REVELATION OF SCIENCE.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17106, 30 March 1921, Page 4

REVELATION OF SCIENCE.

RECORDING HUMAN EMOTIONS. (FKOM OtT. OWK CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, February 10. Science has now extended its experiments to the region of emotions, and the invention of au instrument to record one's thought and temper leads one to ask the question whether henceforth the secrets of all. hearts may be liable to be revealed and recorded. At the Royal Institution, Dr. Augustus Waller, director of the physiological laboratory, University of London, delighted an audience by showing such an instrument at work. The emotive response, he said, was confined in the normal person to the palm of the hand, the right band) and the, sole of the" foot. In "sensitives" it extended up the limbs and the trunks. A "borderland" person could be normal to-day, and react as a "sensitive" tomorrow. Attaching a hand of a member of the audience to a galvanometer, he showed how his emotions were recorded bv moans of a spot of light on the screen. The wiring was so arranged that any emotive impulse from the brain flown the motor nerves to the lk'.vd deflected the spot to the right. Dr. Waller showed the record of the spot when his subject was pricked by a pin or burnt bv a match. He found that the normal person, or "positive," was scarcely disturbed bv the threat of a prick or burn, and did not respond until he felt the pain, but that "imaginatives'' frequently made a larger response to the threat tfcan to the real act. The lecturer's explanation was that numberless invisible pores suddenly dilated as the emotive impulse reach-, eil the hand, in much the same way as the pupil of the eye dilated with the emotion of surprise. This dilation resulted in an augmentation of electrical conductivity, which caused the spot to move. It' became quite an absorbing pastime to sit quietly in an armchair and watch the response of the instrument to one's thought and temper. Plant Building. In the course of a lecture at King's College, Professor Biffen laid stress on the "Teat importance of botany in agriculture, especially at the present time, in order to improve the yield and quality of farm crops. Examples of hybrid wheat and barley were shown on a screen, and their defects pointed o,ut. The lecturer suggested that expen- ' ments should be extended, and that as many as possible of the thousands of varieties of grain from all parts of the world possessing one good feature, however bad they might bo in other reports, should be carefully examined and studied in relation to their assimilation to our local varieties. This would enable the plant-builder eventually to reach the highest possible standard of yield combined with the power of resisting rust, mildew, and other fungoid diseases. Life-giving Vitamins. Nobody knows, exactly what is the constitution of a vitamin, but men of science are satisfied that if y°" d° n 4 get them in your food you begin to wither, and you may die. Dr. Arthur, Harden delivered an informing lecture on these mysterious necessiti'.'s of life at the Royal Institution, and explained that the'*e were tlhrec varior,ies. Vitamm "A," soluble in fat, occurs in green cabbage (but not in the white heart), in animal fats, in cod liver oil, in oily seeds, in' the yolk of egg, in milk, and in some roots and tubers. Vitanru "B," soluble in water, is iu yeast, the germs of wheat and rice, egg-yolk, milk, green plants, fruit juices, and' meat. Vitamin "C,' ; which has anti-scorbjitio properties, occurs in fruit juices, greenleaved vegetables, germinated- seeds, and milk, and there is a finail quantity of it in potatoes. ■ln flie East it was noticed that tlio disease of bcri-beri is almost confined to races which live on rice, i nd that its growth occurred at the same time as the introduction of the Western system cf milling rice, which removes the husk and the' seed-germ,' and puts a hign polish on the grain. By living mainly on this polished rice men get beri-beri, become (.neatly emaciated, or afflicted with dropsy, and paralysis supervenes. Without vitamins no animal can grow. Provide them, and the natural development begins. This has been proved by elaborate experiments on , lats. The same principle applies to 'human beings. v Scurvy, a disease very familiar at sea in the olden times, and one. to which Arctic explorers are peculiarly subject, is caused by the lack of vitamins contained in fresh food and vegetables. Valuable knowledge was acquired during the war by experiments on guinea pigs to determine the best kinds of foods to supply to troops operating in,J the desert. Butter-fat, from milk, contains the indispensable vitamin. Lard does not. Both vitamin "A" and vitamin "B" are necessary for growth, Beri-beri is caused by the lad of tihem, i and is, therefore, now described as a deficiency disease. Margarine Defects. Dr. Harden, adding that crude, unrefined cod liver oil is 250 times us potent as butter, finds.the problem of margarine interesting. It sKuld carry not only the energetic properties of butter but also its vitamins. „ In some cases it does not. The subject is now being investigated at the Lister institute. Lard is largely used in the making of margarine, and lard is devoid of vitamin "A." Children may become blind through tfae absence of cream and but-ter-fat in t-heir food. The children of Central Europe .are dwarfed, malformed, and twisted with rickets through the absence of the proper vitamins in their nutriment. Milk contains all the tfhreo vitamins. Cows' milk is being carefully studied. There is some prospect of a similar investigation of human milk. If dried milk is used for feeding children, an anti-scorbutic solution should be added. Summer milk, when the cows live on fresh fodder, has antiscorbutic properties. Winter milk, when the cattle are fed in their stalls, is deficient in that quality. Attempts are being made to hit upon a winter feed which will supply it. Without this vitamin in the food teeth are apt to rot. When the Brain Stops Growing. A lecture on Craniology at the Royal College of Surgeons, by Professor Keith, has given rise to controversy on the growth of the human head. Dr. Bernard Hollander,, writing to the "Evening Standard," says there have been a number of observers who claim that the brain stops growing before the seventh year. One scientific writer, William A. Hammond, has even gone a good deal further. "The head of a boy or girl," he declared, "does not grow in size after the seventh year, so that the hat that is worn at that age can bo worn just as well at thirt3 - ." "On the other hand," says Dr. Hollander, "observers like Sir William Turner, the anatomist, agree that the brain reaches its greatest weight and size between 30 and 40 years of age, and that it gains in structural complexity long after the limit of bulk has been reached. During a controversy on 'Headgrowth' which arose some 30 years ago, Mr Gladstone asserted that his head had increased' in size in his old age, for j he required bigger hats than ever. I "It certainly appears to me," concluded Dr. Hollander, "that those who complain of having not enough brain frequently have not made enough use of the brain with which they are endowed." j Science as an Aid to the Fanner. Sir D. Hall, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Agriculture, finds there is a widely-increased appreciation among farmers of the value of agricultural research, and this changed attitude offers an encouraging hope for the i future of the farming- industry. Al- i

