NATURE VOL 251 NO 5476

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4
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• Document Page Count: 132
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 9, 2014
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 18, 1974
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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v. Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4
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Vol 251 No 5476 October 18 1974 UK 35p USA S1-:-Ockli Macmillan Journals Liinited.
)almost astonishment to. all readers of his work.
Fig. 5 shows a buizard saddled with the machinery
which, by means of the two tubes running, downwards
from it, transmits the vertical and horizontal movements
of its wing to the recording apparatus, which is not repre-
sented. In the study of the more intricate points the
necessary instruments are so heavy that the whole bird
has to be partially supported. This is done by attaching
it to the extremity of a long lever which revolves, with
scarcely any friction, on a pivot. This is found not
seriously to interfere with the normal flight of the bird.
_ Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09 : CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4 _ r
co _Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4
8 1974
YOUR FUTURE
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Above left
Graphitised carbon lattice showing1,7A separation
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(220) lattice fringes of Diamond, 1,2A separation
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Liver DNA and Cytochrome C showing spiral
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Tomorrow's electron optics... today!
PHILIPS
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4
Nature Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A0002-00010001-4
Vol. 25I No.-5476 OctOber 18, 1974
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A hundred years ago Nature was
reviewing E. J. Marey's ? Anithal
Mechanism (page 518, October -29,
1874):,These cumbersome mechanisms
were Soon to be replaced ,by Muy-
'bridge's zobpraxiscOpe camera. On
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sequenee. aritl-,a century later?What
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-Volume 252
.-,Investigating the paranormal
'October 18,1974,.
559
, For those in peril on the factorY floor.
? 560
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
562
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569
ARTICLES
Humathreproduction and' family planning: research strategies in developing countries--
A.-Kessler and C. C. SteMdley. , ? 577
Compositional variation in recent Icelandic tholentes and the Kverkfjbll hot?spot?
G. E. Sigvaldason, S. Steinthors?son, N..19iskarssoli,andP. ImSland,
. 579
Climatic significance of deuterium abundance. in growth rings of picea?W.,E. Shiegl 582
Properties of hybrids between Salmonella phage P22 and coliphage??
D. Bat stein and I. 'Herskowitz .. 584
LETTERS TO NATURE?Physical Sciences ?
'Distance to Cygnus Cheng, K. J. H. Phillips and A. M.. Wilson. 589
High 'energy radiation from white holes?J. V. Narlikar, K. M. V."?Appa Rao and
N: badhich
? 590
Spectrum of the cosmic background radiation ,between 3.min and .800 pm?
E. I. Robson, D. G. Vickers,: J. S. Huizinga,:l: E. BeckMan? and.P. E. Clegg .- 591
A new. solar-terrestrial.relationshiP.?.-G: M.BroWn
592
Rainfall, drought and the solar-cycle?C. A:Wood and R..R. Lovett 594
Dynamic implications 'of Mantle-hinspots?M. A. Khan . 596
A-type doubling in the?CH molecule?R. E..HammersleY and ,W..G. ,Richards ? 597
Drag-reducing polymers and liquid-column oscillations?W. D. McComb. , 598
noise with-a low frequency white:noise L.. Schick and A, A. Verveen 599
, Second Law.of TherModynamics?D.R. . 601
information transmission under conditions of sensory shielding,?B, Targ and H. Puthoff 602
LETTERS TO NATURE?Biological Sciences
The stability of a feasible random ecosystem?A. RobErts: . 607
Objective evaluation of auditory evoked EEG responses?B. McA. Sayers and
H. A. Beagley 608
Imprinting and .exploration of slight novelty in chicks?P..5'. Jackson and
P. ?
P. G. Batesoi:
609
?
Microbial activation of proPhenoloxidase from iminune insect larvae--A. E. Pye 610
Elevation of total .seruni:IgE in rats following helminth parasite infection?
E. Jarrett and H. Bazin
612
Alternative route for nitrogen assimilation in higher plants?P. J. Lea and
. B. J: M,iflin . ??, ? . 614
Evolution of cell -senescence, atherosclerosis and benigrytumotirsD. "Dykhuizen ? 616
Insulin stimulates mybgenesis in a rat myoblast line?J.-L. Mandel and
? M. L. Pearson, ?, .. . .
Sickle tell resistance to in vivo hypoxia-49. Castro, S. C. Finch and G.,Osbaldistane 620
Expression of the?dyStroPhia muscularis (dy) receSSive gene-in mice-:=K?Parsans ? ?. . 621
Growth of human muscle spindles in vitro .?B. J. Elliott and D, G. F. Harriman 622
Multiple control mechanism? underlie initiation of growth in animal cells?
? L. J..d e ?Asua and E:Rokengurt . . ? . . ? ? ? ? ?624
618 ?
Control of cell division in yeast using the ionophore, A23187 With calcium and
magnesiin*--J. 11.??DUffus.and L. J Patterson 626 ?
Antigen of mouse bile.caPillaries and cuticle of, intestinal mucosa
N. I. Khramkova and T. D,Belo.MaPkbia ??
Ultrastructural analysis of toxin binding and entry. into mammalian
G. L. NicoI,s?on ?
627
628
Serum dopamine (3-hydroxylak,activity-in developing hypertensive rats--T. Nagatsu;
T. Kato, Y. Numata "(Sudo), K. Ikuta, H. UmeZawa,-M.-Maisuzaki and T. Takeuehi 630
Enzymatic synthesiS of acetylcholine by a serotonin-containing neurone from Helix?
M. R.? Hanley, G. A. Cottrell., P. C. Emson and,F. Fonnurn , 631
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ii Declassified and Approved For
Assignment of the gene for galactokinase to human chromosome 17 and its regional
localisation to bank q21-22?S. M. Elsevier, R. S. Kucherlapati, E. A. Nichols,
R. P. Creagan, R. E. Giles, F. H. Ruddle, K. Willecke and J. K. McDougall
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D. S. Feingold 656
Crystallisation of a modified fibrinogen?C. Cohen and N. M. Tooney 659
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4
Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4 59
Volume 251
Investigating
the paranormal
October 18, 1974
WE publish this week a paper by Drs R. Targ and H.
Puthoff (page 602) which is bound to create something of
a stir in the scientific community. The claim is made that
information can be transferred by some channel whose
characteristics appear to fall "outside the range of known
perceptual modalities". Or, more bluntly, some people can
read thoughts or see things remotely.
Such a claim is, of course, bound to be greeted With a
preconditioned reaction amongst many scientists. To some
it simply confirms what they have always known or
believed. To others it is beyond the laws of science and
therefore necessarily unacceptable. But to a few?though
perhaps to more than is realised?the questions are still
unanswered, and any evidence of high quality is worth a
critical examination.
The issue, then, is whether the evidence is of sufficient
quality to be taken seriously. In trying to answer this, we
have been fortunate in -having the help of three indepen-
dent referees who have done their utmost to see the paper
as a potentially important scientific communication and
not as a challenge to or confirmation of prejudices. We
thank them for the considerable effort they have put in to
helping us, and we also thank Dr Christopher Evans of the
National Physical Laboratory whose continued advice on the
subject is reflected in the content of this leading article.
A general indication of the referees' comments may be
helpful to readers in reaching their own assessment of the
paper. Of the three, one believed we should not publish,
one did not feel strongly either way and the third was
guardedly in favour of publication. We first summarise the
arguments against the paper.
(1) There was agreement that the paper was weak in
design and presentation, to the extent that details given as
to the precise way in which the experiment was carried out
were disconcertingly vague. The referees felt that insuf-
ficient account had been taken of the established method-
ology of experimental psychology and that in the form
originally submitted the paper would be unlikely to be
accepted for publication in a psychological journal on these
grounds alone. Two referees also felt that the authors had
not taken into account the lessons learnt in the past by
parapsychologists researching this tricky and complicated
area.
(2) The three referees were particularly critical of the
method of target selection used, pointing out that the
choice of a target by "opening a dictionary at random" is
a naive, vague and unnecessarily controversial approach to
randomisation. Parapsychologigts have long rejected such
methods of target selection and, as one referee put it,
weaknesses of this kind reveal "a lack of skill in their
experiments, which might have caused them to make some
other mistake which is less evident from their writing".
(3) All the referees felt that the details given of various
safeguards and precautions introduced against the pos-
sibility of conscious or unconscious fraud on the part of
one or other of the subjects were "uncomfortably vague"
(to use one phrase). This in itself might be sufficient to
raise doubt that the experiments have demonstrated the
existence of a new channel of communication which does
not involve the use of the senses.
(4) Two of the referees felt that it was a pity that the
paper, instead of concentrating in detail and with meti-
culous care on one particular approach to extra-sensory
phenomena, produced a mixture of different experiments,
using different subjects in unconnected circumstances and
with only a tenuous overall theme. At the best these were
more "a series of pilot studies . . . than a report of a
completed experiment".
On their own these highly critical comments could be
grounds for rejection of the paper, but it was felt that
other points needed to be taken into account before a final
decision could be made.
(1) Despite its shortcomings, the paper is presented as a
scientific document by two qualified scientists, writing
from a major research establishment apparently with the
unqualified backing of the research institute itself.
(2) The authors have clearly attempted to investigate
under laboratory conditions phenomena which, while
highly implausible to many scientists, would nevertheless
seem to be worthy of investigation even if, in the final
analysis, negative findings are revealed. If scientists dispute
and debate the reality of extra-sensory perception, then
the subject is clearly a matter for scientific study and
reportage.
(3) Very considerable advance publicity?it is fair to
say not generated by the authors or their institute?has
preceded the presentation of this report. As a result many
scientists and very large numbers of non-scientists believe,
as the result of anecdote and hearsay, that the Stanford
Research Institute (SRI) was engaged in a major research
programme into parapsychological matters and had even
been the scene of a remarkable breakthrough in this field.
The publication of this paper, with its muted claims, sug-
gestions of a limited research programme, and modest data,
is, we believe, likely to put the whole matter in more reason-
able perspective.
(4) The claims that have been made by, or on behalf of,
one of the subjects, Mr Uri Geller, have been hailed pub-
licly as indicating total acceptance by the SRI of allegedly
sensational powers and may also perhaps now be seen in
true perspective. It must be a matter of interest to scientists
to note that, contrary to very widespread rumour, the
paper does not present any evidence whatsoever for
Geller's alleged abilities to bend metal rods by stroking
them, influence magnets at a distance, make watches stop
or start by some psychokinetic force and so on. The publi-
cation of the paper would be justified on the grounds of
allowing scientists the opportunity to discriminate between
the cautious, limited and still highly debatable experi-
mental data, and extravagant rumour, fed in recent days
by inaccurate attempts in some newspapers at precognition
of the contents of the paper.
(5) Two of the referees also felt that the paper should
be published because it would allow parapsychologists, and
all other scientists interested in researching -this arguable
field, to gauge the quality of the Stanford research and
assess how much it is contributing to parapsychology.
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54 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4 ? 18 1974
(6) Nature, although seen by me as one of the world's
most respected journals cannot afford to live on respect-
ability. We believe that our readers expect us to be a home
for the occasional 'high-risk' type of paper. This is hardly to
assert that we regularly fly in the face of referees' recom-
mendations (we always consider the possibility of publishing,
as in this case, a summary of their objections). It is to
say that the unusual must now and then be allowed a
toe-hold in the literature, sometimes to flourish, more
often to be forgotten within a year or two.
The critical comments above were sent to the authors
who have modified their manuscript in response to them.
We have also corresponded informally with the authors on
one or two issues such as whether the targets could have
been forced by standard magical tricks, and are convinced
that this is not the case. As a result of these exchanges
and the above considerations we have decided to publish
in the belief that, however flawed the experimental pro-
cedure and however difficult the process of distilling the
essence of a complex series of events into a scientific
manuscript, it was on balance preferable to publish and
maybe stimulate and advance the controversy rather than
keep it out of circulation for a further period.
Publishing in a scientific journal is not a process of
receiving a seal Of approval from the establishment; rather
it is the serving of notice on the community that there is
something worthy of their attention and scrutiny. And this
scrutiny is boun to take the form of a desire amongst
some to repeat the experiments with even more caution.
To this end the New Scientist does a service by publishing
this week the results of Dr Joe Hanlon's own investiga-
tions into a wide range of phenomena surrounding Mr
Geller. If the subject is to be investigated further?and no
scientist is likely to aecept more than that the SRI experi-
ments provide a prima facie case for more investigations?
the experimental technique will have to take account of
Dr Hanlon's strictures, those of our own referees and those,
doubtless, of others who will be looking for alternative
explanations.
Perhaps the most important issue raised by the circum-
stances surrounding the publication of this paper is whether
science has yet developed the competence to confront
claims of the paranormal. Supposedly paranormal events
frequently cannot be investigated in the calm, controlled
and meticulous way that scientists are expected to work,
and so there is always a danger that the investigator, swept
up in the confusion that surrounds many experiments,
abandons his initial intentions in order to go along with his
subject's desires. It may be that all experiments of this sort
should be exactly prescribed beforehand by one group, done
by anOther unassociated group and evaluated in terms of
performance by the first group. Only by increasing austerity
of approach by scientists will there be any major progress
in this field.
For those in peril on the factory floor
In this article Peter J. Smith argues
that a greater commitment (in deed
as well as word) to community
science by the Scientific Establish-
ment might help the world of science
regain some of the public respect it
has lost.
THE question of who speaks, or should
speak, on behalf of the scientific com-
munity has been debated on many oc-
casions, most often without result. On
the face of it, such lack of resolution
is hardly unexpected, for scientists and
scientific institutions are not noted for
their ready ability to achieve con-
sensus. Yet there is no doubt that they
can put up a pretty collective front
when they feel so moved. The one
famous occasion on which a near con-
sensus was reached was when the
scientific community saw itself put at
risk financially by the Rothschild pro-
posals. Then individuals and institu-
tions miraculously found a common
cause of self-preservation.
But when it comes to the defence of
less privileged groups it is quite a dif-
ferent story; the voice of the British
scientific community is seldom to be
heard, whether taking a moral stance,
exerting humanitarian pressure, supply-
ing expertise or even simply providing
information. A good case in point is
provided by a new Socialist Worker
pamphlet entitled Asbestos: The Dust
that Kills in the Name of Profit. As
the title hints, the object of Socialist
Worker is nothing less than the com-
plete overthrow of the capitalist system;
and one of the ways of achieving this
aim, it seems, is to give strident publi-
city to defects in the capitalist-indus-
trial system. Fortunately, one can easily
avoid a sharp turn to the left and
still admit that what some British
workers have been subjected to in the
name of asbestos production is beyond
the limit of acceptability in a humani-
tarian society.
For what clearly emerges from the
rhetoric of the pamphlet in question is
a picture of men and women reacting
in some bewilderment to the long-term
ill effects of a technological activity.
The chief consequence is, of course,
asbestosis?a killing disease acquired
by breathing in asbestos fibres. The
bulk of the pamphlet is devoted to
case histories of men to whom asbes-
tosis has come as a shock after a
decade or so in the industry. But more
instructively, there is also a short ac-
ccount of the fight for safety put up
by a small group of the 7/162 Glasgow
insulation workers' branch of the
Transport and General Workers Union
against the obstruction of the asbestos
companies, the indifference of politi-
cians, the weakness of the Factory
Inspectorate, the silence of much of
the press, the impotence of health
authorities, the equivocal official stance
of unions in general, and, last but not
least, apathy among many of the
asbestos workers themselves.
And ?there is certainly something
to fight about. According to Patrick
Kinnersly (The Hazards of Work: How
to Fight Them, Pluto Press, 1973),
asbestosis is taking an increasing toll:
64 are known to have died in 1965,
107 in 1970 and 113 in 1971. The
number of new cases diagnosed rose
from 82 in 1965 to 153 in 1970.
Moreover, asbestosis is only one of
the asbestos-induced diseases. Lung
cancer appears to require a smaller
exposure to asbestos. There is also
another form of cancer known as
mesothelioma which involves growths
in the linings of the lungs and stomach.
Almost all mesotheliomas are caused
by asbestos; but no one knows how
many workers in Britain are killed by
them, partly because they take so long
to develop and partly because they are
not always identified. The TUC Cen-
tenary Institute of Occupational Health
has suggested that, 30 years after first
exposure, about one in 200 will be
found to have died of mesothelioma;
but Dr Irving J. Selikoff of Mount
Sinai Hospital in New York is ap-
parently more pessimistic. He has
recently been quoted .as saying that,
for every 100,000 workers entering ?the
asbestos industry under the safety
standards obtaining in the United
States as recently as 1971, he would
expect 20,000 to die of lung cancer,
7,000 of mesothelioma and 7,000 of
other cancers and asbestosis.
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Nature I Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4 61
The point of drawing attention to
the asbestos problem is not to elevate
it into some sort of special case; any
one of a hundred examples could just
as easily be used for illustration. Nor is
it to argue that the whole asbestos
industry should be closed down forth-
with. Such a course of action would
be inconceivable in the face of the
fact that asbestos currently finds some
3,000 uses in almost every sphere of
material living (a testimony to its
unique combination of fibrosity and
imperviousness to heat). Asbestos pro-
ducts (and thousands of other equally
or more dangerous substances) are
here to stay.
But under what conditions are they
to stay? And who is to influence those
conditions? The most Striking thing to
emerge from the story of the asbestos
workers of Glasgow and elsewhere is
that no organisation remotely con-
nected with the world of established
science has played any part in it. The
British Association has been silent. The
Science and Natural Environment Re-
search Councils have been silent. The
Royal Institution has been silent. The
University Grants Committee has been
silent. The Association of University
Teachers has been silent. In this and
many other comparable cases a few
individual scientists and science
journalists have spoken and acted; but
what has been completely lacking is
the evidence of any sense of collective
responsibility on behalf of the whole,
or even a significant part, of the British
scientific community.
It is true of course, that the Medical
Research Council and the recipients of
their grants are responsible for a great
deal of basic biological and medical
research into this and other industrial
diseases; and my remarks should not be
construed as criticism of that organisa-
tion, the individuals associated with it or
the valuable work they do. The point
I make is much more general?that
even when the adverse side-effects of
science and technology directly involve
health (and they do not always do so),
their mitigation requires much more
than fundamental research into the
nature of the disease itself.
Here, with particular reference to the
asbestos case but with general applic-
ability to many other situations, are
some specific things which the scientific
community could (and should) have
done and could still do.
? Admit moral responsibility for tak-
ing a clear lead in seeing that the ill
effects of science and technology are
eliminated or at least mitigated. As Dr.
