Showing papers in "Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine in 1953"

The Design and Analysis of Experiments

Abstract: THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF EXPERIMENTS. By Oscar Kempthorne. New York, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1952. 631 pp. $8.50. This book by a teacher of statistics (as well as a consultant for \"experimenters\") is a comprehensive study of the philosophical background for the statistical design of experiment. It is necessary to have some facility with algebraic notation and manipulation to be able to use the volume intelligently. The problems are presented from the theoretical point of view, without such practical examples as would be helpful for those not acquainted with mathematics. The mathematical justification for the techniques is given. As a somewhat advanced treatment of the design and analysis of experiments, this volume will be interesting and helpful for many who approach statistics theoretically as well as practically. With emphasis on the \"why,\" and with description given broadly, the author relates the subject matter to the general theory of statistics and to the general problem of experimental inference. MARGARET J. ROBERTSON

Microscopic Histochemistry Principles and Practice

Abstract: THE URINARY FUNCTION OF THE KIDNEY. By A. V. Wolf. New York, Grune & Stratton, Inc., 1950. xiii + 363 pp. $7.50. Bold is the renal physiologist who questions today the validity of such concepts as inulin clearance, thresholds, and tubular maxima. Yet Dr. Wolf asserts that the modern theory of renal function, aside from resting on inconclusive fundamental experimental evidence, is misleading as regards the over-all function of the kidney. In place of the usual consideration of the handling of urinary solutes taken independently, that is excretion, the emphasis is here put on the simultaneous disposition of urinary water and solutes for the maintenance of plasma pH, osmotic strength, and volume, i.e., regulation. The monograph is essentially a presentation of new interpretations, not of new facts. For example, threshold, through a slight modification in definition, takes on a wholly new significance, which renders the concept of maximal tubular reabsorptive capacity meaningless, and removes the dissociation of threshold from the rate of urinary flow. The term isorrhea is introduced to define the state of urinary excretion equal to a rate of loading of salt and water. The upper and lower limits of these rates of loading may be experimentally determined. These are the limits of the regulatory function of the kidney and are different from the simple ability to concentrate or dilute. There is commendably accurate definition of such nebulous words as diuresis and dehydration and there is strict adherence to these definitions throughout the text. The exceptionally lucid chapter on the dehydrations owes its excellence especially to the careful use of terms. The distinctions between the points of view presented here and those of Homer Smith are not always clear-cut. That the performance of the kidney in the last analysis must be considered as a function of all the attributes of the presented plasma, of course, cannot be disputed. This monograph seems in many instances to go no further than putting old problems in new terms. In this much at least, the unorthodox approach is refreshing and stimulating.

A mechanism of regulation of food intake.

Abstract: Regulation of food intake is a term which includes all of the reactions through which an animal (i) maintains a constant intake while environmental and metabolic conditions are constant, and (ii) adjusts its intake whenever environmental or metabolic conditions are altered. What an animal eats and how much are usually thought to be determined by the energy requirements of the body; but every careful observer who has conducted feeding experiments knows that there are many circumstances in which the amount of food eaten is not related to energy expenditure. For example, most mammals will not eat when they are deprived of water, because the demand for energy is secondary to preventing dehydration. They also fail to eat when placed in a hot environment with free access to water and food. There is, therefore, no simple correlation between energy needs and food intake which is valid under all conditions, and it is our purpose now to present the hypothesis that the important factor in regulation of food intake is not its energy value, but rather the amount of extra heat released in its assimilation. Our data do not exclude the possibility that there are other bases for this regulation; as there are several factors in regulation of respiration (CO2 tension, pH, 02 tension, etc.), so there may be more than one factor in regulation of feeding. Yet the intake of energy as food seems to a large extent to be regulated indirectly via the heat liberated in assimilating food, much as oxygen intake is regulated via carbon dioxide concentration and pH of the blood. Other theories of hunger, appetite, and satiety, based on Cannon's9 and Carlson's'0 studies of sensation from the stomach, do not account in a quantitative way for regulation feeding, nor explain the observation that animals eat different amounts of different diets. The ability of animals to change their intake when the composition of food is altered suggests that animals recognize some quality in food, and that this quality may be correlated with regulation of the amount of food eaten. This quality we have arbitrarily called the intrinsic food factor, and we have concluded that it may be identical with the specific dynamic action, since it cannot be any one of the more obvious dietary constituents, including the caloric value of the food. Following feeding, the heat production is greater than before the food

Philosophy of a biologist.

