The Good and Evil of Getting Tanned

BRILLIANT sunlight may do harm as well as good, says Dr. W. A. Evans in the Chicago Tribune. It is like any other powerful agent, and the idea that exposure to it is healthful, always and to any extent, is erroneous. He writes:

“I have been giving this matter some thought for several years, as well as watching the experimentation being done in laboratories and reading the literature found in libraries. The conclusion I have come to is that for a well man to expose himself to direct sunlight to an extreme extent in summer, does him no good. In some respects it harms him or may do so. A thoroughly tanned skin will never get back to prize-winning condition. No woman ever tanned her skin to a mahogany brown, and later became noted for a peachblow complexion. The only way such a woman ever gets a fine complexion is by purchase. Tanned skins are somewhat prone to develop skin cancer. Sunlight acts on certain sterol bodies in and near the skin, producing new chemical compounds. These compounds help to combat pneumonia, colds, and consumption. So far, their action is all to the good. But sunlight is a powerful medicine, and powerful are the compounds it forms with the sterol bodies—powerful for good and powerful for harm. We need these compounds to prevent and cure rickets, to stabilize the nerves, and to help resistance against colds, pneumonia, and consumption. But adults do not need help against rickets. In winter they need more sunlight than they can get in order to protect themselves against colds and pneumonias. But we are talking about summer now, and in that season sunlight is in excess. This story has to do only with well adults in the summer season. The senile process—the process of growing old—is abetted by sunlight, at least in plants. Maybe these tanned men and women are inviting premature senility.”

Source: The Literary Digest for August 23, 1930

Hot-Weather Food

ADVICE about eating in hot weather is given as below in the London Daily Mail (Continental edition) by Sir W. Arbuthnot Lane, English surgeon and president of the New Health Society. He writes:

“If you want to derive the maximum health benefit from the summer weather you must pay particular attention to your diet. With the altered climatic conditions it is unreasonable to expect your body machine to run smoothly on the same quantity and quality of fuel as is necessary during winter. If you do not change your diet with the season, you will find yourself listless, heavy, and inert—thoroughly unfit, in fact—during the hot spells.

“The basic principle of summer dieting is to eat an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables, fortunately plentiful and moderate in cost at this time of the year, and to substitute as far as possible dairy produce for flesh foods. Fruits and vegetables in the form of salads are very palatable and supply valuable mineral salts and the indispensable vitamins which have been relatively lacking in our winter diet.

“For breakfast, coffee, wholemeal bread with butter and honey, an egg served attractively, and raw fruit salad make up a well-balanced and sustaining meal. For lunch, a large glass of milk with wholemeal biscuits and butter and a couple of apples or oranges are usually adequate, while a cup of lemon tea will be found very refreshing in the afternoon. Cheese, eggs, or ground nut dishes with fish occasionally, along with fruit and vegetable salads tastily prepared, should form the basis of dinner.

“Water should be taken abundantly between meals, as during the hot weather the skin is very active, losing large quantities of water to keep the body cool. Insufficient intake of fluid is liable to lead to intestinal stasis. In this connection it is well to remember that the cellulose or roughage present in fruits and vegetables is mildly stimulating to the intestinal function and is therefore the best laxative during spells of heat.”

Source: The Literary Digest for August 23, 1930

The Salt of Old Age

A NECESSITY of life is the salt of sodium formed by its combination with chlorin. So well known is this, that when we talk of “salt,” we mean chlorid of sodium, altho there are dozens of other salts—some medicinal, some actively poisonous.

Now comes a French physician. Prof. Pierre Delbet of the Paris Academy of Medicine, who tells us that another chlorid—that of magnesium —is equally valuable in old age.   It will positively prolong life, he avers, and is particularly effective in warding off cancer. He writes in Je Sais Tout (Paris):

“It would be absurd to try to establish a mathematical relation between a man’s years and his bodily content of magnesium.

“Some old men are worth more than some young ones.                    

“But it seems certain to me that, at the moment physical decline comes on, the magnesium diminishes, while the calcium increases.