Bernard Dixon (What is Science for?,
Collins, 1973) has said: "When an un-
expected, unforeseen calamity does
happen, the scientist is more, not less
or equally, responsible compared with
others in doing all he can to fight
A? worker displays symptoms of asbestosis
against it". In practical terms, taking
a moral lead would probably first mean
overseeing the organisation of a suit-
able team to map out the full extent of
the problem and identify gaps in exist-
ing knowledge. Between them, the
organisations mentioned above encom-
pass the elite (albeit often self-elected),
if not most participants, of British
science, and form a body with an almost
infinite variety of expertise and an
immense potential for ?influencing
public and government opinion. That
these powers are so often allowed to
lie dormant is, to say the least, aston-
ishing.
? Ensure that the outstanding ques-
tions and problems identified by the
investigating team are followed
through. In almost all cases it is prob-
able that more research is needed, in
which case the distinguished bodies of
science should regard it as their duty
to, create the necessary political, finan-
cial and organisational climate in
which such research can be carried
out. Is monitoring equipment highly
enough developed? Are safety levels
adequate and are they 'formulated in the
right way? To what extent is the gen-
eral public, as well as factory workers,
at risk? These and many other ques-
tions covering a variety of disciplines
can be investigated but they require
effort. Again, the principal scientific
organisations have it in their power to
encourage the mobilisation of scientists
for 'this purpose. Will they use this
influence?
? Exer't pressure to ensure that the
high principles so proudly proclaimed
by the scientific community are ac-
tually put into effect. For example, it
is quite plain that one of the greatest
difficulties encountered by industrial
workPand others exposed to risk is
that of securing the scientific data (for
example, from monitoring) from which
a proper assessment risk may be made.
Up to July of this year, Factory Ins-
pectors divulging such information to
employees or others without the em-
ployer's permission were actually sub-
ject to imprisonment. The Health and
Safety at Work Act 1974 has mitigated
these harsh conditions, although as the
Trade Union Research Unit at Oxford
has pointed out (Health and Safety at
Work Legislation: A Critical Study,
1974), disclosure of information is still
left largely to the Factory Inspector's
discretion. It is difficult to understand
how a community which puts such a
high value on the freedom of scienti-
fic information can reasonably con-
tinue to allow the principle to be
treated with contempt. Is there any
respectable reason why human health
should be less privileged in this respect
than the activity of pure science? Of
course, employers frequently attempt
to justify their refusal to disclose vital
information on the grounds of commer-
cial secrecy?a ploy which is sometimes
legitimate, sometimes not. The scien-
tific community has a unique role to
play here, for a group of independent
scientific experts of integrity is the
only body able to make a proper assess-
ment of what is truly confidential and
what is unreasonably claimed as such.
Why has the scientific community
as a whole failed in this respect? The
reason seems to be that, in the past,
scientists have found it adequate to
justify widespread public support of
science on the grounds of the supposed
cultural value of the activity and of
its supposed role as the progenitor of
technology. But what they have failed
to grasp is that the first of these
grounds was never very convincing to
the wider world (at least as justifica-
tion for a high level of public support).
and that the second is rapidly losing
its credibility.
In fact, science has a third role,
which is neither "science for its own
sake" nor science conceived as a means
to a materialistic end. This is science
for human welfare?call it "com-
munity science" if you like. It is prac-
tised in a few university departrnents;
it is practised with great effect by, for
example, the staff of the Greater
London Council's Scientific Adviser.
It is regarded as second rate by
most university scientists, as a
threat by industry, and with indiffer-
ence by our major scientific institu-
tions. But it is just possible that a
greater commitment to it by the scien-
tific community might go some way
towards regaining for science the
public respect (not to mention the
-public money) it has so patently lost
in recent years.
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S Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4 r 18 1974
I
international news
Frameworks for
energy in the US? ? ?
by Colin Norman, Washington
ON THE eve of its recess for the
November elections, the US Congress
approved what could turn out to be the
most significant piece of energy-related
legislation to reach the lawbooks since
the oil crisis began to bite.
Minutes before President Ford ap-
peared before a joint session of Con-
gress to deliver his economic pep talk,
a House-Senate Conference committee
reached agreement on a bill which will
abolish the Atomic Energy Commis-
sion and replace it with a Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) and an
independent Energy Research and
Development Administration (ERDA).
Two days later, the bill was sitting on
Ford's desk awaiting his signature.
Until last week, the bill had been mak-
ing glacial passage through the Con-
gressional mill, and there were fears
that no agreement would be reached
on the measure before the end of the
session.
The importance of the legislation is
that it consolidates energy research
and development programmes which
are now spread out over a host of
federal departments and agencies into
a single agency. Furthermore, it re-
moves a long standing complaint that
the Atomic Energy Commission suffers
from a conflict of interest by both pro-
moting and regulating nuclear energy,
because it splits those functions into
separate agencies. Furthermore, the
bill considerably elevates the status of
research programmes concerned with
nuclear safety and the safeguarding of
nuclear materials.
The bill, which was originally pro-
posed by former President Nixon's
Administration, sets up the NRC to
take over virtually all of the regulatory
functions that are now performed by
the Atomic Energy Commission, but
it also completely alters the present
bureaucratic structure. The NRC will
consist of three co-equal offices, each
of which will report to a 5-member
commission. The Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation will be concerned
with licensing nuclear reactors. The
Office of Material Safety and Safe-
guards will license reprocessing facilities
and facilities associated with trans-
porting nuclear materials, and it will
also make sure that nuclear materials
are adequately safeguarded.
The third, the Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, will perform
backup research for evaluating licence
applications to ensure that safety and
safeguards criteria are met.
As for ERDA, it will take. over vir-
tually all the energy research and
development activities performed by
the federal government, using the
laboratories of the Atomic Energy
Commission as the base of its opera-
tions. It will be split into six divisions,
each of which will be headed by an
Assistant Administrator, concerned
with fossil fuels; nuclear energy; envir-
onmental safety; conservation, solar,
geothermal, and advanced energy
systems; and nuclear security.
ERDA will carry out all the energy
programmes related to Project Inde-
pendence?the much vaunted drive to
make the United States self-sufficient
in energy supplies?and it will be
armed with a huge budget, amounting
at present to about $2,000 million a
year. Nuclear energy will soak up
nearly half of the ERDA funds, with
the breeder reactor getting the biggest
single slice. But it will also take over
such programmes as the solar energy
research effort which was recently
launched by Congress (see Nature, 251,
368, 1974), as well as Congressionally
inspired research and development
programs concerned with _geothermal
energy and other longer-term energy
'options.
. . . and in Holland
from Arie de Kool, Amsterdam
THE Netherlands are going nuclear,
but slowly, and with a maximum of
government control. In fact, the gov-
ernment will increase its influence in
the whole of the energy field consider-
ably?if possible, together With other
European countries, if not, alone.
Its proposals are set out in a long-
awaited White Book on Energy.
Several of these are concerned with
getting the government a measure of
control in the privately owned energy
supply sector. As far as nuclear power
is concerned, the government proposes
to establish a monopoly for the ex-
ploitation of nuclear power stations
and promises to undertake studies on
overall nuclear safety within two years.
It plans to build three 1,000 MW nuc-
lear power stations, to be on stream
by 1985 or when the establishment of
the government nuclear monopoly and
the safety studies permit.
The government also wants to
negotiate a say in the managerial con-
ditions of energy supply corporations,
and by bringing the planning of all
types ?of power stations under govern-
ment responsibility, ensure that elec-
trical power supply is discussed in
parliament. To stimulate the use of
coal for electricity generation the
government will stipulate that all new
power plants shall be fitted for oil and
coal firing. The Dutch will also con-
tinue to participate in the German-
Belgian-Dutch prototype sodium-
cooled fast breeder reactor at Kalkar
in Germany, although the government
is strongly considering pulling out of
the next phase, ?the construction of a
1,000 MW demonstration reactor.
Looking outwards, the government
plans to take a 40% share in all nat-
ural gas and oil exploitations on the
Dutch part of the continental shelf,
with the condition that the govern-
ment share in the profit may rise as
high as 80% if conditions allow "with-
out impeding the attractiveness to ?the
oil companies". The Dutch government
also plans to build up a "strategic
reserve" of natural gas by stimulating
exploration and exploitation of smaller
fields in order to have the major
source at Slochteren available in case
of another oil crisis.
It is no secret, that the cabinet has
been highly divided, especially over
the use of nuclear energy. A couple
of days before the White Book was
officially released, it leaked out that
the government proposed a consider-
able delay in the construction of nuc-
lear power plants. This was the inter-
pretation the 'progressive' members
of the cabinet were giving (and were
supposed to give) to the delay that is
bound to result from the establish-
ment of the government monopoly
and the requirements of an overall
safety report.
However, Dr Lubbers, Minister of
Economic Affairs, maintained at a
press conference, that the three plants
should be ready, by 1985. The safety
reports might lead to a change in
reactor type, a change of site, even
to a postponement of the start of the
first reactor, but not to the goal of
3,500 MW of nuclear energy in 1985.
Naturally, the opponents of nuclear
energy are not very happy with the
White Book. Some 10,000 people
biked and bussed to Kalkar in protest,
three days .after the White Book was
published. 17]
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The chemistry
of profits
from Nechemia Meyers, Rehoyot
DETAILED plans are now being made
for an investment of some ?240 mil-
lion in ,Israel's ,chemical industry.
Roughly half this sum will be used to
promote the exploitation of inorganic
Negev chemicals, with the other half
being used to expand the Haifa Bay
complex of petrochemical firms.
The investment, enormous in Israeli
terms, is a natural outcome of the
chemical industry's growing success,
both in supplying vital products to the
home market and in the export sphere.
Overseas sales of Israeli chemicals
already account for 20% of her indus-
trial exports (excluding diamonds),
and there is no apparent limit to
potential customers.
The 393-square-mile Dead Sea, most
saline of the world's lakes, has long
been the major focus of Israel's chemi-
cal industry, in the 20th century. Plans
for exploiting its potash and other
mineral resources were drawn up in
1911 by Moshe Novomeysky (an im-
migrant from Siberia) and the first
plant, run by Novomeysky, began
operation in 1931. For many years,
however, the Dead Sea Works were
usually in the red, causing cynics to
suggest that "the only thing that can
sink in the Dead Sea is money".
It sinks no longer. On the contrary,
Dead Sea potash, bromine and mag-
nesium oxide?extracted from a 50-
square-mile area of evaporation pans
at the southern end of the saline lake
whose waters initially contain only 1%
(by weight) of potassium chloride?are
today sold at a handsome profit to
customers in Europe, Africa and the
Far East.
Other Negev enterprises are also
profitable, in large measure because
of rising prices. Israel's phosphate
mines?part of the Mediterranean
phosphate belt that stretches from
Morocco in the west to Jordan in the
east and Turkey in the north?are a
striking case in point.
In 1971 Government experts, dis-
mayed by 20 years of losses, suggested
that they be closed down. Fortunately
they were not, and as a result profits
are now rolling in to the State Treasury.
Ironically, they largely reflect Arab
Morocoo's successful exploitation of
the world-wide fertiliser shortage to
push up phosphate prices from $11 to
$60 a ton in just one year.
Copper prices are now lower than
. they were at their peak, but they are
still high enough to ensure the profit-
ability of the modern copper mines at
Timna (which are very near the Chal-
colithic ones). However, the copper-
WOMEN who graduated from Ameri-
can universities this year with a degree
in chemistry or chemical engineering
commanded higher salaries than their
male counterparts, according to a
study carried out by the American
Chemical Society. It is the first time
since the society began keeping track
of such matters that women graduates
have earned more than men.
The ACS survey showed that, on
average, the starting salary for women
chemists this year was 5% higher than
that for men, whereas in 1964, newly
graduated women chemists could ex-
pect to earn only 68% of the starting
salary for men. While this seems to
indizate that employers are attempting
to recruit more women, the survey
also turned up evidence that the battle
for equal employment opportunities
still has some way to go. For one
thing, women and minority groups
had a higher unemployment rate than
the average for all ACS members. The
overall rate of 1.4% was exceeded by
American Indians (6.3%), Orientals
(3.1%), Spanish surnamed and black
chemists (1.5%), and women (3.5%).
But at least that's an improvement on
previous years, when the unemploy-
ment rate among women chemists was
typically running at about three times
that for men.
bearing strata that were worked in
ancient times are not the same as
those mined today. Formerly copper
nodules associated with fossilised trees
within the Middle White Sandstone
were exploited. This layer appears
near Timna about 330 feet above the
copper-bearing Cambrian rocks that
are now worked (by both underground
and open-cast mining).
The only, major failure in this
sphere has been with a controversial
plant, near the Judean Desert town of
Arad, for the manufacture of phos-
phoric acid by means of hydro-
chloric acid produced from residual
Dead Sea brines. An American firm
whose fluidised refining process was
used in the plant, the Madera Com-
pany, is being sued in an attempt to
recover at least part of the ?25 million
loss, and alternative operating methods
are now being studied.
When the current expansion plan is
completed, potash production will rise
from one million to 1.5 million tons a
year, phosphate production from one
million to 2.8' million tons a year and
bromine production from 20,000 to
50.000 tons annually. Profits from the
mining and processing of Negev
chemicals, this year expected to total
?15 million, will presumably also rise
in at least the same measure.
The scheduled ?240 million invest-
ment in the petrochemical industry
will meet local needs for petro-
chemicals (including raw materials for
plastics) and also give a boost to ex-
ports. Items whose production is to
rise include polyethylene, styrene, poly-
styrene, phenolics and PVC. In addi-
tion, much larger quantities of potas-
sium nitrate ? a highly regarded,
Israeli-developed chemical fertilizer?
will be produced in the Haifa area.
While the cost of the oil used as a
base for these petrochemical products
has obviously risen steeply, Israel is no
worse off in this respect than her com-
petitors, and looks ahead to profits
from petrochemicals in addition to
those she is already earning from in-
organic chemicals.
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S ( Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09 : CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4 18 1974
ICI puts money oh
genetic engineering
by Miranda Robertson
THE news that Britain's Imperial
Chemical Industries Ltd (ICI) is to
invest ?40,000 over the next three
years in research on genetic engineer-
ing initiated by University of Edin-
burgh biologists seems to bring the
more optimistic speculations on ?the
potential benefits of these controversial
techniques a step closer to reality. One
of the most widely cited possibilities has
been the production of insulin from a
mammalian gene inserted into a
bacterial phage or plasmid. Yet projects
aimed at this kind of application, in-
cluding the Edinburgh-ICI collabora-
tion, are still very much at the research,
and short of the development, stage.
The outstanding problem takes the
form of a fundamental question in
molecular biology: will the synthetic
machinery of a bacterium lend itself to
the production of a protein specified
by a mammalian (or any other eukary-
otic) gene? Morrow and his colleagues
in the United States have succeeded in
demonstrating that bacteria can tran-
scribe eukaryotic DNA into RNA
(Proc. natn. Acad. Sci., 71, 1743; 1974);
but whether they can achieve the next
step?the translation of the RNA into
protein?is still not known. Further-
more, this is much the trickier step of
the two, for while the genetic code is
universal, the software for translating
it into protein is not. Optimists believe
that the first eukaryotic protein will be
emerging from bacterial cells within the
next year or two. Equally distinguished
sceptics foresee that the highly specific
molecular recognition and control
systems governing protein synthesis will
present serious problems.
Dr Kenneth Murray, whose work
with his wife Noreen on phage lambda
(Nature, 251, 476; 1974) led to the ICI
project, suspects that bacteria can be
made to translate mRNA specified by
eukaryotic genes, though perhaps rather
inefficiently. One way in' which he can
conceive of overcoming specificity
problems is by reducing the inserted
DNA to the bare structural gene, as
free as possible from regulatory
sequences that would be unrecognisable
to a bacterial synthetic system.
That raises the further technical
problem of accurate excision of single
genes from the donor DNA. The
current burst of genetic tailoring took
off from the isolation in 1972 of the
bacterial restriction enzyme EcoRI,
whose peculiar properties make it par-
ticularly suitable for the cleavage and
reconstitution of heterologous DNA.
But the very property of specific cleav-
age that makes the enzyme so useful
also makes it inflexible: it will only cut
a molecule where it wants to, and no?t
necessarily where you want it to. Con-
sequently one of the first requirements
will be a range of enzymes with differ-
ent specific cleavage sites. Researchers
at Edinburgh and elsewhere are already
at work on the accumulation of such a
versatile set of Molecular scalpels, but
no-one is yet ready even to think in
concrete terms about operating on such
exotica as insulin genes.
With the recent emphasis on the
possible 'hazards of genetic engineering
research, safety has become a prominent
issue. In fact, the experiments on phage
lambda fall outside the forbidden cate-
gories I and II of ?the US National
Academy of Sciences' cautionary state-
ment, into the more amorphous cate-
gory of experiments which "should not
be undertaken lightly". One of the
principal points which Murray has
stressed in connection with the phage
lambda system is its relative intrinsic
safety. It does not carry drug resistance
factors and is therefore susceptible to
control, and has only been used so far
with strains of E. coli to be found in
the human gut. If the system comes
into use on a commercial scale, Dr
Murray is willing to envisage the
THE bacterial enginering argument
so far has been given most promin-
ence in the United States and Brit-
ain, and it is likely that these two
countries will be the first to formu-
late a set of guidelines, either as
legal constraints OT as informal codes
of practice.
But the problem is worldwide, and
the International Association of
Microbiological Societies has rec-
ently set up an ad hoc committee to
advise it on the hazards inherent in
recently developed techniques of
genetic engineering.
This committee will not attempt
to duplicate the activities of either
Professor Paul Berg and his com-
mittee in ?the United States or Lord
Ashby's Working Party in the
United Kingdom, according to the
chairman, Professor S. W. Glover of
the University of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne. Rather it hopes to evaluate
any recommendations made by these
committees or at the international
meeting planned =to take place in
California next February, and if
necessary, to arrive at a set of con-
straints or guidelines which it can
recommend to the JAMS for world-
wide communication through the
network of national societies
affiliated to the JAMS.
Apart from Professor Glover, the
committee consists of Dr E. Woll-
man (France), Dr A. Demain (US)
and Professor G. Terui (Japan).
development of bacterial protein factor-
ies custom-built to be incapable of
infecting a human host.
In ?the meantime, precautions at
Edinburgh include scrupulous sterilis-
ation procedures. So far, the Murrays
themselves have been the only people
to have handled doctored phage par-
ticles. Not that they really believe that
phage presents a serious threat to
health; with the courage of their con-
viction, each Murray swallowed an
experimental dose of 10' labelled phage
?without either immediate ill effects,
or traces of surviving organisms in the
gut flora thereafter.
The injection of ICI funds will now,
of course, make it possible to adapt a
laboratory designed to contain patho-
gens, while at the same time the expan-
sion of the project will mean the
involvement of more personnel. Proper
training of laboratory personnel will be
emphasised since structural safeguards
such as air-locks and protective hoods
?both on the agenda?offer no pro-
tection from human carelessness.