Abstract: THIS little book is a review of our present knowledge and views by a distinguished physiologist. It will be read with pleasure and interest by all scientific men, whether or not they agree with the author's endeavour to suggest that “modern science has brought us to the conception of a power eternal, infinite, unknowable . . . energizing all in the universe, the dead no less than the quick”.Philosophy of a Biologist.SirLeonardHill. Pp. viii + 88. (London: Edward Arnold and Co., 1930.) 3s. 6d. net.

Morris' Human Anatomy

Abstract: Nirenberg-Matthaei discovery of polyuridylate-directed phenylalanine incorporation is called a \"breakthrough experiment.\" Elsewhere we are told that \"aspartate and cytidine triphosphate have nothing in common structurewise.\" One final point, relative to the authors' stated desire to bring their work up to date. They present the system of protein classification recommended by the American Society of Biological Chemists and the American Physiological Society. However, they fail to mention that the recommendations were put forth in 1907, and that the classification is of very little use today. In conclusion, therefore, I would describe this as a somewhat old-fashioned tex,t that, despite modern trappings, remains somewhat old-fashioned. Biological Chenistry, on the other hand, is a superb book-certainly the best biochemistry text to be published since the second edition of General Biochemistry by Fruton and Simmonds, some eight years ago. The book succeeds partly because it aggressively limits itself to \"fundamental biochemistry,\" and leaves out more physiological topics such as the chemistry of muscle contraction and vision. Secondly, the book is logically organized. Protein chemistry is treated initially. This leads smoothly into a discussion of the thermodynamics and kinetics of enzymecatalyzed reactions, with metabolism occupying the latter half of the book. Finally, the book is scientifically rigorous. A prior knowledge of physical chemistry is assumed, and the principles of physical and organic chemistry are used throughout. For example, a plausible mechanism is presented for every enzyme reaction which is discussed. A wealth of detail is presented, yes, but nowhere could I find a detail that struck me as superfluous. In addition, the book is astonishingly up to date in all areas of biochemistry. For example, the role of N-formylmenthionine as an initiator of protein synthesis is thoroughly discussed although some of the most important papers-which are referred to-have appeared in 1966. Most biochemists agree that the book by Fruton and Simmonds is the outstanding biochemistry text of the recent era. Mahler and Cordes bids fair to take its place, and the authors seem to be aware of their intellectual heritage. The first chapter of Mahler and Cordes-\"History and Scope of Biochemistry\"-has the same title and covers the same topics, including a listing of biochemical journals and reviews, as does the earlier book. This gives the impression that the newer book is carrying on a proud tradition, although this might not be intentional. At any rate, this is a book that can be used for reference as well as for a text in a year-long, graduate-level biochemistry course. It should be found in the library of every biological scientist.

Dynamic Aspects of Biochemistry.

