Evening star., 1941-01-02
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.

By Thomas r. Henry.
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 2-Discovery
of the earliest traces of human civiliza-
ton was described today by DR.. H. L.
Movius, jr., of Harvard University. 4
member of the Southeast Asia Expedi-
ton of 1878, led by DR.. Hellmut de
Terra.
In the Irrawaddy Valley of Burma this
expedition found crude artifacts made
largely of fossil Woodland adzes,
chopping tools and scrapers-in deposits
about million years old. They are
totally different from anything found in
the old Stone Age deposits in Europe.
Stone artifacts belonging to the same
general. culture, DR.. Movius said, have
been found by Dr. G. H. r. Won Koenigs-
valid of the Carnegie Institution of Wash
ington at Patjitan, in Java, in geological
formations similar to those in which have
been found the scattered bones of Pithe-
canthropus erectus, the Java ape-man
who was the most primitive OF humans
yet known to science. So primitive was
this creature that there has been much
debate as to whether he really belonged
in the human family, although he had
brain about 25 per cent larger than that
of any known ape.
Similar artifacts also have been found
near the remains of the Chinese Sinan-
thropus, more advanced physically than
Pithecanthropus but dating from about
the same general period.
ehnuy MnVlllS said.
that both these man-like creatures were
making tools. Moreover, man from the
beginning was developing different forms
of culture The Burma deposits show a
bridge between the human beings IN
Java and those in China million years
ago. shortly after the human species
evolved from some form of great ape
y Xxx
Blood serum from insane persons, from
patients who have been treated with
X-rays, and from doctors and nurses IN
X-ray laboratories has a demonstrably
poisonous effect on plants, it was reported
by Drs David l. and Moses B. Macht and
Dorothy B. Brooks OF Baltimore, before
the American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science here yesterday.
There is also some very poisonous sub
stance in the blood of lepers and persons
suffering from pernicious anemia, ira
choma and certain other skin diseases,
they said. This gives lead, they believe,
in seeking the cause of X-ray sickness.
The blood of all reptiles was found quite
poisonous to plants, but that Of the deadly
ones was no more harmful than that Of
those with no poison sacs.
A new fungous disease of golf courses
was described by Drs. c. c. Wernhaur
and r. S. Kirby of Pennsylvania State
College. 1t ruins grass on the fair
ways they said, and thrives at about
IS degrees Fahrenheit. 1t can be con-
trolled by light application of busting
sulphur. Extensive watering makes it
worse.
The deep South is drenched with 100
fold more heavy rains than the North
east, it was reported by DR.. Stephen S.
Visher of the University of Indiana.
In the weather records he found ac-
counts of 2l1 rains of more than 10
inches In "a hours. OF these, 43 were
in Florida and SO in Alabama. There
have been seven OF more than 20 inches
in Florida. The reason, he said, is be-
cause there are many more tropical
cyclones in the South. Thunderstorms,
which bring the heaviest rains in the
North, are twice as frequent south Of
the Potomac.
Two violent storms of $50 years ago
which might have changed history were
analyzed by Dr.. Charles F. Brooks Of
Harvard University They were reported
by Columbus as encountered near the
end of his first return voyage.
When he reached land, surprise was
expressed that his ships had weathered
the tempest, which had wrecked great
number of craft along the European
coast. He encountered, DR.. Brooks said.
a rare type of storm similar in every
way to one which passed over Gibraltar
In the winter of 1887 at q speed of SO
miles an hour.