The obvious advantage of an
academic-industrial collaboration such
as that between Edinburgh University
and ICI is the pooling of intellectual
resources not normally available to
industry and practical resources not
normally available to universities. There
is one university department, however,
which is uniquely placed from both
points of view. The Department of
Biochemistry at Imperial College Lon-
don possesses a pilot plant for growing
up to 60 kg of bacteria, as well as facili-
ties for purifying large quantities of
enzymes, and is now under the chair-
manship of Professor Brian Hartley.
Hartley and his collaborators have been
working for the past few years on
enzyme adaptations in bacteria (see for
example Nature, 251, 200; 1974). The
most recent development in this work
has been the use of genetic engineering
techniques to transfer the genes specify-
ing the enzymes between bacterial
species. Hartley's plans for the bio-
chemistry department include the
recruitment of young molecular gene-
ticists with a view to developing and
exploiting these sophisticated techniques
in the production of commercial quanti-
ties of enzymes tailor-made to the
purposes of medicine and industry.
His approach differs from that of
the Edinburgh team in a number of
ways. For one thing, their project is
based principally on the use of phage
lambda as the vehicle for the trans-
planted genes, whereas Hartley's will
involve both phage (where that seems
advantageous) and bacterial plasmids.
(This will bring the Imperial College
project into NAS category I, so that
out of respect ?for the moratorium it
will have to be deferred, though prob-
ably not for long.) But there are also
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Nature V ut. ZJ1 VCIUUGI JO .17/ n`
FACED with two proposals for dealing
with their company's liquidity crisis,
employees of George Kent Ltd have
voted in favour of an arrangement with
the Swiss company Brown Boveri which
would give Kent more cash to the tune
of ?6 million but leave effective control
of the company in the United King-
dom. The. name Kent on scientific
instruments is well known in its own
right in research laboratories, as is that
of a company which it owns?Cam-
bridge Scientific Instruments.
The result of this exercise in indus-
trial democracy flew in the face of Mr
Anthony Benn, Secretary of State for.
Industry, who preferred an arrangement
whereby George Kent would be taken
over by GEC, Sir Arnold Weinstock's
company. But Mr Benn was also keen
that Kent's employees should have a
chance to make their views known and
he now has to decide, in the light of
the ballot, how to use the 24% of the
Kent shares which the government
owns when it comes to a vote among
shareholders. If he decides to go along
with the Brown Boveri plan it seems
almost certain to be the one that will
win the day.
Brown Boveri originally proposed
that it should buy 53% of the Kent
Business report
by Roger Woodham
shares but it has now decided to be
content with less than 50%, thus as-
suaging fears that control of George
Kent would be lost to a foreign com-
pany. It also envisages Kent's scientific
and medical instruments business being
set up as a separate company owned
by the mooted Brown Boveri Kent Ltd,
and this is where some Kent employees
part company with the Brown Boveri
plans. The 600 employees of Cam-
bridge Scientific Instruments voted in
favour of the GEC plan to a man be-
cause they regard an independent
instrument company as a doubtful
starter because of its small size. Over
George Kent as a whole, however, 75%
of the 7,300 employees said yes to
Brown Boveri.
This desire ?to run into the arms of
of a Swiss-based multinational is almost
certainly based on fears that 'ration-
alisation' after a takeover by GEC
would threaten job security. By con-
trast there is little overlap between
the activities of Kent and Brown
Boveri, and the latter sees Kent as a
useful marketing base in the United
Kingdom. Indeed the prospect of access
to France, Germany and Switzerland,
where Brown Boveri sells some ?780
million worth of equipment and where
neither Kent nor GEC is particularly
strong, is an added attraction from
Kent's point of view.
major differences in both methods and
aims. With his background in enzyme
evolution and 'bacterial adaptation,
Hartley expects to rely very much more
heavily than the Murrays on the adap-
tive potential of the bacteria themselves.
This might be used, for example, to
produce enzymes stable enough to sur-
vive long periods of storage at room
temperature. The first step would be
to introduce the gene into Bacillus
stearothermophilus, which thrives at
high temperatures. If an environment
could then be devised in which the
bacterium's survival would be greatly
enhanced by the production of large
quantities of the new enzyme, the
bacterium would be under considerable
Selective pressure not only to make the
enzyme, but to evolve a structure for it
that would be stable at high tempera=
tures.
In a collaborative effort with the
Microbial Research Establishment at
Porton, Hartley has already achieved
the purification to homogeneity of 20
enzymes from thermophilic bacteria,
in quantities of 50 kg. The facilities are
to be moved to Imperial College in
January 1975, and the intention is
eventually to produce enzymes' for sale
to industry. There is also the possibility
of selling enzymes for research to other
laboratories. Imperial College has at its
disposal a potential wealth of restriction
enzymes in the vast range of organisms
grown there for antibiotic research.
Isolation and purification of these en-
zymes will be an important Part of the
research programme.
The problem of maximising bacterial
production of a particular enzyme for
either commercial or research purposes
may be another case in which the
answer lies in the versatility of the
bacteria themselves. In the case of
phage lambda, there is a well known
Promotor system which it may be
possible to commandeer. This enzyme
system, together with the product 'of
another phage gene, can override the
controls which normally serve to pre-
vent or limit the transcription of a given
gene. Up to half the cell's synthetic
capacity may in consequence be re-
cruited to the 'production of a single
type of protein molecule. In bacteria,
however, it may actually be possible to
increase the number of genes from
which transcription of a given mRNA
taken place. Hartley and his 'colleagues
have recently demonstrated (Nature,
251, 200; 1974) that 'bacteria often
respond to metabolic demands for large
quantities of a particular enzyme by
duplication of the genes which code for
it. Again, of course, this technique
would involve -manipulation of the en-
vironment and not the 'bacterium.
Hartley draws a categorical distinc-
tion between the prospect of getting
bacteria to mass-produce enzymes to
human specifications (science), and that
of inducing them to make mammalian
hormones such as insulin (science
fiction). This is partly because of his
own emphasis on bacterial evolution-
ary 'potential in the implementation of
human designs. While it may not be
too difficult to devise environmental
exigencies that would force a bacterium
into an unnatural need for an outr?
enzyme, it is extremely difficult to
imagine how one might 'provide it with
an incentive to produce insulin?
although with elaborate genetic manipu-
lation it may be possible. Hartley is not,
however, among those who think trans-
lation will be a major problem, though
he concedes it is the rate-limiting step.
But in view of the extensive use already
made in industry of microbial enzymes,
not to mention long-term plans for
solving the global food problem with
microbial proteins, bacterial enzyme
production may prove quite enough to
be getting on with. Li
Little Red
greenery book
from our Soviet Correspondent
THE all-Union Botanical Society of the
USSR has completed compilation of its
"Red 'Book" of flora, listing some
20,000 forms in need of governmental
protection, some 600 of which are in
immediate danger of extinction.
In commenting on the report, Pravda
predictably pays prime attention to
those .species 'which provide "irreplace-
able" raw material, such as the Siberian
and Korean cedars, and the Caucasian
iron-wood, and notes that such valuable
species as the waterfall poplar, Vavilov's
almond, and the Kolyma currant are
apparently, already, irretrievably lost.
Nevertheless, the red book also in-
cludes plants which have so far found
no economic use, including certain
weeds "against which mankind has
waged an agelong struggle". This
would appear, at first glance, contrary
to Soviet utilitarian theories, but, the
commentator explains, the "dialectics
of 'harm' and 'use' is in this case com-
plicated and contradictory", and quotes
the classic case of penicillin in order to
justify the presence of the weeds. Li
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5 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09 : CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4 er 18 1974
Musical chairs
on Capitol Hill
by Colin Norman, Washington
FOR six days early in October the US
House of Representatives put on a
display of squabbling and infighting
which would almost have done justice
to Gladstone's Parliament during the
stormy days of Irish 'reform'. One
venerable Representative announced at
one point that she would "fight to the
death" to get her way, while another
remarked that the House had lost its
collective sanity. In the end, however,
there were no open fisticuffs on the
floor, as there were in Gladstone's day,
and the whole affair got scant attention
from the general press. But for science
and technology, the titanic struggle on
Capitol Hill holds some important
implications.
The basis of the squabbling was a
bold attempt to reform the House's
antiquated committee structure?not
exactly a heart-stopping issue, which is
probably why it did not grab too many
headlines?and the outcome can best be
described as a standoff between the
reformers and those who were hoping
to preserve the status quo. But it will,
at least, change the way in which the
House handles a good deal of legisla-
tion involving research and develop-
ment.
In short, the committee on Science
and Astronautics, which has never
exactly been a giant on the Congres-
sional landscape and whose influence
has been shrinking recently along with
the decline in the space programme, is
set to pick up some important new
responsibility.
In addition to its present authority,
which is essentially limited to the pro-
grammes of NASA, the National
Science Foundation, the National
Bureau of Standards and general
science policy deliberations, the com-
mittee will pick up jurisdiction over
all non-nuclear energy research and
development, environmental research
and development, -civil aviation re-
search and development and the
Weather Service. In line with its new
roles, the committee also gets a new
title?the Committee on Science and
Technology.
Certainly, it can be argued that the
committee still cannot be called the
focal point for scientific matters in the
House since the really big spenders
remain outside its jurisdictional patch.
Defence research and development
stays under the jurisdiction of the
Armed Services Committee, for ex-
ample, the Commerce Committee re-
tains control over biomedical research,
and the Joint Committee on Atomic
Energy has lost none of its authority
over nuclear matters. But the changes
could turn out to be significant, par-
ticularly in regard to energy research
and development.
First, by way of background, some
remarks are in order on the functions
of Congressional committees and the
need for reform.
Committees in the House resemble a
collection of mediaeval fiefdoms pre-
sided over by extremely powerful--
and usually elderly?chairmen who
have risen slowly through the ranks
during their years of residence on
Capitol Hill. The so-called seniority
system requires that committee chair-
manships (and the chairmanships of
subcommittees) go to the longest-serv-
ing?and not necessarily the most able
?committee members who belong to
the political party which holds the
majority of House seats.
Each committee has its own area of
responsibility?thus, for example, the
Armed Services Committee deals with
legislation concerning programmes of
the Department of Defense and the
Agriculture Committee deals with
agricultural legislation. When a bill is
introduced into the House, it is re-
ferred to the appropriate committee,
which usually assigns it to one of its
subcommittees. Hearings are held on
the bill, it usually gets amended or
completely rewritten by the subcom-
mittee before being passed on to the
main committee, which can further
amend it before it moves on to the
full House for further amendment and
final passage.
The committee therefore represent
the centres of power since they shape
the legislation which reaches the floor.
Moreover, committee chairmen (and
to some extent subcommittee chair-
men) wield a tremendous amount of
power over the system since they
control the appointment of committee
staff, who deal with the nuts and bolts
of the committee work and frequently
write the legislation themselves. And,
equally important, the chairmen can
kill off legislation with which they dis-
agree simply by keeping it bottled up
in their committees, never allowing it
to be brought to a vote on the floor of
the House.
One problem with the system is
that it has been more than a quarter
of a century since any serious attempt
was made to alter committee jurisdic-
tions, and areas of authority have con-
sequently become considerably blurred.
Take energy research and develop-
ment, for example. The Committee on
Science and Astronautics is deep into
that subject since it has jurisdiction
over the programmes of the National
Science Foundation, but so is the
Interior Committee, the Public Works
Committee, the Commerce Committee
and the Joint Committee on Atomic
Energy. The net result is that there
has been considerable jurisdictional
turf fighting between committee mem-
bers for control of energy research
legislation.
Another effect of confused jurisdic-
tions is that when a member of the
Committee on Science and Astronau-
tics, for example, writes a bill aimed
at setting up a prograthme of, say,
solar energy research, he shapes the
legislation to give the programme to
the National Science Foundation or
NASA so that his committee gets
jurisdiction over it. The result is that
programmes don't always get assigned
to the most suitable agencies.
Then there is the problem that
Members of Congress often serve on
several committees, which consider-
ably dilutes their effectiveness.
So, all-in-all, the House of Repre-
sentatives is not a terribly efficient
place, and that's why two years ago a
special bipartisan committee, headed
by Richard Bolling, a skilled legislator
from Missouri, was appointed to
recommend some reforms.
Almost a year ago, the Bolling Com-
mittee came up with a batch of re-
commendations which immediately
threw most of the committee chairmen
into fits of apoplexy. It suggested a
fundamental realignment of committee
jurisdictions, that members could only
serve on one major committee, and
that the powers of the Speaker should
be elevated.
But by far the most controversial
provisions it contained were the com-
mittee realignments.
For a start, the Bolling proposals
would have stripped one of the most
powerful committees?the Ways and
Means Committee?of many of its
functions, it would have split the
Education and Labour Committee in
two, and it would have abolished the
Post Office Committee, the Internal
Security Committee, and?to all in-
tents and purposes ? the Merchant
Marine Committee.
Not surprisingly, a good number of
committee chairmen who had reached
the pinnacle of their political careers
were not altogether happy about having
their power suddenly stripped from
them, and they persuaded the Demo-
cratic Caucus to appoint another com-
mittee to come up with some counter
proposals.
It was those recommendations which
were adopted last week, with a few
minor modifications, after six days of
bitter debate which at tithes left the
House leadership entirely confused.
As far as science and technology are
concerned, the Bolling Committee had
recommended that the Committee on
Science and Astronautics should be
given authority over all energy re-
search and development, including
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Fast workers
EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE (he thought
the Anglo Saxon version more strik-
ing than plain Edward Muggeridge)
was a Victorian photographer who
left Kingston-on-Thames in 1852 to
sail for America. There he was run
over by a stage coach and tried for
the murder of his wife's lover. He was
declared insane and acquitted after a
former employee had testified: "He
was most eccentric in his work; he
would not take a picture unless the
view suited him." On the credit side,
he made a stereoscopic record of the
Modoc Indian war and toured Cen-
tral America (as Edwardo Santiago
Muybridge), later selling collections
of 120 prints at 100 dollars the set,
which was a close call to skinning the
market at 1876 exchange rates. More
importantly, Muybridge made photo-
graphic studies of movement which
laid the foundations of. a completely
new high speed photographic indus-
try (not to mention a completely new
movement in European art). In 1880
he became the first person to photo-
graph movement (using "the famous
zoopraxiscope camera") and resynthe-
sise the movement on a screen. A
strip from this original sequence
(above) was featured in an exhibition
accompanying the eleventh interna-
tional congress on high speed photo-
graphy at Imperial College, London.
The same congress was marked by an
exhibition of applied photography at
the Royal Photographic Society,
where the very latest achievements of
the high speed photographic industry
included the series reproduced below.
It shows the development of a con-
vective flow in the gas filling of an
electric bulb as the current through
the filament is switched on. The
photographs are from eight three-
dimensional holographic images re-
constructed from a sequence of double
exposure holograms recorded on a
single plate with a pulsed ruby laser.
The pulse length was about 1 ms and
the interval between pulses was 20
ms. The pictures were produced by
the National Physical Laboratory,
with whose permission they are re-
produced. The Muybridge series
appears by courtesy of the John
Judkyn Memorial.
nuclear energy. But the powerful Joint
Committee on Atomic Energy objected
at such an intrusion on its patch, and
the Science and Astronautics Com-
mittee eventually wound up with only
non-nuclear energy research and deve-
lopment. But that is a distinct im-
provement over the present arrange-
ment in which authority is split over
a number of committees, and it also
means that the neW Science and
Technology Committee will get juris-
diction over the non-nuclear pro-
grammes of the umbrella Energy
Research and Development Adminis-
tration.
The Bolling Committee had also
recommended that the science com-
mittee he given "special oversight"
over military R & D, which would have
given it authority to make studies and
recommendations on the Pentagon's
programmes, but it wouldn't have had
the power to write laws in that area.
But Edward Hebert, the 74-year-old
chairman of the Armed Services Com-
mittee would have none of that, and
his monopoly over the Defense Dep-
artment programmes remains un-
broken.
? Finally, the Bolling proposals would
have given the Science and Astronau-
tics Committee jurisdiction over vir-
tually all the programmes of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
But Mrs Lenore Sullivan, Chair-
man of the Committee on Merchant
Marine and Fisheries didn't relish
the idea of her committee disappear-
ing from under her, and the upshot
is a grotesque split with some atmos-
pheric programmes going to the new
Science and Technology Committee,
while oceanography stays with the
Committee on Merchant Marine. But
at least it was agreed during the floor
debate last week that the two commit-
tees will work together on oceanic and
atmospheric matters.
As for environmental research and
development, both the Bolling Com-
mittee and the Democratic Caucus
committee recommended that the new
Science and Technology Committee
would gain responsibility for that
entire area, and so it will.
The upshot, then, is that many
science and technology matters in the
House will now be consolidated into
one committee, which should make
for smoother operations in sonie areas.
But it should be pointed out that the
seniority system has survived com-
pletely untouched, and nobody had the
temerity to alter the workings of per-
haps the most powerful committee of
all?the House Appropriations Com-
mittee, which deliberates on the
budgets of the executive departments
and agencies.
Bolling, at least, remains philo-
sophical about the outcome of his
attempts at reform. "It is a good
start", he said last week, and indicated
that he will try again next session.
Meanwhile, the Senate has for some
time been making noises about taking
a look at its own hopelessly confused
committee structure, but so far has
shown no signs of doing anything
about it. It is far from clear at this
stage, for example, which committees
will get jurisdiction over the Energy
Research and Development Adminis-
tration, and science affairs are strung
out over a whole range of Senate
committees.
Since all bills must be approved by
both the House and the Senate before
they become law, the House reforms
are clearly only half-way measures, no
matter how good they are.
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'gem,
news and views
41,14011111111
Fluctuations in climate
THROUGH most of the first !part of this century it was
widely taken for granted that climate is essentially constant,
apart from short-term fluctuations, some of which might
involve shadowy cyclic changes. In fact, the global climate
was at that time changing?a rather general warming and
increasing moisture in continental interiors (apart from the
Americas)?in ways that made life easier for most people
in most !places. Hence, ?there was little investigation of the
phenomenon. Now, however, the decades of neglect have
given place to widespread concern over climatic change.
This is partly because there is some evidence of a global
cooling, and a change in the rainfall trends also, setting in
from the 1950s onwards. There is also a more pressing
alarm over the many signs in recent years of an increased
range of variability of climate from one year (or short group
of years) to another. The world population is already so
large that there is no margin for even occasional bad years
?bad, that is, in the sense of lowered harvest yields in
several of the world's principal grain-producing areas.
Indeed, the world's grain reserves have been reduced each
year since 1970: both 1972 and 1974 will rank as bad years
in the sense just mentioned, but even in a good year, such
as 1971, the reserves fell, and are now under a quarter of
what they were before this decade.
