Evening star., 1951-03-26
You Soak Up Water
In Bath, Tests Show
Massachusetts Scientists
Prove Point in Laboratory
By Thomos R. Henry
not waterproof

The skin is not waterproof.
Whether water actually can penetrate
the skin from the outside and enter
the general circulation long has been
In dispute. Attempts to settle the ques-
ton with human beings have been In
conclusive, in spite of demonstrable gain
in weight after a person has been i'm
mersed IN warm water for few hours.
The point now has been proved by
the use Of heavy water, according to
q report to the American Association
for the Advancement of Science here
by Dr. Alma S. Szczesniak of Massa-
chusetts Institute Of Technology and
her associates.
They immersed young male rats In
bath with mixture of six parts of
ordinary water and four parts Of heavy
water. Collars prevented the animals
from drinking. After six to seven hours,
samples were taken Of the blood being
pumped from the heart. The amount
OF heavy water In this blood was very
much greater than in that Of animals
immersed for the same periods and
under the same conditions In ordinary
water. The latter showed no measur-
able heavy water at all in their blood
streams.
This Is considered indisputable proof
that some Of the liquid of the bath
permeated the skin. In other tests only
the tails Of mice were immersed, Ths
amount Of heavy water In the blood
was about proportional to the area Of
the body exposed.
Inhalation Not ResponSihIs
The possibility that the increased
heavy water IN the blood was due 70
inhalation OF air was eliminated Under
the most favorable possible ,circum.
stances. the increase could not have
been Of the magnitude observed In the
experiment.
There Is little doubt, it Is reported.
that the observations would apply 10
most mammals, including man. Thus
1t is highly probable that one weighs a
little more after taking hot bath.
Creation Of race Of mice q large
proportion Of which have eyes of differ.
ent colors-for the most part one eve
black and the other red-has been re-
ported to the American Genetic Asso.
citation.
This is a popularity which occurs
very rarely in human beings However.
under the proper conditions, 1t might
become quite common in some districts.
for it is a hereditary trait. But in
most higher animals, 1t is difficult to
get started
The attention of Dr. r. r. Huestis
and Ruth Willoughby OF the University
OF Oregon was attracted by the spon-
taneous appearance of a race of white
cats with bi-colored eyes-one blue and
the other yellow. This phenomenon
seemed to appear with the preponder-
ance OF white coats. The incidence was
SO nigh that the suggestion of a heri.
tary character was inescapable.
"Recessive Gene" in Action.
DR. Huestis and his colleague attrib.
uted it to "recessive genen which had
suddenly developed. Ordinarily this
would be smothered after a generation
or so. because continuation would de-
pend upon regular matings between In.
dividuals each possessing the same new
hereditary unit.
Bi-colored eyes, however, could be
perpetuated by controlled matings In
the laboratory. DR.. Huestis and Miss
Willoughby chose for their experiment
the deer mouse, which normally has
black eyes. They found one with both
eyes red. Matings with normal eye-col-
ored individuals produced just about
the proportion Of young with two-col-
ored eyes to meet the requirements for
a recessive gene.
That there was single hereditary
factor involved was shown by the non.
appearance of other bodily peculiari-
ties. Thus, there could be no associa-
tion, for example, with albinism,
1t now has been possible to continue
the race for several generations. In all
probability, it could be killed out by in
PRODUCTION Of few normal mice into the
litter.