Evening Star Newspaper, December 26, 1926, Page 70

Whal‘-ing Craft Is Impriso Perils of whaling in both north- | ern and_southern seas were re. | counted last week by Capt. Cook, | as well as other dangerous experi- ences in his long career. { Having extinguished an incendi- ary fire at sea in the forehold of | the whaler he commanded, he | promised to hang his entire crew at the yardarm unless he learned who was guilty. The crew sur. rendered the two men who had caused the blaze, and both con- fessed. Previously the author told of having his boat bitten in two by a whale he had harpooned. As he and the members of his boat crew clung to the wreckage, the mortally ‘wounded monster charged straight toward them with his massive jaws wide open, but died just as it set teeth in the boat stem to which Capt. Cook had clambered Capt. Cook spent 48 years on the water, strting out when 11 years old. He was one of the owners of two of the last of the old square rigged whalers. BY JOHN A. COOK. UR oil and whalebone found ready markets after the voy. age and Mrs. Cook and 1 crossed the continent to our home at Provincetown,where my aged mother and our daughter Emma awaited our coming. The Win ter passed pleasantly, but all too quickly for us. Among the most_important events to us during the Winter months was the marriage of my daughter to a voung man of Provincetown, who was a schoolmaté of hers, and we looked forward to a happy life for both of them. February brought notice to prepare for another Arctic cruise, and I went to San Francisco to sign a crew. Feeling that at the end of our sec ond Summer we might fall short of what we woyld consider a profitable catch, I had all sign papers for 36 months, 80 that if in my judgment it would mean a loss instead of a profit to come out at the expiration of the time contemplated. I could stop vet another Winter and Summer and then be back in from 30 to 32 months. After signing a full list of 26 sailors, 1 or- dered them to be aboard the next morning. My officers and engineers went on board early and I waited ashore until word was sent from the chief officer that all hands were aboard. Then I went off to the ship to start for sea. To my surprise after getting under ‘way, in looking over the crew as they were engaged in getting everything secure about the deck before getting outside, I could distinguish hardly a face among that crew that I had signed on the day previous. ‘When supper was finished, all the sailors were called aft and ranged along the deck, first to answer to their names, next to divide themselves into two watches, starboard and port. I learned that most of the men had been substituted for those whom I had signed on. Many never were on a deck before, and these were the men who destined to give us trouble once, but he sank before the boat got to_him Then, without warning, the crank shaft of the engine in No. 2 journal broke in two. Here was an accident that would necessitate our going to port for repairs. I called all the officers and boat steerers and engineers together, and informed them we should he oblige: to go to Victoria, as that was a foreisil port and I could hold all the crew One of the engineers sald, since he knew Victoria well, “Captain, you could have done this in much quicker time at San Francisco,” and further remarked that he would guarantee for himeelf and his department, if 1 would go to San Francisco, that not one man of the enginering department would ask to go ashore. 1 thanked him, then said to my offi cers that, if they would attend to the duties aboard ship without asking or expecting to go ashore, look out for the crew and see that nobody deserted, and keep all shore hoats away from the ship day and night, I would go back. The officers, hoat steerers and stew- without hesitating for a moment, said they realized my position and they would do in port exactly as though at sea * ok % % A FTER anchoring in San Francisco Harbor 1 repaired at once to the customhouse, and as soon as the form of entering had been gone through I cleared again for another cruise with the same crew ahoard, to sall as soon as repairs were completed. Seeing the boldness and activity of shore boats around the vessel, which totally disregarded orders to_ keep away, I ordered two officers ®ind a hoat eteerer stationed night and day, one aft, another amidships and the third forward, each armed with a loaded repeating rifle, with orders to shoot. a hole through the first boat that attempted-to come alongside after being warned to keep away. After many delays we proceded to sea again. Our crew was all intact, with the exception of two men who put on life preservers and jumped overboard the night before we sailed. The places of those two were filled later by two Eskimos. While awalting repairs Mra. Cook communicated with me from Province- town, saying it was her desire to join me again for this our last voyage, and I arranged to call for her