It was with facts such as these in mind that US Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger told the United Nations General
Assembly in April 1974:
"The poorest nations, already beset by man-made
disasters, have been threatened by a natural one: the
possibility of climatic changes in the monsoon belt and
perhaps throughout the world. The implications for
global food and population policies are ominous. The
United States proposes that the International Council of
Scientific Unions and the World Meteorological Organi-
sation urgently investigate this problem . . ."
And, in similar vein, Lord Rothschild wrote recently:
". . . there are several subjects in which I regret that
the Think Tank has not so far taken an interest: one
of these is the effect of the possible changes in our
climate on the life of the inhabitants of this island. It
would, I believe, repay study."
Also, the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East
Anglia in Norwich, of which I am director, whose financial
plight over ?the first 2-1 years of its existence has several
times been mentioned in Nature, now has the funds needed
to start its work?thanks to the generosity of ?the Wolfson
and Nuffield Foundations in this country and the Rocke-
feller Foundation in the United States.
This issue of Nature carries three more in the series of
contributions to knowledge on the variations and variability
of climate which it has been publishing in recent years.
Drs Wood and Lovett report on page 594 on the rainfall
variations measured in Ethiopia over the last 70 years, and
the records of major drought years since AD 1540, analysed
in relation ?to the 11-year sunspot cycles. Their result high-
lights the great range of variation of the annual rainfall in
that country within each 10 or 11-year period as likely to
have more impact than the longer-term trends, though
possibly made more serious by ?these. On page 592 Brown
reports a new link between variations in the Earth's
magnetic field at the time of sunspot minimum and the
strength of the subsequent sunspot maximum; together with
the climatic evidence such as that presented by Wood and
Lovett this raises the possibility of the use of the Earth's
magnetic field to forecast changing weather patterns five
or six years ahead.
The third contribution, on page 582, is concerned with
what can be learnt of the longer record of climatic
behaviour from tree rings, in this case the year-rings in
spruce (Picea) growing in southern Germany. Dr Schiegl
uses deuterium measurements on the tree rings to show
how an indication of a long history of annual mean tem-
perature might be derived. This technique is one example
of a rapidly increasing number of types and uses of 'proxy'
data to extend and corroborate the climatic record for
periodS before the invention of most meteorological
instruments.
Mass extinctions in the fossil record
THE !problem of what caused the extinction of particular
groups of fossils continues to intrigue both palaeontologist
and layman. Every schoolboy learns about the dramatic and
relatively sudden extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of
the Mesozoic Era, and many are the more or less ingenious
!hypotheses put forward to account for it. My own favourite
relates the extinction to the relative decline of the gymno-
sperms or naked seed plants in favour of the flowering
plants during the Cretaceous period. The surviving conifer
and cycad representatives include many producing oils with
renowned purgative properties, from which one is drawn
ineluctably to the conclusion that the poor dinosaurs died of
constipation! The trouble with all such 'hypotheses is their
ad hoc character, devoted specifically to the dinosaurs.
Viewed in a broader context, the dinosaurs are seen as but
one of a whole series of animal groups, both terrestrial and
marine, which died out at the end of the Cretaceous about
H. H. LAMB
65 million years ago. An even more spectacular phase of
mass extinction, affecting a majority of invertebrate and
vertebrate classes both on land and in the sea, took place
towards or at the end of the Permian some 160 million years
earlier. It is no coincidence that the three faunally defined
eras of Phanerozoic time, ?the Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and
Cainozoic, are divided by these two so-called crises in the
history of life.
Attempts to account for these, and lesser, phases of mass
extinction can be grouped into two broad categories, involv-
ing phenomena either extrinsic or intrinsic to our planet.
The extraterrestrial explanations have usually centred
around the deleterious effect of high levels of cosmic
radiation, leading to widespread destruction of organisms,
either directly or by damaging genes and thereby preventing
successful reproduction. Some have argued for episodic
pulses of increased radiation compared with that operating
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at present, for which there is no independent evidence;
others have postulated that at times when the geomagnetic
field was reversing the 'magnetic protection' of the Earth
diminished for period of perhaps as much as a few thousand
years, allowing more radiation to penetrate to the surface
of the continents and oceans. Explanations such as these
have fallen out of favour in the last few years for a variety
of reasons. For example, they have not been able to explain
why marine organisms have been affected at the era bound-
aries more than terrestrial ones, especially plants. Further-
more, in the ocean the intensity of radiation diminishes to
a small fraction of its atmospheric value only a few metres
below the surface.
Attention has now turned to intrinsic factors. Following
the pioneer work of Valentine and Moores (J. Geol., 80,
167; 1972) who were the first to seek an explanation for the
Permian extinctions by bringing together concepts derived
from plate tectonics and modern ecological theory,
attempts adopting a similar approach have been made
recently to account for the 'crises' at the close of the Meso-
zoic and Palaeozoic.
Hays and Pitman (Nature, 246, 18; 1973) have speculated
along the following lines. In the late Cretaceous there was
a huge marine transgression over as much as a third of
the continents, when sea level was raised hundreds of
metres as a result of uplift of the mid-oceanic ridges. This
was a consequence of an acceleration in the rate of seafloor
spreading for which there is apparently good independent
evidence. The transgression was instrumental in inducing
a more stable, equable world climate, which led to significant
diversification of many animal groups including the dino-
saurs and, in the marine realm, reef corals, rudistid bi-
valves and planktonic foraminifera. Highly diverse, steno-
topic organisms in stable environments are vulnerable,
however, to even slight environmental change. The pro-
nounced marine regression at the" end of the Cretaceous,
related by Hays and Pitman to deceleration of seafloor
spreading rates, induced an episode of increased thermal
gradients, seasonal temperature contrasts and storminess,
together with a significant change in oceanic circulation
patterns. This sudden decrease in environmental stability
was sufficient to cause widespread extinction, affecting the
groups cited above and many others. The dinosaurs' un-
satisfied need was not so much for laxatives as for winter
woollies!
A significant relationship between the late Permian ex-
tinctions and fall of sea level is also inferred by Schopf (J.
Geol., 82, 129; 1974). His survey disclosed that the number
or marine invertebrate families halved from the beginning
to the end of the period while at the same time the area
of shallow epicontinental seas diminished by rather more
than half. The lowering of sea level was probably a con-
sequence of the creation of the supercontinent Pangaea
as separate continents collided. When this happened the
seafloor spreading rate diminished as a 'brake' was in-
evitably applied to plate movement. There is no satisfactory
explanation of why sea level began to rise again in the
early Triassic, although Pangaea did not begin to disinte-
grate, with the creation of a new spreading axis between
Africa and North America, until the early Jurassic. In the
earlier hypothesis of Valentine and Moores, the extensive
late Permian extinctions were attributed partly to increased
interfaunal competition as formerly isolated continental
shelves were joined together, and partly to a reduction in
environmental stability consequent upon the creation of
one large continent from several smaller ones (thus,
seasonal climatic contrasts would have increased). Schopf
draws attention to another factor.
Ecologists recognise an exponential relationship between
species number and area of the habitat occupied. Modern
theory has it that animal populations in a given region are
in a condition of dynamic equilibrium, with rate of im-
migration being balance rate rate of extinction. The theory
has been applied with great success to oceanic islands,
which form an excellent laboratory for ecologists. Small
islands cannot be held to possess 'impoverished' faunas, as
formerly thought; they can only support small populations
and consequently extinction rates are higher. It is a big
jump from species abundance in tiny islands to familial
abundance in seas bordering whole continents, with rate of
immigration being replaced by rate of origination through
evolution, but Schopf is prepared to take this bold step.
He can at leaA claim the support of a leading researcher
in the new ecology (D. Simberloff, J. Geol., 82, 267; 1974),
who has erected a model for the Permian diversity
reductions and 'extinctions based on reasonable biological
assumptions, which shows a good accord with Schopf's data.
Thus merely reducing the area of the Permian shelf seas
might be sufficient in itself to explain the increased rate of
extinction, reaching a maximum at the end of the period.
An attractive feature of the two hypotheses outlined
above is that they account for changes in organisms inhabit-
ing a wide variety of habitats in a way which is consistent
with modern ecological theory, and provide a satisfying
correlation with independently deduced geological events
of great significance. In both cases the fundamental control
on the extinctions is likely to have been variation in heat
flow from the mantle, affecting the density, volume and
spreading rates of oceanic ridge systems. Though many
important questions remain unanswered, an explanation
along these lines is much less of a Deus ex machina than
that involving variations in cosmic radiation.
A. HALLAM
Neural hypothesis
of muscular dystrophy
is flourishing
MANY workers in the field of neuromuscular diseases will
feel that there is more evidence in favour of the neural
hypothesis of muscular dystrophy than Professor Bradley's
article' would imply. Although it is true that Harris and
Marshall' did not find evidence of functional denervation in
dystrophic mouse muscle, the earlier and contrary observa-
tions of McComas and Mrozek' have now been confirmed
by Law and Atwood'. Fibrillation potentials, usually re-
garded as a sign of denervation, are also a feature of murine
dystrophy'. Possible ultrastructural correlates of synaptic
dysfunction have been found in the axon terminals of
dystrophic mice in studies from two laboratories'''. Even if
Harris and Marshall were correct, these authors demons-
trated nonetheless that the neuromuscular junctions of
dystrophic mice were unusually susceptible to adverse con-
ditions within the experimental milieu.
Dr Salafskys was one of the first to transplant minced
muscle between normal and dystrophic mice and, by con-
trolled experiments encouraging reinnervation of the trans-
plants, was able to study their contractile properties. The
explanation offered by Dr Bradley is insufficient to account
for all his findings. Of those muscle transplantation studies
in which care was taken to permit reinnervation, two"
have largely confirmed Salafsky's work and one" has not.
'In the cases of human Duchenne dystrophy the evidence
is mixed. Fibrillation potentials certainly occur' and the
work of Desmedt and Borenstein" is cited as indicative that
denervated muscle fibres become reinnervated. In contrast,
a 'careful electron-microscopical study by Dr Andrew Engel
and his associates" has not yielded any evidence of struc-
tural abnormality in the motor axon terminals. This result,
and the finding of normal numbers of motoneurones at
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N
autopsy', does not contrao,dict the
neural hypothesis as originally prop-
osed". Indeed, recent studies with A.
Upton and P. Jorgensen, as yet un-
published, strongly suggest that it is
possible for motoneurones to have
'silent' synapses. In patients with
unequivocally neuropathic disorders it
now seems that neuromuscular junc-
tions may become inexcitable but still
capable of transmitting a neuro-
trophic influence to the muscle fibres.
If this interpretation is correct, it is
not difficult to conceive of more
severe dysfunction in which the syn-
apsp, although present, can no longer
?subserve a trophic action.
So far as the motor unit counting
results are concerned, the necessary
eleotrophysiological technique was
first applied by McComas, Sica and
Currie" to the extensor digitorum
brevis (EDB) muscle. The choice of
muscle was subsequently criticised on
the grounds that the motor nerve was
vulnerable to trauma, particularly in
disabled patients such as those with
dystrophy'. This criticism would
seem unfounded if the, recent
reports"'" of normal numbers of
motor units in Duchenne dystrophy
are correct. Our own solution to the
problem of trauma was to study pat-
ients with very early stages of the
disease and to extend the technique to
muscles other than EDB. These last
results" are in keeping with the earlier
ones. Since the full papers by Panayio-
topoulos et al." and by Ballantyne and
Hansen" have yet to appear, it is diffi-
cult to be certain that these workers
have achieved the refinements of the
counting technique reported by
Bradley. Scarpalezos and Panayio-
topoulos" in their brief description
claim to be able to detect very small
muscle responses "overlapping at noise
level" on single, rather than super-
imposed, oscilloscope sweeps. Not only
is this feat a logical impossibility, but
the value of the superimposition tech-
nique (employed by ourselves) in
detecting very small evoked biological
signals has been accepted ever since
the pioneering experiments of Daw-
son". As practised by our own group,
the motor unit counting technique
has proved itself as a sensitive and
reliable means of detecting neuro-
pathic disorders and it is gratifying
that Ballantyne and Hansen" have
obtained almost identical values for
healthy subjects. It is important to
add that the technique has recently
been employed in a 'blind' study of 17
possible cases of malignant hyperther-
mia (unpublished work with B. A.
Britt and W. Kalow) and has so far
been completely accurate in predicting
the status of the subjects.
I feel that the most direct evidence
against a neural aetiology of dystophy
is the parabiotic cross-innervation
experiment of Douglas and Cosmos"
in mice. The strongest evidence against
a myopathic aetiology (though not
necessarily for a neural one) is the
exceedingly elegant chimaera study of
Peterson". At first sight contradictory,
these obseravtions may be reconciled
by taking into account the stage of
development of the animal at which
the foreign nerve was introduced to
the muscle. Thus, it is possible that
the very first contact between a geno-
typically dystrophic motoneurone and
a genotypically normal muscle fibre in
the embryo will commit the latter to a
dystrophic growth thereafter; if so,
any later experimental manipulations
ith innervation would b i ff ti
w wou e ne ec ve.
Regardless of the true state of play,
the neural hypothesis has successfully
drawn attention to the possibility of
deranged trophic mechanisms being
present in neuromuscular disease.
Whether or not the hypothesis is
eventually shown to be correct, it will
have served a useful function if it
advances our understanding of
dystrophy or brings a cure one step
closer.
' Bradley,
(1974).
? Harris, J. B., and Marshall, M. W.,
Exp. Neural., 41, 331-344 (1973).
McComas, A. J., and Mrozek, K., J.
neural. neurosurg. Psychial., 30,
525-530 (1967).
? Law, P. K., and Atwood, H. L.,
Experientia, 30, 155-156 (1974).
? McIntyre, A. R., Bennett, A. L., and
Brodkey, J. S., Ardis neural.
Psychiat., 81, 678-683 (1959).
? Ragab, A. H. M. F., Lancet, ii, 815-816
1971).
7 Gilbert, J. J., Steinberg, M., and
Banker, B. Q., J. Neuropalhol. exp.
Neural., 32, 345-364 (1973).
? Salafsky, B., Nature, 229, 270-272
(1971).
o Dubowitz, V., J. Physiol., Land., 231,
59P (1973).
10 Hironaka, T., and Miyata, Y., Nature
new Biol., 137, 221-223. (1973).
" Cosmos, E., Physiologist., 16, 167-177
(1973).
12 Norris, F. H., and Chatfield, P. 0.,
Electroenceph. din. neurophysiol., 7,
391-397 (1955).
13 Desmedt. J. E.. and Borenstein, S.,
Nature, 246, 500-501 (1973).
'4 Jerusalem, G., Engel, A. G., and
Gomez, M. R., Brain, 97, 123-130
(1974).
Tomlinson. B. E., Walton, J. N., and
Irving, D., J. neural. Sc., 22, 305-
327 (1974).
1' McComas, A. J., Sica, R. E. P., and
Campbell, Mi., Lancet, i, 321-325
(1971).
17 McComas, A. J., Sica, R. E. P., and
Currie, S.. Nature, 226, 1263-1264
(1970).
Eng.1, W. K., and Warrnolts, J. R., in
New Developments in Electromyo-
graphy and Clinical Neitrophy.sio-
lo,gy (edit. by Pesmedt, J. E.), 1, 141-
177 (Karger, Basel, 1973).
19 Roselle, N., and Stevens, A., in New
Developments in Electromyography
and Clinical Neurophysiology (edit.
by Desmedt, J. E.), 1, 69-71 1973).
A. J. McComAs
W. G., Nature, 250, 285-286
20
21
22
23
24
18 1974
Scarpelezos, S., and Panayiotopoulos,
C. P., Lancet, ii, 458 (1973).
Ballantyne, J. P., and _Hansen, S.,
Lancet, i, 1060 (1974).
McComas, A. J., Sica, R. E. P., and
Upton, A. R. M., Arc/os Neurol., 30,
249-251 (1974).
Panayiotopoulos, C. P., Scarpalezos,
S., Papapetropoulos, T. A., and
Caronis, A., J. neural. Sci. (in the
press).
Ballantyne, J. P., and Hansen, S., J.
neural. neurosurg. Psych jot. (in the
press).
25 Dawson, G. D., J. neural. neurosurg.
Psych/at., 10, 137-140 (1947).
Douglas, W. B., and Cosmos, E., in
Exploratory Concepts in Muscular
Dystrophy (edit. by Milhorat, A. T.)
2, (Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam,
in the press).
Peterson, A. C., Nature, 248, 561-564
(1974).
26
27
Drilling in
the Antarctic
from Peter J. Smith
So much attention is given to the large-
scale geological programmes, such as
the Deep Sea Drilling Project, that there
is a tendency to overlook the more
modest investigations which face tech-
nical and logistic problems scarcely less
formidable. A good case in point is the
three-nation programme of drilling in
the McMurdo Sound region of Antarc-
tica. By the late 1960s it was clear that
if significant progress were to be made
in investigating the geology, geo-
chemistry, glaciology, lake-bottom
stratigraphy and thermal characteristics
of the dry valleys west of McMurdo
Sound, it would be necessary to supple-
ment surface studies with borehole
data. Accordingly, several drilling pro-
posals were submitted to the National
Science Foundation which coordinated
all acceptable proposals into a single
programme with participating scientists
from the United States, Japan and New
Zealand. Thus was born the Dry
Valley Drilling Project (DVDP), since
expanded to include Ross Island and
McMurdo Sound itself.
The original aims of the DVDP as
described by McGinnis et al. (Antarctic
J., 7, 53: 1972) included studies of pal-
aeontological and volcanic evolution
during the poleward migration of An-
tarctica, palaeomagnetic reversals, the
geochemistry of polar desert soils and
permafrost, heat flow, the hydrogeology
of ice cap margins and the global
tectonic significance of the McMurdo
volcanics, although it is already clear
that the first of these objectives will not
be met. An initial exploratory season
was envisaged, followed by three drill-
ing seasons involving a minimum of 10
holes. During the exploration in the
1971-1972 summer season electrical
depth soundings were taken to deter-
mine permafrost thickness and the
nature of the material beneath the
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4 .571
permafrost, seismic refraction profiles
were run in lake basins to establish the
relief and structure of bedrock and
overburden thicknesses, and a regional
aeromagnetic survey was made to pro-
vide structural control. In addition,
environmental monitoring (Physical and
microbiological) was begun and will
be continued throughout the project.
Drilling began during the 1972-1973
season with two holes through the
volcanic rocks of Ross Island; and
preliminary 'geological and geochemical
results from these sites (boreholes 1
and 2) were described about a year ago
(Antarctic J., 8, 157; 1973). During the
1973-1974 summer, seven More holes
were drilled in the Ross Island volcanics
(borehole 3 adjacent to hole 2) and in
the dry valleys at Lake Vanda (bore-
holes 4 to 9); and a series of reports
on this work has just been published
(Antarctic J., 9, 125; 1974).
