Evening star., 1953-04-24
BuiIt-in Sonar Make.
Dives Safe for Whales
Echoes Guide Big Mammals
From Deep-Seo Distinctions
By Thomas R. Henry

BY Thomas r. Henry
Whales probably travel by echoes.
They use something quite similar
to the Navys sonar" in orienting
themselves.
This conclusion is reported to the
American Association for the Advance
ment of Science here by Drs. w. N.
Kellogg, Robert Kohler and H. N. Nor
ris of Florida State University and
the Air Force Guided Missile Center at
Cocoa, Fla. In project supported by
the Office of Naval Research. they
studied the behavior of bottle-nosed
dolphins both in the Gulf of Mexico and
in captivity.
These animals, they found. emit two
kinds of sounds. One is whistle which
sounds like the chirping of canary.
The other is series of sharp sounds
variously described by different observ-
ers. largely depending on the speed
with which it is made. Some describe
it as like a rusty hinge" others as
like the pecking of woodpecker.' To
others it sounds like a dog barking.
To still others it sounds as If somebody
were striking heavy wooden table with
a small hammer.
Echoes Make Dives Safe.
The whale probably is guided away
from distractions in the water and
keeps clear of the bottom in its dives
by echoes from this last kind of sound.
When the echo comes back to the ami
NAL, it is believed to be quite different
from the sound sent out. It consists
of several frequencieS. some very high.
They believe all the lower frequencies
are drowned out by other sounds in
the water and probably only the very
high ones, almost inaudible to man,
come back :"
The animals move very rapidly.
Were 1t not for the possibility of de-
tecting objects in their paths beyond
the limited range of vision they prob
ably would be in frequent trouble.
Approach to an object would be shown
through gradual change in the timing
of the echo. The dolphin could modify
its path and rate of speed accordingly.
Most of the dolphinS from which
we have obtained records" they say.
have been found to be making such
noises whenever the hydrophone was
placed in the water. The sounds have
been picked up when the animals were
swimming slowly. and sometimes when
they were standing on their tails in
the water. Such continuous sound
production would be essential If the
porpoises were regularly using these
noises to locate objects"
A new bleeding disease. probably
hereditary. has just been reported.
It has been called Christmas
disease" after the time when the first
cases came to the attention of British
English medical journals just distracted
by the American Medical Association.
It's general symptoms are hardly dis
tinguishable from hemophilia. the
malady of European royal families
which has played major role in his
tory. Under the surface, however, 1t
is entirely different.
AS in hemophilia. the blood does not
clot. The royal disease. from which
victims bleed to death after slight
cut; is due to a deficiency Of factor
in the blood plasma. The blood can be
made to clot, at least in test-tubes. by
addition of this factor. 1t occurs in
plentiful amount however. with the
victims of Christmas disease.
Otherwise Deficient.
= YThe blood of patients. according to
the British report. is badly deficient in
quite another factor, hitherto unrec-
ognized, of which hemophilia victims
have a plentiful supply. Hemophilic
blood is just as effective as normal
blood in stopping the inroads of the
disease.
There have been seven patients to
date, all males, ranging in age from
5 to %.
Hemophilia itself is believed to be a
new disease in the world, possibly origl-
mating with Queen Victoria. 1t has
been speculated that the malady is due
to some change in the germ plasm OF
the Queen due to cosmic rays. The only
victims are males, but it is passed on
by -hemophilic mothers who inherit
the tendency from their own mothers.
Among the treatments which have
proved partially successful is the use Of
female sex hormoneS.
The Christmas disease may have
originated in the same way. with a
quite distinct hereditary defect due to
cosinic radiation, and up to the present
it has struck only two or three British
families.