at Nome. We anchored at Nome and I found Mr ok in perfect health. We im- mediately went aboard the Bowhead. Two days later we salled from Nome. Two men tried to desert the night before by jumping overboard. The attention of the officer of the deck was directed to some one shout- ing for help, and looking in that direc- tion he saw two men in the water try ing to stem the current. This they were unable to do, and they were get- ting weaker from their exertions and chilled from - contact with the icy water, A boat was quickly lowered and they were rescued. When we reached Wainwright Inlet two - sailors asked to go aboard the steamer Alexander, lying close by. TAY SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, THE CAPTAINS OF THOSE FIVE IMPRISONED SHIPS LOOKED EAGERLY AND WITH L NG FOR THE LAST GLIMPSE OF THE UPPER RIM OF THE SETTI SUN WHEN IT WOULD SHINE MORE UNTIL JANUARY. i i standing, T thought I could see two men running over the fce. Miles of water intervengd between the ice and the land, a added to this fact, this ice was fast breaking up, and those portions that broke oft were being swept northward by the strong_current at a rate of not less than four miles an hour. This led me to have the gravest apprehension as to their fate, for all the steamers were going northward and soon no- body weuld be in that part of the country to rescue them. They ran on until at last they found themselves on a comparatively small plece of ice with g0 much water around it that it was utterly impossi- ble to get to any other plece, so they were obliged to stay and be swept Aueas e throughout the voyage. T told them platnly I was fully aware of their mo- tive, but I should take extra care that none deserted. ‘While furling jib one of the boat steerers, named George Cathcart, went out on the jibboom to assist the sailors in securing the sail properly, and in some unknown way he was knocked overhoard. A boat was lowered at Just as we were casting off our lines it was reported to me that the two men had not come back from the Alexander. 1 at once halled the cap- tain of the Alexander and asked him to send my men aboard. In a few minutes he informed me they were not there. Looking all around over the ice from the crow’s-nest where 1 was then ELECTRICAL TESTS OF SLEEP. A QUIET slecper or.a strained sleeper—which are you? All of us can be divided into these two groups, according to electrical tests of sleep made recently by Dr. Richter of Johns Hopkins Hospital. The tests also showed that the electrical resist- ance of the body is greatly increased during sleep, says Scientific American. In one case the onset of sleep auto- matically raised the electrical resist- , ance of the body from 30,000 ohms to 500,000 ohms. Our knowledge of the changes which take place in the body during sleep is still very limited, says Dr. Richter. | Although there has been almost no ex- | perimental investigation of sleep. it has been the topic of an almost endless | number of theories and speculations. Secientists knew—or rather thought they knew—that the depth of sleep| reaches a maximum before the end of | the second hour, and then rapidly de- creases again to a low level, at which it remaing with small fluctuations un- til the end of the sleep period. ‘We have all heard statements simi- lar to the above, but Dr. Richter char-| acterizes them as fallacles. When the | tests from which this fallacy took | growth were made years ago. the sub- Jects were constantly under strain, ‘waiting to be awakened and according- ly the sleep was never normal. Dr. Richter avoided this factor in his ex- periments. His records were obtained by measuring the resistance offered to the passage of an imperceptible gal- vanic current from one hand to the other, including all zinc electrode, cov- ered with paste made by mixing kao- lin with saturated zinc sulphate solu- tion. These can be easily attached and removed, usually without inter- rupting sleep. The resistance was measured with a string galvanometer, means of the equipment de- almost entirely in the skin of the body. A puncture through the skin with a needle, even the finest, reduces the resistance instantaneously practi- cally to zero. Some people sleep lightly, others can be awakened only by a thorough pum- meling. Both types were tested, with the discovery that the resistance of the body is a true and corresponding test of the depth of sleep. That is, those that respond to slight noises with changes in breathing, sighs, and so on, showed low resistance during sleep. Those who were oblivious to all dis- turbances maintained high resistance. Awakening, however sudden, brings an instant drop in resistance. Dr. Richter writes: “Several similar ob- servations were made on a monkey, which, while held in the lap of an as- sistant in a darkened room, slept fit- fully. The resistance followed the change in sleep so closely that it was possible to state quite accurately, with- out