Evening star., 1941-11-29
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
Bu Thomas r. Henri.

0y 4ftOHtuo ~. [IC" ".
If the present birth rate continues the
United States will have population of
1520O0,000 in 1980-an increase of 20
100000 in approximately 40 years.
Such is the calculation of DR.. Guy
Irving Burch, director of the Population
Reference Bureau here.
The allegedly declining birth rate Of
the American people, he says, has
been the subject of gross misrepresenta-
ton both by university statisticians and
the United States Census Bureau.
Actually, the race is slightly more than
perpetuating itself, although it is prob
able that there will be still further
decline in the proportion Of babies born
each year to the number of adults. His
calculations are based on an assumed Is
per cent decline in the birth rate.
THE population of the United States"
he declares, is now increasing about
100000 a year with an average size
family of about two and half children.
Some have advocated families of four
children. This would cause much
millions were added to the population
from year to year the annual increase
would grow larger and larger and would
soon result in a dangerous population
imitation such as we find in so many low
standard Of living countries in Europe
and Asia.
"One OF the dangers of a high birth
rate is that the more the population
increases in the near future the more it
will have to increase in the distant fu-
ture to keep its age groups fairly we'll
| balanced. This is one of the many tricks
of population growth which has repeat
edly baf1ed nations throughout history.
| II is one of the reasons why the adj
mttedly overcroWded countries of Ger
| many, Japan and Italy feel they must
| continue to keep their birth rates high.
| 1t is vicious circle which not only
| leads to war but ultimately to miserable
| economic and social conditions which
invite famine and pestilence.
When all the available evidence is
| considered it appears that the safest
population policy for the United States
would be gradually to decrease the birth
rate per thousand population about 25
per cent during the next 40 years. This
will still increase the population 10000
| 600 and at the same time keep our age
groups fairly we'll balanced"
The ideal population for America with
| its physical resources, Dr. Burch believes,
is about 100000 900, as it was at the
start of the first World War.
Even now, he says, we have more po-
| tential soldiers than we can afford to
Mechanic or efficiently organize"
method of making cheese essentially
| indistinguishable from Roquefort Cor
gonzola. Stilton and other celebrated
European delicacies by factory system
has been patented by the Washington
State College.
Importation of most of these products
has been cut off by the war and Ameri-
can supplies are at the vanishing point.
Under the method worked out by DR..
Norman S. Golding of the State College
staff, they can be "ripened in the can
and placed on the market at much
lower price than the European cheeses
or their American limitations.
The characteristic flavorS of all these
| cheeseS are due to certain moldS grow
ing under just the right conditions OF
temperature and humidity which. their
producers claim, cannot be duplicated
Roquefort, for instance, is produced only
in certain caves in Southern France. The
|
meated with the required mold, pencil
lium roqueforti, for more than century
Although the mold itself has beer
brought to the United States, nobody has
succeeded in duplicating entirely the
Roquefort flavor. Experiments have beer
made in an abandoned Pennsylvania Goa
mine and in various caves through
the Middle West, where condition.
seemed to be Identical with those in the
caves of RoQuefort. The United State:
Department of Agriculture maintains {
constant culture of the mold which, it:
| experts believe, is identical with the
French organism.
DR.. Golding makes his "cave climate
in can. First, as he describes ths
process in his patent application, tht
cheese made of sheep milk is inoculateo
with the desired strain of blue molC
which is grown on bread crumbs. 1t il
then placed in ripening room where
the air must be under absolute contro
| of the operator. He describes the Rogue
fort process as an example, equally ap
plicable to cheeses made with other kind
of molds with slight variations in con
| ditionS.
The atmosphere of the ripening room
is a combination of oxygen, nitrogen ant
carbon dioxide, which can be varied a
will. The desirable molds, Dr. Goldins
claims, make their greatest growth
shortly after the cheese is placed in thi
room. The different gases in the at
mosphere must be varied in amount a
1t is desired to speed up or inhibi
growth.
The Roquefort mold grows normally il
temperature of about SIS degree
Fahrenheit, with exactly the proper de
gree of moisture. It can be held in checl
by sailing the cheese to exactly the righ
degree. At first the concentration o
carbon dioxide in the air of the ripenin
room from small part OF per cent, it
normal concentration in the atmosphere
: to approximately 10 per cent. This seem
: to be Just right to stimulate the growtl
of the mold.
The great danger in making theS