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TAPE CHRONOGRAPHSDRUM CHRONOGRAPHSTUNING FORKSPRECISION CLOCKSescriptive Bulletin on Request

THE GAERTNER SCIENTIFIC CORPORATIO1204 Wrightwood Avenue Chicago, U. S.

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MANUAL OF TUESOUTHEASTERN FLORA

ILLUSTRATED

Being Descriptions of the Seed-Plants growing naturally in North Carolina, South Carolina,Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Eastern Louisiana

By

JOHN KUNKEL SMALL

THIS Manual replaces the author's Flora of the Southeastern United States,published in 1903 (second edition 1913), for the Southern States east of the

Mississippi River. It embodies the results of continued exploration and study,thus bringing up to date our knowledge of this floral region.

The Manual is the only complete illustrated work on the flora of the South-east by a recognized authority.

In addition to analytical keys to the various plant groups, and descriptionsof the orders, families, genera and species, regional or altitudinal and geographicdistribution, there are xxii + 1554 pages and over 1500 illustrations, one illustra-tion of a species of each genus.

Price $10.50 Postpaid

THE SCIENCE PRESS PRINTING COMPANYLANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA

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JANUARty 31, 1941 5

SCIENCE-SUPPLEMENT

SCIENCE NEWSScience Service, Washington, D. C.

THE SEPARATION OF TWO FORMS OFKRYPTON

(Copyright, 1941, by Science Service)THE most astonishing news from Germany, since the

start of the war, has just been received in Pasadena.German investigators can now separate Uranium 235from Uranium 238 if the information contained in thenewly arrived issue of the scientific magazine Die Natur-wissenschaften is correct. This is of first importancebecause, for one thing, Uranium 235 can serve as a sub-stitute for, and improvement over, coal and oil, in manyways.The article from which these conclusions are drawn

does not mention Uranium. It is about the separationof Krypton 84 and Krypton 86 from ordinary Krypton.The authors, K. Clusius and G. Dickel, of the Universityof Munich, are the leading German workers in this fieldand they are responsible for the most powerful methodsso far achieved for separations of this sort.The mildly interesting but purely scientific experiments

on Krypton become wildly exciting when it is realizedthat the separation of Krypton 83 and Krypton 84 isessentially the same in difficulty as the separation ofUranium 235 and Uranium 238. Both pairs differ byabout one per cent. in weight. Heretofore similar re-sults have been obtained only with lighter elements suchas Neon 20 and Neon 22 or Chlorine 35 and Chlorine 37where at least a 5 per cent. difference exists between theforms to be separated.

Actually the first Uranium separation was accomplishedin the United States about a year ago but the quantitiesinvolved were so small that only a scientific interest ap-plied to the work. At the rate of production of the Amer-ican workers it would have taken centuries to produceenough Uranium 235 to weigh even on a chemical balance.Judging from the results on Krypton the German work-

ers, by last October, could have produced about one gramof separated Uranium 235. This would have been smallerthan a pea but it could supply as much energy as severalhundred gallons of gasoline. Moreover the apparatus,while 150 feet high, is not bulky or expensive and couldbe reproduced quickly.The achievement involved in this work is so surprising

that it must not be accepted without considering the possi-bility that something is wrong about it. It would, forexample, be a perfect propaganda hoax to produce thefeeling of invincibility of Germany. However the emi-nence of the authors and the established reputation of themagazine would be sufficient, in normal times, to warrantthe reliability of the announcement.-R. M. LANGER.

ULTRAVIOLET RAYS AND REPRODUCTIONTHAT ultra-violet radiation, usually considered inimical

to life, proves a stimulant to reproduction in primitiveone-celled green water plants when applied in less thanlethal doses, is demonstrated by the experiments of Mrs.Florence Meier Chase, of the Smithsonian Institution.

Ultra-violet rays of certain specific wave-lengths arnow widely used in hospitals and elsewhere to rid the airof bacteria. Earlier researches by Mrs. Chase showedthat the invisible rays had similarly deadly effects onher primitive green plant cells. But when the same kindof plants are exposed to the same ultra-violet wave-length.for about two thirds of the time necessary to kill them,instead of dying they multiply at greatly increased rates.

Increased reproduction rates differed according to spe-cific wave-lengths. Mrs. Chase found four wave-length#biologically effective: 2352, 2483, 2652 and 2967 Angstromunits, respectively. Each of these wave-lengths increasedthe cell-division rate in a quite definite ratio.