According to Kyle and Treves the
cores from holes 1, 2 and 3 reveal that
the geological history of Hut Point
Peninsula (Ross Island) is much more
complex than the surface geology
suggests, which is itself sufficient
vindication of drilling. The oldest unit
penetrated by holes 2 and 3 is a 200+
m thick pile of hyaloclastite represent-
ing early eruptive events that took
place below ice or water; in other
words, an early stage of marine vol-
canism involved the construction of a
hyaloclastite pedestal which may have
impinged on a thick ice shelf covering
the Ross Sea more than 1.2 million
years ago.. The higher lavas, on the
other hand, are apparently subaerial
flows and pyroclastic units which
represent a single 'differentiation series
starting with olivine-augite basalts,
working through augite-kaersutite
basalts 'and ending with k'aersntite
hawaiites, although the ,phonolites on
an ,adjacent hill may well be more
extreme differentiates of the same
magma chamber.
The cores from the dry valleys not
unexpectedly comprise glacial and
marine sediments, although two of the
holes also penetrated the crystalline
basement. Both sedimentary and
igneous cores are still under 'laboratory
investigation so few geochemical and
mineralogical results are available. But
Tarii reports that stable isotope studies
have already revealed the sources of
core ice; in Lake Vanda, for example,
most of the present water apparently
originates as fresh water whereas
deeper sedimentary layers are still under
the influence of sea water. Also Gumb-
ley et al. have begun to use the upper
few metres of sediment from Lake
Vanda to trace the lake's Late Quarter-
nary history.
The DVDP can already be credited
with the resolution of at least one long-
standing disagreement. Over a decade
ago, Armitage and House (Limnol.
Oceanog., 7, 36; 1962) discovered that
although Lake Vanda lies in a region
where the mean air temperature is
?18? C, it has a bottom water temper-
ature of +25? C. This led Armitage
and House, and later Angino et al.
(Sci. Bull., 45, 1097; 1964), to suggest
that below the lake there are either
high geothermal gradients or hot
springs.
Wilson and Wellman (Nature, 196,
1171; 1962) ruled out hat springs on the
grounds that the measured isotherms
in the lake are nearly horizontal. Not
only are hot springs unlikely in Antarc-
tica because the great 'thickness of
frozen ground precludes abundant
groundwater; they argued that the
entrance of springwater into the lake in
conjunction with any possible hot spring
would produce a much more compli-
cated thermal pattern. Instead, they
developed a theory of solar heating in
which solar energy penetrates the lake's
ice cover (found if() be extremely trans-
parent) 'and is absorbed in the water
below. In support of this view, Wilson
and Wellman pointed to the extreme
clarity of the water and to the decrease
in temperature gradient with depth
(which implies a heat 'source' in the
water itself). Heat flow measurements
in the upper 30 cm of lake sediment
also seemed to show that heat is flow-
ing from the water to the Sediment.
But Ragotzkie and Likens (Limnol.
Oceanog., 9, 412, 1964) produced pre-
cisely the 'opposite result from similar
measurements and therefore attributed
the high bottom temperature to a com-
bination of solar heating and high
geothermal gradient.
Wilson et al. have now resolved this
question by making thermal measure-
ments in DVDP hole 4 which pene-
trated the crystalline basement below
Lake Vanda. The temperature in the
basement 15.5 m below the lake bottom
is consistently 0.48? C lower than that
in the sediment 0.5 m below the lake
bottom. The corresponding temperature
gradient (average 0.032? C m-1), com-
bined with estimates of thermal con-
ductivity, shows that Lake Vanda is
losing heat downwards at a rate of
0.5-1.0 cal cm's', thus convincingly
supporting the view that geothermal
heat is not the reason for the lake's
high temperature.
Corvine cannibalism
from our Animal Ecology Correspondent
ARGUMENTS have been raised for years
about the functions and consequences
of territories to animals. Since the
ultimate restraint to population in-
crease is availability of food, one might
expect the relationship of territory size
to food to be both positive and linear.
For some species, mostly herbivores,
Eltanin bailed out
To oceanographers the name
Eltanin probably stands second only
to Glomar Challenger. From 1962
to 1972 this vessel carried out geo-
logical, geophysical, geochemical,
biological and meteorological re-
searches which covered some 80
per cent of the southern ocean be-
tween 35? S and Antarctica. Then
a $1.5 million budget cut in the US
Antarctic Research Program ended
its active work.
But now the Eltanin is about to
begin a new five-year programme
on Antarctic research as a result of
an agreement between the United
States and Argentina. The ship, re-
named Islas Orcadas and operated
from Buenos Aires by the Argentine
navy, will carry out joint scientific
expeditions with support from the
National Science Foundation and
the Argentine National Antarctic
Directorate.
this may be true or nearly so. But often
for both carnivores and herbivores
territory size is unrelated to food
supply (Watson and Moss, in Animal
Populations in Relation to their Food
Resources, 167, Blackwell, Oxford,
1970). Hinde points out that territories
have complex functions with conse-
quences both harmful and advan-
tageous to an individual's chance of
breeding success (Ibis, 98, 340; 1956).
Simple answers cannot be expected to
complex questions.
In a well designed series of field ex-
periments on carrion crows in north-
east Scotland, Yom-Tov added extra
food to the environment to ascertain
if there was a direct relationship be-
tween territory size, food supply and
breeding success (J. Anim.Ecol., 43,
479; 1974). There was circumstantial
evidence that there was no absolute
food shortage during the breeding
season. Fooci in the form of hens' eggs
and dead, hens' chicks was placed near
to artificial trees both within and with-
out established crow territories. This
treatment failed to increase the breed-
ing density of adults. But one egg and
five chicks offered daily to a group of
fourteen breeding pairs in the close
proximity of their nests resulted in a
significantly higher survival rate of
nestlings although there was no differ-
ence in clutch size. At fledging an
average of 2.3 young had survived in
the experimental nests compared with
1.1 in the controls.
The other effect of food added daily
from the start of the year was to signi-
ficantly shift the date of the start of
laying, bringing it forward by 5 days.
Earlier layed clutches were almost
twice the size of late clutches, but the
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5 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4
.4kaw
number of fledglings produced per nest
was about half. So increased winter
food affected date of laying but not,
per se, the number of fledglings pro-
duced per nest.
How does extra food increase the
survival rates of nestling crows? Preda-
tion of the eggs and desertion by the
adults were the main factors respon-
sible. Krebs has pointed out that arti-
fically increased winter food has no
effect on the number of territorial
breeding pairs of great tits during the
following spring (Ecology, 52, 2; 1971).
Those nests that were closer together
than 45 m suffered 12% more preda-
tion (mostly by weasels) than did those
nests spaced over 45 m apart. Carrion
crows are their own chief predators?
they prey to a significant extent upon
the eggs and nestlings of their own
kind. With cannibalism as the regula-
tory mechanism, the ultimate limiting
factor for the number of nestlings
reared is the dispersion of food within
the territory. An abundance of food
close to the nest means that the clutch
is left unattended for shorter intervals
than if the food is widely scattered. To
remain near the nest breeding crows
limit their territory size. The lower
limit to territory size depends upon the
amount of food available and the
upper limit depends upon its dispersion
and the ability of the pair to defend
its nest.
Cyclic AMP and
pattern formation
from Paul Epstein
BY staining with fluorescent antibody
specific for cyclic AMP, Pan et al.
(Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 71, 1623;
1974) have been able to observe the
distribution of cyclic AMP in both the
unicellular amoebae and the multicel-
lular pseudoplasmodium of Dictyostel-
ium discoideum and several related
species of cellular slime mould. Cyclic
AMP was first shown to be important
in the life cycle of D. discoideum when
it was isolated as the naturally occur-
ring .acrasin, or chemotactic agent by
which the vegetative amoebae signal
each other to aggregate (Barkley,
Science, 165, 1133; 1969). Now the
studies by Pan et al. suggest that cyclic
AMP is important not only for aggre-
gation, but for determination, or
pattern formation, as -well.
In the cellular slime moulds, once
the aggregation process is completed,
the amoebae form a pseudoplasmodium,
OT grex, which, depending on environ-
mental conditions, may migrate for an
indefinite period before beginning to
differentiate into two morphologically
and functionally distinct cell types?
spore tells and stalk cells. By staining
with vital dyes, Bonner (The Cellular
Slime Molds, second ed., Princeton
University Press, Princeton, New Jer-
sey, 1967) showed that the cells in the
anterior third of the grex become stalk
cells, whereas the cells in the remaining
posterior portion become spore cells.
The cells in the grex are not pre-
determined, however, since a grex which
is sliced transversely can form two
normal fruiting bodies, containing the
normal proportions of spore and stalk
cells (Raper, J. Elisha Mitchell scient.
Soc., 56, 241; 1940). This observation
indicates that the cells can recognise
their position within the grex, and
somehow alter their developmental
fate accordingly.
How do the cells know their position
in a field? One theory is that they
respond to gradient(s) of concentration
of small m olecule (s) (Wolpert, J.
theoret. Biol., 25, 1; 1969). More
recently, McMahon developed a theory
of -pattern formation using D.
discoideum as a model, which holds
that a sharp concentratibn boundary of
a small molecule can develop through
its regulation by contact-sensing mole-
cules on the plasma membranes of cells
in the field (McMahon, Proc. natn.
Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 70, 2396; 1973).
These regulatory molecules -would be
the macromolecules which synthesise
and degrade the small molecule. In this
case, the polarity of the morphogenetic
field is determined by the boundary of
the small molecule, which in turn is
determined by the distribution of
contact-sensing molecules.
Although one theory invokes a
gradient and the other a boundary, both
models require non-uniform distribution
of a small molecule to determine the
pattern of development. The results of
Pan et al. suggest that cyclic AMP
might be one such ? small molecule
which determines pattern formation in
D. discoideum. Pan et al. showed that
as the pseudoplasmodium was allowed
Migrating grex of Dictyostelium dis-
coideum seen from the .side and from
above. From Developmental Biology
by Nelson Spratt.
to migrate, a distribution of cyclic
AMP arose such that the higher con-
centration was found in the anterior,
pre-stalk region. In some cases, they
observed an abrupt boundary of cyclic
AMP concentration between the anter-
ior and posterior portions of the grex,
as theorised by McMahon.
It is interesting to consider two
earlier observations which bear on pat-
tern formation and differentiation in
D. discoideum, and to see how they fit
with the idea that pattern formation in
the grex is determined by the distri-
bution of cyclic AMP. Bonner (Proc.
natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 65, 110; 1970)
subjected isolated amoebae to high con-
centrations of cyclic AMP and found
that they developed into stalk cells.
From this observation, he concluded
that cyclic AMP functions -as an
inducer of stalk cell differentiation. The
observation of Pan et al. is -consistent
with this conclusion.
The other observation was made by
Raper (J. Elisha Mitchell scient. Soc.,
241, 1940), who sliced a pseudoplas-
modium transversely into four sections.
Section one, the anterior tip, could be
made to migrate for various times. If
induced to begin fruiting body forma-
tion immediately, without any resump-
tion of migration, this section developed
into an extremely -abnormal fruiting
body, bearing very few or no spores,
and an excessively heavy stalk. If 3-6
h of migration were allowed before
fruiting formation began, the resulting
structure was less abnormal but still
bore fewer spores and more stalk. If 24
h of migration were allowed, the tip
gave rise to a completely normal fruit-
ing body, with the correct proportion of
spore and stalk cells. Hence, Raper
demonstrated that the cells at the
anterior tip of a pseudoplasmodium
are determined to become stalk cells,
and that this determined state is altered
progressively as the tip migrates.
In accord with this observation, Pan
et al. found that the distribution of
cyclic AMP in the grex becomes more
apparent as it migrates. Likewise, Mc-
Mahon, in his theoretical treatment.
showed the boundary of cyclic AMP
concentration arising near one end of
the field, and moving along the field
with time. McMahon calculated that by
about 3-5 h the boundary becomes
stabilised at a position one-third of the
way down the field; that is, at the posi-
tion which would give rise to the normal
proportion of spore and stalk cells.
Although substantial proof is
required before one can state that
cyclic AMP is responsible for pattern
formation in D. discoideum, the results
of Pan et al. at least suggest such a
function. If further studies provide
proof, this would represent the first
identification of a small molecule res-
ponsible for pattern formation. .
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Nature
Declassified and Approved
Clustered genes Iheragments respectively, react mostly
with 18S rRNA. These results suggest
and non-transcribed
spacers
For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4 573
from Benjamin Lewin
MOST eukaryotic genes are probably
present in only one copy for each
haploid genome. Two notable ex-
ceptions to this rule are provided by
the genes coding for histone proteins
and those which specify ribosomal
RNAs: here many genes, apparently
identical for ribosomal RNA genes and
with little variation in the histone genes,
are organised in a cluster in which each
transcribed sequence seems to be
separated from the next by a . non-
transcribed spacer region. The structure
and function of the spacer are pre-
sumably relevant to the control of
gene activity, and perhaps to the prob-
lem of the suppression of variation in
the multiple copies ,of each transcribed
sequence.
During oogenesis in Xenopus laevis
the nucleoli which contain ribosomal
DNA are amplified to become a major
cell component. The ribosomal DNA
can thus be isolated in bulk and has
been the subject of much work on
sequence .organisation. This DNA was
recently used as a substrate for the
EcoRI endonuclease of Escherichia
coli by Morrow et al. (Proc. natn. Acad.
Sci. U.S.A. 71, 1743-1747; 1974) who
found that each repeating 'unit (tran-
scribed plus non-transcribed) suffers two
cuts. When X. laevis rDNA molecules
of about 50X 10' daltons were treated
with excess EcoRI enzyme the principal
fragments had weights of 3.0X 10' and
4.2X 10' daltons; prominent among the
minor fragments were two of 3.9 X 10'
and 4.8 X 10' daltons. These products
were annealed with DNA of the plasmid
pSC101 (which is cleaved at a single
site, generating a linear molecule from
its circular genome) to give plasmid?
rDNA recombinant molecules that were
then replicated by growth in E. coli.
When the recombinant plasmid
DNAs were isolated from several
bacterial cell lines and analysed by
cleavage with the EcoRT restriction
enzyme, each recombinant plasmid gave
fragments with sizes typical of the
linear molecule of pSC101 and of the
cleavage products of Xenopus rDNA.
By hybridisation with 18S and 28S
Xenopus rRNA, Morrow et al. showed
that the hybrid plasmid CD4, which
contains both the 3.0 x 10' and 4.2 x 10'
cleavage fragments, anneals equally
well with both rRNAs; the CD18 plas-
mid containing only the 3.0x 106
dalton fragment anneals principally
with 28S rRNA; while the DNAs of
plasmids CD30 and CD42, which con-
tain the 3.9x 10' and 4.2x 10' dalton
that the tandem repeats in the rDNA
are heterogeneous, each consisting of
the 3.0 X 10' dalton sequence (which
contains the 28S rRNA sequence) and
the 3.9 x 10' or the 4.2 x 10' dalton
sequence (containing the 18S rRNA
sequence and presumably differing by
the presence or absence of an extra
sequence; other variations in this region
are suggested by the existence of other
size fragments).
Since the transcribed region of
Xenopus rDNA takes only one form,
heterogeneity in sequence must be
ascribed .to the non-transcribed spacer
region, a conclusion supported by the
report of Wellauer et al. in the Pro-
ceedings of the U.S National Academy
of Sciences (71, 2823-2827; 1974). By
cleaving Xenopus rDNA with the
EcoR1 enzyme, they were able to
isolate two classes of fragment on
agarose gel electrophoresis.. Every pre-
paration contains a prominent band of
3.0 x 10' daltons and several bands are
present in lesser amounts which vary
from 4.0 to 5.8 x 10' daltons. To decide
whether the heterogeneity of the larger
bands exists within single genomes or
reflects differences between animals,
they examined the rDNA from a single
nucleolus organiser; this contained at
least three of the larger size classes as
well as the 3.0x 10' dalton band. The
repeat length of transcribed plus non-
transcribed Xenopus rDNA is about
8 X 10' daltons, clearly implying that
the repeats must be heterogenous in
length (since otherwise the total length
of fragments would equal rather than
exceed the repeat length). When the
duplex lengths of the fragments were
measured by electron microscopy, the
smallest proved to have a homogenous
size of 3.0 x 106 daltons and the number
of these small fragments equalled the
sum of the number of the larger frag-
ments. Each repeat therefore seems to
comprise one 3 x 10' dalton region and
one of the larger regions.
Secondary structure mapping has
previously been used by Wellauer and
Dawid (Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
70, 2827-2831; 1973) to order the
sequences for ribosomal RNA ?in the
precursor of the mature rRNA (see
Lewin, Nature, 250, 619-621; 1974),
When RNA is spread for electron
microscopy, hairpin loops may form
between short complementary sequen-
ces and the position of each loop along
the linear molecule provides a map of
it. The 28S rRNA has a characteristic
map present at the 5' end of the pre-
cursor and the 18S rRNA is character-
ised by an absence of loops. Wellauer
et al. now extend this technique to
DNA which has been denatured to
single strands. The. small 3.0 x 10'
dalton fragment cleaved from Xenopus
rD y the EcoRI enzyme is homo-
geneous in structure; it seems to result
from cuts made by the enzyme about
0.3 x 10' daltons into the 28S rRNA
sequence and about 0.2 X 10' daltons
into the 18S rRNA sequence; this
fragment thus represents the starting
region of the rRNA precursor, lacking
the immediate 5' end. The other frag-
ment generated by these two cuts has
one end devoid of structure, presumably
corresponding to the 18S rRNA
sequence, with the other end displaying
the structure typical of the very begin-
ning of the 28S rRNA structure.
28S
40S
18S
Nontranscribed
Spacer
30 X106
12
4.0-5.9 X106
II
Summary by Wellauer et al. of struc-
ture of an rDNA repeat unit.
The central regions of all larger frag-
ments show a related structure, but
vary in length. It is therefore the non-
transcribed spacer region in which the
heterogeneity resides and the formation
of heteroduplexes suggests that the
shorter large fragments represent
deletions of sequences present in the
longer large fragments. How this
heterogeneity relates to the functions
of the nucleolar rDNA is not yet
known; one reservation about the
interpretation of these results, however,
is that the ?source of the rDNA is the
amplified material of the oocyte and it
remains to be proven whether the same
situation is found in the sornatic cell.
Analysis of histone genes is at a less
advanced stage than that of ribosomal
RNA genes. Each of the five histone
proteins seems to constitute a unique
amino acid sequence in any species; and
the hybridisation analysis of Weinberg
et al. (Nature, 240, 225-228; 1972) sug-
gested that their messenger RNAs are
coded by genes repeated some 500-
1,000 times in the genome of the sea
urchin Psammechinus milaris. Because
of the multiple codons representing each
amino acid, identity of protein
sequences need not imply identity of
the repeated nucleic acid sequences
coding for them, but the hybridisation
analysis suggests only limited hetero-
geneity. The histone messengers of
another sea urchin, Lytenichus pictus,
have been separated by gel electro-
phoresis into a small number of groups
by Grunstein et al. (Cold Spring Harb.
