Evening star., 1942-09-26
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook of Science PROGRESS
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas e. Henry.

BIZ Thomas r. Henry.
Life basically is an electrical phenom-
enon.
New proof OF this Is furnished by a
report of experiments with poultry eggs
| Just made to the National Academy of
Sciences here by DR.. Alexis L. Romanof
! of Cornell University and Dr. Arthur A.
| Bliss of the University of Florida.
An egg apparently is a dead thing
yet within it is the nucleus of what will
| become, by mild degree of heating over
a definite period, a living bird. The
nucleus is surrounded by the white and
| yolk of the egg. These will be incor-
porated into its body before 1t is born.
The Romanof- Bliss experiment con-
sisted first in measuring the difference
in electrical potential between this So
called "blastoderm" and the surrounding
material of the egg in which it is en-
bedded. 1t showed, among other things,
that the potential is much greater for
fertile eggs, where living thing actually
Is in existence in however primitive a
state. and infertile eggs.
DR.. Romanoff and DR.. Bliss then pro-
ceeded to subject the eggs to X-rays.
These knock electrons off the atoms and
both living and unliving matter and thus
increase the electricity inherent in them.
This resulted, they found, in increasing
appreclably the potential difference be-
tween the blastoderm and the egg al
bumln with which it is surrounded.
Up to certain point, they found, the
development Of the embryo in the egg
was stimulated by X-ray dosage. Beyond
this point 1t was stopped completely.
There are certain electrical borders
between which life is possible.
Much the same findings have been
made in the past with seeds-the eggs of
plants. With mild x-ray dosages they
sprout more quickly. Beyond this point
they become sterile.
At the same time they found a funda-
mental difference between animal and
plant life. On seeds the X-ray effect is
very marked. On eggs it is slight, and
delicate methods are required to detect
II. Inc dlf1erence, they believe is due to
the fact that the blastoderm of the egg
never is in condition of complete
dormancy as Is the seed.
Modern war may be considered to have
started with the introduction of gum
powder.
But to the military men of the age
the advantages over the swift and silent
DOW were far from obvious.
True, the musket would pronel q
deadly missile little farther. but it was
little more accurate, was clumsy and
noisy, and required longer to load and
discharge.
The bow has been the prime weapon
OF warfare and the chase for at least
tWo-thlrds of human history, it is shown
by an exhibit of primitive weapons from
the worldwide collections of the Smith
sonlan Institution.
1t has undergone a remarkable deve1-
opment In many lands. The origin is
buried in the mists of pre-history. but it
was relatively late conner among prini-
tive weapons. The first ancestors of the
Indians to come to the New World GER
tainly knew nothing of it.
Perhaps the best generaI-purpose how
known to man was developed by the
Alaskan Eskimo. Only the English long
bow can challenge its superiority. 1t was
composite, made up of several LAYERS of
alternate wood and sinew. tightly bound
together. This increased the strength of
the bow and the distance and penetrat-
ing power of the arrow.
Inc Eskimo bow undoubtedly is de-
rived from the same source as the more
elaborate, and probably less efficient
weapon used by the Tartar hordes of
e'heIgls khan. 1t was less efficient for
one reason, because considerably more
strength was required to flex it: and it
PROBABLY could not be fired so quickly.
BY far the most elaborate development
OF the oow-and-arrow type of weapon
was the cross bow, which In E1,rone
reached its greatest development In the
10th and 18th centuries.
~ was d UoW COnDlneQ with a stock
IKE the stock of gun, and had a trip-
ger release. This was an important
weapon with the Roman legions. AS the
centuries passed 1t became more and
more powerful, and more and more diff
hcult to handle. At least in it's later
stages, crank and windlass were nec-
essary to flex it.
Inc weapon began to lose its military
significance at the Battle of Crecv in
1916 when Venetian cross -bowmen, the
pest IN Europe, were slaughtered by the
English yeomen armed with the long
DOW, lighter and easier to handle. The
venetian wore a belt around his waist
attached to block and tackle. He proh-
ably required at least minute to reload
after each shot, whereas with the Enp-
hshman this was only a matter of sec
onds.
one weapon in the Smithsonian COL
lection is a German stirrup bow of the
10Th century. The bowman put his foot
IN stirrup in order to f1ex it. More
cumbersome still is steel bow used for
deer hunting which could not be f1exed
without crank and Windlass.
But for all its cumbersomeness the
cross DOW was terrible and effective
weapon and for many years CHALLENGED
the value of gunpowder 1t played an
important part in the Spanish conquest
OF the New World especially in the
hands of COrteZ'S troonarc II, Eoy;oo