Evening star., 1948-08-30
Stars, Men and Atoms
Sleeping Sickness Study
lsolutes Ancestor Virus
Organism Believed to Be Basic One
In Various Forms of Disease
By Themas n. Henry

ny lH0H0S N. HEnry
A probable ancestor virus" has been dis
covered by University Of California scientists.
1t is minute organism recovered from
bird mites which causes q fatal Inflammation
in the brain tissues Of guinea piss-a form
of encephalitis, or sleeping sickness"
About 10 varieties of this disease are known
in the world Each, presumably, Is due to q
different virus. Vaccine produced with one
organism is useless against any Of the others.
When this organism Is used, however, there
is some degree Of protection, If sufficiently
large doses Of vaccine are given, against at
least eight forms. There apparently is COM
plete protection against the two most known
and dreaded in the United States-western
equine and st. Louis encephalitis. But vac
cine against any one Of the known forms
does not protect against the fatal illness
caused by the new virus.
Viruses are the most minute and primitive
of living things. They apparently are much
more subject than any other organisms to
mutations changes which become heredi-
tary-into more or less virulent FORMS This
fact has been one Of the great stumbling
blocks of medicine and one of the great
threats to the human race. At any tims
some relatively innocuous virus might mutate
denies against which there would be no pros
lection.
A good example Is influenza Two majo,
types are known-A and B. There are effec-
tive vaccines against both of them Neither
protects against the other. Last winter neither
nor vaecines seemed to afford much pro-
tection-leading to the fear that new variety
had made its appearance. The great fiu epi-
demic of 1918-19-far more virulent than any
which mas broken out since-may have been
due to an unknown variety which became
eXtirct.
Finding Of this probably ancestral encepha-
ltis virus leads to the hope that an ancestral
influenza virus may be identified which will
give some degree of protection against any
form OF the disease and give medical science
time to prepare q more specific vaccine.
Double atom explosions, resulting in two
transmutations of elements within a few
seconds, are tine latest observed phenomena
of atomic physics.
They are called delayed neutron emissions"
and were first observed in the splitting OF the
uranium atoms used in the atomic bomb. Nov,
according to the report of DR.. Arthur H. Smell
OF the Oak Ridge, Tenn, laboratory Of the
Atomic Energy Commission they have been
discovered in three other cases. They promise
to throw considerable light on the basic
mechansms of the atomic nucleus, on q clearer
understanding of which depends much Of the
advance towards utilization of atomic energy
First an electron Is shot from the nucleus
This changes the atom from one element to
another. A neutron emission follows within
three or four seconds. Apparently the loss
of the %electron leaves the nucleus In . par
ticularly unstable state.
The phenomenon has been observed In three
cases-Bromine 81, Iodine 137 and Nitrogen IT,
The first nucleus contains 81 neutrons, the
second 50 and the third five. These all appear
to be combinations abhorred by nature, the
Oak Ridge experiments indicate.
Other experiments, according to DR.. SHELLS
report to Science official organ of the Ameri-
can Association for the Advancement of Sci
ence here, bring evidence that the neutron
itself is radioactive particle. This elementary
particle, most important Of all the atomic
bullets with which element transmutations are
brought about, apparently is . tightly bound
combination of q proton and an electron, or
positive and negative particles of electricity.
Extremely complicated experiments described
by Dr.. Smell almost prove-the workers cannot
be quite positive-that the electron Is shot
out with an energy Of about 10000 electron
volts. The proton alone Is left behind.
Thus the neutron, first discovered in 1885,
which is the most essential link in the atomic
explosion chain, turns out to be itself the
most elementary Of the radioactive isotopes
The experiments indicate that it has q half-lifs
of about 80 minutes. That is half of any
given number of neutrons will have exploded
and become protons in that period.