Abstract: medicine, it was almost inevitable that this wishful idea would arise. Unfortunately, this is not the much-wanted definitive text. This feeling of disappointment in the book, however, is not due to any failure to attain the aims stated in the preface: "This volume offers to students of psychiatry a comprehensive view of dynamic psychiatry. The dynamic trend in psychiatry is the result of the impact of psychoanalysis, its theory, its method of investigation, and its therapy, upon the whole of psychiatry." This goal is, by and large, admirably attained. The book is composed of 16 chapters subdivided into three parts dealing with fundamental concepts, clinical psychiatry, and the influence of psychoanalysis on allied fields. The scheme is that each of the chapters is written by an individual with special interest in the topic discussed. In the early chapters, especially, there is insufficient editing. This is reflected in some tedious repetition, lack of integration, and inappropriate emphases. In Part I, Benedek's essay on Personality Development deserves special praise. To a subject which invites pedantry and obfuscation she has brQught refreshing, new, and stimulating viewpoints. The chapters in the section on clinical psychiatry satisfactorily fulfill the general aim of the book and with a few exceptions are scholarly in tone. Whitehorn's article on the psychoses particularly warrants this adjective. In a volume of this size one seems justified in raising the question of the advisability of donating so much space (25 pages) to Acute Neurotic Reactions, especially when the remainder of neurotic disorders is covered in only 33 pages. In this reviewer's opinion, there are two chapters in the clinical psychiatry section which are of such a high level of excellence as to make the volume worth owning just to have them convenient for reference. One is Levine's article on Psychiatric Treatment. With great clarity of style, he offers a tangible means of understanding the aims and levels of psychotherapy. Although it might not be satisfactory to well-advanced psychoanalytic students, it is eminently so for the beginner and the intermediate. The other outstanding chapter is Brosin's Contributions of Psychoanalysis to the Study of Organic Cerebral Disorders. This is an absolutely first-rate contribution. In the first place, it provides a unified collection of information about hypotheses and researches previously obtainable only through laborious library work. In the second place, the author has offered interpretations of data, criticisms, and suggestions for future research which are exhilarating in their originality. The third part of the book makes pleasant, informative, "after-work" reading. As is to be expected, there is an over-all expansiveness of tone, but usually modulated by the obvious authoritativeness of some of the basic ideas. The individual bibliographies of the chapters are ordinarily excellent, especially those for the organic cerebral disorders and the influence of psychoanalysis on current thought. JOHN W. HIGGINS

Morbus Alzheimer and Morbus Pick

Abstract: ing examples are Mitchell and Keen in neurosurgery. The average army surgeon was sent back to civilian practice a better surgeon, with an increased respect for cleanliness and ventilation of the sick-room. Women who \"nursed\" the wounded began to feel the need for professional training. But these were advances within the individual and not within the body of medicine as a whole. Dr. Adams has done an excellent piece of work in compressing into this one volume the mass of material available. The book abounds with fascinating bits of information, such as Surgeon-General Hammond's order to discontinue the use of calomel and tartar emetic and the uproar that this created among the Army physicians. Today we are accustomed to an adequate pre-induction physical examination for the draftee. Then, however, as the author points out, the examinations were so poorly or hastily conducted that approximately four hundred women were inducted! Physicians of today who feel that the Army physical standards are too low would recoil from the Civil War examiner who passed, with official sanction, incipient tuberculosis and secondary syphilis. The author discusses his topic under the general headings of \"Confusions of 1861,\" \"Beginnings of an Ambulance System,\" \"Wartime Surgery,\" \"Nurses, Staffs, and Convalescents,\" \"Diseases and Treatments,\" etc. There are eight pages of excellent photographs of hospitals, ambulances, and staff. For the statistically minded or the comparative reseacher there is a comprehensive index, which tabulates wounds, diseases, etc., by place, race, date, and kind, with comparisons between Union and Confederate where possible. In writing a book of this kind, an author is faced with two types of internal organization. Either he may develop each theme separately, returning to the beginning of the war with each new topic, or he may develop the book chronologically and discuss all his topics at once, year by year. One wishes the author had made a choice. Instead he has a tendency to pick and choose his dates and chronology, with no system at all. The reader finds Surgeon-General Hammond continually being discharged, goes through first and second Manassas several times, and is kept in a state of confusion about place and date without ever being sure of where Dr. Adams is going to carry him next. For the general reader, unfamiliar with the War in detail, more discussion of purely military history would have been helpful, perhaps in a page at the beginning of each new section. However, Dr. Adams has supplied us with a splendid account of the Union medical forces in a book that must be on the shelves of every amateur in medical or Civil War history. I hope that he will soon publish a companion volume about the gallant gentlemen in grey.

Functional Endocrinology from Birth through Adolescence.

