The Wilmington morning star., 1944-07-02
BY HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE
Associated Press Science Editor


NEW YORK, July 1-"Japan's
secret weapon" as described in a
new book of that title by Barclay
Newman, is bacterial, fungus, virus
and cancer warfare.
Bacterial and fungus warfare
have been discussed before; virus
war is something new, and cancer
warfare is both new and fantastic.
Barclay Newman, a 1923 Prince.
ton graduate in biology, has had
both teaching and research expert
ence. The research was done while
in the U. S. Public Health Service,
On malaria, in Mississippi, Geor-
ga, Panama and Costa Rica. He
taught biology and chemistry IN
the Brooklyn academy, prep
school, and has written biology
textbooks.
The book quotes DR.. Thomas
Parran, surgeon general of the U.
S., as saying in 1912, THE enemy
has planned and in my opinion will
use bacterial warfare wherever
possible" Newman then tells of
six Chinese towns upon which ap-
anese planes dropped rice, wheat
and fleas infected W i t h bubonic
plague, or black death. These, he
says, were laboratory tests.
Chinese medical records show d
few cases of the black death after
each raid, but they do not show
that these outbreaks spread to be-
come epidemics. Unless disease
will spread, in a true epidemic,
bacterial warfare is futile.
(There is a possibility, however,
that the black death seeds sowed
three years ago yet may produce
an epidemic Lieut.. Gen. Robert
Kho-sheng Linn, chief of the super
yis1ry and planning commission Of
the Chinese army, told me at the
recent American Medical associa
ton meeting in Chicago that rats
with buboaic plague are beginning
20 lie foual il Changteh. A Japa-
nese plane scattered infected rice
there in 1941.
General Linn has maintained
commission sf plague expects n
Ihsngteh evec since a week after
the bacterial stack. Directly as
a result of ti1= plane attack there
were seven human cases, the first
if the reco. ds of Changteh, no
since.
(But human cases are not the
peril in black death. The disease
is spread by fleas from rats sick
with the plague, and the presence
ct infected rats was not known
there before the Japanece air at
tack. Whenever enough rats get
sick, the black death spreads to
hLmans.)
Newman does not say how the
japanese expect to overcome the
of starting epidemics.
His emphasis is on the evidence
that, as the Japanese are prepar-
ing war with disease, we should
to meet this threat of what
he calls oligodynarnic warfare.
"Oligo," he explains, means
little. Dynamic speaks for itself.
Tie Japanese have always tried
to do so much with so little to 50
many"
Head of this warfare, he says,
is Prof. Doctor Yoneji Miyagawa,
director of the government institu-
ton for Infectious diseases of the
Tokyo Imperial university.
It's well-known fact that in lab
oratores it is possible to increase
the virulence of almost any micro
or virus. This is done by breed
ing, and it is routine with bacteri-
organism, whether bacteria, fungus
ologists all over the world, as an
aio in understanding and combat
ting diseases.
Ten weapons" are said to be
in the making. Newman identifies
them as:
l. Malaria-which, even without
propagation is the worlds greatest
single cause of death, and, to date
the most serious military disease.
Newman claims that the defeat
on Bataan was fastened by ma
laria-spreading done by the Japa-
nese. He cites three reasons: first,
the malaria incidence on Bataan
was so high that it can scarcely
be explained except as due partly
to bacterial warfare; second, he
claims that American health Off