“Now everything that we know of the chemical activity of magnesium, of its power of synthesis in organo-magnesian compounds, of its action in forming chlorophyl, authorizes the conclusion that its diminution plays a part in senility, or at least in certain of its phenomena. And this idea is fully confirmed by the fact that led me to undertake this investigation—namely, that the absorption of magnesium causes certain phases of senility to disappear.

“It would be imprudent to take up at this point the entire problem of old age. This was attempted at one time, and senility was attributed to the condition of the large intestine.

“Any theory that connects our inevitable decline to a single organ is a revival of the ancient conceptions of dualism. It supposes that one part of us, endowed with immortality, would never grow old, if another, more gross and vile, did not labor to destroy it. These dreams, even when clothed in biologic garments, are nothing but metaphysics.

“It will be said, perhaps, that everything must have a beginning. Doubtless there are many ways of growing old.”

OLD age is not a disease, remarks Dr. Delbet; it is a physiological phenomenon. In a rather brutal way of putting it, we may say that its cause is birth; for in all pluricellular organisms, birth has death as its corollary, and old age is the road that leads thither. He continues:

“It would be highly interesting to know why magnesium diminishes with old age. There can hardly be more than two hypotheses; either an insufficiency of it is taken in with the food, or the cells have become incapable of fixing it. Neither hypothesis is satisfactory.

“If the former were true, it would suffice to eat enough magnesium to become immortal, which is absurd.

“If the second were exact, there would be no use in taking more magnesium; but it was the effect of doing this very thing that led us to undertake these researches.

“We may perhaps say, using (or possibly abusing) a Justly celebrated formula, that the elective power of fixation possest by the cells diminishes progressively before disappearing, so that during a certain period their power is reduced, tho not abolished, and they are then capable of utilizing the magnesium when supplied to them in excess.

“It is during this period that the absorption of magnesium in supplementary quantities would be of the greatest advantage.”

Source: The Literary Digest for September 20, 1930

SCIENTIFIC DISHWASHING

If you clear away the dishes for an average American family and do the job in the customary American manner, you spend just 38 minutes and 8 seconds a day at the task, and the number of motions is precisely 1,954. This information, preliminary to bettering the American speed record, has been ascertained by Mary K. Heiner and N. M. Venner, of the University of Chicago. Says Science Service’s Daily Science News Bulletin (Washington):

“By applying office efficiency to the dining-room and kitchen, you can cut the daily dishwashing schedule to 22 minutes and 58 seconds flat, these investigators state in reporting their work in The Journal of Home Economics. Saving in energy amounts to almost 950 motions. Present standard methods of American dishwashing include scraping and stacking the dishes at the table, washing the dishes by hand after each meal, and drying them by hand with a towel. To reduce to a minimum the time and energy spent on dishwashing, a housekeeper must be willing to break with traditional methods, the investigators emphasize. Dishes for three meals must be washed at one time, probably after breakfast. The dishes are allowed to dry in the air instead of being wiped with a towel. Dishes waiting to be washed are left stacked on the sink table until washing time, thereby saving 3 minutes and 22 seconds otherwise spent in hiding them in the oven.”

Source: The Literary Digest for June 7, 1930

TO ABOLISH THE HOT BOX

AN ANNOYING DETENTION for an hour or so by a “hot box” on a car is not calculated to make friends A for the railroad on which it may occur. Sufferers will welcome the promise of a Detroit inventor, Leo K. Stafford, that a new form of roller bearing devised by him will prove so efficient that it will cut down friction some ninety per cent. and incidentally abolish the hot box entirely. A writer in The Pere Marquette Magazine (Detroit) notes that while interest primarily attaches to its service in the railroad field, the new bearing will commend itself to all means of transportation where a heavy load enters or where a big carrying capacity is necessary. Two points in favor of this invention, which are strest by those who have seen the bearings in service, are that they will not crush or break. We read:

“The Stafford bearing was applied to a car on one of the leading railroads of America on October 15, 1920, and the car was put into service on their rails. Part of the time it had a load of 122,600 pounds, and was subjected to the most severe tests conceivable. After being in use for eleven months, the bearings were taken apart and thoroughly cleaned, and the inspection which followed revealed them to be in as good condition as when they were first applied. They required no expense for repairs or lubrication during the entire period.