Symp. quant. Biol., 38, 717-724; 1973)
and a fingerprint analysis of one of
these messengers is 'consistent with the
idea that its sequences are fairly
uniform.
The histone genes of Psammechinus
milaris band on CsC1 gradients at a
density only slightly greater than'that of
bulk DNA, but Birnsteil et al. (Proc.
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57 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4 18 1974
natn. Acad Sci. U.S.A., 71, 29004;
1974) now report that they can be iso-
lated by their ability to bind prefer-
entially to actinomycin C1 which causes
them to form a low density band. The
band isolated in this way hybridises well
with a preparation that contains the
messengers for four histones (mRNA
activity for histone F1 has not yet been
demonstrated); since each of the four
histone messengers shows a virtually
identical reaction with the fractions of
DNA separated on the CsCl?actino-
mycin gradient, it is likely that the
different histone genes are intermingled
rather than clustered in four individual
grows.
Comparison of G+ C content of
histone DNA and RNA, and the results
of shearing and of melting histone
DNA all suggest that the histone gene
cluster also contains other sequences
that are poorer in G+ C content. The
release of the histone-coding from the
other sequences only by shearing sug-
gests that both components are integral
parts of the gene cluster. The melting
curve of renatured DNA from the
preparation implies the presence of
some heterogeneity in sequence, pro-
bably in the sequences which do not
code for histones. Whether the com-
ponent poor in G-i-C represents a non-
transcribed spacer region analogous to
that of the rDNA gene cluster is not
of course revealed by present data
but this is one of the functions that
can be imagined for it.
Two by two
from D. H. Jennings
IT is rare these days to attend a con-
ference covering the whole spectrum
of biology. But the Society for Experi-
mental Biology mounted such a con-
ference?on symbiosis?at Bristol on
September 2-6. By retaining the
original de Bary definition, namely
that symbiosis is the association of two
different organisms, it was possible to
have all shades of interest from mole-
cular to whole organism biology rep-
resented. Thus, ecologists, though not
contributing directly, could find much
to interest them. Indeed, two contribu-
tions were particularly seminal for
ecological studies. Fricke (Max-Planck-
Institut, Seeiweesen) indicated how
behavioural studies of organisms in
the Red Sea can provide an under-
standing of animal interactions in
nature thus adding flesh to the bare
bones of numerical population studies.
Cox (Kings College, London) discus-
sing his work on intraerythrocytic
parasites, pointed out that population
biologists cannot continue to think
about particular species without con-
sidering their parasites. He showed
how susceptibility to various virus
diseases can be dramatically modified
by the presence of parasites.
?There was much emphasis on how
the invading symbiont avoids attack
by its potential host. Terry (Brunel
University) and Smithers (National
Institute for Medical Research, Mill
Hill) presented their elegant studies on
the evasion of the immune response by
Schistosoma which can survive by its
ability to acquire host molecules. Mus-
catine (University of California, Los
Angeles) provided data indicating the
recognition by Hydra of the appro-
priate Chlorella cells takes place after
engulfment at the stage when the algal
cells move to the base of the digestive
cells. Studies on symbiosis in Para-
mecium are now also beginning to
yield relevant information with respect
to bacteria (Preer, University of
Indiana, Bloomington) and Chlorella
(Karakashian, Max - Planck - Institut,
Wilhelmshaven).
In spite of the decision to use the
de Bary definition, there was much
discussion of what is meant by the
term 'symbiosis'. Mortimer Starr
(University of California, Davis) pro-
duced a new classificatory scheme
which has the virtue of both clarifying
thinking about the phenomenon and
indicating where further experimental
work is required?to decide, for ex-
ample, whether a symbiotic association
is mutualistic or obligately parasitic.
In this respect, Smith (University of
Bristol) put those interested in lichens
further in his debt by his careful
analysis of the present data in the
field which indicate that there is no
detectable benefit to the algal partner.
Also Coffey (Trinity College, Dublin)
presented further information about
the rust fungi, once thought to be the
classic example of obligate pathogens
in plants but which can now be grown
in culture.
Many problems are emerging for
the biochemists, particularly on how
a symbiont affects the physiology of
the host which it has invaded. Bio-
chemists should be impressed by
Aplysia which does a far better job
than they of isolating chloroplasts.
There is no doubt, as shown by
Trench (Yale University), that these
chloroplasts are fully functional,
though the relationship between these
organelles and the animal cytoplasm
in which they reside is not the same
as that which exists in the intact cell
from which the chloroplasts are
extracted.
But biochemists and molecular bio-
logists have other reasons for being in-
terested in symbiosis. Chloroplast sym-
biosis is, in a number of ways, the
living expression of how eukaryotic
organelles are believed to have arisen,
namely by successful invasion of a
primitive glycolytic prokaryote by oxy-
gen utilising (to give mitochondria) and
photosynthesising (to give chloroplasts)
prokaryotes. Though the theory has a
respectable age, Lynn Margulis (Uni-
versity of Boston) has done the most
recently to bring it up to date. In a
debate on the theory she propounded
her views with infectious enthusiasm.
But though most of the audience were
believers, Raff (University of Indiana,
Bloomington) in a careful comparison
of bacteria and mitochondria showed
that their faith may be blind.
Five hundred
million years ago
in Wales
from I. Sirachan
ABOUT half of those attending the
symposium organised by the Palaeonto-
logical Association of London on the
Ordovician System (September 17-20)
had spent the previous week touring
Wales looking at the classic geological
sites of Arenig, Llandeilo, Caradoc and
Bala.
Much of the material presented at
the meeting in Birmingham was fac-
tual and included new information as
well as regional summaries, but there
was also a considerable questioning
of current dogmas. F. J. Fitch (Birk-
beck College, London) and others
speaking on Ordovician geochrono-
logy pointed out the possible sources
of error inherent in radio-isotopic
dating, particularly in Lower Palaeo-
zoic rocks, and stressed the need for
the use of standard reference scales
(such as ithat produced by the Geologi-
cal Society of London in 1964) so that
data from different sources could be
accurately compared. They concluded
that a length of 65 Myr (between 510
and 445 Myr ago) was reasonable for
the Ordovician, compared with 70 Myr
for the preceding Cambrian and 40
Myr for the succeeding Silurian.
Given this broad time ' span, it was
not surprising that the details of the
regional pictures presented by later
speakers should show some differences.
The biostratigraphical problems were
analysed in various groups of fossils.
W. B. N. Berry (University of Cali-
fornia) related his graptolite faunas to
warm and cool water masses using a
palaeogeographical reconstruction with
the land all on one hemisphere. M.
Lindstrom (University of Marburg)
felt that the conodont faunas agreed
in provincialism with the graptolites
but C. R. C. Paul (University of Liver-
pool) found distinct North American,
Baltic and Mediterranean cystid faunas
only up to the lower part of the
Caraclocian, after which time provincial
boundaries became fuzzy. This he
related to closing up of ocean basins
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Nature Declassified and Approve
during late Ordovician plate move-
ments.
He also discussed the functional
aspects of respiration in cystids to
critically low oxygen levels in shallow
tropical seas. This linked the palaeo-
geographic approach to the climatic
one which was discussed by N.
Spjeldnaes (University of Aarhus,
Denmark). The now well known gla-
cial deposits of the Moroccan Anti-
Atlas were beautifully illustrated by J.
Destombes (Service geologique, Rabat)
and other speakers referred to climatic
cycles in the Ordovician which influ-
enced the occurrence of various groups
of fossils. Changes in faunas could be
caused as much by climatic changes
as by migration between continental
plate margins and the disentangling of
plate movements through the whole
length of the Ordovician needs much
further work.
None of the formal papers included
any discussion of the boundaries of the
Ordovician, most speakers making it
clear whether they regarded the Tre-
madocian as Cambrian (as in English
usage) or Ordovician. But the large
gathering of experts from so many
countries, including the Soviet Union,
provided the opportunity for meetings
of the Commission on Stratigraphy of
the International Union of Geological
Sciences. Several recently formed sub-
commissions and working groups of
the commission will have a great deal
to do with correlation of strata be-
tween countries and continents. Dif-
ferences of interpretation were much
in evidence during the closing general
discussion in Birmingham, particularly
between those based on groups of
fossils traditionally used, such as bra-
chiopods and trilobites, and those
which have come into prominence in
the last few years, such as conodonts.
Some of the ideas were certainly pro-
vocative and augur well for the future
liveliness of the subject. As an eminent
worker on Palaeozoic gastropods put
it to close the meeting?a snail never
gets anywhere unless he sticks his neck
out.
Plant conifers
and lose water
d For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4 575
from Peter D. Moore
A KNOWLEDGE of the rate of water loss
from a forest is essential both for
forest water budget calculations and in
the management ?of water catchments.
Many comparative studies have been
undertaken to provide such informa-
tion, on forest stands and on other
vegetation types. Differences in water
loss from various types of vegetation
are explicable in terms of transpiration
rates, in the effect of vegetation upon
evaporation direct from the soil by
Expanding wings in moths
frotn our Insect Physiology Correspondent
EVERY lepidopterist knows that The stimulus which maintains the
inhibition comes from the head:
decapitated moths spread their
wings immediately, regardless of
whether they are confined. Moths -
decapitated at the very moment of
eclosion, however, show neither
wing inflation nor wing folding. But
if decapitation is delayed until five
seconds after emergence, the full
wing-spreading behaviour occurs.
This effect of the brain is not
dependent on the nerve supply; it
is the result of the neurosecretory
`eclosion hormone': a brain re-
moved from the pupa and im-
planted into the abdomen of a
decapitated pupa is wholly effective
in evoking complete wing spread-
ing. The suboesophageal ganglion
is also necessary for wing spread-
ing; but this seems to be a neural
effect on movement. The hormone
bursicon, set free from the abdo-
minal nerve cord, will cause neither
wing inflation nor wing folding; it
has two important functions: it
serves to plasticise the cuticle (as
was shown by Cottrell in the blow-
fly) and it sets in motion the har-
dening of the cuticle which, in
turn, apparently dictates by feed-
back to the central nervous system
the timing of the wing-folding
movements.
In brief the eclosion hormone,
discovered by Truman a few years
ago, not only initiates emergence,
but also wing spreading, which is
brought about by a central motor
programme involving neural and
hormonal stimuli and some degree
of sensory feedback.
emerging butterflies and moths go
through a characteristic sequence
of wing-folding movements, with
wing expansion and general harden-
ing of the cuticle, before settling
down into their normal resting pos-
ture; and that the force for wing
expansion is the hydrostatic pres-
sure of the blood generated by
strong contraction of the abdomen.
Truman and Endo (J. exp. Biol., 61,
47; 1974) have now elucidated the
complex of physiological fac-
tors engaged in this familiar
phenomenon.
It was shown .by Fraenkel many
years ago that if the newly moulted
blowfly is obliged to continue bur-
rowing through the soil, it remains
soft with the wings and body un-
expanded for many hours. Only
when it makes its escape is the
cuticle expanded, hardened and
darkened. It was generally assumed
that this hardening process must be
controlled ?by a hormone, but that
was demonstrated by Cottrell only
in quite recent years and confirmed
by Fraenkel and Hsiao, who named
the hormone in question `bursicon'.
It ?is liberated from the brain and
other ganglia of the nervous
system.
Truman and Endo found that the
emerging adult of the tobacco
hawk moth Manduca behaves in the
same way. It likewise pupates in
the soil, and so long as the emerg-
ent moth is confined it shows in-
tense digging behaviour, and the
spreading of the wings is sup-
pressed, sometimes for 24 hours.
providing 'insulating layers of varying
thickness and spatial structure, and in
the interception of precipitation and its
subsequent evaporation directly from
leaf surfaces.
The quantification of these para-
meters, however, is extremely difficult.
One of the most useful approaches has
been the development of detailed
models which attempt to account for
all of the microclimatic and spatial
variables, each of which can be deter-
mined individually (for example, Mon-
teith, Syrnp Soc. exp. Biol., 19, 205;
1965). Various attempts have been
made to compare water losses from
deciduous and coniferous stands by
observational rather than theoretical
methods, but most of these have shown
negligible differences during the summer
months (for example Zahner, Forest
Sci., 1, 258; 1955); no reliable data are
available for longer periods covering
the winter season, when evergreens may
continue to transpire and also to inter-
cept more rainfall than deciduous trees.
Comparative data between forest stands
on different sites will always be some-
what suspect because of possible dif-
ferences in the soil water storage capa-
cities, hence long term studies on a
single site where deciduous trees have
been replaced by conifers seems to be
the most hopeful approach to this
problem.
The results of just such a study have
now been published by Swank and
Douglass (Science, 185, 857; 1974).
Their study area is in the Appalachian
Mountains of the south-western region
of North Carolina, originally bearing
oak?hickory forest. Streamflow studies
were carried out on selected watersheds
within the area over a period of ten
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57 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4
years, which provided data sufficleirn for
the prediction of stream flow under any
given conditions of precipitation. In
1956 a 16 hectare watershed was clear-
felled and planted with eastern white
pine (Pinus strobus). For the next six
years the streamffow was greater than
that predicted for the forest stand, in
the initial period by as much as 15%.
Subsequently streamflow fell below pre-
dicted annual values and for the past
6 yr it has been - between 15 and
20 cm (equivalent to 15-20%) below
that expected from a hardwood stand
on the same site.
Monthly streamflow values over the
course of a year are particularly inter-
esting because they show that between
June and October the monthly stream-
flow is less than 1.5 cm below the
expected value, whereas in November,
December, April and May streamflow
is over 2.0 cm below expected. Thus the
additional losses of water from a coni-
fer stand take place mainly in winter
and spring; the possibility of this being
the case had 'already been postulated by
Penman (in Forest Hydrology, edit. by
W. E. Sopper and H. W. Lull, Per-
gamon Press, Oxford, 373; 1967) on the
basis of very little observational evi-
dence.
The difference is likely to be caused
by both the increased interception and
the higher transpiration rates in the
conifers in winter and spring. The leaf
area index of hardwoods in winter is
low ( Tm. Now
Tm
F(f,t)v(r)dt,
0
so at frequencies (2n/rm< 1), is also frequency
independent and represents a white spectrum. This is also true
for . Hence, for a sequence of pulses with a
distribution of time constants, A(f) is white at low enough
frequencies so long as there is no coupling among the para-
meters of a single pulse.
A similar conclusion obtains for the factor P(f) which
incorporates the effect on the power spectrum of deviations
from a 'Poisson sequence.
II
Fig. 3 Pulse sequence parameters.
We have
co
kv = f ?(9)exp(2:rcif(P) d9.
0
Physically there exists a maximum Cp, say 9,? beyond which
?(9) is arbitrarily small. Hence, for low enough frequencies,
(2rcf9?,< 1), kit is frequency independent and, therefore, so is
Re (kv/(1?y)).
We therefore have a theorem which says that the power
spectrum of any pulse sequence, Poisson or non-Poisson, even
with a distribution of pulse time constants, is white at low
enough frequencies provided that there is no coupling among the
parameters of a single pulse.
There are at least two immediate and useful consequences.
First, if there is not too much overlap between pulses, simple
visual inspection of the sequence will permit estimates of Tm and
9. This in turn allows an approximate determination of the low
frequency bandwidths over which A(f) and P(f) respectively
are white. Hence, under these conditions, visual inspection can
tell us whether deviations from a white spectrum are due to
A(f) or P(f) over a particular bandwidth. This is particularly
easy to do in those cases where (pm > Tm. Secondly, if one
should find that at low frequencies (27cf < the smaller of
Tm' or (pm-1) the spectrum is not white, then the implication
is that coupling must exist among the parameters of a single pulse.
The first consequence permits direct comparison between the
experimentally determined form of the power spectrum and the
theoretical frequency range over which A( f) and P(J) should be
white. Since one now knows over what bandwidth the form of
the spectrum is due to the shape of the individual pulses, we
have a direct way of determining if the sequence is non-Poisson
(via P(f)). The second allows one to deduce that functional
relations (for example,9 =-- (constant)-c or h = constant/(p) exist
between the pulse parameters. We note for example that (I) ?
(constanOt is a kind of inhibition where the presence of a
pulse with a long time constant tends to delay the appearance of
a next pulse while h = constant/9 is a kind of facilitation where
a large pulse tends to encourage the appearance of the sub-
sequent pulse. Detailed analysis of the low frequency deviations
from a white spectrum will make it possible, in some cases, to
select the precise form of the pulse coupling and thereby give
further insight into the physical origins of the noise.
If the hourglass flow is examined at different angles with
respect to the vertical, the formation of unstable vaults can easily
be seen. Clearly, the formation of unstable vaults of different
lifetimes generates the clustering effects (Fig. 1) in the flow. In
an extensive study (published in Dutch) Pesch14 investigated the
flow of particles from bin openings. A key parameter is the
ratio of the opening to the grain diameter. In an hourglass the
ratio threshold, 4, is exceeded.
Only unstable vaults occur in normal use and their lifetimes
have an upper limit. Hence, the distribution of the intervals
between successive particles flowing through a plane must have
an upper time limit. In the case of the flow of steel grit through a
pore, in our experiments, for example, no intervals longer than
200 ms were found during a period of 10 min with a mean flow of
1,250 grains s -1 through the laser beam (0.2 mm diameter).
Generally, the individual pulse time constants were considerably
less than 20 ms. According to the theorem developed earlier in
the paper, the low frequency spectrum should be white for
frequencies below about 1/0.2 = 5 Hz as has been found (Fig.
2). The l/f portion of the spectrum is due to the non-Poisson
character (clustering) of the individual particles. At higher
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Natat, Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4 601
Compl
frequencies a change from l/f to some other spectrum is pre-
dicted due to pulse shape, time constant and photocell response.
This occurs, as expected, at frequencies 100 Hz.
It is tempting to conjecture that in some systems of molecular
dimensions with barriers, particles and pores analogous situa-
tions might prevail. Molecular size vaults might be formed and
thermal motion function as the agent for the introduction of the
instabilities. These systems would exhibit power spectra with
strong low frequency contributions (perhaps 1/f in form) but,
yet, at the very lowest frequencies their spectra would always
turn white.
K. L. SCHICK*
A. A. VERVEEN
Department of Physiology,
University of Leiden,
Leiden,
Netherlands
Received August 24, 1973.
*Present address: Department of Physics, Union College, Schenec-
tady, New York 12308.
Verveen, A. A., and Derksen, H. S., Proc. Instn elect. Engrs, 56,
906 (1968).
2, Siebenga, E., and Meyer, A. W. A., Pflugers Arch., 343, 165 (1973).
