The Sun CureSource: The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 16, No. 5 (May, 1923), pp. 555-557Published by: American Association for the Advancement of ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/6879 .

Accessed: 01/05/2014 10:56

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

American Association for the Advancement of Science is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve andextend access to The Scientific Monthly.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 130.132.123.28 on Thu, 1 May 2014 10:56:31 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

'HE PRO GRESS OF SCIENCE 555

food of the future will conic fiorm the laboratory- instead of the field. Evein a professor of chemistry caa not live as cheaply as a cornstalk. But the work of Fischelr oni thc sugars ancd proteinis has taldrea(ly bee of im- miienise value to the world in leading to the niewer kniowle(dge of nulitri- tion wlhieh is alreadyr heinig al)lieCl to the feediing of stock and people.

As Sir Henry i Roscoe, professor of chemistry at MIianchester, sa.id of Fischler when lie w*vas . award(led the Farfaradayl me(lal: 'I'is name hans the sweetest of tastes in the moulth of every chemist. " F'ischer conquered for chemistry a field for lllerlly elaimed by biology. He brought withinti the reaclh of experimentation w\vhat had becn regar(led as the exclusive pr ov- ince of vital processes.

So it seems that a m.an mayv 1)e a miserable failur e as a luniilber mer- clhnnit and vet mainke a success of somethlinlg else. 'rhe problemn of eclucationi is to fit squariie(' pegs in1to round holes wvithout wvhittlinig tlhemn (dow\n too imiuel ill the p)roess of schloolingg.

TIlE SIUN CURE OLD Tut-Ankli-Ainaei whlo figtures

so prominently InI oU1 laily lpress, was brought up as a niitarian sUll- worshlipei, but later relapsed into the priestl1- polytheism, which was a pity, for if a people miust pick its godl froii iiatural objects, ais the Egypfianis in their bliui(Iness hald to, it is better to take the sull thami to adolre cats, eirocodiles, hippopotaimuses andl beetles. The sUnl is quite liter- allY the souree of our v-ital and mec.hlanical energy, the sole support of all life and ml1otioIn on1 the earth, as thie ancient Egyptiani hynliil i de-

clares, and wve are beginning to 1Cee- ognize, perha,ps I should say re- recogntize, that it may cure diseases too.

or1 nian has a p0ooi memorly. HIe forgets miiuch that prievionis genera- tionls have learnedl. The Ilosuans used to mnake great use of the suni for the healing of sor'es and the m1ainteni-

aiicec of health. Pliny, in writiing aihout how his aged fricend, Spurini- .a, keeps his youthful v'igor', says: Wlheni the baths are readly, which

in winter is ab6ut three o 'clock anid in sutmmel about two, he undresses himiself; and if there happens to he o willnl, he wa,tlks ahbout in the suni.

After this he puts hiimself into pro, lonigecl anid violenit imiotion at playiing hall; aind by this sort of exercise lhe comhats the effect of old age.

But we northerii racess, halving to w,vear thick clothing2, Pamd sta-y In warmi lOloses, get out of the h1'ahit of ex- posing our skiiis to s,,uishiiie. The iInvenition of winCdow glalss lecl us astray, for glalss lets through all the liglht that wve cani see, and wve (lid niot realize tha,it it is op.-tque to thc invi-isible ultra-violet rayis whicih hlave the stronIgest effect upoln the skini for good or ill. We thouglht if w e had fresh air Mid suLnlight (ev-eni tlhough strained thlrough glass) we ha d aill that we needed from nature.

The rediscovery of the curativ-c pow:er of (direct sunislhinie caine hy ac- e dent. In at hospit.l1 for ricket v ehildre(nie, it wa,is founi(d tha-it the chi]ld who lhad the luck to lie in a certain cot exposed to thhe rtays of the suni recovere(l witlh amazi a g raipidlity. Tholroulgh experimentation, first oni wlhite rats, lateri oil childtreni, prov-ed thalt rickets could be culred either lbv sunmshinie or cod-liver oil. There is no questioni which remedy the chil- dren1 will take if they have their clhoice.

Dr. Rollier set up a sanitariumi on the sunny Alps of Switzerland wlhere the childreii work anid playi all d1ayi in the sunshine almost naked, and hle r eports remalrkable cures of tul)erculous hones anid skini troubles. Si mi hi r establishmenits for heliother- py have since been st.arted in Eng- land anid America. The treatment of the pa,tients is begun wvith two minute doses several timiies a day and in- creased by two miinutes daily for a fortnight, with protec tioni for the eves an1ld lhead. It is necessSa'ry to avoid both chlill ancd sun]bilurn. Thin whliite cotton cloth does not serious- lv shut out the curative rlays.

