Evening star., 1949-08-14

THE tOlloDfng iDdS Dritten bv DR.. Gregg
as a toretDord to the section on biology and
medicine in the recently published sirth
semiannual report OF the Atomic Energy
Conlmission)
The philosopher Santayana has remarked
that he who feels prepared to ignore his
tory is doomed to repeat 1t. In the history
of scientific discovery there are lessons that
the Atomic Energy Commission is needing.
deliberately and energetically, lest the frus-
trations and utilities that attended other
discoveries repeat themselves in the study
and development of atomic energy.
Sulphuric ether was discovered by Vale
RUS Cordus in l540. For over 300 years 1t
remained chemical commonplace, danger
ously inflammable, almost unused, though
employed playfully by students as brisk
and potent intoxicant Then Crawford Long
and w. T. G. Morton in 1842-l844 found and
showed its wonderful value as an anesthetic.
1t may take long years to make a substance
that is known to science useful to man.
Think of the sum total of unnecessary pain
during 800 years of the failure to explore
the effect of ether on man. Once new
substance is made, or new process in
vented years even centuries may elapSe
before all its properties or uses have been
discovered and put in practice.
Roentgen discovered X-rays in 1895. The
Immediately obvious application in the de-
lection and correction Of fractured bones
was made rather promptly In 1902 Cannon.
by using X-ray photographs of barium sWal-
lowed by experimental animals. defined one
of the effects Of strong emotions on the
stomach and intestines. He thus laid one
of the foundations for psychomatic medi-
cine-a far cry from classical physics. Still
later in the use of hard X-rayS upon tumors
and soft X-rays upon the skin and hair,
physicists and physicians found uses of x
rays not dreamed of by Roentgen or his
contemporaries. The uses new substance
may possess are as unpredictable and as
yet as certain as the future shape OF tree
lying invisible in It's seed.
Dangers Not to Be Overlooked.
Gasoline-at first a worthless and danger
Gus byproduct Of distilling kerosene from
crude petroleum-Was thrown away by the
millions of barrels, until its value was shown
when. used in engines designed to turn its
explosive energy into mechanical work AS
both result and cause OF developments OF
the internal combustion engine. came the
automobile the tractor and the airplane-
long after gasoline was first produced and
thrown away.
However, with energetic and alert study
the gap between a discovery and its major
application may not last long. Only IA
years elapsed between Flemings discovery
of the antibiotic effects of a common mold
and the production of penicilln in Signifi-
cant quantities for use in human therapy.
But we cannot safely overlook the pos
sibiity of danger lurking in any activity
that leads to discovery. Research expert
ments may create substances or unleash
forces so powerful in their effects on living
tissues that investigation of their properties
is no idle curiosity or speculative diversion.
1t is an impelling necessity. We cannot
afford to be casual or careless. The appall-
ing burns from the ignorant and casual use
in the early days of sx-rays and radium
stand on the record as a somber warning.
II scientific research offers unimaginable
opportunities for good. it imposes unexam-
pied obligations to protect ourselves against
equally unforeseeable dangers. Thanks to
examples 1from other fields) of wasteful