Abstract: Several editions of this Journal exist and those commonly available are the later ones. The importance of this first edition lies in its timing. Within a year of his return from this voyage, Darwin, then in chronic ill health, had begun notes on The Origin of Species. By 1842 he had made a 35-page summary of his ideas; and his 230-page manuscript of 1844 contains all the essentials of his final work. Thus this first edition of the Journal is the last picture of his thoughts before they crystalized. Here we can study the development of his ideas, can sense his misery from seasickness and loneliness, and feel his rebellion at the goldfish-like privacy of his quarters-the end of the chart room in a vessel no bigger than a fishing boat. Those interested in how ideas grow as well as in the perfected theory owe a debt to the Hafner Publishing Company for making this important edition available in facsimile.

The effect of whole body x-irradiation on the reticuloendothelial system as demonstrated by the use of radioactive chromium phosphate.

Abstract: The role of the reticulo-endothelial system (RES) in recovery following whole body X-irradiation has aroused considerable recent interest."5'17 However, ready explanation of this role is complicated by the fact that pertinent data concerning the effect of ionizing radiation upon the RES seem somewhat contradictory. 8 1, U U2"-8 Generally, the RES is regarded as a non-radiosensitive tissue.8'25 m Taplin, et al.,' reported very little effect of 300 r whole body X-irradiation on the RES of rabbits, basing their conclusions on the blood clearance of the colloidal dye, prodigiosin. Barrow and co-workers' were unable to demonstrate any change in the disappearance rate of intravenously injected colloidal gold into rabbits following 800 r whole body X-irradiation. On the other hand, Kogae' noted an alteration in uptake of carmine by the RES of rabbits after only 42 r whole body X-irradiation, and, after 25 to 50 r, Pape and Jellinek'2 reported degenerative cell injury in the spleen of rats. A technique has been developed by one of us9"-" for study of RES activity in laboratory animals by means of intravenous injection of radioactive col-loidal chromium phosphate (CrP3204). The technique may be used in at least three ways: (i) Disappearance rate of radioactivity from the blood may be determined. Thus, one can obtain an overall outlook of the activity of the whole RES. (ii) Distribution of radioactivity to different organs may be measured. Thus, the relative RES activity of various organs can be observed because, in normal animals, the distribution patterns of a CrP3204 suspension seems very constant.10 The liver, spleen, and many other organs remove a definite

Doctors in Blue.

Abstract: The increasing use of spectraphotometric methods for enzyme assay of diphosphopyridine nucleotide-linked enzymes will give the procedure for reduction and isolation of reduced diphosphopyridine nucleotide considerable value. In the area of the biochemistry of the carbohydrates the syntheses of glucose-6-phosphate and phosphoryl-enolpyruvic acid are described. Myoand DL-epi-inosose-2 are prepared by the microbiological oxidation of inositol. The enzymatic degradation of sodium phytate is employed for the preparation of inositol monophosphate. In addition a method for the purification of commercial fructose-1,6-diphosphate and a method for the preparation of sodium pyruvate by neutralization of pyruvic acid are presented, also a method for obtaining uniformly labeled C-14 sucrose by photosynthesis. Procedures which may interest investigators concerned with the lipids are the isolation of oleic acid, the syntheses of the methyl esters of oleic and ricinoleic acids, and the syntheses of phosphocholine and a-glycerolphosphoric acid. The index is cumulative for volumes 1 and 2, and the preface contains a list of compounds of biochemical interest which have appeared in Organic syntheses through Volume 27. With few exceptions the material is presented in an excellent manner. However, the basic value of a book of this type should be to give methods of preparing materials which are in demand and for which no good alternative source is available. A number of the preparations in this volume do not meet these requirements. For example, much of the book is devoted to the synthesis of glutathione. This is available commercially, and the method given is tedious and not the most practical way of obtaining glutathione. Furthermore, there is no reference to the more recent synthetic method of Hegedus (Helv. Chim. Acta., 31, 47). Notably absent are methods of preparation of enzymes. Cytochrome C and crystalline lactic dehydrogenase are the only purified enzymes which are included. Although this volume does not make the contribution that it could to current biochemical methodology, it will be of considerable value to persons engaged in biochemical research and to teachers of advanced courses in practical biochemistry.