3 Siebenga, E., and Verveen, A. A., Proc. first Europe. Biophys.
Congs., 5, 219 (1971).
Peschl, I. A. S. Z., thesis, Technische Hogeschool Eindhoven (1969).
5 Flinn, I., Nature, 219, 1356 (1968).
6 McWhorther, A. L., Semiconductor Surface Physics, 207 (University
of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1956).
7 Schick, K. L., Acta biotheoretica (in the press).
8 Heiden, C., Phys. Rev., 188, 319 (1969).
9 Rice, S. 0., Bell Syst. tech. J., 23 and 24, 1 (1944).
Second Law of Thermodynamics
IT is widely realised that there is no single and uniquely cor-
rect statement of the Second Law of Thermodynamics but
rather that there exist a number of different and mutually
compatible, correct statements' (Everett' mentions "two or
three dozen") each of which illuminates a different facet of
what H. A. Bent (private communication) has called
the "Second Law type of behaviour observed in nature".
There is no brief statement from which " . . . all of the
thermodynamic relationships . . ."3 can be deduced without
further knowledge. In considering a particular problem one
particular statement is generally more apposite than another,
and for those who are concerned with the mechanisms
that produce work, a statement of the Law that stresses
the significance of work has distinct advantages. One such
statement of mine' has been criticised by Legon3. Un-
fortunately the revised article containing the basis for
some of my statements has only recently appeared' though
it was submitted long before the other'. This paper' should
have forestalled many of Legon's objections. For example,
its first page deals with the question of "maximum work"
and its equations (5) to (7) and (9) to (13) deal with equi-
libria and with entropy creation respectively.
Legon's objections are numerous and diverse but I will
try to deal systematically with them, as summarised in his
last paragraph.
Lack of originality. I had not seen the passage quoted
from Butler' (page 32) when I wrote my paper'. Legon
writes of my statement: "All it says is that something
that is happening" (that is, that can proceed spontaneously)
"can be made to do useful work". Exactly so?it is very
simple. Taken with its corollary, that unless a proposed
change can be made to do useful work it cannot happen
spontaneously, the statement specifies conditions both neces-
sary and sufficient for predicting which Changes can happen
spontaneously and which cannot. There is no logical neces-
sity to add any statement about "maximum work".
Readers of my two articles" can surely be in little doubt
that I understand at least as well as does Legon the
fundamental conclusion of Carnot7 that to every specified
change (isothermal or not) there must correspond a
certain definite maximum output of work when going in
one direction and an equally definite minimum input of
work when going in the opposite one: these transfers of
work would be realised under reversible conditions; they
may or may not be equal depending on the particular
system under consideration.
I made no claim that my statement of the Second Law
sums up the whole of thermodynamics in one sentence:
neither for that matter does Legon's italicised quotation
from Planck' (page 103) do so. It is necessary to know
more of the subject in order to comprehend either state-
ment, and the two can then be seen as not contradictory,
but complementary.
To understand the `work' view of the subject in relation
to the 'entropy' view of it, one must understand the fact
(explicitly stated in refs 4 and 5) that in order to obtain work
from a spontaneous process a machine of appropriate de-
sign must be introduced, in imagination at least, into the
situation. This machine constrains the process in such a
way that it can occur only if at the same time work is
delivered; the machine must also contain a device (for
example, a weight) for storing this work since many types
of system are not, in themselves, capable of storing work.
All machines consist of several phases and possess geometri-
cal features, and far from being a mere artifice, the nature
of such machines and their limitations are the main topics
of interest that thermodynamics has had to offer to many
scientists, from the Carnots onwards. As Joule' (who was
interested in muscles as well as in galvanic cells and heat
Table 1 Range of spontaneous processes
? Completely irreversible Completely reversible
Resulting change in Universe
Maximum entropy creation Zero entropy creation
Zero increase in stored work Max. increase in stored work
Max. inc. in thermal energy Min. inc. in thermal energy
engines) wrote in 1853: "Perhaps the most important appli-
cations of dynamical theory are those which refer to the
production of motive power from chemical and other
actions." The matter could not be more succinctly ex-
pressed.
Failure to apply to isolated systems. I did not in fact
claim' that the same equation relating work to entropy
creation applied to isolated systems, merely that the "argu-
ment can be easily extended" to them, by imagining a
machine to be introduced into the system itself. This basic
idea is far from novel". A simple example that illustrates
the point well is provided by an isolated system in two parts
that are initially at different temperatures. Heat is allowed
to flow either by ordinary conduction or through a heat
engine. For a given change of state' it is found that the
entropy created AScr is always a single-valued function of
the work wasted. If one part of the system (e) is much larger
than the other, the equations approach as a limit the simple
form given in my paper (ref. 5, equation (10)) :
AScr= [wasted work] IT,
Legon's preoccupation with semantics has led him to
make heavy weather out of a simple situation. Work
can certainly be stored in an isolated system?by lifting
a weight within the system or, in various other ways.
Revealingly enough, the one form of energy that cannot
be used for this purpose is the very one suggested by Legon,
that is, thermal energy. The fundamental distinction be-
tween thermal energy (for definition, see ref. 12, page 1.1)
and other types of energy is absolutely basic.
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Legon poses, as a challenge, the problem of obtaining
work from the mixing of two ideal gases in an isolated
system of constant total volume. It is elementary that if
the mixture is allowed to form by merely withdrawing a
partition between the gases we have a good example of
a completely irreversible process with maximal entropy
creation (+11.53 J if we started with 1 mol of each
at 300 K) and no performance or storage of work. On the
other hand, by introducing into the system a suitable
machine, the uniform mixture could be allowed to form
in such a way that a weight within the system was raised.
(The machine described by Planck (ref. 8, page 219) may
be readily adapted for this purpose.) At the end of the
latter mixing process the isolated system would accordingly
contain more mechanical energy than it did at the begin-
ning. From the First Law it follows that the system must
necessarily contain less thermal energy; that is, its tempera-
ture must have fallen. In the limit, where the mixing
was reversible, the maximum possible work would have
been performed and transferred to the weight (2,769 J if
the gases were monatomic) and the temperature would
have fallen to 189 K. In this reversible case the change
in entropy arising from mixing (+11.53 J K-1) is exactly
counterbalanced ?by that attributable to cooling (-11.53 J
K-'): no entropy is created.
At this point it might be objected that the change in the
gases is not exactly the same as if they had mixed
irreversibly, because their thermal energy and temperature
have decreased. This is a simple consequence of the First
Law which applies equally no matter whether one is
considering an isolated system, a non-isolated one or the
whole Universe. If a change is conducted in such a way
that a weight is lifted then all the other bodies involved
cannot possibly end up in the same state as if the weight
had not been lifted.
Failure to apply to nonisothermal systems. Legon ex-
presses doubts about the validity of the equation for
entropy creation (refs 3 and 4) save for "the trivial
case for which the temperature Te of the environment is
equal to the temperature T of the system throughout the
process'''. On what grounds are these doubts based? Legon
does not discuss, let alone dismiss, any of the sources
quoted in my article'. Other relevant sources which should
be considered are Keenan, and Hatsopoulos" and the classic
accounts by Maxwell" and by Gouy".
Legon's quotation from Planck (ref. 8, page 104) con-
cerning "dissipated energy" deserves close consideration.
It seems to state that the maximum work is a definite
quantity only for isothermal processes. If true this would
directly contradict the views of Thomson" (later Lord
Kelvin) "On a universal tendency in Nature to the dissi-
pation of mechanical energy". On pages 113-117 of ref. 8,
however, Planck discusses his own statement (ref. 8, page
104) and we see that there is in fact no contradiction. What
Planck demonstrates is that although the change in Helm-
holtz free energy, ?dA = ?d(U?TS), measures mi.. under
isothermal conditions, it cannot? conveniently be used
to determine w..x under nonisothermal conditions because
the term S dT that then appears is frequently indeterminate.
The same point has already been made in a footnote by
Gouy (ref. 15, page 506) who had also gien the correct
equation for determining wn,ax under nonisothermal con-
ditions. Accordingly I find no substance in Legon's objec-
tions under this heading.
If it is thought that there is conflict between the 'work'
view of thermodynamics and the 'entropy' view it is high
time that the idea was abandoned. The two views are
different, but syinmetrical, aspects of the same reality.
Spontaneous processes of all kinds fall somewhere within
the pattern shown in Table 1, their position depending
on the efficiency of the machinery used for the extraction
of work.
D. R. WILKIE
Department of Physiology,
University College London,
Gower Street,
London WC1E 6BT, UK
Received December 3, 1973; revised June 4, 1974.
? Bridgman, P. W., The Nature of Thermodynamics, 116
(Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts,
1943).
? Everett, D. H.' Chemical Thermodynamics, 216 (Longman,
London, 1971).
? Legon, A. C., Nature, 244, 431 (1973).
^ Wilkie, D. R., Nature, 242, 606 (1973).
? Wilkie, D. R., Nature, 245, 457 (1973).
? Butler, J. A. V., Chemical Thermodynamics, fourth ed.
(Macmillan, 1955).
? Carnot, S., Reflections on the motive power of fire (1824),
translation (Dover, New York, 1960).
? Planck, M., Treatise on Thermodynamics, third ed., trans.
from seventh German ed., 1922 (Dover, New York, 1958).
9 Joule, J. P., Phil. Mag., Series 4, 5, 1 (1853).
" Maxwell, J. C., Theory of Heat, fifth ed., chapter XII (Long-
mans Green, London, 1877).
" Thomson, W., Phil. Mag., Series 4, 5, 102 (1853).
" Guggenheim, E. A., Thermodynamics, third ed. (North Hol-
land, Amsterdam, 1957).
" Keenan, J. H., and Hatsopoulos, G. N., Principles of General
Thermodynamics (Wiley, New York, 1965).
" Gouy, M., J. de Phys., 2' serie, t.VIII (Novembre 1889).
15 Thomson, W., Phil. Mag., Series 4, 4, 304 (1852); corrections
in ibid, 5, viii.
Information transmission under
conditions of sensory. shielding
WE present results of experiments suggesting the existence of
one or more perceptual modalities through which individuals
obtain information about their environment, although this
information is not presented to any known sense. The litera-
ture1-3 and our observations lead us to conclude that such
abilities can be studied under laboratory conditions.
We have investigated the ability of certain people to describe
graphical material or remote scenes shielded against ordinary
perception. In addition, we performed pilot studies to determine
if electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings might indicate
perception of remote happenings even in the absence of correct
overt responses.
We concentrated on what we consider to be our primary
responsibility?to resolve under conditions as unambiguous
as possible the basic issue of whether a certain class of para-
normal perception phenomena exists. So we conducted our
experiments with sufficient control, utilising visual, acoustic
and electrical shielding, to ensure that all conventional paths of
sensory input were blocked. At all times we took measures to
prevent sensory leakage and to prevent deception, whether
intentional or unintentional.
Our goal is not just to catalogue interesting events, but to
uncover patterns of cause-effect relationships that lend them-
selves to analysis and hypothesis in the forms with which
we are familiar in scientific study. The results presented here
constitute a first step towards that goal; we have established
under known conditions a data base from which, departures as a
function of physical and psychological variables can be studied
in future work.
REMOTE PERCEPTION OF GRAPHIC MATERIAL
First, we conducted experiments with Mr Uri Geller in
which we examined his ability, while located in an electrically
shielded room, to reproduce target pictures drawn by experi-
menters located at remote locations. Second, we conducted
double-blind experiments with Mr Pat Price, in which we
measured his ability to describe remote outdoor scenes many
miles from his physical location. Finally, we conducted pre-
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liminary tests using EEGs, in which subjects were asked to
perceive whether a remote light was flashing, and to determine
whether a subject could perceive the presence of the light,
even if only at a noncognitive level of awareness.
In preliminary testing Geller apparently demonstrated an
ability, to reproduce simple pictures (line drawings) which had
been drawn and placed in opaque sealed envelopes which he
was not permitted to handle. But since each of the targets was
known to at least one experimenter in the room with Geller,
it was not possible on the basis of the preliminary testing to
discriminate between Geller's direct perception of envelope
contents and perception through some mechanism involving
the experimenters, whether paranormal or subliminal.
So we examined the phenomenon under conditions designed
to eliminate all conventional information channels, overt or
subliminal. Geller was separated from both the target material
and anyone knowledgeable of the material, as in the experiments
of ref. 4.
In the first part of the study a series of 13 separate drawing
experiments were carried out over 7 days. No experiments
are deleted from the results presented here.
At the beginning of the experiment either Geller or the
experimenters entered a shielded room so that from that time
forward Geller was at all times visually, acoustically and
electrically shielded from personnel and material at the target
location. Only following Geller's isolation from the experi-
menters was a target chosen and drawn, a procedure designed
to eliminate pre-experiment cueing. Furthermore, to eliminate
the possibility of pre-experiment target forcing, Geller was kept
ignorant as to the identity of the person selecting the target
and as to the method of target selection. This was accomplished
by the use of three different techniques: (1) pseudo-random
technique of opening a dictionary arbitrarily and choosing the
first word that could be drawn (Experiments 1-4); (2) targets,
blind to experimenters and subject, prepared independently by
TARGET
RESPONSE 1
RESPONSE 2
a
SRI scientists outside the experimental group (following
Geller's isolation) and provided to the experimenters during
the course of the experiment (Experiments 5-7, 11-13); and (3)
arbitrary selection from a target pool decided upon in advance
of daily experimentation and designed to provide data concern-
ing information content for use in testing specific hypotheses
(Experiments 8-10). Geller's task was to reproduce with pen
on paper the line drawing generated at the target location.
Following a period of effort ranging from a few minutes to
half an hour, Geller either passed (when he did not feel con-
fident) or indicated he was ready to submit a drawing to the
experimenters, in which case the drawing was collected before
Geller was permitted to see the target.
To prevent sensory cueing of the target information, Experiments
1 through 10 were carried out using a shielded room in SRI's facility
for EEG research. The acoustic and visual isolation is provided
by a double-walled steel room, locked by means of an inner and
outer door, each of which is secured with a refrigerator-type locking
mechanism. Following target selection when Geller was inside
the room, a one-way audio monitor, operating only from the inside
to the outside, was activated to monitor Geller during his efforts.
The target picture was never discussed by the experimenters after the
picture was drawn and brought near the shielded room. In our
detailed examination of the shielded room and the protocol used in
these experiments, no sensory leakage has been found.
The conditions and results for the 10 experiments carried out in the
shielded room are displayed in Table 1 and Fig. 1. All experiments
except 4 and 5, were conducted with Geller inside the shielded room.
? In Experiments 4 and 5, the procedure was reversed. For those
experiments in which Geller was inside the shielded room, the target
location was in an adjacent room at a distance of about 4 m, except
for Experiments 3 and 8, in which the target locations were, respec-
tively, an office at a distance of 475 m and a room at a distance of
about 7 m.
A response was obtained in all experiments except Numbers
5-7. In Experiment 5, the person-to-person link was eliminated
by arranging for a scientist outside the usual experimental
group to draw a picture, lock it in the shielded room before
Geller's arrival at SRI, and leave the area. Geller was then led
TARGET RESPONSE
RESPONSE 2
RESPONSE
URI cE.U.s.-..A2,
-*
TARGET
Fig. 1 Target pictures and responses drawn by Uri Geller under shielded conditions.
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_
Table 1 Remote perception of graphic material
Experiment Date
Geller Location
Target Location
Target
Figure
(month, day, year)
1 8/4/73
Shielded room 1*
Adjacent room (4.1 m)1-
Firecracker
la
2
8/4/73
Shielded room 1
Adjacent room (4.1 m)
Grapes
lb
3
8/5/73
Shielded room 1
Office (475 m)
Devil
lc
4
8/5/73
Room adjacent to
shielded room 1
Shielded room 1
(3.2 m)
Solar system
ld
5
8/6/73
Room adjacent to
shielded room 1
Shielded room 1
(3.2m)
Rabbit
No drawing
6
8/7/73
Shielded room I
Adjacent room (4.1 m)
Tree ?
No drawing
7
8
8/7/73
8/8/73
Shielded room 1
Shielded room 1
Adjacent room (4.1 m)
Remote room (6.75 m)
Envelope
Camel
No drawing
le
9
8/a/73
Shielded room 1
Adjacent room (4.1 m)
Bridge
if
10
8/8/73
Shielded room 1
Adjacent room (4.1- m)
Seagull
.1g
11
8/9/73
Shielded room 2$
Computer (54 m)
Kite (computer CRT)
2a
12
8/10/73
Shielded room 2
Computer (54 m)
Church (computer memory)
2b
13
8/10/73
Shielded room 2
Computer (54 m)
Arrow through heart
2c
(computer CRT, zero
intensity)
*EEG Facility shielded room (see text).
1-Perceiver-target distances measured in metres.
/SRI Radio Systems Laboratory shielded room (see text).
by the experimenters to the shielded room and asked to draw
the picture located inside the room. He said that he got no clear
impression and therefore did not submit a drawing. The elimina-
tion of the person-to-person link was examined further in the
second series of experiments with this subject.
Experiments 6 and 7 were carried out while we attempted to
record Geller's EEG during his efforts to perceive the target
pictures. The target pictures were, respectively, a tree and an
envelope. He found it difficult to hold adequately still for good
EEG records, said that he experienced difficulty in getting
impressions of the targets and again submitted no drawings.
Experiments 11 through 13 were carried out in SRI's Engin-
eering Building, to make use of the computer facilities available
there. For these experimenters, Geller was secured in a double-
walled, copper-screen Faraday cage 54 m down the hall and
around the corner from the computer room. The Faraday cage
provides 120 dB?attenuation for plane wave radio frequency
radiation over a range of 15 kHz to 1 GHz. For magnetic fields
the attenuation is 68 dB at 15 kHz and decreases to 3 dB at
60 Hz. Following Geller's isolation, the targets for these
experiments were chosen by computer laboratory personnel
not otherwise associated with either the experiment or Geller,
and the experimenters and subject were kept blind as to the
contents of the target pool.
For Experiment 11, a picture of a kite was drawn on the face
of a cathode ray tube display screen, driven by the computer's
graphics program. For Experiment 12, a picture of a church
was drawn and stored in the memory of the computer. In
Experiment 13, the target drawing, an arrow through a heart
(Fig. 2c), was drawn on the face of the cathode ray tube and
then the display intensity was turned off so that no picture
was visible.
To obtain an independent evaluation of the correlation be-
tween target and response data, the experimenters submitted
the data for judging on a 'blind' basis by two SRI scientists
who were not otherwise associated with the research. For the
10 cases in which Geller provided a response, the judges were
asked to match the response data with the corresponding
target data (without replacement). In those cases in which
Geller made more than one drawing as his response to the
target, all the drawings were combined as a set for judging.
