Evening star., 1953-04-28
Science Academy
Told Of New Light
On Cyclic Madness

Of victims swing like pendulums
between arrangement and rela-
tive sanity, held the attention
Of the National Academy OF Sci
ences here yesterday.
About 100 cases are described
In medical literature, but prob
ably many others would be re-
vealed in the records of any long
established mental hospital.
Light now is being thrown for
the first time on the causes Of
this weird psychic phenomenon
by experiments with rats. DR..
Curt P. Richter of Johns Hop
kins University reported. Cyclic
attacks Of madness can be made
to order by various operations
on the pituitary gland at the
base Of the brain, by removal or
severe damage to the thyroid
gland, by various injuries to the
brain itself, or by subjecting the
animals to an extreme emotional
experience.
Probably the most common
manifestation in humans is the
two-day cycle, DR.. Richter said.
Every other day victim will
swing back from deep depression
to apparent normality. He told
of one woman who kept this up
for Is years without a single
break.
Most who display the short
cycle phenomenon are manic
Oppressive : type psychotics.
The same condition is found, but
with longer cycles. in about every
category Of mental illness.
No Single Cause.
There apparently is no single
cause of the phenomenon, DR..
Richter's rat experiments show.
But in all cases the general pic
ture- is the same. During quies-
cent periods the animals eat
heavily. are quite inactive and
grow fat. Then come intervals of
super-activity when little atten-
ton is paid to food and the fat
is lost.
,. DR.. Richter has little doubt, he
told the Academy, that the rat
activity cycles he has observed
are examples of the same phe-
non1enon as the human cycles
Of recurring insanity.
Apparently they can nearly al
ways be produced by injury to
any one Of the endocrine glands,
but the length of the cycle de-
pends on which gland is injured.
It would seem, DR.. Richter said,
that each gland has its own
rhythm Of living, but they all
are so nicely adjusted that there
normally Is perfect symphony.
Very little is required to destroy
this.
Different species Of animals,
probably including man, have
quite different senses Of taste,
DR.. Carl Pfaffmann of Brown
University reported to the acad-
emy. He demonstrated this by
measuring with specially de-
signed instrument the intensity
Of the electric Impulses carried
under different kinds of taste
stimulation by the nerve which
serves the tongue, the chorda
tYmpani. The tests were made
with rats, rabbits and cats.
Each species responded about
the same degree of reaction to
the sour taste of acid. The taste
nerve of cats showed a consid-
erablly reaction to the bitterness
of quinine than did that of the
rat or the rabbit. The latter
animals, however, responded to
the sweetness of sugar more than
the cat. ..r....
OF theoretical significance in
ultimate control of stomach ul-
GERS by Drs. Lester R. Dragstedt
and Edward r. Woodward of
the University of Chicago on the
part played by the antrum, the
lower part of, the stomach cav
ity, IN the stimulation of gas
trio sectrition. From the antrum
walls. DR.. Dragstedt said, "har-
none" is secreted which in turn
stimulates the secretion of di-
gestive juices.
When the Misunderstanding
mechanism is usually stimulated.
an excess of acid is produced.
This can be kept UP even when
the antrum is transplanted to
another part of the digestive
tract.
<AgaSSiz Award Winner.
The Academy last night made
its annual medal awards. The
Agassiz Medal was awarded to
Dr.. II. w. Harvey, marine biolo-
gist of Plymouth, England, for
his studios of the chemistry of
sea water. Arthur Cleveland
Bent, Smithsonian Institution
collaboration. was given the Ell
liot Medal for his lifelong studies
of the birds of North Africa.
The Jesse Kovalenke Medal
went to DR.. Arthur Newton
Richards of the University of
Pennsylvania for his researches
on the function of the kidney as
a filter.
DR.. Lloyd w. Stephenson Of
the Geological Survey was
awarded the Mary Thompson
Medal for his lifetime of work
on the geological structure of
the coastal plain of the United
States. The Charles. D. Walcott
Medal was awarded to DR..
Franco Rasetti of Johns Hop
kins University for his work on
the fossil of 500-million- year -old
crab-like creatures which appear
near the dawn of life on earth.