Evening star., 1942-09-01
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress.
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas f. Henry.

| SNHN StH0y
By Thomas E. Henry.
Experiments on the growth OF corn,
indicating that physical change depends
upon electrical phenomena, which re-
Gently have been reported from the Yale
University School of Medicine, may help
bridge the gap between living organisms
and lifeless matter.
After q 10-year study of the electrical
properties Of living things, Prof. Harold
| S. Burr for the first time has measured
simultaneously the rate of corn growth
| by means of electrical discharges and
| moving pictures. He has found that
growth is rhythmic and regular, giving
of electrical impulses ranging from Is
to IS -thousandths of volt-about
enough electricity to operate relay
which would turn on an electric light.
BY measuring these electrical i'm
pulses, DR.. Burr says, he has been able
| to follow hour by hour the steady growth
| of corn roots. Also, when internal
structural changes are taking place, the
amount of voltage recorded by the plant
changes abruptly. This same change in
electrical energy output has also been
noted in other plants and animals.
| In addition to his research on corn,
DR.. Burr has studied the electrical out
put Of heartbeats. wound healing, cancer
and growth Of the nervous system. The
brain, as might be expected, has been
found to be a reservoir of electrical
energy.
He combined photography with cleo
tricity and has more than 800 feet of
motion picture film showing the actual
stages of growth in addition to electri-
cal measurements.
The discharges given off by plants
and animals are indications of the ex-
tent Of the electrical reservoir, or power
plant, which each organism possesses.
1t can be measured at all times during
life and disappears with death
Corn and grass roots when measured
Tor electrical output show astonishing
| stability in voltages, Dr. Burr reports.
The more rapid fluctuations in electri-
I
structural changes in plants. acted curl
ously like brain waves in animals.
These electrical impulses, he says
probably are primary and cause and
| direct all activity in plants and animals
from microscopical bacteria to man.
Our work suggests that electricity is
one of the fundamental factors in all
| USf net a.
living world. Chemists and physicists
know that atomic particles, such as cleo
irons, protons and neutrons, are essen
TALLY electrically charged particles at
the base of all organic life Now we are
able to observe that electricity seems to
bridge the gap between the lifeless world
and living matter"
-
A hitherto unsuspected potency of
ascorbic acid, or vitamin c, in preventing
death from shock-perhaps the chief
reason for wound fatality-has just been
found by British and French physiolo-
gists working at Oxford University.
Ascorbic acid is plentiful in lemon and
lime juices, which may find a new place
in military diets.
The experimenters first anesthetized
guinea pigs and then dropped weights
on them
They found, naturally, that the heavier
the weight dropped from given height
the more likely 1t was to kill the animal
and the symptoms were usually those OF
shock in human beings.
weight of 81 kilograms dropped
from the selected height always killed
the guinea pig. But ii ascorbic acid had
been injected under its skin just before
the weight was dropped, at a rate of 1oC
mllllgrams per kilogram Of body weight
the creature almost always survived
II the same amount was injected an
hour later, when the creature was far
gone IN shock, 1t survived about so per
cent Of the time.
The dosage is far in excess of the
amount needed in the diet to maintain
normal health. The chief value of the
vitamin is as scurvy preventative.
A guinea pig, like man, cannot syn
thesize vitamin G In its own intestines
A rat can- So the experiments were re-
peated with rats and essentially the same
results obtained. This leads to the con-
clusion that In cases of shock the SUBJ
stance does not act as vitamin, but as
an extremely potent drug, the behavior
Of which is unknown.
The experiments are being conducted
under the direction OF DR.. S. Zuckerman
formerly OF the Yale faculty. Results
with guinea pigs and rats have been
reported TO the British Association for
the Advancement Of Science by Dr.
Georges Ungar, member of the Free
French forces now in England