seeing the animal at all, whether it was awake, drowsing or asleep, sim- ply on a basis of the resjstance read- ings.” With the typical true scientist's caution in the interpretation of results, Dr. Richter says it is not yet known whether in sieep we deal with an in. | terruption of the nervous impulses, or with the effect of an inhibitory process. The results obtained with the skin of the back of the hands varied with the persons under test, and this sug- gests that there are two kinds of sleep, a quiet, relaxed sleep and a strained sleep with muscular activity. Further experiments on monkeys, in which the nerves to the hands and feet aere cut, demonstrated that the re- sistance of the palms of the hands and feet is dependent upon and is regu- lated by nervous impulses (although the backs of these extremities show no scribed Dr. Richter demonstrated con- clusively an unusually interesting Xml«‘hal the iesistance is localized such relation). When the nerves were cut, the resistance jumped from 40,000 ohms to 990,000 flhflr- into the Far North by the current that was then rushing on at a rapid rate. Their end was near unless we could render them some aid Taking bearings by compass and judging distance as near as possible, we worked the steamer as near the vieinity as we could tell amid the darkness and sleet, for the weather was terrible for an adventure of this kind. Blowing blasts from ‘our steam whistle at frequent intervals, we went N A PIECE NOT MUCH LARGER THAN THE HATCHWAY OF A SHIP; AND THEY WERE WET AND SHIVERING AND NUMB WITH COLD. among the floes for hours before we heard a sound, but at last we were rewarded by hearing a human voice, a "voice crying, “Save us!" ‘We went as far in the direction of where the gound came from as it was possible to get, then lowered a boat with the fourth mate in charge and told him to go to their ‘rescue, as their voices could be plainly heard now, imploring ald. *It was a long and dangerous trip that the boat made, but the mate never paused until he brought his boat alongside the emall plece of ice on which two men were. It had broken in two 80 many times that when he got them they were on a plece, as he described it, not much larger than the large hatchway of a ship; and they were wet and shiv- ering and numb wth cold, almost frightened out of their senses. * kK X UR bad luck continued that Win- ter and during the whaling sea- son that followed. We hegan freezing in again at Herschel Island for the second Winter; having concluded that, by strict economy, our supplies would last us. Our catch totaled five whales, yield- ing about 9,500 pounds of bone, a very small catch, indeed, but the price had advanced to about $5 per pound and would help us out. We hoped that next season we might make up for the t, 80 we were willing to_put in another Winter. By March, however, trouble with the crew began again. Among them was one who signed as Woodland, but better known among the crew as “Blg Jim." - o He was a large, powerfully bullt man, but a downright coward at heart. Woodland became very inti- mate with a rman named Faber, who was always looking for trouble and ready at any time for a quarrel, many of which he had with his ship- mates, 1 noticed for some time that Faber had appeared sullen and sometimes insolent to the first officer, whom I warned not to attempt to strike Fa- ber; but when cause justified we would put him in confinement with hand- cuffs on his wrists. Since Faber was a much stronger man than Mr. Long, our first officer, T knew that if he should turn on Mr. Long he would be apt to get the best of a fight. But one day there came to my ears loud talk and cursing. Opening the door from the deck, T saw Faber about a hundred leel‘wu’ | D e, DECEMBER _ 26, 1926 - PART 5. Y f/ from the ship in a fist fight with Mr. Long, and, as I expected, Faher was fast getting the best of the fight. 1 immediately started for them, upon which Faber fled. 1 ordered him to go ahoard ship, which he refused to do. I simply said, "I am not going to chase you. I will settle with you when you do come,” for I knew he would come back before long. Mr. Long came aboard with me and he told me that Faber had heen sul- len and insolent all the morning, not doing his work in any kind of manner, which 80 enraged Mr. Long that he attempted to strike Faber, hut Faber anticipated what was coming and struck first, The other officers then told me more. For more than a week Faber had heen trying to pick a quarrel and Woodland, the coward and sneak, was back of it all. Mr. Lee, the fourth officer, who was by far the strongest man in the ship, was the only man who had no com plaint to make, for both Faber and Woodland knew their case would be hopeless in his hands. At noon Faber came aboard, and I gave to the first officer a pair of hand- euffs and ordered him to put them on Faber. As Mr. Long started toward him with the cuffs, Faber jumped and knocked him down, but