Evening star., 1940-03-31
Effects Of Speed on
Aviutors Studied
By Frederic J. HaSkin.

ical is found In the studies being made
by the Army Medical Corps of the effects
of terrific speed and especially Of sudden
.acceleration on the human organism.
The hint is particularly interesting be-
cause, in report written by Capt. Harry
G. Armstrong of the Medical Corps, spe-
cific reference is made to rockets.
Experiments have been made in the
United States and in Germany with man
carrying rockets and at least one man
has asserted his purpose OF perfecting
some such startling vehicle which will
project him through the ether to Mars.
The United States Army takes little in
terest in Mars, but it is interested in
sudden means of transportation to such
mundane destinations as Berlin or Mos
COW, Toxic or any other distant place on
the surface Of the earth.
Moreover, aside from any consideration
of the rocket, the reliable old-fashioned
airplane presents problems which are.
perhaps, of nearer importance for study.
There have been recent remarkable de-
velopments of the power dive wherein
almost unthinkable speed has been at
tanned Also, since the widened use OF
aircraft carriers by the Navy as well as
the equipment of other naval vessels with
planes, the catapult is employed In
launching and a catapult launching
necessarily means practically instan-
taneous change of pace from rest to high
speed.
1t was only very little more than
century ago that great many people
inveighed against the idea of the steam
railroad because of the possibilities OF
unnatural speed. 1t was oracularly as
serted by men who thought themselves
not wholly devoid of scientific knowledge
that the human organism could not sur
vive high speeds 1t was laid down that
a speed of IS miles an hour would snatch
a mans breath away. 1t was not long
before men learned that speeds Of mile
minute had no more effect on man
than the production of a certain exhila-
ration.
Next, people made the comforting as
tance, attained so great a speed that
the breath was snatched from his lungs
and that he died before reaching the
ground. When a couple of United States
Army sergeants dropped about three
miles before opening their parachutes and
then landed intact, this assumption was
proved to be more violent than the ex-
perience of falling.
But all those experiences were out
moded, so far as speed was concerned
when the power dive and the catapult
launching became facts. Here speeds
were attained which never before had
been dreamed of and it became impor-
tant for the scientists of the Army to
seek absolute data on just how much man
could endure and what too great accel-
Grafton would produce.
Firstly, means of measurement had to.
be worked out. This was done and unit
called &c" was created This G stands
for gravity. Scientists know how to
measure the force or the pull Of gravity,
and, from that basis. they worked out a
scale of forces greater than gravity. For
example, 1t was shown that power dive
OF an airplane can create pull some
nine times as great as the natural pull
OF gravity. As men have survived power
dives, this makes the old belief that man
could not survive a long fall, actuated by
simple gravity, seem silly.
Actually studies of the effect of accel-
GRAFTON have been carried on for some
years. AS early as 1917 P. Garsaux Of
the French Ministry of War, made ex-
periments with dogs M Garsaux con.
structed wheel and strapped dogs to 1t
and then spun the wheel to determine
the effects of high centrifugal force on
living organism. 1t was shown that very
high speeds affected the brain and
caused a congestion of bodily organs.
Again, in 1888, H. and B. Won Diring-
shofen made similar studies, but di-
rected their attention to respiration and
revealed how it greatly increased. Jong-
bloed and Noyous showed how rabbits
were affected, with special reference to
the arteries and the sinus process which
were deleteriously Influenced.
1t is with men that the Army Medical
Corps has experimental In actual air
plane and in laboratory experiments a
number Of important findings have been
made. To begin with, the Army doctors
nave constructed laboratory Apparatus
designed to simulate as nearly as possible
actual conditions created by an airplane
at high speed. A sort of merry -go-round
has been constructed which is capable of
20 revolutions per minute, speed which
would make the ordinary circus merry
go-round look as If it were standing still
Also. huge swings have been made which
can fly through the air with the greatest
OF speeds, be started suddenly and as sud-
denly stopped. These are not the sort of
machines that children or any one else
would be likely to pay nickel to ride
upon.
The subjects of the experiments them-
selves check their own reactions as care
tully as they can. There are, of course.
instruments which assist in the compila-
ton OF the data of confusion.
AT double the force of gravity, the sub
ject has sensation which is described
as comparable to that an individual feels
when he stands on his head. AS the ac-
celeration increases, the normal individ-
ual is likely to begin to feel sort Of
cramp In the lower limbs. His breathing
becomes diff1cult The next stace js a