Green cells exposed to the stimulating dose of the 2352-Angstrom rays multiplied 4.7 times faster than a controlculture of unirradiated cells of the same kind. The 2483-Angstrom wave-length rays stimulated cell multiplicationto 3.9 times the normal rate, and the 2652-Angstrom wave-length rays produced a stimulation to 4.65 times normal.Least stimulation was brought about by the longest(2967-Angstrom) wave-length: 1.62 times normal.Although the green cells increased their numbers thus,

rapidly under the influence of ultra-violet radiation, the*size of the individual cells in the stimulated cultures be-came much smaller than normal, as if the cells could mattake time to grow up before they were hurried into reproduction.

A NEW COMETTHE third comet of January, 1941, already of the se.,

ond magnitude and easily seen in the southeastern morning sky from countries south of the equator, may sOoIbe visible from northern countries. An exact predietiotlof its future path, however, will be possible only wit!calculations that can not be made until more observationare available.

According to Dr. Harlow Shapley, director of the Hatvard College Observatory, it was discovered by Dr. JoklS. Paraskevopoulos, Greek-born astronomer in charge oethe Harvard southern hemisphere station near Bloemfortein, South Africa.A report has been received from Dr. Enrique Gaviol

director of the Cordoba Observatory in Argentina, thttwo members of his staff, F. J. Bobone and M. DartayeC,determined its position in the early morning hours fJanuary 24. Then it was in the constellation of Ark,the altar, a group never visible from most parts of toeUnited States. It was of the second magnitude, evslvisible without a telescope, and had a tail longer than a

degree, which is twice the apparent diameter of the fUmoon.

The comet was moving, with speed enough to take itten times the moon's diameter each day, to the northemt,which is towards the sun. Since these bodies are brighterwhen nearest the sun, Paraskevopoulos' comet will pie-sumably become even more brilliant than it is now. P s.

sibly, after it has passed the sun, it will come into vitwfrom the northern hemisphere.

6 VOL. 93, No. 2405

Senors Bobone and Dartayet found the new comet onlya few days after they had made some of the first southern

observations of Cunningham's comet. This was the one,

also discovered by a Harvard astronomer, that reached

naked-eye brightness in the western evening sky aboutChristmas, though it did not become as conspicuous as

astronomers had hoped. It has passed the sun, and isnow in southern skies, so residents of southern lands now

have the unusual privilege of two naked-eye comets at

once.

First comet of 1941 was the Friend-Reese object, inde-pendently discovered by two amateur astronomers, one inCalifornia, the other in Pennsylvania. Dr. George VanBiesbroeck, of the Yerkes Observatory, found the second,when he picked up Eneke 's periodic comet on one of itsreturn visits.

ASTROLOGYASTROLOGY, the tenets of which hold that the stars and

planets exert an influence on human events by whichpredictions may be made in advance, is denounced as

lacking every conceivable scientific foundation as wellas being psychologically harmful, in a report issued bythe Boston and Cambridge Branch of the American Asso-ciation of Scientific Workers.

It was prepared by a committee of which Dr. Bart J.Bok, associate professor of astronomy, Harvard Univer-sity, is chairman, and Mrs. Margaret W. Mayall, researchassociate, is secretary. Methods and claims of the as-

trologers are briefly summarized, and reasons given whythey are not accepted by scientists. The complete reportwill be published in an early issue of The ScientificMonthly, organ of the American Association for the Ad-vancement of Science."An interpretation of the rules laid down by astrol-

ogers demands the existence of an unimaginable mecha-nism of action," it is stated. " Astrologers have notprovided us with as much as a sound hypothesis thatmight serve as a basis for their speculations. Astrologersattempt to offset this lack of a sound working hypothesisby the introduction of terms and concepts that are un-

known to physicists and astronomers. No one, with a

high-school training in physics, should be fooled intoaccepting an explanation of the laws of astrology in whichthe term 'cosmic vibration' figures prominently." Scientists would feel justified in considering astrology

as a legitimate field of scientific inquiry if astrologerscould claim that its basic rules had been establishedthrough a rigorous study of correlations. This is not

the case. The rules by which astrologers interpret their

horoscopes have not been derived from any known experi-ments or observations. Astrologers frequently claim the