he had hardly atruck Mr. Long when I grasped him in & shorter time than it takes to write it and the handcuffs were on him be- fore he realized it. The next day, Sergt. Fitzgerald of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police appeared on board and asked if I was willing he should see Faber, as a com- plaint had been made by members of the crew that Faber was being bru- tally treated and tortured. The sergeant sald that he would, if I was willing, see the man and his condition, so that he might under- standingly answer such complaint. I at once assured him I had no hesi- tancy in conducting him where Faber was, which I did. After looking him over a few moments and asking Faber a few questions, the sergeant said to me, “You are justified as far as I can ascertain in keeping him as he is now until you are satisfied he will make no more trouble.” A day later, Faber sent for me, He was indeed meek, telling me more than I asked to be told, confirming my previous notion that Woodland was at_the bottom of it. Faber promised never again to give Js any trouble. I then took him on deck and called all the crew to hear what he had to say, when he apolo- gized before all for what he had done and accused Woodland of being the chief actor to get the best of the offi- cers. 1 instructed Mr. Long to take off the handcuffs, after which I pald my respects to Woodland, reminding him that some day, unless he changed, he would be confined for a mugch longer period. Thus ended this test of insub- ordination, * kK % ANOTHER lean season followed, the most discouraging whaling we ever had. We got our first whale At- gust 26, but by the 29th we had three. Feeling a little uneasy, since I knew how completely stores of every kind had been used up, and that we could not afford to take chances of being caught in the ice, at 3 p.m. of the 20th I started slowly to the west. I could now see that my fears were justified, for between Polly and Geary Islands we were forced to go into three fathoms of water to get hy one point of the pack, and the depth was the least we could go into without grounding. After passing that point of ice, it was quite noticeable how fast the whole pack was moving shoreward, evidently by big pressure brought to bear on it by a strong northwest to west wind that was blowing to.the westward of us. After we passed the point in three fathoms of water, the steamer Beluga, astern of us about 10 miles, came to the point, but the ice had gone in- shore so fast that the water was too shallow to allow her to come by, and she had to put back for Baillie Island. Crossing the western mouth/,of the Mackenzie River, ice again made shoreward until, ‘abreast of Shingle Point, we were brought to a stop in 3% fathoms of water. Ice to the west was hard on the land. Here we found the Alexander and Thrasher. The captains both came aboard the Bowhead. After listening to what they had observed, we con- cluded our situation was, indeed, des- perate. At daylight next morning 1 or- dered the anchor up. We steamed along and spoke the two’ steamers, and they followed close behind me into the pack. We urged the engi- neers and firemen to do all they could to make the ship do her utmost, and well she proved her ice-going quali- ties. Shoving great pleces from her prow, smashing others, we began to make great headway, passing King Point, where we saw the schooner Bonanza high up on the beach, having besn pushed there by the ice, a hopeless wreck. Down hy Kay Point, the Bowhead, showing many scars for the work she had done in contact with the ice that day, cast anchor in Paul- ine Cove at Herschel Island, our Win- ) 57 ter home for two previous Winters, and it looked very much as if it would be for this coming Winter. We had gained a safe harbor for our ships, for the Alexander and Thrasher followed us in, and upon ar- riving, to our great surprise, we found the. steamers Karluk and Jeannette lying here. They were unable to get west of the island hefore the ice came September 18, all the steamers were frozen in solid, the boats be ing hauled over the ice from the steamers to the shore. It now be- came evident that we must prepare to spend the Winter, poorly prepared as we were, Our next move was to take account of all food supplies aboard all the ehips. Capt. Tilton of the Alexander had enough to provide his crew suffi clent food for a vear, but he voluntari- 1y offered to divide equally with us all. The Jeannette also had quite a sup- ply of flour, which they put in with the others, so that, when the stock of provisions was all divided into five parts, each ship had just the same amount of proveions to use during the Winter, and It was up to each captain to see that the food was proportioned out for the time, as no more could he had here, help of game from the country, no vessel had enough to last six months and we knew that 10 montha at leas and perhaps 12, would intervene bhe fore more supplies