The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1942-08-15

his column.
with the invention of the micro
scope and the discovery of the
X-ray."
These are the opening words in
an article in a very conservative
medical journal, and the state
mcnt certainly is startling be-
cause the microscope and the
X-ray have been instruments of
continuous usefulness.
Some of my readers may re-
member that described this work
last summer after | had visited
with Professor Lawrence at the
University of California and had
seen the giant cyclotron. With this
it is possible to make chemicals
radioactive and then to administer
them TO an animal and detect
where they light and begin to op-
crate in the body.
Use Of Detector
For instance, saw a laboratory
worker swallow some radioactive
iodine. Within ten minutes he took
a detector and put it over his thy
roid gland and it ratified off like a
barrage Of machine guns. When
he placed it over the muscles of his
leg, it was silent. We know, of
course, that the thyroid gland uses
iodine in its chemical machinery,
that, in fact, it is made up largely
of iodine, but nothing | ever saw
demonstrated how exclusively TO-
dine is used and localized in the
thyroid tissue as did that expert
fment.
IL can readily be seen from this
example how much we can learn
from this instrument about the &C
ton of the various minerals and
chemicals that go into the body
where they exert their action and
how they are concentrated.
There is another element to the
experiments in that when it is
lhlpNu NHCic a Nei bdii NHcHliNdi
naturally goes, radioactive par
ticles of il can be put in the body
and they will exert radioactivity
at the very site where it is needed
most.
Experiments with Phosphorus
Thus phosphorus. while it is a
part of all living cells. goes after
being swallowed almost directly to
the bones. There it lights in the
bone marrow where the blood
cells are formed. Now certain
blood diseases, the leukemlas, in
which an excessive amount Of
blood cells are formed, can be
controlled by using radioactive
agents such as the X-ray over the
region of the marrow of the long
homes. How much more effective
it would seem to be to send some
radioactive atoms of phosphorus
directly into the marrow and let
them do this work. Already ex-
periments along this line have
been tried.
Again, take iron-a familiar
substance forming a large part
Of all blood cells. One would think
we had found out all about iron.
But there are some mysteries sur
rounding it. II helps some anemias
and not others. By the use Of
radioactive iron atoms it has been
found that if your bodily stores Of
iron are not depleted you can eat
all the iron you want and the body
will not absorb one bit Of it. 1t
all stays in and passes through the
intestine.
The same thing is true Of vita
min B. II you have plenty in. the
diet, the body does not absorb any
extra amount Of it no matter
whether you take it by mouth, by
hypodermic, by vein or how. About
10 per cent Of the body's vitamin B
is destroyed anyway every "a
hours.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
B. Z. SWIM grapefruit juice
help to prevent colds? Does it have
more effect than orange juice as
an alkalinizer? How does it COM
pare for vitamin C? Would it be
harmful to take a large 8 or 10
ounce glassful every morning and
again in the afternoon?
Answer: Grapefruit has $50
units Of vitamin C per average
helping as compared to the orange
average ranging from 760 to 1910.
The alkalinizing ability of the two
is about the same. No harm would
result from taking the amount of
grapefruit juice you mention. | am
not convinced that fruits Of any
kind prevent colds.