Evening star., 1951-07-13
Line in the Suns Corona
Is PuzzIing Astronomers
Reports of Studies Are Made
With Special Type Telescope
By Thomos R. Henry

Dy IHOWoS n. Henff
A mysterious yellow line in the suns
corona, the pearl-gray ring which sur
rounds the solar disk, Is puzzling as
tronomers.
This corona is the suns outermost
atmosphere. generally visible only dur
ing total eclipse. It can be observed
daily, however. with the coronagraph,
a special type Of telescope. This ap-
paratus is used at the high-altitude
observatory of the University of Colo
RADIO and Harvard at Climax, Colo.
The yellow, line appears In the spec
trum OF the corona only at times of
solar prominences, according to DR..
Walter o. Roberts, director of the OBJ
Servatory. These prominences are huge
clouds of hydrogen, helium and calcium
gas which are erupted with great vio-
lence from the suns lower atmosphere
and are shot out thousands of miles
into space. They are closely related
to sunspots in their distribution and
frequency Of occurrence.
First observed in France in 1887, the
lines close association with the erupted
clouds which supposedly were entirely
Independent from the corona has just
now become evident.
New Element Unlikely.
Spectral lines are used to identify
elements. Each element has an en-
tirely different spectrum when it be-
comes luminescent, and any line of its
specific spectrum Is sufficient to identify
an element anywhere in creation.
It has not been possible to check this
line with any of the elements but, DR..
Roberts believes, it doubtless is asso-
ciated with one of them whose atom
has been stripped of most of its outer
electrons by the same forces responsible
for the great cloud eruptions.
A present candidate is calcium in a
temperature Of about a million de-
grees centigrade. The presence of an
unknown element in the corona now
is considered highly unlikely and prob
ably impossible. All normal spectral
lines can be identified with known ele-
ments and there no longer Is any
speculation over hypothetical "co-
ronium." such as was believed to exist
for nearly a century.
During the past few years q remark
able chemical, popularity known as anita
buse. has gained considerable promi-
nence in treatment of alcoholism.
The same substance, according to q
report to the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, shows an
even more notable effect in prolonging
the time of certain types Of anesthesia-
as much as 60-fold in one instance.
The aneSthetic used in the expert
ments reported by DR.. Nicholas j. Giar-
man and his associates of the Yale
Medical School was thiopental. It is
a short-period anesthetic, valuable IN
minor surgery. Tests were made with
rats. The normal period Of nncon-
sciouSness was a little less than five
minutes. With administration Of anita
buse it was possible to prolong this
period to more than four hours.
This was achieved when antabuse
was given for three days before the THO
pental was administered. Follow-up
studies showed no abnormalities in the
behavior or growth Of the animals.
Significance Explored.
The theory is that antabuse acts as
powerful inhibitor of certain normal
chemical processes in the body. It has an
effect. the experimenters conclude, on
the whole organism, which accounts for
the three-day delay in the full effect.
The significance of the find for sur.
gerry has not been explored. The expert
menters warn. however, against using
thiopental in persons who may be under
going antabuse treatment for some other
reason. The period of prolonged uncon-
sciousness certainly would be alarming
to the surgeon and might produce phys
ical effects as yet undetermined.
The drugs action against alcohol is
believed to be due to it's inhibition of
the normal oxidation of this substance.
Further conclusions. it is warned,
must wait on experiments with a va
riety of higher mammals.