though there are. now iu.existence institutes where research is being carried out. and although the Mother Country enjoys a great pre-eminence as a breeder of cattle, and even as regards feeding, that pre-eminence is no longer unchallenged, for all countries (and especially the Dominions) are making great efforts to improve their hreeds of cattle, and to render themselves independent of this country in the matter of stocks. Sir Daniel has come to the conclusion that this country must have more knowledge. "Useful as are the instincts of the practical man, liviug with cattle all his life, those instiucts and traditions require, he said, to be supplemented by exact knowledge derived from experiment. A great deal more knowledge is needed with regard to breeding, as, for instance, with respect to the inheritance of such qualities as size, rapid maturity, milk yield, wool quality, and the inheritance of fecundity, n matter in \vhicl> many high-ly-selected breeds are often supposed to be defective. Research of this kind is very expensive, nnd it is necessary that the industry as a whole should take a part in bearing the cost. The Ministry is now spending about £IO,OOO a year in investigations with regard to animals, and is at the end of' its resources. The question of disease among animals, for which the Ministry had a laboratory, requires more investigation. At present this laboratory is rather confined to investigations that arise out of the administrative work of the Ministry. Research is also carried on at the Royal and other veterinary colleges on general comparative pathology at the*point where human and animal medicine meet. Animal pathology is of enormous interest to human medicine, because domestic animals form the carriers for so many of the diseases which affect human beings. Another direction in which research work is needed is the application of ma- j chinery to farming. The increasing cost I of labour can only be counterbalanced I by the increased use of machinery."