Evening star., 1940-12-30
u. 5. Is Registering
Emergency Army Of
100000 Scientists
Meeting Also Told of
Learning Speed Test
For New Soldiers
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star Staff Correspondent.

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 30.-A brain
army Of half million Is being
registered for the emergency in the
United States.
Progress of this registration, which
is being conducted under Federal
appropriation from headquarters in
Washington, was described before
the American Association for the
Advancement of Science here by
DR.. Leonard Carmichael, president
OF Tufts College, who is directing
the work.
The objective, DR.. Carmichael
said. is to have complete register
in Washington of all American
scientists together with full data
on their specialties, qualifications
and availability for Government
service.
Already, he said, there have been
many calls for specialists. A total
of about 100000 questionnaires has
been sent out to date. These are
very complete, and when they are
returned the names and data are
put through a new type Of machine
for sorting and classification. The
machine, for example, keeps up a
roster of paper chemists, for whom
there might conceivably be an
emergency call at any time.
44,O00 Sent to Chemists.
To chemists alone, DR.. Carmichael
said. over $4,000 questionnalres have
been sent. The roster is in addition
to the register of physicians being
made for the War and Navy De-
partments by the American Medical
Association. Various other specia-
list groups also are making up their
own registers.
While intended primarily for the
emergency, DR.. Carmichael said, II
is hoped to make the register a
permanent institution, kept con-
tinuously up to date, so that the
Government will be able TO call
Immediately, when any highly spe-
cialized lob presents itself. on the
small group Of individuals best quail
flied to do 1t.
All new soldiers, whether recruits
or draftees, now are being put
through a brain sieve at reception
centers. it was revealed by DR., w. V.
Bingham. psychologist of the war
Department.
This consists, he said, of general
classification test which measures
roughly the speed at which a man
can learn The object is, DR.. Bing-
ham said to balance companies with
quick and slow learners.
Million Civilian Pilots Sought.
A million civilian pilots in the
United States capable of flying
50-horsepower planes with large
wingspreads and slow landing speeds
is goal of the Civil Aeronautics
Authority in the next few years,
it was revealed by DR.. John G.
Jenkins. professor of psychology at
the University of Maryland and head
of the National Research Council
Committee on Selection and Train
ing of Aviators. This year, he SAID,
$4,000 are being trained.
New devices for testing the fitness
of students to become pilots were
described by DR.. Jenkins. One con-
sists of two small crystal micro
phones attached to the chinS OF
both students and instructor and
wired to a short-Wa"e tranSmltter.
By this means all the conversation
between the two can be recorded
on the ground and analyzed by
psychologists.
Another is a stick" handle in
the form of stiff rubber ball
which will register automatically
the pressure applied to it. This is
a rough measure of tension" The
more tense man, it is generally
agreed, the poorer material for avia-
ton. Plans are being studied to
attach voltmeter to students dur
ing flight, which will give a more
direct measure of tension.
Search for an equilibrium center
in the brain was described by DrS.
Ernest Spiegel and M. j. Open
heimer of Temple University.
1t long has been known that mans
sense OF space orientation is de-
termined by the so-called "laby-
rinth' of the inner ear. When this
is disturbed. as by the motions of a
ship or a merry -go-round, nausea
results. It is about as important a
sense organ as eyes, ears or nose.
1t is the only sense organ whose
center in the brain is unknown.
The two Philadelphia doctors have
been able, they reported, to estab-
lish labyrinthine conditioned re-
sponses.
The inference from experiments
with dogs is that the center OF
equilibrium is located partly in the
same general region of the brain
nearest the ear, but that it probably
has way stations distributed
throughout the brain.
CoIchichine Used Successfully.
The first reported successful use
of colchichine, the potent drug OBJ
tanned from the European crocus
with which new species Of plants
are obtained, on higher animals was
reported by DR.. Edna Higbee of the
University of Pittsburgh.
Some of the tangled love affairs of
Old Testament heroes like Samson
were untangled here today in a
study of ancient Hebrew family re-
lationships reported by Drs. E. M.
Loeb and I. Shapiro of Leland Stan
ford University.
In early Old Testament days, they
pointed out, there were two sys-
TENS of relationship existing side by
side. Relationships through the
father were regarded as the basis
for social organization and those
through the mother as the basis for
blood kinship.
Hence, there probably was moth
ing wrong in marrying a paternal
aunt or uncle, or half sister or
brother on the fathers side only.
Thus the parents Of Moses were an
aunt and nepaew.