observational basis to be in the experience of forgottengenerations far back in antiquity, but pure superstitioncan claim as sound a basis. In the cases of planets dis-

covered in our times (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) the

evidence is conclusive that their influences on men were

ascribed by the astrologers before preliminary observa-

tional tests of the influences could have been made, and

even before accurate orbits could be assigned to the

planets. "The committee quotes a statement prepared by the So-

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ciety for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. In

this, it is said, "Faith in astrology or in any other occultpractice is harmful in so far as it encourages an unwhole-

some flight from the persistent problems of real life....It is against public interests for astrologers to spreadtheir counsels of flight from reality."Though no careful, extended, statistical study of the

success or failure of astrological predictions, which mightprove a decisive test, is known ever to have been made,statistical tests of the supposed broad influences of theplanets and zodiacal signs have failed to verify theseclaims.

Until such correlations are established, the report con-

cludes, scientists can not accept the precepts of astrology.They can do a valuable service to society by pointing outpublicly that the predictions lack any conceivable scien-tific foundation.

DIET IN SULFANILAMIDE TREATMENTTHE kind of food eaten by patients being treated with

sulfanilamide may have an important bearing on theresults of the treatment, whether or not the sulfanilamidecauses toxic effects, it appears from research by Dr. M.I. Smith, Dr. R. D. Lillie and Dr. E. F. Stohlman, of theU. S. Public Health Service and National Institute ofHealth.

If the patients get too little protein food, such as meat,eggs and milk, they may be more likely to experience toxiceffects from the drug, but the drug may be more effectivebecause of reaching higher concentrations in the bloodwhen the dietary protein is low, it appears.

Rats were the patients in the National Institute ofHealth studies. A low protein diet (7 per cent. protein)increased their susceptibility to sulfanilamide "by in-

creasing the mortality rate and the incidence of anemiaas compared with similarly treated rats on a diet con-

taining 30 per cent. protein."The concentration of the drug in the blood was some-

what higher in the rats on the low protein diet which, theinvestigators say, "may possibly account for the greatertoxicity. This also raises the interesting question as to

whether this might not be more than offset by the obvious

advantages of higher concentrations of blood sulfanila-

mide in the therapeutic (remedial) application of the

drug. "

ELECTRIC ARCS ON HIGH VOLTAGEPOWER LINES

LESS than a hundredth of a second is the time taken

to put out accidental arcs on high voltage electric powerlines provided with new switching devices described at

the Philadelphia meeting of the American Institute of

Electrical Engineers, by George A. Matthews, of the De-

troit Edison Company.These devices, it is expected, will greatly reduce the

number of cases in which arcs, started by lightning, wind

storms, and other uncontrollable conditions, burn the

wires in two and allow them to fall to the ground. The

high-speed devices will also eliminate the unintended blow-

ing of high-tension fuses but will cause them to blow

when the nature of the trouble warrants it.

JANUARY 31, 1941 SCIENCE-SUPPLEMENT

SCIENCE-SUPPLEMENT

Ares between wires of overhead electric distributionlines result from several different causes, he explained.Lightning, high winds causing the wires to swing together,boys throwing baling wire and metal coat hangers acrossthe lines, radio antennas and broken tree branches areexamples. Where the line conductors consist of barewires, arcs are readily started. If the wires have theso-called weather-proof covering on them, the likelihoodof an are is somewhat less under some of these conditions;but, if the covering is old and chafed, or when it is rain-soaked, the probability of an are in the covered wires ispractically the same as on bare wires.A small wire like a radio antenna that falls across the

line also results in a transient fault because the foreignwire is immediately destroyed by the arc. If, however,the cause of the arc does not disappear at once, the faultis persistent. Examples of this type are tree limbs thatdo not burn away immediately, heavy metal objects thatcan not be destroyed promptly by the arc, or conditionswhere the line wires become firmly wrapped around eachother. Operating records show that well over half thefaults that occur on overhead lines are of the transienttype.

Ordinary switches do not work fast enough to preventdamage, but the new ones, which can be hung on the poles,take as little as 1.120 seconds to operate. One type is acomplete automatic switch in itself, automatically per-forming all the operations necessary when dealing withfaults of different varieties and serving to reelose thecircuit when the trouble has passed.

