Evening star. [volume], September 15, 1948, Page A-7, Image 7

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Ice Ages Believed Due to Drift
Of Earth Through Solar Dust
By Thomas R. Henry
Sci«nc* Editor of TH« Stor
Earth's recurrent ice ages may
be due to drift of the solar sys
tem through black clouds of
celestial dust.
This thesis was presented before
the American Association for the
Advancement of Science here today
by Di. Donald H. Menzel of Harvard
University.
There have been four of these ice
ages in the past million years. They
apparently have been of about the
same intensity and covered about
the same parts of the earth. Science
never has had an adequate ex
planation.
It is known that enormous dust
clouds are scattered through space.
Some are thousands of light years
in radius. They completely block
vision in some directions. One of
them hangs like a black curtain
in front of the center of the Milky
Way galaxy.
Extremely Jhin (loud.
The sun with its system of planets
Is moving in a straight line through
space, in addition to its movement
of ^evolution. at a speed of several
hundred miles a minute. It is
almost inevitable. Dr. Menzel said,
that it occasionally should pass
through one of these clouds, per
naps requiring thousands of years
for the passage.
The dust in such a cloud Is
extremely thin, consisting of minute
particles an inch or more apart. It
would have almost no effect on the
light of the sun reaching the earth.
Dr. Menzel said. If the solar system
were in such a cloud at this moment,
nobody ever would know about it.
There would be a considerable
effect, however, in heat escaping
from the earth to space, he said.
More heat would be retained on
this planet. The climate would get
warmer—paradoxically the first stage
necessary for developing an ice age.
There would be more evaporation of
water. Air circulation would in
crease. This would carry more of
the water particles in the at
mosphere over the ^oles.
There they would fall as snow,
which would become parked into ice.
Ice is like cold molasses. When the
weight got heavy enough, it would
start to flow away from the Poles
and spread over temperate zones.
Taper on Nuclear Energy.
In another paper, it was explained
• space ship could be launched on
a voyage to some other planet, only
to become a wisp of vapor a few
seconds later. The speaker was Dr.
Eugene P. Wigner of Princeton
University.
The power available from uranium
fission, he said, is 1,000.000 times
greater than necessary to break the
chains of the earth's gravity and
get into free space, assuming the
development of an adequate atomic
engine.
The difficulty is that the only
way yet known for using atomic
energy is in some form of a heat
engine, and the heat used cannot
be much greater than that which
would be obtained from coal or oil.
The rest must be gotten rid of in
some way.
This. Dr. Eigner pointed out, is
• serious problem in any use of
nuclear fission for energv. but it
_ ih*i., »» - W' irtWfc n—--•
becomes particularly’ serious outside
the earth's atmosphere where there j
is no medium, like air or water, to!
carry the heat away.
It is probable, Dr. Wigner said,
that the first use of atomic energy j
will be for ship propulsion. Here;
getting rid of surplus heat through
the water is relatively simple.
May "Eat Wood" Soon.
Tire day is not far off when men
may "eat wood," the scientists heard
from Dr. Farrington Daniels of the
University of Wisconsin.
This will be possible through a
process recently developed by the
Forest Products Laboratory of the
Department of Agriculture, Dr.
Daniels said. About 70 per cent of
most woods, he explained, can be
converted to sugars by this process
which involves treatment with sul
furci acid at high temperatures. The
sugars can be used for growing spe
cial kinds of yeast "which are richer
in proteins than beef steak and can
be used for food.
A basic pattern of the growth of
the human mind in early infancy
was reported by Dr. Arnold Gesell
of Yale University.
Photographs Behavior.
He has photographed the behavior
of hundreds of children at 34 suc
cesive age levels from earliest in
fancy to the 10th year. Each child
has an individual pattern in the;
evolution of its behavior, he said,
but all seem to be variations of a
pattern apparently common to the
race.
Growth is a step-by-step process
and the mind grows by natural
stages which are essentially the
same for everybody, although they
may be modified bv education, Dr.
Gesell reported.
The population of the earth is in
creasing at the rate of 2.000,000
human beings a month.
Tliis figure was revealed here to
day by Dr. Brock Chisholm, director
general of the World Health Organ-;
ization of the United Nations, who
headed the combined medical serv-;
ices of Canada during the war.
This increase occurs, despite the
fact that epidemic diseases still take
a tremendous toll—more than 3,-j
000.000 a year by malaria alone.
World-Wide Growth.
The population growth generally!
is world wude. Dr. Chisholm said,
and it will not be many years be
fore the earth's food supply scarcely j
will be adequate, unless it is in
creased vastly by methods as yet1
unknown. Even then, he stressed,
theie is an eventual limit.