The two judges each matched the target data to the response
data with no error. For either judge such a correspondence has
an a priori probability, under the null hypothesis of no in-
formation channel, of P = (10!)-1 = 3x 10-7.
A second series of experiments was carried out to determine
whether direct perception of envelope contents was possible
without some person knowing of the target picture.
One hundred target pictures of everyday objects were drawn
by an SRI artist and sealed by other SRI personnel in double
envelopes containing black cardboard. The hundred targets
were divided randomly into groups of 20 for use in each of the
three days' experiments.
On each of the three days of these experiments, Geller passed.
That is, he declined to associate any envelope with a drawing
that he made, expressing dissatisfaction with the existence of
such a large target pool. On each day he made approximately 12
recognisable drawings, which he felt were associated with the
entire target pool of 100. On each of the three days, two of his
drawings could reasonably be associated with two of the 20
daily targets. On the third day, two of his drawings were very
close replications of two of that day's target pictUres. The
drawings resulting from this experiment do not depart signific-
antly from what would be expected by chance.
In a simpler experiment Geller was successful in obtaining
information under conditions in which no persons were know-
ledgeable of the target. A double-blind experiment was per-
formed in which a single 3/4 inch die was placed in a 3 x 4 x 5
inch steel box. The box was then vigorously shaken by one of the
experimenters and placed on the table, a technique found in
control runs to produce a distribution of die faces differing non-
significantly from chance. The orientation of the die within the
box was unknown to the experimenters at that time. Geller
would then write down which die face was uppermost. The
target, pool was known, but the targets were individually pre-
pared in a manner blind to all persons involved in the experi-
ment. This experiment was performed ten times, with Geller
passing twice and giving a response eight times. In the eight
times in which he gave a response, he was correct each time.
The distribution of responses consisted of three 2s, one 4, two
5s, and two 6s. The probability of this occurring by chance is
approximately one in 106.
In certain situations significant information transmission can
take place under shielded conditions. Factors which appear to
be important and therefore candidates for future investigation
include whether the subject knows the set of targets in the target
pool, the actual number of targets in the target pool at any
given time, and whether the target is known by any of the
experimenters.
It has been widely reported that Geller has demonstrated the
ability to bend metal by paranormal means. Although metal
bending by Geller has been observed in our laboratory, we have
not been able to combine such observations with adequately
controlled experiments to obtain data sufficient to support the
paranormal hypothesis.
REMOTE VIEWING OF NATURAL TARGETS
A study by Osis' led us to determine whether a subject could
describe randomly chosen geographical sites located several
miles from the subject's position and demarcated by some
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Natut Declassified and Approved
\-1
appropriate means (remote viewing). This experiment carried
out with Price, a former California poliee commissioner and
city councilman, consisted of a series Of double-blind, demon-
stration-of-ability tests involving local targets in the San
Francisco Bay area which could be documented by several inde-
pendent judges. We planned the experiment considering that
natural geographical places Or man-made sites that have
existed for a long time are more potent targets for .paranormal
perception experiments than are artificial targets prepared in the
laboratory. This is based on subject opinions that the use of
artificial targets involves a `trivialisation of the ability' as com-
pared with natural pre-existing targets.
In each of nine experiments involving Price as subject and
SRI exPeriMenters as a target demarcation team, a remote
location was chosen in a double-blind protocol. Priee, who
remained at SRI, was asked tb describe this remote location, as
well as whatever activities might be going on there.
Several descriptions yielded significantly correct data per-
taining to and descriptive of the target location.
In the experiments a set of twelve target locations clearly
differentiated from each other and Within .30 mm driving time
from SRI had been chosen from a target-rich environment (more
than 100 targets of the type used in the experimental series)
prior to the experimental series by an individual in SRI manage-
ment, the director of the Information Science and Engineering
Division, not otherwise associated with the experiment. Both
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the experimenters and tk?siubject were kept blind as to the
contents of the target pool, which were used without replace-
ment.
An experimenter was closeted with Price at SRI to. wait 30 min to
begin the narrative description of the remote location. The SRI
locations from which the subject viewed the rerrible locations con-
sisted of an outdoor park (Experiments 1, 2); the double-walled
copper-screen Faraday cage discussed earlier (Experiments 3, 4, and
6-9), and an Office (Experiment 5).-A second experimenter would then
obtain a target location from the Division DirectOr from a set of
travelling orders previciuSly Prepared and randomised by the Direct&
and kept under his control. The , target demarcation team (two to
four SRI experimenters) then Proceeded directly .to the target by
automobile without communicating with the Subject or experimenter
remaining behind. Since the experimenter remaining with the subject
at SRI was in ignorance both as to the particular target and as to
the target pool, he was free to question Price to clarify his descrip-
tions.. The demarcation team then remained at the target site for
30 min after the 30 tnffi allotted for travel. During the observation
period, the remote-viewing subject would describe his inipTessioris of
the target site into a tape recorder. A coinpariSon was then made
when the demarcation team returned..
Price's ability to .describe correctly buildings, docks, roads,
gardens and so on, including structural materials; colour,
ambience and activity, sometimes in great detail, indicated the
functioning of a remote perceptual ability. But the descriptions
contained inaccuracies as well as correct statements. To obtain
a numerical evaluation of the accuracy of the remote viewing
experiment, the experimental results were subjected to inde-
pendent judging on a blind basis by five SRI scientists who were
RESPONSE
a
RESPONSE 1
RESPONSE 2
TARGET
Fig. 2 Computer drawings and responses drawn by Uri Geller. a, Computer drawing stored on video display b, computer drawing stored in
computer memory only; c, computer drawing stored on video display with zero intensity.
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Table 2 Distribution of correct selections by judges A, B, C, D, and E in remote viewing experiments
Descriptions chosen by judges
1
2
3
Places visited by judges
4 5 6
7
8
9
Hoover Tower
1
ABCDE
Baylands Nature Preserve
2
ABC
Radio Telescope
3
ACD
BE
Redwood City Marina
4
CD
ABDE
Bridge Toll Plaza
5
ABD
DCE
Drive-In Theatre
6
A
Arts and Crafts Garden Plaza
7
ABCE
Church
8
AB
Rinconada Park
9
CE
AB
Of the 45 selections (5 judges, 9 choices), 24 were correct. Bold type indicates the description chosen most often for each place visited. Correct
choices lie on the main diagonal. The number of correct matches by Judges A through E is 7, 6, 5, 3, and 3, respectively. The expected number
of correct matches from the five judges was five; in the experiment 24 such matches were obtained. The a priori probability of such an occurrence
by chance, conservatively assuming assignment without replacement on the part of the judges, is P = 8.10-10.
not otherwise associated with the research. The judges were
asked to match the? nine locations, which they independently
visited, against the typed manuscripts of the tape-recorded nar-
ratives of the remote viewer. The transcripts were unlabelled
and presented in random order. The judges were asked to find a
narrative which they would consider the best match for each
of the places they visited. A given narrative could be assigned
to more than one target location. A correct match requires that
the transcript of a given date be associated with the target of
that date. Table 2 shows the distribution of the judges' choices.
Among all possible analyses, the most conservative is a per-
mutation analysis of the plurality vote of the judges' selections
assuming assignment without replacement, an approach inde-
pendent of the number of judges. By plurality vote, six of the
nine descriptions and locations were correctly matched. Under
the null hypothesis (no remote viewing and a random selection
of descriptions without replacement), this outcome has an a
priori probability of P = 5.6 x 10-4, since, among all possible
permutations of the integers one through nine, the probability
of six or more being in their natural position in the list has that
value. Therefore, although Price's descriptions contain in-
accuracies, the descriptions are sufficiently accurate to permit
the judges to differentiate among the various targets to the
degree indicated.
EEG EXPERIMENTS
An experiment was undertaken to determine whether a
physiological measure such as EEG activity could be used as an
indicator of information transmission between an isolated
subject and a remote stimulus. We hypothesised that perception
could be indicated by such a measure even in the absence of
verbal or other overt indicators.8.7.
It was assumed that the application of remote stimuli would
result in responses similar to those obtained under conditions
of direct stimulation. For example, when normal subjects are
stimulated with a flashing light, their EEG typically shows a
decrease in the amplitude of the resting rhythm and a driving
of the brain waves at the frequency of the flashes8. We hypothe-
sised that if we stimulated one subject in this manner (a sender),
the EEG of another subject in a remote room with no flash
present (a receiver), might show changes in alpha (9-11 Hz)
activity, and possibly EEG driving similar to that of the sender.
We informed our subject that at certain times a light was to
be flashed in a sender's eyes in a distant room, and if the subject
perceived that event, consciously or unconsciously, it might be
evident from changes in his EEG output. The receiver was
seated in the visually opaque, acoustically and electrically
shielded double-walled steel room previously described. The
sender was seated in a room about 7 m from the receiver.
To find subjects who were responsive to such a remote
stimulus, we initially worked with four female and two male
volunteer subjects, all of whom believed that success in the
experimental situation might be possible. These were designated
'receivers'. The senders were either other subjects or the
experimenters. We decided beforehand to run one or two
sessions of 36 trials each with each subject in this selection
procedure, and to do a more extensive study with any subject
whose results were positive.
A Grass PS-2 photostimulator placed about 1 m in front of the
sender was used to present flash trains of 10 s duration. The receiver's
EEG activity from the occipital region (0z), referenced to linked
mastoids, was amplified with a Grass 5P-1 preamplifier and associated
driver amplifier with a bandpass of 1-120 Hz. The EEG data were
recorded on magnetic tape with an Ampex SP 300 recorder.
On each trial, a tone burst of fixed frequency was presented to both
sender and receiver and was followed in one second by either a 10 s
train of flashes or a null flash interval presented to the sender. Thirty-
six such trials were given in an experimental session, consisting of 12
null trials-no flashes following the tone-12 trials of flashes at 6 f.p.s.
and 12 trials of flashes at 16 f.p.s., all randomly intermixed, deter-
mined by entries. from a table of random numbers. Each of the trials
generated an 11-s EEG epoch. The last 4 s of the epoch was selected
for analysis to minimise the desynchronising action of the warning
cue. This 4-s segment was subjected to Fourier analysis on a L1NC 8
computer.
Spectrum analyses gave no evidence of EEG driving in any receiver,
although in control runs the receivers did exhibit driving when
physically stimulated with the flashes. But of the six subjects studied
initially, one subject (H. H.) showed a consistent alpha blocking effect.
We therefore undertook further study with this subject.
Data from seven sets of 36 trials each were collected from this
subject on three separate days. This comprises all the data collected
to date with this subject under the test conditions described above.
The alpha band was identified from average spectra, then scores of
average power and peak power were obtained from individual trials
and subjected to statistical analysis.
Of our six subjects, H. H. had by far the most monochromatic
EEG spectrum. Figure 3 shows an overlay of the three averaged
spectra from one of this subject's 36-trial runs, displaying
changes in her alpha activity for the three stimulus conditions.
Mean values for the average power and peak power for each
Table 3 EEG data for H.H. showing average power and peak power
in the 9-11 Hz band, as a function of flash frequency and sender
Flash
Frequency
Sender
0 6 16
Average Power
0 6 16
Peak Power
J.L.
94.8 84.1 76.8
357.7
329.2
289.6
R.T.
41.3 45.5 37.0
160.7
161.0
125.0
No sender
(subject
informed)
25.1 35.7 28.2
87.5
95.7
81.7
J.L.
54.2 55.3 44.8
191.4
170.5
149.3
J.L.
56.8 50.9 32.8
240.6
178.0
104.6
R.T.
39.8 24.9 30.3
145.2
74.2
122.1
No sender
(subject
not
informed)
86.0 53.0 52.1
318.1
180.6
202.3
Averages
56.8 49.9 43.1
214.5
169.8
153.5
-12% -24 %(P <
0.04)
-21 %
-28 %(P
< 0.03)
Each entry is an average over 12 trials
Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4
Vatur Declassified and Approved For Release 201
of the seven experimental setsie give*.trrable 3. The power
measures were less in the 16 f.p.s. case than in the 0 f.p.s. in all
seven peak power measures and in six out of seven average
power measures. Note also the reduced effect in the case in
which the subject was informed that no sender was present
(Run 3). It seems that overall alpha production was reduced
for this run in conjunction with the subject's expressed appre-
hension about conducting the experiment without a sender.
This is in contrast to the case (Run 7) in which the subject was
not informed.
Siegel's two-tailed t approximation to the nonparametric randomi-
sation test9 was applied to the data from all sets, which included two
sessions in which the sender was removed. Average power on trials
associated with the occurrence of 16 f.p.s. was significantly less than
when there were no flashes (t = 2.09, d.f. = 118, P
-o
?;"'
-5
a.
2
a.
300-
100
P>0.15
Cont.
2
393
329
280
616
Imm.
382
241
333
313
263
P< 0.01
mm.
Com.
79
64
82
13
174
381
361
425
353
339
P < 0.01
Cont.
33
90
32
23
130
I m m.
225
139
287
217
211
a Chymo- Zymosan
trypsin
Activator
Pset domonas
Pen ginosa
Fig. 1 Activation of prophenoloxidase in control (Cont)
and immune (Imm) plasmas by various materials. The values
indicated by the bars are the average amounts of pro-
phenoloxidase found in five different determinations. A
determination used 0.20 ml of plasma from a different pool
of control or immune haemolymph mixed with 0.01 ml of
activator solution or suspension, incubated for 5 min at
30? C, then assayed for phenoloxidase. (See text for assay
technique.) Results for individual determinations are listed
within each bar. With no activator materials present?water
controls?the phenoloxidase activities of plasmas ranged
from zero to two units; these values have been subtracted.
Statistical comparisons are between control and immune
plasmas. a-Chymotrypsin (Nutritional Biochemicals Corp.,
three times crystalline) 6 mg water. Zymosan" (General
Biochemicals) 1 mg water. Pseudomonas aeruginosa
P11-112 was grown in nutrient . broth +1% glucose and
collected at 24 h by centrifugation, 8,000g for 15 min. Cells
were washed with 0.85% NaCI, then brought to /1550 = 1.1,
a concentration of about 5 x 10? bacteria per ml and frozen.
The cell suspension was thawed, resuspended in water and
refrozen. It was rethawed and heated at 100? C for 30 min.
After cooling, 0.10 ml aliquots were used to activate pro-
phenoloxidase. None of these activator materials had
inherent phenoloxidase activity.
amount of haemolymph and to facilitate handling, pooled
haemolymph was quick frozen with acetone-dry ice, lyophi-
lised and stored at ?20? C. Haemolymph from control
larvae was collected and stored in an identical manner.
My preliminary experiments and those of Evans" have
shown that haemolymph phenoloxidase occurs as the
proenzyme in plasma and can be activated by material
from haemocytes. To test for other types of activation,
lyophilised haemolymph was reconstituted with distilled
water to a concentration of 10 mg solids per ml. This was
1/17 to 1/18 the usual concentration of solids in fresh
haemolymph, and its purpose was to slow spontaneous
activation of prophenoloxidase by haemocytes, so that
plasma could be collected before activation. The plasma
and cellular fractions were separated by centrifuging whole
reconstituted haemolymphs at 650g for 15 min at 4? C.
The supernatant fluids?the plasmas?were removed and
used immediately. When water was added to the haemo-
cytes in the lyophilised material no lysis was observed
microscopically. Also, haemocyte concentrations were cal-
culated, with correction factors for dilutions, to be
18,590 mm-3 for immune and 40,040 mm' for control
reconstituted haemolymph, slightly higher than those
reported by Stephens" for immune and control fresh
haemolymph. These observations tend to preclude massive
haemolysis during handling although the release of some
haemocyte materials into the plasmas was possible.
Phenoloxridase activity was measured by spectrophoto-
metric determinations of initial reaction rates with a Gilford
recording spectrophotometer. For a standard assay, 0.30 ml
of test material was mixed with 4.7 ml of 0.1 M KP042-,
pH 6.4, containing 20 Amol of 4-methylcatechol and 40
Amol of 4-hydroxyproline ethyl ester. 4-Methylcatechol was
enzymatically oxidised to its quinone. The quinone reacted
nonenzymatically with 4-hydroxyproline ethyl ester to form
a stable product, 4-(4'-hydroxy-2'-carbethoxy-l'-pyrrolidy1)-
5-methyl-o-benzoquinone, with, a X. at 520 urn (ref. 7).
In the system used, with excess substrates, 4A520 was
directly proportional to enzymatic activity. One phenoloxi-
dase unit was defined as AA520= +0.001 per min at 30? C;
?the maximum rate observed during the first 2 min after the
initiation of the reaction was used. By measuring the
phenoloxidase activity of plasmas incubated with and with-
out activator materials, prophenoloxidase activation was
quantitated.
Immune plasmas showed significantly more prophenoloxi-
dase activation than control plasmas when both were in-
cubated with either zymosan (a yeast polysaccharide)" or a
preparation of damaged Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Fig. 1).
After treatment with a chymotrypsin (EC 3.4.4.5.) both
control and immune plasmas showed a high degree of
Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4
612 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010001-4 1974
prophenoloxidase . activation, siiThtgr to that in immune
plasmas treated with the mierobial products.
The activator(s), assOciated with zymosan and P? aeru-
ginosa did not have esterase activity towards benzoyl-L-
tyrosine ethyl ester when tested 'at pH 6.0 (the pH of the
plasmas) or at pH 7.8. The activator(S) in zymosan suspen-
sions was associated not only with particles; but also with
the particle-free solution'. It ,(they) passed through a 0.22-
urn filter, but not through a . dialysis membrane. The
zymosan activator(s) was Stable at 100? C for 3 h, but after
3 h in 0.2 M H2SO4 at 100? C and then neutralisation with
Ba(OH)2 it was not found when assayed: Activation asso-
ciated with P. aeruginosa was not Manifest unless the cells
were damaged by physical means or by .pretreatment with
egg white lysozyme (EC .3.2.147.) (Fig. , 2). Egg,. white
lysozyme does not lyse Or kill P. aeruginosa, but alters its
Cell Wall".
-
Immune Plasma was fractionated with (NH4)2SO4 (Table
1). The material, precipitated with 40% saturation (fraction
A). contained most of .the prophenoloxidase. The 'material
still in solution after 60% saturation(fractiOn B) had Most
of the lysozyme activity. Prophenoloxidase in fraction 4
was activated by a chymotrypsin, but not by zymosan
alone; however, the prophenoloxidase in fraction 'A ,could
be, activated by zymosan if fraction B was also added. If
egg white lysozyme Was substituted for fraction B., activa-
tion did not occur. The K,s of phenoloxidase activated by
zythosan and a chymotrypsin for 4-rriethylcatechol were
similar, 1.20 and 1.07 mM respectively. -Figure 3 shows
that when prophenoloxidase was diluted before activation
400
300-
d
. 0 '00-
'10,)
-0
100-
o
2
8
6
23
16 ?
10
P