Evening star., 1949-12-26
Bacteria Play Big Role
In Producing Petroleum
Report to Science Association Throws
Light on Process

Report to Science Association Throws
Light on Process
By Thomas r. Henry
NEW YORK, Dec 26.-Bacteria probably
played q notable role in producing petrole.
um. DR.. Claude E. Zobell Of the University Of
California reported to the American Asso-
citation for the Advancement of Science here.
The worlds great oil reserves presumably
are the end results Of the decomposition Of
plants and animals, but extremely compli-
Gated chemical changes have taken place.
It lately has been demonstrated Dr. 70
bell said that the microscopic forms Of
plant life known as bacteria can produce
many of these changes and species have
been found which live several thousand feet
below the earth's surface under conditions
of temperatures and pressure far below
those possible for any other form of life.
It has long been known, DR.. Zobel ex-
planned, that they can produce methane, or
marsh gas, simplest of petroleum constitu-
ents. Recently it has been shown that they
can produce certain extremely complicated
hydrocarbons of which petroleum is COM
posed, containing as many as 81 carbon
atoms and 81 hydrogen atoms per molecule.
The role of the bacteria is to free the
carbon molecules from the bodies of dead
plants and animals. These then may COM
bine with hydrogen released by radioactive
elements in the earth.
The process of petroleum formation ap-
parently Is quite slow, requiring from 100000
to lo0,O0o,Ooo years of bacterial action.
Radioactive bird banding Is revealing an
uncanny homing instinct in wild species.
This was explained by DR.. Donald r.
Griffin OF Cornell University who has been
working on Arctic birds in a cooperative
project with the Office of Naval Research.
The trick, he said, is to catch bird on its
nest fix band containing some radioactive
material to one of its legs and then take
1t several hundred miles away. There 1t II
released.
Meantime, q radiation detection instru-
ment Is set up near the nest. A timing device
Is attached The second Of the birds return
Is accurately recorded. Hitherto 1t has been
necessary to keep constant watch Of the
nest.
The oldest known lake in North America
is Lake Singletary In North Carolina, DR..
David G. Frey of North Carolina University
reported.
It has been in continuous existence ut
least since the start of the last great glacia-
ton and % feet of sediments which have
accumulated above it's sand bottom are
q calendar of the ages.
DR.. Frey has studied the plant remains in
various layers of this sediment. They show
a constantly changing climate during the
glacial period with warm periods OF ice
recession interspersed with nearly sub-Arctic
conditions. There also were recurrent periods
of forest and grassland.
+ X
Studies throwing light on the often-dis-
puted claims of heredity in insanity were
reported by Dr. Franz j. Kallman Of Colum-
bia University.
Two major classifications include about
IS per cent of insanity-dementia praecox
and manic Oppressive psychoses. The symp-
toms are almost diametrically opposite.
DR.. Kallman investigated more than 5000
individuals in the families of victims. The
statistics show clearly. he said, that the two
mental diseases not only are distinct but
follow entirely different hereditary patterns.
The dementia praecox group apparently Is
due to a recessive gene which must be
present in the germ plasm of both father
and mother to appear in the offspring Tho
manic Oppressive group. on the other hand.
is due to an 'irregularly dominant gene
that is. it may appear although not invaria-
bly,, when the taint is present in the heredity
of either parent.
A new tool of medical diagnosis with the
use of radioactive isotopes to detect the
presence Of viruses-tiniest of living things
responsible for some of the most deadly
diseases was described by Mrs. L. s. Alien
burg of Rice Institute, Houston.
These organisms are so minute they can
not be detected by any ordinary microscope
and usually long laboratory tests are neces-
sary to make sure of their presence Some
of them, however, seem to have special
affinity for radioactive phosphorus, the Rice
Institute experiments have shown.
The amount of radioactivity in membranes
infected by the virus Mrs. Altenburg said.
remains for long time higher than that
of neighboring, uninfected tissue.
An unidentified substance in powdered
thyroid gland may be potent factor in alb
normal growth patterns, according to ex-
periments reported by Drs. Sidney Mittler
and Robert H. Herman of the Illinois Insti-
tute of Technology.
This was found by exposing onion roots
to various concentrations Of this powder. It
had somewhat the same effects as colchi-
chine, the extract from the European crocuS
which is the best known changer Of cell
heredity. The experiments showed that the
unidentified agent could not be thyroxine.
most potent of the thyroid hormones.
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