Evening star., 1946-05-19
HowMuch Zoom { C<anWeStand?

than any of the four footed animals
since he has been conditioned for the
past few million years during which he
has walked erect to displacement of his
center Of gravity. He has not quite
adjusted to it yet and several serious
maladies sometimes are attributed
basically to this displacement. the
heart, for example, must work harder
to pump blood uphill to the brain.
It also Is believed that women would
show about the same superiority to men
as female cats to male cats. This may
indicate that fighter pilots flying 1000
mile-per-hour jet planes in another war
will be largely women.
Conditioning the Body
To Sustained High C.
Dr. Britton and his associates found
that it was possible to condition the
body to high "g' over a considerable
period. Eighteen rats were exposed at
first to very light accelerations which
were increased from day to day. When
they were brought up to the hitherto
lethel limit Of Is 6, half of them sur
vived the experience, whereas otherwise
nearly all would have died.
Dogs were exposed for various periods
up to 80 minutes to 6 g-about the same
as that which causes blackout in pilots
for 200 days. Apparently the animals
grew to like the experience and leaped
in eager anticipation when the ex-
perimenter appeared. Various drugs,
especially hormones from the adrenal
and pituitary glands, seemed to increase
resistance. Rats kept under low baro-
metric pressure sufficient to produce
prostration every few days withstood the
tests much better than others. Twen-
ty-nine male rats were immersed in
ice cold water for 5 minutes, after
which they were subjected to 12o revolu-
tions minute for 2 minutes. OF these,
10 survived, but only out Of 36 which
had not been given the cold-water treat.
ment survived at the same time.
There is obviously an enormous strain
on the heart as it tries to pump blood
to the various organs against centrifu-
gal force. At first the heart beat in.
creases rapidly but it afterward slows
down-apparently as the organ gets
tired. The rate Of breathing is in
creased. Most curious was the fact
that marked changes were noted in
brain waves during the whirling ex.
periences..
Alcohol appeared to have no effect,
Some of the animals we're placed in the
rotating device too drunk to stand.
Animals Withstood
Tremendous Force
Animals surviving various tests were
killed and autopsied Small hemorrhages
were observed in various organs but
usually damage was almost unobserv.
able-a surprising fact in view of the
tremendous forces to which internal
organs must have been subjected. It
Is not yet possible to say what causes
death. Perhaps it is the terrific shock
to the whole system.
Until some Of the weird experiences
OF the late war human beings had re-
mained completely unconscious of "g"
as force constantly working on them.
selves. But, DR.. Britton shows in his
report on his experiments, it is present
all the time
For instance, he says, if two men,
each weighing about $50 pounds, were
initially at rest in free space-where
no other gravitational forces would
be acting on them-60 feet, or about
the width of street, apart they would
be brought together by gravity in about
two years and find themselves pressed
close together without realizing that
they had ever changed position.
DR.. Britton calculates that human
being, especially a woman, probably
could stand from four to six "g" about
10 minutes without fatal conse.
quences. The experiment would be
impossible. however, because the sub.
ject would become unconscious verv
quickly so that there could be no con.
troll over reactions enabling the test
to be stopped when it reached the
danger point.