“The bearing itself is not complicated. It is simple in its manufacture and assembling, and can be applied to any standard railroad truck, without necessitating any changes to be made on the trucks.

“It is claimed that the use of these bearings will not only reduce the friction, but will make it easier to start trains, and to maintain speed when once started; that lighter power may be utilized, together with such other incidental reductions in costs as a lower wear and tear of rails and right-of-way. Incidentally, the argument is advanced for it that greater tonnage may be handled during the winter months, when it is customary to cut down.  There being no waste, or practically none, with respect to lubrication, a formidable saving is anticipated in this item also.

“The car which has been equipped with the Stafford bearings has invariably attracted wide attention among railroad workers, and success has been predicted for the company from many quarters, among people who know.”

Source: The Literary Digest for February 18, 1922

HOW GERMS GET USED TO ANTISEPTICS

VARY YOUR ANTISEPTICS; otherwise the disease germs will get used to them. The distinguished French physician and bacteriologist, Charles Richet, has recently laid before the French Academy of Sciences a note on researches made by him, together with Henry Cardot, on acquired characteristics and heredity in microbes. He experimented, among other things, on the influence of antiseptics, to determine especially whether bacteria may acquire immunity to toxic substances in the same manner that the higher animals do. His studies have been especially concerned with the bacteria of milk for the reason that these are readily cultivated, reproduce rapidly and possess properties which make it easy to estimate their activity by observing their power to produce lactic acid. Says the Comptes Rendus of the academy in part:

“It was found that the bacteria are sensitive to extremely small doses of poison, but, that, on the other hand, they rapidly become accustomed to the toxic medium and flourish well therein, altho bacteria not thus accustomed quickly perish. By multiplying and varying their experiments Richet and Cardot found that the immunity thus produced bore a definite relation to the quantity of the poisonous substance. This immunity is not produced when the poison is bichloride of mercury—on the contrary, the bacteria appear to be less resistant.

“The immunity is specflc; for instance, bacteria accustomed to sulphate of thallium become immune to this substance alone and not to other poisons. The acquired immunity persists; that is, when a race of bacteria which has become accustomed to thallium sulphate is afterwards cultivated in a normal medium, it retains its immunity for a varying length of time. If the immunity was acquired by months of contact with the poisonous substance, it persists longer than if it is the result of only a few days’ habituation to the poison. In other words, the acquired immunity is only temporary.

“The immunity does not appear gradually, but abruptly. Furthermore, it does not appear to strengthen the general vigor; on the contrary, microbes which have been rendered immune appear to be particularly feeble in other respects. At the same time their fermentative capacity is enhanced, developing as the concentration of the poison increases. On the other hand, their fertility is diminished.

“The results of these researches are peculiarly interesting to the surgeon, indicating that as soon as the microbes which infect a wound have become accustomed and, therefore, immune to a given antiseptic, the latter should be changed for one of different character. It is strongly recommended by Richet that there should always be an alternation of antiseptics in the treatment of wounds.”

Source: The Literary Digest for December 3, 1921

COOKING WITH AUTO EXHAUST

Meals can literally be cooked on the run through the use of an automatic cooker described in Modern Mechanics (Minneapolis, June). We read:

“The cooker is mounted on the rear bumper of the motor tourist’s car, and an extension from the exhaust pipe connected up with it, as shown in the insert. The cooker contains a steam-pressure kettle, which is heated by the hot exhaust gases. An hour’s drive is quite sufficient to thoroughly cook meats and vegetables. Total weight of the unit is so slight that running qualities of the car remain quite unaffected. Motor tours are much more pleasant when one is assured of a well-prepared meal at the end of the trip.”