This content downloaded from 130.132.123.28 on Thu, 1 May 2014 10:56:31 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

*N. om-erseiiestx e s.d. iX e | |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~wl

brde who ha bei letrii in te Ste States.il

This content downloaded from 130.132.123.28 on Thu, 1 May 2014 10:56:31 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

1'HE PROGRESS OF SCIENCL 557

The atim is to get the skiin tanned without beinig burnied. B_ runettes fare better thain blonids. It seems that the curative effects (o1 not come into play until the skin is well pi g- mented by exposure. No tan, nio cure. Whein the skin of the great- er partlt of the body is exposed to the (birect rays of the sunI, o)lood pressure falls and respiration dimiin- ishes in rate but increases inl deptli, so the voluume of atir inhaled is grea,t- er. Sunshinie strikinig the skini ex-

panmds the capillaries anId brinigs miore blood to the surface. The niumlber of w-hite and red corpuscles ilncea tse aiid these promnote the healing pro- cess. The best, results are obtained wlihen the skin is exposed to the uii- filtered ra Cdiation. fronm the suIi and yet kept from overheatinig byl a light

b)reeze or bodilyv movemnenit. :in our win ter r'oomlls we get the r ever se of

this, overheatifng aiid 110 raliation. If sunbathing becomes a fad it

will put the police inito the delicate positioni of having to determnine in

howv far at coat of tani is ai pr oper substitute fo- clothinig.

POWEI FROM PRICKLY P EARS

FRO-M South Africa conies the eii-

coura ging ticdiiigs that free(lomii from \

the p)etroleull- power mi,ay come fromii the pesky pricklyv pear. It seemns that, a farmner in the Orantge Free State, wvlho had the miisfortune to be infested witlh the cactus scouLrge, conieeived the happ)y i(lea of couvert- illg hiis cuLrse inito a blessiug by fer- mllenltinlg the fruit iilto imiotor fuel. Findcinig his formula workedl lhe sup- plied: sanmiples of the flui(d to Iiis neighl)ors whNo usecl it in their cars and tractors with such satisfaction that the project passed to the stage of publie demtonistration and selling

stock in the M-otlher Country-. It is state(t that land hearing a

good thickly thorny crop of prickly, pears will vield twenltv tonis of the fruit, and that every ton of pears can produce thirteeni gallonis of al-

cohol. To this is added denaturants

anld a thiir(d of a galloni of an un- specified chemical. Since there are 2,000,000 acres of fertile 1l,ad in- fested with prickly pear- ini South Africa, it is easy to figure out that the ainiual output of mlotor fuel slhouldl be 330,000,000 gallons, and siniee South Africa uses oildv 12,000,000 gallons tlherc would be an abundance to export. Aiid since gasoline costs $1.30 a, galloni tllere and the niew fuel is to he sold( at 43 cenits a gallon, it is a slhort jump to the elaim that "'ther e's niiillionis in it.''

To be sure, certain difficulties occur'

to the reader. 1For instance, who will gather the fruit from the eactus tlhieket ? It is answered that they will be gathered " 'at a niominial cost'" hy the ntegro clhilctren who are verv fond(I of tlieml. But if they arc like other childreni, their ardlor for fruit-picking wvill diuniiiish as their atppetite is satiated. I imagine it will be a lonig time before we hear the wvife of the rancher in our ownl arid regioni tell the elildren to "'run out and pick a, few buslhels of pears so your pa cani go to towii oni Satur- (layv.'

But whiatever the difficulties the puocess is possible and it is to he hoped that somethinig of the sort will prove profitable. South Africa has to imiport her gasolinie an(l is already resortinig to a, substitute called "Natalite, " from Natal where it Was fir st used. It is essecntiall\- a mixturle of alcohol anicd ether. The ether is manufacture]d fromiiG alcohol an l is added to nake the fuel more volatile and easier to start from the o](l. NVatalite, nlot too offeensively

(lenatured, might p'ove very popular in America as a nmixed r drink if se- cretlv circulated amonig our booze- imhibing fashionables at hiiglh eniougli price.

America, was most rich]lr endlowecd with petroleum oni the start, but it is a migratory mineral and we lost, a lot of it in our haste to get it oLut

anc-d wasted a lot more in ouir baste

This content downloaded from 130.132.123.28 on Thu, 1 May 2014 10:56:31 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions