Evening star., 1954-05-26
Buried River Found
Under Pacific Ocean
Marrow Streum Flows
Eustwurd ut About ! Knot
By Thomos R. Henry

Discovery Of "buried gulf stream"
zoo feet or more under the surface Of
the Pacific at the Equator has Just been
reported to the American Association
for the Advancement of Science.
It Is essentially narrow river under
the sea flowing eastward at q speed ap-
proximatipg knot, or six miles an
hour. Its direction is opposite to that
Of motion on the surface.
The discovery was made by observers
on board the Fish and Wildlife Service
research ship Hugh Smith, engaged in
Pacific. First with specially designed
apparatus they measured the rate of
surface motion westward. Then drags
sinking to depth Of 200 feet or more
were attached to the surface floating
drags and the rate at which the latter
were retarded was measured.
Observations at Equator.
Most of the observations, according
to the report of Drs. Townsend Crom-
well and E. D. Stroup of the Fish and
Wildlife Service and DIR. r. B. Mont
gomery Of Brown University, were made
approximately on the Equator at about
$50 degrees west longitude. The project
was sponsored by the ONCE Of Naval
Research.
While the undersea river here is
submerged about 200 feet there is q
probability that in some places 1t rises
to the surface. they say. This would
explain reported mysterious east
ward drift of ships close to the Equator
in the Pacific. Whether the same sort
Of current exists in the eastern and
western Pacific and in the Atlantic re-
mains to be determined. The same sort
of ship drift occasionally has been re-
ported in the Atlantic and theoretical
indications are that the current may
exist there.
This equatorial undercurrent, they
report, appears to be quite narrow.
Egg Yolk Mystery.
There is probably an unidentified
growth vitamin in egg yolks.
This is the conclusion, from expert.
ments with chickens and bacteria, Just
reported by Department of Agriculture
biologists. c. A. Denton. r. J. Lille
and j. r. Sizemore. They have also
found. they report. that chick growth
can be hastened considerably by in
Guiding lard. ,
The experiment grew out of attempts
to estimate the amount Of Vitamin
Biz, most potent of growth promoters,
in yolk. They measured the growth
effects on both chickens and bacteria
of diets containing synthesized Biz.
They compared it with results obtained
from egg yolk additions.
Both the birds and the bacteria gave
the same results with the pure vitamin.
On the diet with egg yolk, however, the
chicks showed values eight to ten times
greater than the bacteria. Apparently
they were responding to something else
in the egg yolk besides the known Vita
min.
Nutriments Added.
The scientists now put some chicks
on a basal diet with everything the
birds are known to need except animal
proteins and an unidentified factor in
fish. The second group got the same
basal diet with addition of 4 per cent
of fish material containing the unknown
factor. They gained per cent more.
AllCJ C1lCu duucO ldIO. IllS 1IlCTedSeO
growth per cent. 7"1'
With 10 per cent egg yolk added
growth jumped to II per cent.
BY adding all three Of the materials
to the diet an increased growth Of 80
per cent was obtained-0 from the
fish material, 6 from the lard. and II
from the yolk.
They are now trying to isolate and
identify the unknown factor in the
hope that 1t may be synthesized. Like
Biz itself, this may be found to have
a far wider application than to chickens.