Preliminary paper electrophoretic study of saliva.

Abstract: Organic constituents of human saliva vary around 0.5 g. per 100 ml. depending on the nature of the stimulus and the hour of collection. Most of the organic matter is protein, with mucin being the preponderant component. However, it is one of the smaller protein elements that has been the most widely studied, mainly because of its enzymatic action, that is, salivary amylase. Phase boundary electrophoresis studies have been reported by Blix2 on animal submaxillary mucin and by Bernfeld, Staub, and Fischer' and Muusu on human salivary amylase. In the present note, electrophoresis was carried out on whole human saliva. The method reported here is that of zone paper electrophoresis\"' 18M17 which utilizes filter paper as a matrix to support the buffer solution. This method offers the following advantages over the phase boundary-free solution technique of Tiselius.'5 1. By means of paper electrophoresis many determinations may be made with a volume needed for but a single sample in the phase boundary apparatus. 2. Less than 0.1 ml. samples will usually suffice for paper electrophoresis; with amounts this small, it is not possible to use phase boundary electrophoresis. 3. Optical transparency of samples is not necessary with paper electrophoresis. 4. Preparative dialysis against the buffer, which may induce degradative changes in complex materials such as saliva, is not a requirement because inorganic ions do not interfere with electrophoresis when using filter paper. 5. Separation of components by paper electrophoresis is more permanent than that produced by the phase boundary apparatus because the filter paper provides a matrix in which the protein elements are retained in their relative positions after completion of electrophoresis. 6. Enzyme migration may be traced after paper electrophoresis by testing sections of the filter paper with a suitable substrate for the specific

Problems of Consciousness

Abstract: pared, and the successive stages of implantation and placental formation in various mammals are compared with those in man. Although the authors have quite successfully attempted to keep the book as short as possible, they have succeeded in putting much of great value in it with the result that it can be highly recommended. No biological library is complete without a copy of this excellent account of human development.

The rôle of alcohol in the pathogenesis of cirrhosis.

Abstract: For over a century clinicians and pathologists have debated the role of alcohol in the pathogenesis of cirrhosis. Only in the last decade, however, has general agreement been reached on certain principles underlying the complex inter-relationships between alcohol ingestion, food intake, and alterations in the structure of the liver. Unfortunately, this has led to the erroneous impression in some quarters that the problem has been solved, and that further investigation is no longer needed. It is the purpose of this discussion, therefore, to review very briefly the evidence on which our current concept of the r6le of alcohol in the pathogenesis of cirrhosis is based and to call attention to some gaps in our knowledge. In tracing the evolution of this concept it is possible to discern three distinct, but broadly overlapping, periods dominated in turn by the morphologist, the toxicologist, and the nutritionist. What I choose to call the morphologist's era may be said to have begun with Laennec's description' of the anatomical lesion in cirrhosis in 1826. It was a period marked by a bitter controversy between the proponents of the view that alcohol was the direct cause of cirrhosis and those who denied any relationship between the two. In the end, however, both sides were forced into the intermediate position so well summarized by Jolliffe and Jellinek2 in 1941:

Studies on the stability of lyophilized B C G vaccine.