Source: The Literary Digest for May 24, 1930

ARTIFICIALLY COOLED RAILROAD TRAINS

Railroad trains can hereafter manufacture their own weather as they roll along, and a Pullman or a day coach in midsummer may then be cooler than an outside cabin on an ocean liner. An air-cleaning and cooling system for cars on passenger-trains has just been successfully tested by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and is now in regular service, we are told by a press bulletin issued on behalf of the road. We read:

“The hottest car in a train in summer is the dining-car. Installed in the diner ‘Martha Washington,’ the new air-conditioning device was tested in regular train service between Baltimore and Cumberland. It worked perfectly.  Applied to all cars eventually, it will take the bugbear of discomfort out of summer train travel, the engineers declare. It is calculated to cool a car from 10 to 15 degrees below outside temperature on the hottest and most humid day. Since it also removes excess humidity from the air, the effect on the passengers will be even more refreshing and cooling than the thermometer indicates, while excessive chilling will be avoided. The B. & 0. and the conditioning engineers have worked together in secret for more than a year on the problem of removing all dust, soot and cinders from car air in all seasons and cooling the air in hot weather.”

Source: The Literary Digest for May 24, 1930

FEW TELEPHONES MEAN HIGH DEATH-RATE

The influence of good telephone service on the death-rate of a community was urged recently in Great Britain by Maj. Burdon Evans before the Montgomeryshire Health Insurance Committee. Says Dr. E.E. Free in his Week’s Science (NewYork):

“In the Machynlleth Rural District of Wales, Major Evans reported, the death-rate for the past nine years had been 10.1 persons per thousand of the population. This district has little telephone service, so that messengers may need to travel fifteen miles or more, the Major reported, in order to summon a physician in an emergency. In the remainder of the same county, provided with more adequate telephone service, the death-rate for the same period was reported as only 13.7 persons per thousand of population; disclosing an excess of nearly 18 per cent. of deaths in the telephoneless district as compared with neighboring regions with telephones.

“Many illnesses and accidents which will prove fatal if no physician is quickly available are easily cured, the Major pointed out, by prompt professional aid.

“No small part of the lower death-rates of cities in recent decades may be ascribed, it is probable, to telephones, improved ambulance service, quicker ways of getting other kinds of help in emergencies, and so on, rather than to sanitation or medical advances.

“Similar effects of poor communications may be important also, it is suggested, as one cause of the relatively high death-rates in so-called backward nations, often ascribed instead to poor food and bad sanitation.”

Source: The Literary Digest for May 24, 1930

STILL ANOTHER PLANET?

ANOTHER NEW TRANS-NEPTUAN PLANET has been discovered by astronomers of the Dominion Observatory at Ottawa, according to dispatches to Science Service, given in its Daily Science News Bulletin (Washington). We read:

“This tenth planet of the solar system, if further observations bear out the planetary nature tentatively assigned to it, will make this year notable in astronomical discovery. When on March 13, Lowell Observatory announced the finding of the ninth planet, far beyond Neptune, then the farthest known outpost of the planetary system, the world was startled.

“Now arises the possibility that there are two planets beyond Neptune, both about four thousand million miles from the sun or forty times the earth’s distance from the sun.

“Dr. F. C. Henroteau, astrophysicist of the Dominion Observatory, and Miss M. Burland, his assistant, about ten days ago were looking over the photographic plates made in 1924 in the hope of finding on them the image of the Lowell Observatory planet X. They rejoiced when they found a faint object in about the proper position. But further study convinces them and Dr. R. Meldrum Stewart, director, who described the discovery to Science Service to-day, that they had thus discovered another hitherto unknown planet, which may be called planet Y.

“So far planet Y is known to science on only three photographs taken in 1924. It has not yet been photographed or seen this year. In 1924 it. was a little west of, but close to, where the Lowell planet X should have been at that time. But the position of the heavenly object on the Dominion Observatory plates was enough different to cause Drs. Stewart and Henroteau to announce the probability of another planet.”

Source: The Literary Digest for May 24, 1930