could be procured My crew and veasel were in the worst condition, for we had stretched every atom of food, clothes and fuel to the utmost to be able to stop the last Winter nd Summer. Added to that, we had heen through two trying Winters and three Summer and now a third Winter and a fourth Summer were staring us in the fac Mrs. Cook, who had horne up hrave. Iy until she saw no hope of getting out, when she fully realized that an other year was hefore her among the snow and ice, could not bear the dis. | appointment, her nervous system sim ply going all to pleces. She, my companion, who had stool faithfully by me amid the privatior and hardships of a life aboard an Arc tic whaler for 11 long vears without a murmur, now gave up completely. That long, hard Winter which fol lowed made it even worse and less tolerable from the fact that Mrs Cook was such a pitiable object to look upon. Everything was done that it was possible to do to help her, but the long, dark days, the great length of time she had heen subjected to the cold, and the ahsence of the heip of the stimulating effects of the sun’s rays, added to the thoughts of vet another year of it, was more than some of the men could stand, much less the sensitive nervous svstem of | a woman. In place of lumber we used sails to house over our decks, for our lumber had all been used up. Stoves and stove pipe were scarce, hut finally we got enough together to manage to keep halfway comfortable, We had to face the daily fault findings of those who served ahoard our ships. Rations of staple articles had to be proportioned out until next Summer, when more would he ex pected. Game and meat that came as our share were used as fast as we could afford to use it, and the amount cooked each time for consumption was %0 much per man, be he. sailor, officer or captain; all had the same allowance, Soon the men forward in my ship made the complaint that, although the meat was weighed out correctly to them, as a man from the forecastle was allowed to see the weighing, 3 they surmised that their shrunk too much in the cooking and that the cook stole part of it 1 asked them if they would he better satisfled to have their portion given to them to mark and have cooked separately as they wished. This seemed to please them for a while and no murmurings were heard on that question. With the strictest economy, without | ned by Winter With a Mutinous Crew . Futile Dash for Safety With Failing Provisions Is Made in Frozen Nortli Soon, however, they got tired of the | troubie of havinz it cooked them- | selves, although the cook cheerfully did it for them, and they asked me to | &0 back te the old way, which I did to try and satisfy, if possible, their grievances. They were hungry at times and so were we all, but we could use no more than we were now using until more was brought in from the coun try. My attention heing largely taken up with Mrs. Cook's condition, I | necessarily ceased to watch with my | nsual vigilance the doings of the men | leaving that to my officers more than I otherwise should | P HUS day after day pa was depleted on each captain's countenance, for food we must have and the supplies coming in from the country were not as large as we had hoped. In other words, the native hunters had not_as vet trailed the game. Well do I remember Novem her 24. At 12 o'clock noon all the captains | o those five imprisoned ships stood on the highest hiil of Herschel Island. and looked eagerly and with longing for the last glimpse of the upper rim of the setting sun, when it would shine no more until January 16. For the space of abet 10 minutes we caught the gleam of its upper rim when it passed out of sight, not to appear to our relief again t vear. | These five captaine had heen 'tried from hoyhood in all the perils of navi gation from the Antarctic to the Aretic and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and they, like me, had faced troubles of every nature on the gea. ‘Those men shook their heads as they gazed at the ships helow and felt that they were now facing the gravest perfl of their lives. Dark days were setting In, and well we knew from past experience that all the evils of Winter life came then. Tn past years very little hunting had been done, and unless more game was brought in this year than for- merly there would be much suffering among us. With a grim determination to fight for life and for the lives of all that were with us, we went at the work of seeing that everything was mada secondary to the getting of food. We =0 impressed the natives with ou critical condition that during the dark days there was no letup by them in trying to bring down the game. . We all feit that when the sun came hack, if no calamity had befallen us Fefore that time, our worst and dark est period would be past. No wonder how often the question arose among us, “Where shall we all he. or wil this little community be intact and in health when the sun appears on January 162’ (Copsriehi. 