Evening star., 1950-11-01
Navy Doctor Outlines
Germ Warfare Agents
! to z Dozen Suitable;
Criterio Are Explained
By Thomus r. Henry

There are from one to two dozen
disease causing organisms which might
be used as weapons In biological war
fare.
This is revealed by Comdr. Frank r.
Philbrook, deputy director Of the pre-
ventive medicine division of the Navy's
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.
For the past three years biological
warfare probably has been the most
highly classified Of all military subjects.
Obviously, Comdr. Philbrook points cut,
something must be used which spreads
directly from human to human With
great rapidity.
MANY of the potential BW agents
which may affect man in nature he
says, "are seldom passed from mal to
man directly but instead reach him
through his contacts with lower animals.
If such agents were used in actual at
tack, it is probable that only individuals
which receive an infective dose during,
or as the direct result Of, an attack
would be involved in the resultant out
break Of disease.
Respiratory Diseases.
Conversely. there are potential AGENTS
which in nature have the characteristic
of spreading from person to person.
Numerous respiratory diseases might be
cited as examples. In some instances
this spread may result in naturalll-oc-
curing epidemics of considerable m,gni-
tude. The capabilities for the artificial
production of such an epidemic will never
be completely known short Of an actual
attack in warfare. Many unknown
factors are involved and it Is not 1T all
certain that such a spreading epidemic
could be set up at will.
"It is impossible at this time to state
which of the one or two dozen possible
agents would constitute the CHOSEN
candidates of any potential enemY'
Such agents could be dispersed, Comdr.
Philbrook points out, in airborne clouds
probably released by airplanes They
would be quite difficult to detect. They
also might be spread by saboteurs.
Creation started in a half hour of
intense heat.
That is what would have been re-
quired to "cook" a dense mass of pr
maeval particles-electrons protons and
neutronS-into all the chemical elements
OF which the universe now is composed.
This is the conclusion of DR.. George
Gamow, professor of theoretical physics
at George Washington University, in a
new time scale of creation.
Following this critical half hour the
newly created particles diffused through
space and heat gave way 10 intense
cold. But there were eddi8 in this
space from which emerged in about 80
million years the stars, star sy;tems and
planetary systems in form not materi-
ally different from the present.
DR.. Gamow. one of the worlds leading
theoretical physicists, has accumulated
vast amount of data to support his
conclusions.
About 25 Million Years.
The earth itself, he concluCes, hardly
can be more than 2.5 million years old
in anything approaching its present
state. This is indicated by tie rate of
radioactive decay. Previousl7, it must
have been molten.
1t had existed, however, fur a very
long time before it became solidif1ed.
This is shown by the present distance of
the moon, about 250,000 miles 1t was
torn loose from the original mass of the
earth in some ancient cataclssm and
since then has been moving away at a
rate of about 80 feet a century. 1t
would have attained it's present position
in about billion years.
Further support of his age Of the
universe thesis is given, DR.. Ganow says,
by the state of the sun. Its heat is
maintained by the transmutaion Of
hydrogen into helium. All the hydrogen
would have been exhausted in or
billion years.