Evening star., 1960-05-30
Rambler
=. Meets New
Sherlock Holmes
By GEORGE KENNEDY

aCcloenLS.
And you may be interested
In efforts under way to get
at the causes Of automobile
accidents, causes other than
that major one speed. A
Yale group is making an in
tensive study Of every serious
accident in the Boston area,
including the physical condi-
ton of the vehicle and the
driver.
A similar study is being
made by the Ministry of
Transport in Britain.
When results are reported,
1t is quite likely that drowsi-
ness at the wheel whether
induced by alcohol or ia
tigue) will be a larger factor
than heretofore supposed.
So it was a little surprising
to learn that the Food and
Drug Administration is con-
ducting a breakdown on the
non prescription sale at
truck stops of the modern
"stay awake" drugs, the
amphetamines.
The fault, as Cassius once
remarked to Brutus, lies in
ourSelveS-the human weak
ness for making too much of
a good thing.
BY overdosing, which can
cause hallucinations, truck
drivers have been known to
continue more than 48 hours
without sleep. There have
been cases when they swerved
to avoid a truck that wasn't
there and hit a car that was.
LAST WEEK the Rambler
visited the laboratory in
South Agricultural Building
of DR.. Ebert H. Tillson,
FDA's ballistic or "pillistics"
expert. He is a modern Sher-
lock Holmes. Holmes found
an enlarging glass very help
full in his search for clues.
DR.. Tillson does almost all
his work with a high-pow-
cred microscope.
DR.. Tillson was just back
from Rochester, N. Y, where
he had testified in a case
against a truck-stop propri-
etor charged with selling
amphetamine pills for 81 q
dozen.
"They can be purchased
wholesale for as low as 40
cents a thousand" he said.
$50 you see, a markup to 10
cents apiece or a dollar a
dozen is quite a markup In
deed"
The big truck lines, through
q clock on the dashboard
that records every burst Of
speed over go and the dura-
ton and time Of day of every
roadside stop, are able to en-
force the ices safety regu-
lations.
But the highway is free,
and there are truck drivers,
who own or rent their trucks
or drive for small operators,
who take great pride in
pushing themselves.
Most truck stops are very
respectable places, but some
are the modern equivalent Of
the old "jungles," the term
the hoboes gave their hang
outs.
DR.. TILLSON GOT OUT
some of the dies and punches
used in making pills. His
work is very similar to that
of the ballistics experts who
are able to identify the gun
from which the fatal bullet
was fired. They fire another
bullet from the gun, then
examine both under the
microscope. The scratches
from the rif1ing of the gun
barrel will be the same on
both bullets. No other gun
could make that particular
pattern.
Similarly, the punches used
In pill making will have GER
tain defects, tiny marks that
will be transferred to the pill
and can be seen under the
microscope. DR.. Tillson's
principal role in enforcement
is to show that the pills are
in interstate commerce -
were made in another State.
Otherwise, FDA cannot pros
ecute.
He has thousands of sam
pie pills on file in his labor
atory which were made by
both legitimate drug manu-
facturers and fly-by- might
"moonshine" operators. Most
of the amphetamine pills
sold without prescription
and therefore illegally-are
from legitimate manufac-
turers.
In the western New York
case tried last week, DR.. Till
son identified tho T1illS oS