1 | d. anxiety 6. “American Malady” Recognized in Paris As Special Product of Strolling Habit BY ERLING HEILIG. PARIS, December 15. CAME over to Europe to get something fit to drink, and I've been in Paris nine months. There's not a headache in a gallon of white wine!” The man who said this was from Kansas. As a fact, he was staying in a Paris sanatorium—one of the most elegant of the capital. But there are numbers like him in Paris from all over America, and many, at times, wear pinned inside their coats: “If anything happens to me, take me to such-and-such establishment,” always naming a fine Paris sanatorium! For men who think so much about white wine, there is almost perfect convenience in going about Paris with such a tag. The sanatorlums merit high reputation and their cases are obscure. Any one found acting pe- culiarly with such a tag is led sym- pathetically to a taxi by the police or public and set on his way for treat- ment which he is supposed to be un- dergoing. He will have to undergo some treat- ment, truly, once the sanatorium takes him in and saves him, but— “I'm fine, here!” says the Kansas man blandly. “I'm being treated for a tendency to sleeplessness and get a lot of electricity for my general health. I've been here twice, stayed a month each time and now, perhaps, I'll stay a little longer.” But the sanatorium calls his trou- ble “the American malady,” when its doctors chat lightheartedly with visit- ing specialists. There are five others with it, just now, all Americans. The “American malady” is bringing an entirely new class of cases to the es- tablishments! “I admire the innocent French way of drinking!" says the man from Kan- sas, “especially when men of cultiva- tion sit together in a restaurant and talk about a wine before it comes up from the cellar. The wines have beautiful names and all kinds of qual- ities—perfume, bouquet, arome, etc. But you don't need to buy dear ones; I enjoy myself just strolling about Paris and ‘stopping into wine .shops :;x' a bottle of plain white now and en.” “And there's not a headache in a gallon of it?” I asked. “Does it never give you a headache?" “Oh, well,” he answered, laughing, “There are only four quarts to a gal- lon. Strolling about, you know Such wine drinking while “strolling’ is what the tagged Americans go in for. They begin by sitting over fine vintages in restaurants; but the “‘com- mon stuff” seems (to them) least harmful—just about strong enough to rrlmkn strolling digest it between bot- tles! “Why, I can carry on for weeks at a time!” says the man from Kansas, “while six drinks of our strong stuff at home can make a man unfit to lift his head!” All the same, there are wives who pin tags to their hushands—and others who take them to the sanatoriums persanally. Such “cures” are hecom- ing well known to Americans in Paris. They are short, always succeed (he- cause such poisoning with wine does not go deep), and are not objected to by the Americans who undergo them— why, will soon appear. Also, despite the innocence of wine, tags and cures at times become needful. One wife, personally conducting her husband to the sanatorium, persuaded him to take his pants off in the taxi- cab, lest he jump out and start to | strolling while en route for the estab- lishment. On the other hand, a man saved by his “tag’ may feel right enough, if he has been drinking mostly wine, when he wakes up the next morning ~—in the sanatorium He would like to go straight back to his hotel, of course. But the sanatorium is serious and honest. He has been taken i accepted for a ‘‘cure”—and he must take it! One month. "Of course, you give them a few drinks, the days after their arrival I said to a sanatorium doctor. “Not a drop!” he answered unex- pectedly. ““It I8 easy to see that this is a wine country 1 said to him. “But men must come here also who have heen drinking cocktalls and all sorts of hard stuff. They may surely need #ome drinke the first days?” “Not a drop'’ he repeated. ‘‘They d;]\ not rlbamnr for drinks—we keep them too busy to n‘d i “THE INNOCENT FRENCH WAY OF DRINKING,” MUCH ADMIRED BY THE MAN FROM KANSAS. 00 busy!” “Yes, we tire them out,” he said. “We give them douches, massage, brisk walks, various kinds of elec- tricity at different hours, ultra-violet rays, and all that sort of thfng. It keeps them dressing and undressing. They are busy!" “Don't they 1 asked. “No,” "he answered. “They feel that it 1s good for them, and even find it agreeable, resting! They see that they are getting scientific treatment, and it flatters them. ‘This will he good for your rheumatism! we tell them. ‘This will hefp the strain in your back (muscular atrophy)’ And 8o on. All this occupation soothes their nerves.’ Men almost come o forget that they are being treated for “‘the American malady”! All the other patients are quite ignorant of their trouble. They are refined people, having their own sufferings—sleeplessness, melancholy, ete.