DEMONSTRATION OF TELEVISION BYTHE RCA

TELEVISION pictures projected on a theater screen 15by 20 feet, from a projector in the balcony sixty feetaway, were demonstrated by RCA engineers to show theFederal Communications Commission the latest advancesin this field.In order to use the greatest possible amount of light, a

projector is used which is really an astronomical cameraof the Schmidt type in reverse. The seven-inch face ofthe high voltage kinescope, on which the picture is formed,faces away from the screen, towards a 30-inch concavemirror. This reflects the image through a glass plate tocorrect certain faults or aberrations, then to the screen.By the method used for rating camera lenses, the systemhas a speed of F. 0.7.

The commission was also shown a home television re-ceiver in which the pictures were- projected to a screen131 by 18 inches. This used a conventional type of high-speed lens, treated, however, with non-reflecting films, toreduce light losses.Some of the views witnessed were transmitted from the

RCA mobile television unit, stationed at Camp Upton onLong Island, 68 miles away. Automatic relays, atHauppauge and Bellmore, picked up the short range sig-nals and passed them along. A new horn type antennawas used to receive them, in the relay towers and finallyin a window on the sixty-second floor of the RCA building.

Radio facsimile, by which a newspaper complete withillustrations can automatically be printed in a home re-

ceiver, reproducing the original in the broadcasting sta-tion, can be combined with simultaneous broadcasts, onthe same wave-length, was also shown.The facsimile was broadcast with ordinary "amplitude

modulation," in which the waves are the same distanceapart, but vary in their height. The same carrier wasgiven frequency modulation, by which the distance be-tween the waves is changed in step with the sound vibra-tions. At the receiving end, the two were sorted out, andeach used to operate the proper receiver.

ITEMSTo topsy-turvy developments in world turmoil, add the

vote of American archeologists to send $2,000 to helpthe Greeks hide from bombs treasured antiquities, whicharcheologists were busily digging up before outbreak ofthe war. The American School of Classical Antiquities,in Athens, the donor, has practically abandoned digging.Members of the school still in Athens are studying incomparatively peaceful libraries and making discoveries-such as forgotten letters by the famous Heinrich Schlie-mann who opened the ruins of Troy. Greek officials, whohave already stored much statuary and other ancient artin caves, vaults and other hideouts, have a trebly hardtask. Funds are limited. Greece is so rich in antiqui-ties that only Egypt and Italy could claim to rival it.And the limestone on which Athens and other Greek citiesare built does not encourage tunneling of deep subwaysor other underground shelters. The limestone does pro-vide caves, and they are useful.

AN instrument for making movies of stars has beenbuilt by Dr. Robert R. MeMath, director of the MeMath-Hulburt Observatory of the University of Michigan.In a report to the American Astronomical Society hetold of the newest telescope for these pictures. Theywill show sunrise and sunset on the moon, the spinningof Jupiter and the movement of his moons around himand other heavenly motions. The new telescope is amemorial to his father, the late Francis C. MeMath, whohelped establish the observatory as an amateur institutionmore than a decade ago. With a smaller instrument,they first made such pictures. Later, however, they be-came particularly interested in motion pictures of thesun, from which remarkable new facts have been learned.Now Dr. MeMath has announced that for educationalpurposes they will make such pictures again, retakingmany earlier subjects with the new and more powerfulequipment.

COLCHICINE, the drug that speeds up evolutionary proc-esses in plants by doubling chromosome numbers, may bedangerous if not handled with proper precautions, ac-cording to Dr. Haig Dermen, of the U. S. Department ofAgriculture. Animal tissue is much more sensitive thanplant, to the effects of colehicine. A minute quantity ofthe solution, of the concentrations used on plants, mightcause blindness, or might produce skin irritation. Up tothe present at least, colehicine has had no scientificallyvaluable effects when used in attempts at producing newvarieties of animals.

VOL. 93, NO. 24058

SCIENCE-ADVERTISEMENTS 9

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BAUSCH AND LOMB OPTICAL COMPANY,Rochester. Bausch and Lomb Magazine, Vol.XVI, No. 4. Pp. 21. Illustrated. The Educa-tional Focus, Fall, 1940. Pp. 28. Illustrated.

BELL AND HOWELL COMPANY, Chicago.Filmo Topics, Christmas, 1940. Pp. 11. Illus-trated.

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JANUARY 3ly 1941

SCIENCE-ADVERTISEMENTS VOL. 93, No. 24O.

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