Evening star., 1947-09-18
MYSTERIOUS X Factor in Milk
Reported by District Chemists

Weidlich in Germany independently
made from steroids a curious acid
which was found to have some es-
trogenic activity. The observations
were confusing, however, and DR.
Doisy withdrew his statement after
preliminary announcement.
The work continued in Germany
resulting finally in the synthesis OF
very complex substance now known
as is-dehydro-d -doisynolic acid which
has proved valuable in treating
women for some of the maladies of
middle age. The powerful regen-
orator of the female instincts rep
resents one further step along the
same line. the effects of which on
human beings have not yet been
tested.
Synthesis of still another female
sex hormone that helps prevent mis-
carriages was announced at the
same meeting by DR.. Maximilian
Ehrenstein of the University OF
Pennsylvania. The new drug, called
anhydrohydroxy progesterona, is
prepared from cholersterol, an al
cohol which is abundant in many
animal tissues. 1t marks an i'm
portant advance in prenatal care
because 1t can be taken by mouth
while it has been necessary to in
ject previous preparations which
served the same purpose. A SINH
lar and more active compound of the
same sort has been prepared from
strophanthin, a heart drug similar
to digitalis. 1t is too expensive
however, to be widely used.
Jet Helicopter Envisioned.
Prospects of jet-propelled hell
copter, with tiny ram-jet engines
mounted at the tips of the rotor
blades which would whirl them
around like a pinwheel, were ex-
planned to the society by Drs. James
w. Mullen and John B. Fem of the
Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp
The great difficulty, it was ex-
planned, is that the blades must be
moving at almost the speed OF
sound before the ram Jet mech
anism becomes practical. The
hurdle that had to be overcome be-
fore the ram jet was evolved, the
chemists said, was stabilization OF
the flame so that it would not be
swept out of the rear of the engine
by the fast-moving air stream
Now, they reported, a successful
flame holder has been designed and
a lightweight material has been
found for the combustion chamber
which can Withstand enormous
heat which is generated. The in
tensity of the combustion Is from
/ 900 to 10000 times greater than
that reached in q household oil
burner.
Dr. Bates HonOred.
Accomplishments of DR.. Frederick
j. Bates. head of the sugar section
of the Bureau Of Standards, were
honored at special scientific session
of the Chemical Society's sugar divi-
sion yesterday afternoon and a din
ner last night.
DR.. Bates has been chiefly instru-
mental in developing the present
methods Of assaying sugar used at
United States ports and has pre-
pared the first pure samples of dex-
trose and levulose.
Also, it was pointed out at the
scientific session. workers under his
immediate direction have discovered
and isolated 13 new sugars in the
last few years. These exist in nature
in extremely minute amounts and
are in the class of scientific curiosi-
ties, valuable for the light they throw
on the structure of the sugar
molecule.
Bureau Of Standards workers
speaking at the session were DR.
Horace S. Isbell, Carl r. Snyder,
Emma j. Mcdonald, Harriet L,
Frusch and Victor r. DietZ.