life.
Immediately afterward, In most chill
dren, the prothrombin content Of the
blood starts to rise again. Sometimes
this is delayed or the normal level is not
reached fast enough. Then hemorrhages
are almost certain.
Hitherto the only known way to save
such an infants life was by a blood
TRANSMISSION, always difficult and danger
GUS with small child. 1t is now known
that supply of vitamin K is necessary
for prothrombin formation. It may be-
come routine procedure, it was pointed
out, to test each infants blood for
prothrombin and, If there is not enough
present, feed a concentrate rich in the
new vitamin.
The physicians were at loss to ex-
plain the spontaneous rise in prothrombin
which normally occurs. 1t is known that
the infant brings no vitamin K into the
world with it and the amount usually
obtained in the food during the first
few days is negligible.
1t is now known, however, that various
bacteria have the power to synthesize
the vitamin. 1t is probable, they pointed
out, that the infants intestines becomes
infested with these bacteria from the
breasts of the mother or the nipple Of
the nursing bottle as soon as it starts
to suckle. A bacterial garden is set up
in the alimentary canal and the work
of synthesizing the vitamin started.
Pilots battling tempests 1000 to &c, 900
feet above earth's surface already have
contributed 10 lives to the cause of more
accurate weather predicting and suf-
fered 25 crackups, it was revealed to the
association by Arthur NJ Marks, jr., Of
the United States Weather Bureau.
They are the men who "fy the
weather in the dawn patrol, whose job
now is being taken over by robots at
tached to balloons But the men have
done all the pioneering among the
jumbled air masses of The high atmos-
phere and made 1t possible for the
Weather Bureau to take the word prob
able" out of its reports.
Besides the pilots killed, Mr.. Marks
said. six have made parachute Jumps
to safety. They have encountered con-
ditions unknown to other aviators, par
t!cularly the very strong winds in the
high atmosphere. 1t has not been rare
for pilot to take off at Chicago, go up
10000 feet in westward direction, and
come down 10 miles east of his starting
point.
There has naturally been difficulty in
breathing at high attitudes and pilots
have been loath to add to the weight of
the planes with oxygen equipment. A
temporary black-out," or loss OF con-
sciousness from too little oxygen, is an
experience so common that pilots do not
even bother to report it.
Temperature changes as great as 10
degrees are encountered in a single
flight, so that electrically heated flying
suits are necessary. The work has been
almost entirely blind flying and both
Army and Navy have made use of it to
train their pilots in navigating entirely
by instruments.
Among the perplexing phenomena en-
countered, Mr. Marks said, are the tenn
perature diversions. Normally tempera-
ture should decrease with heights up to
about 10 miles, the beginning of the
stratosphere. The pilots report frequent
cases where, through certain strata Of
air, the reverse is true. The thermometer
goes up with heights for mile or more
This is most frequent in the early morn
ing. 1t occurs approximately 20 days
month FROM May to october and about
10 days month the rest of the year.