Evening star., 1941-03-23
Rhythm Birth Control
Upset by Tests That
Show lis Guesswork
100000 Electric Meter
Readings at Yale Prove
Theory Can't Be Relied On
BY HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE,
Associated Press Science Editor.

BY HOWARD w. BLAkESLEE,
Associated Press Science Editor.
NEW HAVEN, Conn, March o.
Rhythm birth control, tested by a
million readings on little electric
meter at Yale University, has turned
into a scientific disappointment.
It's cardinal principle, one brief,
rhythmitally recurring period of
fertility. alike for all women, is
virtually wrecked by the meter.
A rhythm is shown to exist, a
major one. But it is too variable to
be consistently relied upon. The
findings are published here in a re-
cent issue of the Yale Journal of
Biology and Medicine by Dorothy
6. Barton.
This latest method of birth con-
troll got off to a dramatic start when
surgeons, during major operations,
began to look for human ova. With
out exception, those ready for fer
tilization appeared at the same time
OF month for all the women seen.
Surgery Verified Coincidence.
But this sort of surgical case was
too infrequent for certainty To
solve the riddle, H. S. Burr and L.
K. Musselman, at Yale, undertook
an analysis of an electrical current
which flows between the index
fingers of all human beings.
The current is minute. 1t can be
detected on meter by the differ
ence in potential between these
fingers on either hand. The differ
ence averages 4 or thousandths of
. volt.
On women. but not on men. this
voltage was found to jump to 20 or
30 for a few hours each month. The
time OF this electrical peak corre-
sponded to the rhythm control
period.
For real evidence, woman about
TO have major abdominal oper-
alton was placed under observation.
surgeons agreed to hold up the
operation until this woman's peak
electrical current appeared. That
was done, and the surgery verified
the coincidence of electricity and
fertility.
Later other groups of scientists
verified the same coincidence in
nearly dozen women undergoing
surgery.
Rabbits and Rats Show 1t.
Rabbits and rats, on which it was
easy to get conclusive proof, showed
this electrical peak, and that it was
certainly a sign of the fertility
period.
Furthermore, in the animals this
always occurred at regular. brief
time. The similarity was so striking
that rats paws even showed the
current like human fingers.
Dorothy Barton then undertook
the readings, which already have
run above a'million on 70 women.
These readings changed the picture.
They were taken on nurses, graduate
Students instructors, technicians.
secretaries and housewives.
The meters these women used
fltted inside ordinary lunch boxes.
For this work meter has to be
handy for several readings each "a
hours. The telltale voltage may last
only few hours and might easily
be missed.
Mysterious Current.
The apparatus Is simple. It COM
prises a nicrovoltmeter, two non
polarizable electrodes and two re-
ceptacles containing a saline solu-
ton. The index finger tips are
placed in the liquid in these re-
spective dishes" and the voltages
read on the meter.
This electrical current is direct.
Sometimes it registers positive,
sometimes negative. The reason for
this difference in sign, or flow. is
not known. Nor is the difference
Of any apparent Importance.
A popularity of this electricity is
that it comes from the skin. 1t
does not appear to flow from organs
directly.
The electric talltale showed. first.
that there is one time of the month
when the majority of women exhibit
the electrical peak. That time,
moreover, Is the midmonth on which
the rhythm birth control has been
resting.
But the meter showed, also, that
there are many exceptions. The
high voltages appeared at all times