Abstract: The application of lyophilization to the preservation of BCG, in an effort to combat the rapid loss in allergenic potency of the liquid vaccine, has presented important technical difficulties. Although the effectiveness of lyophilized BCG in producing tuberculin conversion appears to be as great as that of the fresh vaccine,\"118,2 clinical experience has shown that its use engenders quantitatively lessened tuberculin reactions\"'5 that frequently are temporally delayed.\"7'18'2' More important, however, is the fact that the protective value of lyophilized vaccines against challenge infection with virulent tubercle bacilli is less than that produced by fresh, liquid vaccines.\"' Inasmuch as the allergenic potency of the vaccine has been shown to be a function of the viability of the suspension5'9 the failure of dried vaccines has been attributed to the large decrement in viable cells that occurs during the period of lyophilization itself,\"5 and the smaller decrease that occurs in the storage period which follows. Initial attempts at prolonging the effective life of BCG vaccine were made in Russia in 1937.1' From the start, workers have experienced difficulty, and the tendency has been to use accessory substances along with the vaccine suspension to enhance its stability. Excipients such as glucose,\"\"' starch,\" lactose,' \" 16 gelatin,' denatured gelatin,'5 serum,6'2 sucrose, gum arabic,\"1 peptone solution,9 sodium ammonium pectate, and glutamic, malic, and succinic acids' have been tried. It has been suggested recently that Tweenalbumin medium, as used for diffuse, submerged growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, be used as the vehicle for lyophilization.'5 Rosenthal'8 has reported excellent results using a mixture of lactose, asparagin, buffered salts, and glycerine as a suspending menstruum. Reported s-urvival rates vary from 100 per cent2'\" to about 14 per cent,'0 immediately following lyophilization. Birkhaug' reports a survival rate of 2.83 to 3.26 per cent three to twelve months after freeze-drying. Preliminary experiments carried out in this laboratory having supported the reports of low survival rates following lyophilization and, further, having indicated that BCG could not be successfully stabilized in the absence of drying excipients a survey has been made of sixty-two adjuvants, embracing

The dual nature of acid-fastness.

Abstract: Acid-fastness is usually defined by the Ziehl-Neelsen technique: staining in carbol-fuchsin, differentiation in HCl-alcohol, and counterstaining in methylene blue.8 As a result, acid-fast substances are red, non-acid-fast materials, blue. Some authors have felt that this property of differential staining resided in one specific type of compound, the mycolic acid type of long-chain fatty acid found only in the acid-fast mycobacteria.\" Most authorities, however, now consider that the bulk of the evidence supports a structural rather than a chemical explanation of the phenomenon. It is certainly true that grindinge6 or crushing' tubercle bacilli abolishes their acid-fastness although no change in chemical composition may be detected. Similar, but not identical, acid-fastness has been produced in a number of usually non-acid-fast bacteria by coating them with lipid not in itself acid-fast.' Spores of bacteria are usually acid-fast9 so long as their protective capsule is present. Finally, mycolic acid, the presumed acid-fast compound in tubercle bacilli, was reexamined'9'2' and found to be somewhat acid-fast, but not strongly enough to account for the brilliant staining of intact bacilli. It has been recently noted2 that under certain conditions spermatozoa are acid-fast. When an explanation of this observation was sought, certain contradictions in the basic theory became manifest. The original report of acid-fastness was by Neisser.\" He reported that lepra bacilli, once stained, were resistant to acid destaining. This was in contrast to the ease with which other known bacteria were destained. A year later Ehrlich\" noted a similar property in tubercle bacilli. In these latter organisms, this resistance to destaining was coupled with a resistance to staining and to chemical treatment generally.'0\"15 Out of this generalized resistance of tubercle bacilli has grown the structural theory of acid-fastness.' However, neither lepra bacilli\" nor spermatozoa showed any staining resistance comparable to tubercle bacilli. It therefore appeared questionable whether the structural theory of acid-fastness as presently developed was completely valid. The object of this present paper then is to study both the differences and simi-

The digital exploration of the ventricular chambers of the heart through a rubber diverticulum.

Abstract: ImagesFig. 5

A fraction of commercial yeast which protects against bacterial infection.

