Evening star., 1942-04-28
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook of Science Progress.
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henry.

| 6y lHOHIuS ~. HtHg.
A person inhaling cigaret draws
/ into the lungs every minute approx
mately 10000 900 particles, each OF
which is about 100 times the size of
| molecule of air.
| At the same time the burning tip
of the cigaret Is discharging into the
atmosphere close to loo, 900 900 900 such
| particles.
One lighted gas burner in the kitchen
( produces in the air of the room 100, ,0oo,-
| 900. 900 900 Of the infinitesimsbly minute
| bits of dust every minute.
| With the kitchen doors and windows
closed. one breathes in about 100, ,000,-
o0o, 900 Of them every go seconds.
From the breath itself In the open
air approximately 200, 900, 900 are exhaled
with every respiration.
These determinations have just been
reported by the department of terrestrial
magnetism of the Carnegie Institution
of Washington.
particles still is unknown. 1t is known
only that they arise from all processes
OF combustion, even the slow-burning
fires of life There is some evidence
that they may act as disease carriers.
One might conclude, says DR.. @. r.
Waite, Carnegie Institution physicist
who conducted the experiments. that
of ne
increase indefinitely in the kitchen with
ventilation shut of, but he has deter
mined that such cannot be the case.
Many of them coagulate. few adhere
to the walls, and some fall to the floor.
AS a result there Is a certain limiting
number in any room. In space IL
feet square with a 12-foot ceiling he
has determined, this would be about
16, 1000 900 per cubic centimeters.
About rs per cent of the particles,
he has found, are without electric
charge, while the remaining Is per cent
are about equally divided between posi-
tive and negative charges.
One of the most prolific sources of
them, says DR.. Waite, is the automobile
exhaust.
1T may be fortunate" he says, that
the exhaust generally is not confined
to closed rooms. In the outside air 1t
rapidly becomes diluted with air con-
tanning but few particles, so that one
seldom breathes in an appreciable
number"
The existence of these particles, he
says, probably is the reason one can
see ones breath on a cold morning.
The exhaled moisture condenses around
them.
Navy doctors, aided by human volun-
teers from among enlisted men Of the
Navy Medical Corps, have prepared
new influenza vaccine which appears to
be potent against influenza B, the second
most prevalent form of the malady.
Nearly 18 months ago Drs. F. L. Hors-
fall, E. H. Lennette and E. r. Rickard
of the Rockefeller Foundation reported
that they had obtained for the first
time a vaccine which, in test-tube
experiments, afforded protection against
the most common form, influenza A.
The blood serum of persons treated
with this substance showed a greatly
increased resistance to the disease
organism.
Tested in the face of oncoming cpl
denies, it has been found that the
vaccine gives about so per cent protec-
tion-that is, only about half as many
persons get the malady as normally
would be expected. The treatment,
however, gave practically no protection
against the B type, apparently due to
a quite different virus, which may cause
epidemics of its own or be mixed with
the A epidemics.
To meet this challenge the Navy
established a special unit headed by
| Comdr A. P. Kruger at the University
of California. They first prepared
vaccine of the living virus grown, as is
that of influenza A, in chicken embryos
in incubated eggs-now the common
method of producing vaccines.
This was tested on mice, first infected
with influenza B, by inoculations into
| the brain. While it seemed fairly ef1ec-
| tive, some Of the animals died of
| brain Inflammation which, 1t was feared,
might be due to some specific property
| of the B virus. Because of these re-
suits it was considered inadvisable to
use the active B virus for inoculation
| of human beings.
The next step was to kill the virus
by mixing 1t with formaldehyde. The
new vaccine was found highly protective
against mice without causing any un-
toward results, and enlisted men were
asked to volunteer as subjects. Men
between 20 and 30 years of age were
chosen. They we're inoculated with both
B and A vaccines at the same time.
1t was found that the vaccinations
gave the men-judging from the in
crease Of antibodies in their blood
about the same degree of protection
as would be afforded for several
months at least by an actual attack
of influenza B.
The results of the experiments have
lust been reported to the United States
Public Health Service.
Questions Statement of Fact
| Inc