Evening star., 1942-11-28
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
By Thomas r. Henru.

oy tCVGQS N. HCUTX.
A method of reducing liver to a fine
brown powder has been worked out by
chemists Of the Department of Agri-
culture in cooperation with a large
packing company.
Thus one of the richest sources of
vitamins and minerals now Joins milk
and eggs in a form which can be pre-
served indefinitely without refrigeration
and which takes up only about a fifth
of the original space.
Hitherto it has been possible to send
liver abroad, or even to the domestic
market, only by keeping it constantly
frozen.
First 1t was explained by chemists of
the Department of Agricultures engine
laboratory, the liver is reduced COM
pletely to liquid by treating 1t with the
enyzme papain, derived from the papaya
fruit. This has been used extensively
In the past to tenderize steaks and other
meats. Essentially papain is digestive
juice and meat treated with 1t has been
partially digested before it is cooked. In
the case of liver the digestion" is al
lowed to go several steps further.
Once the liquid is formed the water,
which constitutes at least 80 per cent
OF its substance, is taken out by means
OF the vacuum spray dryer-the same
apparatus used for powdering milk and
eggs. Afterwards, water can be restored
or the powder can be mixed with other
materials for cooking.
Liver ordinarily Is rich in iron, copper,
most Of the vitamin B complex and
vitamin A. Its value in preserving keen
eyeslght at night was known both to the
Egyptians and the Chinese as early as
1900 BIC. 1t also contains one or more
OF the principles essential In preventing
and curing various forms of anemia.
Presumably all these elements are re-
tanned in the dried form, although the
work is so new that there has not been
time for any animal experiments. How
ever, the Department Of Agriculture
chemists say, nothing but water has
been taken out. A significant possibility
is that the new product will form part
of concentrated foods for troops. Like
dried milk and eggs, it will be important
for shipping abroad
4 *H4
Americas drug addiction problem has
been cut almost in half by the war
Hitherto the United States Public
Health Service has maintained two large
hospitals for the treatment of these un-
fortunates-one at Lexington, KY, and
one at Fort Worth, Tex. Within the
past few months it has been possible to
turn over greater part of the latter to
insane patients, moved from other Gov
ernment hospitals to make room for men
from the Army and Navy.
Now only about 1000 patients are
under treatment and few new cases are
being reported.
The biggest factor in the decrease,
says DR.. Lawrence Kolb, in charge Of
drug addiction work for the Public
Health Service, has been the decrease
In smuggling. Traffic from the countries
from which opium and opium derivatives
were smuggled in the past practically
has been eliminated. The chief sources
were China, Yugoslavia, Turkey and
Egypt.
There have been no very serious conse-
quences of this deprivation, says DR..
Kolb. The idea that drug addicts 90
wild when deprived of the stimulant. he
declares, has been exaggerated. Actually
what they do is seek surcease from their
cravings in whisky, which does not lead
so quickly to the same fatal consequences.
One of the great difficulties in the past,
he says, has been that the drug addict
took to drink soon after being discharged
from a Federal hospital as cured" This
satisfied his cravings for time, but
soon brought him back to narcotics
again. Now he must stick to liquor. He
may become confirmed drunkard, but
at least he does not go violently "hay-
| wire"
| There have been no striking new de-
| velopments in treatment, DR.. Kolb says.
Public Health Service doctors have about
given up hope of any specific treatment
for drug addiction. At least all those
proposed in the past have proved failures.
The present treatment for men ad-
| dicted to any of the derivatives of opium
is to take them entirely off the drug,
but give them hypnotic injections so that
they can sleep at night. In some cases
such drug as codeine is used. Also they
are given doses of glucose, or blood sugar,
to relieve the violent symptoms of a man
taken off opium and to prevent the
striking loss of weight, which is one of
the chief results.
With this treatment, he afirms, men
go out of the Federal hospitals ap-
parently completely cured They stay
cured until their inherent craving for
some sort of stimulant drives them to