Such countries as the United
States and Canada, he pointed out,
can go on increasing their popula
tion for a long time without feeling
the food strain, but this will mean
that they export less and less food
to other countries in which the pop
ulations also are increasing.
Dr. Chisholm was one of the par
ticipants in a “Town Meeting of the
Air" program on the subject, “What
Hope for Man,” broadcast from Con
stitution Hall last night.
Other participants were Dr. Ed
mund W. Sinnott, president of the!
association: Dr. Harlow* Shapley, re-!
tiring president, and Dr. Fairfield!
Osborne of the American Museum
of Natural History. George Denny,
jr., served as moderator.
'Substantial' Boost
Sought as Telephone
Wage Talks Begin
Two locals of the Communications
Workers of America opened nego
tiations with Chesapeake <te Poto
mac Telephone Co. representatives
today for a “substantial” wage in
crease. Meetings are being held at
the Washington Hotel.
A union spokesman said a specific
“dollar-and-cents” wage increase
demand was not being made at this
time, but that the union was asking
for a "substantial raise.”
The talks opened on schedule as
a 30-day waiting period expired—a
period which under the law went
into effect when the CWA locals
served notice on the telephone com
pany that they wanted to negotiate
an increase. The company refused
three weeks ago to waive the wait
ing period.
Represent 6.500 Workers.
The two locals are the Washing
ton Division No. 36, representing
approximately 3.500 plant, main
tenance and accounting employes,
and the Washington Traffic Division
No. 50, representing approximately
8.000 employes, including operators.
Over the country, all other tele
phone unions affiliated with the
CWA were either negotiating for
higher wages, starting negotiations
today or planning to start this week.
The CWA claims to represent
some 400.000 communication work
ers.
Talks Transferred.
Meanwhile, the Communication
Equipment Workers 'CIO' and the
Western Electric Company were
scheduled to move from Chicago to
New York, the Associated Press re
ported.
The negotiations have been car
ried on against a strike deadline
of Friday set by the union for its
55.000 equipment installers in the
country's telephone exchanges. The
site was changed on the request of
Cyrus Chinp. head of the Federal
Conciliation Service.
The union's original demand for
a 31-cent hourly increase has been
sraleri down to 13 to 17 cents an
hour. Western Electric has offered
a range of 8 to 14 cents. The pres
ent pav bracket runs from 88 cents
to $1.54 an hour.
Han Disguised as Priest
Swindles Auto Dealer
By tW* Associated Prass
BOSTON. Sept. 15.—A man dis
guised as a priest was sought to
day on a charge of swindling a
Boston used car dealer of $1,900.
Police said the man—carrying a
praver book and a Bible—"sold”
the Jackson Square Motors. Inc
an automobile he had rented an
hour earlier from the Columbia
Motor Mileage Corp., in the Rox
burv district.
Authorities said the swindler
called the Jackson Square firm and
told the manager he was "sending
in a priest" who had been reassigned
and wanted to sell his car before
leaving for his new parish.
Forty-five minutes later, wearing
the black garb of a priest, he ar
rived at the used car company, com
pleted the deal within a matter of
minutes and left.
Shortly afterward, the purchasing]
concern discovered the machine hadi
been rented.
< i
Constantin Angelescu Dies;
Once Romanian Premier
By Associated Pres*
BUCHAREST. Sept. 15.—Former
Premier Constantin Angelescu, 78,
died yesterday.
Mr. Angelescu was Romanian
Minister to the United States during:
World War I and also headed a
special Romanian war mission to
Washington.
In December, 1933, he was asked
by King Carol to form a cabinet to
succeed Premier Ion G. Dura, who
was assassinated by Iron Guardists.
Mr. Angelescu accepted the premier
ship, but resigned after five days.
Mr. Angelescu himself was a target
for a would-be assassin when a
student pumped five bullets into himt
in 1930. His attacker was believed
to have been an anti-Semite who
opposed Mr. Angelescu's policies as
interior minister, a post he then(
held.
--1-—
Baltimore ADA to Support
Truman and Fight Wallace
By the Associated Press
BALTIMORE, Sept. 15—The Bal
timore chapter of Americans for:
Democratic Action announced yes-1
terday it will support President
Truman and "directly combat'’ the I
Wallace forces in Maryland during
the presidential campaign.
William Boucher III, president ol
the chapter, also announced its in
dorsement ol two Democratic candi-.
dates for Maryland congressional
seats: F. Byrne Austin in the 6th
district and Representative Garmatz
of Baltimore in the 3d.
Mr. Boucher said the ADA regards
the Wallace movement as "a dan-,
gerous, irresponsible adventure de
signed to exploit minorities for the
use ol the Communist Party.”
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