Abstract: Since 1940 when we began a study of sensitization in laboratory animals treated with pertussis vaccine we have emphasized the role of the bacterial protein in this phenomenon. Considerable information has been accumulated which indicates that vaccination with Hemnophilus pertussis, while increasing resistance against infection by the same organism will, at the same time, produce hypersensitivity to the Hen?ophilus pertussis antigen. Such sensitivity, however, is not specific for pertussis but crosses with several other species of gram negative bacteria.1 28 Furthermore, mice immunized against pertussis are much more susceptible to infection by other gram negative bacteria than are their normal litter mates. Apparently, specific immunization can produce a non-specific lowering of resistance which predisposes the host to unrelated infections\"5 and this may well be listed as another untoward effect of bacterial allergy. Because bacterial protein has been shown to play a part in hypersensitivity and, from the above observation, is implicated in the etiology of infections, the search for an appropriate protein for desensitization was undertaken. The obvious selection was protein associated with the nucleic acid of the bacterial cell from the specific Henmophilus organism. Injection of this material reinforced the resistance of sensitized animals. However, since hypersensitivity is not species specific, the possibility of another source of comparable material was apparent and it was found that a commercial preparation of yeast sodium nucleate would not only reduce the hypersensitivity of vaccinated animals to the same pertussis antigen, but would make them refractory to gram negative bacteria. This logically lead to the possibility of protection for normal animals against similar infection. Our numerous experiments prove that normal mice after injection with sodium nucleate are protected against infection by Proteus, Pasteurella, Brucella and E. coli organisms. Subsequent studies indicated that different brands of sodium nucleate were variable in potency; some were even inactive. Furthermore, the protective dosage of the active preparations ran as high as 100 mg./mouse. In search of the active principle we looked to the

Some comments on growth and development in adolescents.

Abstract: James Stephen's description of these two young adolescents not only is couched in delightful prose but happily emphasizes the fact that adolescence is not a static but an ever-changing process. The reasons he assigns for the difference between the boy and girl may not be the true ones, but we should remember that it is only in recent years and because some of the more serious disorders of infancy and early childhood such as feeding problems, diarrheal diseases, and bacterial infections have become better understood, that physicians have begun to give their attention to the hitherto relatively neglected natural phenomena of adolescence. These physicians, who are now both studying and caring for young people of this age group, find few diseases which are limited to adolescence, but they quickly discover that there are some matters concerning these young people themselves which should be kept in mind by the physician who advises and treats them. These matters (their concern with their own growth and development, their habit of strenuous living, their concern with schooling, and their emotional development) have been the subject of many publications, but a thorough understanding of one of them, the characteristics of the growth process in adolescence and the related fact of the adolescent's deep concern with his own growth, is so essential to a correct evaluation and proper management of a young boy or girl that reiteration is desirable. Little children and adults have slight emotional concern with their size. An eight-year-old child does not care how tall or mature he is and a thirtyyear-old adult does not become emotionally upset by the fact that his height is greater or less than his neighbor's. The adolescent, however, feels differently. Height, size, rate of growth, and state of maturity all mean a great deal during these years. The adolescent who is not maturing as rapidly as his or her companions, the boy who is shorter or the girl who is taller or more obese than usual, not only dislikes being different, but may become

The social history of the caul.

Abstract: The history of obstetrics, perhaps more than that of many sciences, includes a large measure of superstition. In earlier centuries the normal phenomena of pregnancy and labor were understood, if at all, incompletely; related abnormalities were even more puzzling. Before adequate scientific explanations were available, speculation had to suffice, and superstition was often a result. Infrequently, in past ages as now, a baby is born with a thin, translucent tissue, a fragment of the amniotic membrane, covering its head. The remnant is known as a caul.' The modern obstetrician quickly removes the membrane (it may be interfering with the infant's efforts to begin respiration) and discards it. His professional predecessors, the physicians and midwives of earlier centuries, would have been more interested, for strong magic and strange beliefs were once related to the caul. In countries all over the world it was expected that the membrane would bring fame and fortune to its owner.9 \"50 67, 80, 107 Aelius Lampridius, a classical historian, related that the emperor Antonius Diadumenianus or Diadematus (born 19 September 208 A.D.) was so called because at birth his head was encircled with a fillet (diadema), twisted like a bowstring and so strong it could not be broken. ' \" 69 One supposes that the caul in this case had been rolled into a band. Although the possession of the fillet was expected to bring him good luck, Diadumenianus was assassinated while a youth.'5 Caul superstitions were recorded again after the Dark Ages. Cornelius Gemma, a sixteenth century physician, scorned belief in the powers of the caul.' He described it quaintly as being \". . . nothing other than the remnant of another membrane, much softer than the amnion, but nevertheless more solid, bound with a purple border or fringe, and wrapped around the whole head down to the umbilicus, not without great danger to the baby unless the membrane was removed as quickly as possible; thus I myself have observed it in my first-born son who came helmeted [galeatus] into the world.\" Van der Spiegel, a Belgian anatomist, explained

