Evening star., 1941-09-04
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory. Field
And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.

| The first experiments to determine
inherent tastes for liquor have just been
reported by Dr. Curt P. Richter of Johns
Hopkins University.
He started with rats. Previous expert
| ments had shown that these animals,
| when offered a free choice of foods,
naturally select what they like. Their
tastes have not been perverted by edu-
cation and custom.
The test animals were allowed a
choice of distilled water alone or dis
titled water containing from / to per
cent alcohol. The latter is about the
concentration in beer. DR.. Richter found
that up to 6 per cent the rats almost
invariably preferred alcohol to water.
They would not touch the drug, how
ever, in higher concentrations.
This shows, he holds, that alcohol, to
the degree present in beer, may have
a definite food value.
He has now shifted the same expert
ment to humans-adults and children.
The work still is in very preliminary
| stage, he reports in the Quarterly Jour-
nal Of Studies on Alcohol, but already
| some striking results have been obtained.
THE subjects" he says, "are seated
| at table opposite the experimenter,
| and two l-ounce glasses are placed in
| their hands. At the outset, both glasses
| contain distilled water. Then one glass
| is filled with subliminal-below the
| threshold Of taste concentration of
| alcohol.
THE subjects did not know they were
| getting alcohol. We used 95 per cent
| ethyl alcohol which had been re-
distilled over citric acid. This redistila-
| ton eliminates the bitter taste present
in ordinary laboratory alcohol It was
| not until the concentration reached 3
per cent that the subjects recognized a
definite taste. Adults then stated, for
the first time, that they recognized the
taste of whisky or alcohol. Carried into
higher concentrations, some adults found
the taste unpleasant even with per
cent, while others liked it, preferring
alcohol to water in all concentrations UP
to and including so per cent.
I'VE have tested 70 children of ages
varying from to 10 years. Like the
adults, they did not get definite taste
| until the concentration reached 3 per
cent. Then they stated that they tasted
cough medicine-and few stated alco-
| mol. whisky or wine. OF special interest
is the fact that. although most of the
children did not like the alcohol solu-
tions in concentrations above 10 to Is
per cent. about 8 per cent stated that
they like it up through SO per cent.
Are these latter children the poten-
tlal drinkers? Do other individuals stop
drinking because the alcohol tastes un-
pleasant to them? Do they like it be-
cause it satisfies a real need? Do they
have defective taste mechanism? We
have found some children who are un-
able to taste 20 per cent sugar solu-
ton. Is the taste defect inherited?
These are some of the questions that
have arisen from the preliminary ex-
perlments and to which we hope. before
long, TO give more definite answers"
Hltlers alleged pep pills" supposedly
| used to lessen the fatigue and increase
the endurance of soldiers, apparently are
getting cold reception from the Ameri-
can Medical Association.
Tablets Of benzedrine sulfate were re-
ported to have been issued to German
troops during the fighting in France
last spring.
The effects of this drug, long known
as cure for "hangovers" and as a
means of staying awake when studying
for examinations, are the basis of one of
the principal reports in the associa-
tion'S new journal, War Medicine. The
| study was conducted by Drs. A. C. Ivy
and L. R. Krasno of Northwestern Uni
versity, and it relates some of the Ger
man experiments which may have been
the basis for its supposed issuance to
Reich troops
1T is undoubtedly powerful drug
when administered by a competent
| physician" they say ITO use it to dis
| pei or ameliorate sleepiness and the
sense Of fatigue in normal persons is not
advisable because there is no known sub
I stitute for rest and sleep. In most per-
sons it certainly promotes wakefulness
and feeling of well being and decreases
fatigue and the boredom of performing
| tedious work over long periods. 1t tends
to improve psychomotor activity in the
majority of subjects-especially when
work tends to be monotonous"
But, they continue, "the effect of the
drug on persons whose duties require
| highly technical maneuvers and the
manifestation of specialized judgment in
the presence of anxiety has not been
adequately studied. The effect on the
physiological processes and performance
of persons who have carried on arduous
| physical work during the day and must,
because of an emergency, work at night
has not been adequately studied"
The effects, they point out, are not
very much greater than those of caffeine
Most persons know how coffee effects
| them and can use 1t with Judgment
They do not know what the effects of
benzedrine will be.
Moreover, they say, it cannot be proved
that the drug Is not habit-forming
Nearly everything that does promote a
sense of well-being is likely to have
such an effect on the nervous system
and Uncle Sam does not want to turn
a lot of drug-craving veterans out OF
the Army.
Experiments have shown, they say
that in some persons a deep depression
is produced, just as alcohol makes few