Evening star., 1940-10-26
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas r. Henru.


A drought-resistant corn that can
withstand heat of 1870 F. with moisture
less than third of normal is being de-
veloped by Department of Agriculture
plant breeders
This work may make possible an eX-
tension of the corn belt westward into
the Great Plains area, where the crop
now is extremely hazardous because of
the likelihood of rainless summers. It
also promises insura nee for the corn belt
itself in such dry years as 1886.
Drs. E. c. Hayne and Arthur NJ
Brunson of the Bureau of Plant Indus
| try. working in the greenhouses of the
| Kansas Agricultural Experiment Sta
| ton, have reported the discovery that
drought resistance in the corn plant is
inherited, but by very complex process.
| At least six genes or units of heredity,
| are involved and each of these is tied
! to other units which determine different
! hereditary qualities. 1t will probably be
| impossible, they report, ever to produce
a drought resistant sweet corn because
the gene governing sweetness is tied to
other genes of hereditary water require
ment.
The process used is drastic Corn
seedlings in the greenhouse are subject
ed TO several hours exposure to heat of
l3O F. with very little moisture Most
Of them die. A few recover from the
effect and are tranSplanted to open
fields These are crossed and the seed
llngs from them exposed to the same
conditions another year In this way
the drought resistant qualities are be-
ING segregated. The process will require
several years, the breeders report, but
they have been encouraged to find that
the drOught-resiStance genes are domi-
nant in most CroSSCs-that is, the seed
llngS of a cross between dry-land corn
and misunderstanding corn inherit
some of the hardness of the dry-land
parent
In most cases. crosses of the drought
resistant inbreds resulted in increased
vigor which makes first generation
crosses valuable for seed corn.
increased vigor of growth, however,
| does not necessarily mean increased
drought resistance. they point out in
their report, and the compleXitv of the
problem makes it unlikely that there will
be some lucky cross The genes must
| be concentrated through years of work.
rarorG M bi2arre !, r]il, riiyoc
or coming through woods ceremony of
| the Iroquois IndlanS-first mentioned by
| Jesuit missionaries among the Hurons
nearly three centuries ago-now is in the
| files of the Smithsonian Institution.
1t was photographed and more than
so Of its songs recorded this summer by
| DR.. William N. Fenton of the Bureau of
| American Ethnolcgy. He is one of the
! few white men who has attended the
flve-hOur session of symbolic ritual.
Many Iroquois themselves have never
witnessed the ceremony.
DR.. Fenton was engaged in ethnolog-
ical studies on the Seneca Reservation
in Southwestern New York and was in
vited to attend by members Of the medi-
cine society who conduct the strange rit-
ual. It is intended to cure or prevent
illness allegedly caused by disease bear
ing supernatural beings, or mystic ami
mails that accept individuals for men,
bership by making them sick.
The central act of the symbolic drama
Is the appearance of a masked actor
playing the role Of Hadui the original
medicine man. The mask represents a
grotesquely contorted face. At the be-
ginning of time. according to the Iro-
quois mythology Hadui and the Creator
( had a contest in moving mountain In
the course of the battle Hadui looked
around and the mountain that the Gre
ator had summoned hit him in the face.
| He has presented frightful appearance
ever since and Is pictured as hunch-
| back who always crawls into a room
before standing erect.
There is a cloWnish element in the
| HadW representations, but in the final
analysis the ancient disease bearer is
regarded very seriously and to see him
in a dream is a dread experience.
Hadui has a role as sort of super
| natural public health officer among the
| Senecas. Twice each year, in spring and
fall. his human counterparts visit the
community and drive out sickness. The
spreader of disease, according to the
theory, also can prevent it. Naturally,
it is assumed, he can control his own
servants-the various sicknesses-and
will do so in return for a symbolic offer
ing of tobacco and meal of corn mush.
He also appears at the greatest of all
Iroquois festivals, at midwinter, to cure
| those who have been afflicted. Other
wise he comes at the behest of individ
uals who provide feast for the occa-
sion.
In each Iroquois community, DR.. Fen
ton says there are families who preserve