The effect of cobalt-60 gamma radiation on passive immunity.

Abstract: A considerable amount of work has been reported in the literature on the effect of x-rays on antibody formation and immunity. With the exception of the reports from our laboratory,5\"' the depressing effect of cobalt-60 gamma radiation upon immunity and antibody formation has not been reported. It would seem logical that x-rays and gamma rays should have a similar physiological effect. However, there is a greater difference between the wave length of the radioactive cobalt gamma ray and x-ray than there is between the antirachitic ultraviolet band and the ineffective band in the ultraviolet region. For this reason, we have chosen cobalt-60 gamma rays for our study of the effect of whole body ionizing radiation on the immunity mechanism in general. Because of the excellent review of the effect of x-rays on immunity by Taliaferro and Taliaferro,'l only references having a direct bearing on the experiments in this report will be included. Hollingsworth7 has reported that whole body irradiation has no effect on the rate of destruction of passively administered antibodies. This was true for both homologous and heterologous serum. Hale and Stoner' have also demonstrated that whole body gamma irradiation does not appreciably alter the disappearance of passively administered homologous tetanus antitoxin. Therefore, if sublethal whole body irradiation will depress the efficacy of such passively administered antibody, this procedure might be a means of studying the relationship of the cells of the passively immunized animal to the immunity produced by the antibody. Experiments were designed to test the effect of whole body irradiation on passive immunity to pneumococcus Type III. The radiation source was composed of twenty-one pieces of cobalt-60, arranged to give a uniform field at twelve inches from the source. Fifty mice could be irradiated at one time. The intensity at the time of these experiments was approximately 650 Rep. per hour and the LD50 for mice twenty-eight days of aget was 750 Rep. per hour.

A comparative study of the alkali reserve of normal, pregnant, and fetal sheep.

Abstract: In a study of the carbon dioxide exchange between the fetal and maternal bloods of goats, Keys' observed that the alkali reserve of the fetal blood sampled after caesarian section was higher than that of the maternal plasma obtained after the delivery of the fetus. The alkali reserve of the fetal kids fell within the range characteristic of normal barren goats, but that of the mother was in every case below the normal range. These observations, made on goats in the last 30 days of the gestation period, led him to infer that the pregnant goat is in a state of metabolic acidosis, an inference that gained support from studies by Barcroft and his collaborators' indicating that the position of the oxygen dissociation curve, prepared at constant CO2 pressure with the blood of gravid goats, was to the right of the field characteristic for the curves similarly prepared with blood from individuals not gravid. My own observations on the carbon dioxide content of fetal and maternal plasmas of sheep,2 drawn under similar circumstances after the lambs had been delivered by caesarian section, indicated that here, too, the concentration was higher in the fetal plasma. This observation, viewed in the light of the results of Keys' and Barcroft et al.,2 pointed to the possibility that the gravid ewe like the goat was in a state of metabolic acidosis. Hence, I determined to examine this possibility in the hope of learning something about the genesis and development of pregnancy acidosis. The results obtained form the substance of this report which deals with the alkali reserve in normal barren ewes, in gravid individuals at several stages in gestation, and fetuses in a number of different stages of development. As the first step in the investigation the alkali reserve was determined in a series of normal ewes that were not pregnant and had not recently been so, in an effort to establish the level and the range of variation characteristic of individuals kept under usual farm conditions. Those objectives obtained, I next followed the changes in the alkali reserve in a small series of ewes, with appropriate controls, before, during, and after the gestation period.