—which they do not talk about. They mingle together as pleasantly as possible. You might think it a house party. So, mostly well before their month is up, our Americans find themselves in good: condition, ready to return to public Paris and sooner or later do some more “strolling.” Is it the anti-prohibition paradise? Before prohibition T knew drinking men to come to Paris and stop drink- ing. They found the bright life suf- ficlently stimulating. Perhaps they were exceptions, hut 1t happened. Others remained hard drinkers and ended badly from it in the long run. Nowadays the Paris sanatoriums are recelving more and more of “the American malady” right along. The thing is becoming notable. Yet this “American malady” seems 'to be a trouble that is regularly cured in a month. Now, of course, there are men who come to Paris and continue drinking cocktails, gin mixes and strong stuff in the style of whisky and brandy. iven thess seem to get out of the sanatoriums in a month pretty well fixed up. Some good part of it must be_due to prohibition. Prohibition, as seen at home from Paris, appears to keep such men from getting as deeply alcoholized as for- merly, by fear to drink .too much of the bad stuff they risk getting. When they arrive in Parls and start hitting up the hard liquor they get into sana- toriums soon enough. Not being deeply alcaholized, the scientific Paris system helps them quickly. Or else they taka to wine drinking. \ So* they come. to have “‘the Ameri- can malady,"j* ¢ The phr: Has originated entirely in Paris toriums receiving s0 , both “tagged” and it they constitute an en- fight agalnst it?"” tirely new class of cases. They need a name, because no other cases are like them! “The American malady does not mean alcoholism or dipsomania or any serious ' thing, although it may in- clude them all,” says a sanatorium doctor. “It means simply the Ameri- cans who come to us- drinking and desiring to drink.” The majority are not alcoholized at all. “Prohibition must have good re- sults,”” says the sanatorium doctor, “tecause the drinking Americans whom we get are very little injured and soon cured. They have not been much alcoholized at home—not even the worst we get in Paris. “But prohibition must have ill re- sults as well,” concludes the sana- both from | torium doctor. “because it sends such numbers of Americans to Parls with a desire to drink.” They are the majority in sanatori- ums. They drinkers Yet they are not hard drinkers at all in the old sense. | “They seem to drink by resent- men says the French specialist, “because they have heen prevented from drinking. In this way they con- | tinually drink more than is good for | them, yet they are worried by think- ing about it.” It brings them finally | ums without much need “The American malady | little cure,” he says, “and we think 1t not serious. But only the future can show how it will turn or else dfe out.” are the majority of wine to sanatori- requires FIRST ENZYME FOUND. THE isolation and erystallization of the first enzyme has been achieved by Dr. James B. Sumner, assistant professor of blological chemistry at the Cornell Medical College. Success came only after a perfod of research covering nearly nine years. Chemists have been attempting to purify enzymes for nearly a century but up to the time of Dr. Sumner’ discovery no enzyme had ever been prepared in pure condition and the chemical nature of enzymes was en- tirely unknown. worker in this field, Dr. Richard Will- statter of Giemmany, recently stated that the enzymes belong to no known group of chemical suhstances. An enzyme, the word meaning “in veast,” is a substance elaborated by plan animals or micro-organisms that accelerates chemical reactions without itself heing used up in the process. In other words, an enzyme is a catalyst. But the enzyme is a catalyst of a special sort. It is ex- tremely unstable and of colloidal na- ture. These are the chief reasons why the igolation of an enzyme has been considered an almost impossible task. Enzymes are sometimes called fer- ments because they cause fermenta- tions. Of the great number of en- zymes found in living cells, a few ex- amples are: Zymase, which is present in yeast and which is responsible for the alcoholic fermentation of saccha- rine liquids; rennin, which is obtained from the stomachs of calves and which is used in the manufacture of cheese; pepsin, which is present in the gas- tric juice and which digests meat, and thrombin, which is necessary for the coagulation of blood, ‘ The enzyme isolated by Dr. Sumner is known as urease and occurs in the jack bean, in the soy bean and in a great many kinds of bacteria. It has Indeed, a prominent ; in the lining of the stomach. Urease is important in the cycle of nitrogen because it converts the urea that is produced by animals into ammonium carbonate, which is used by the plant, usually after conversion to nitrates by bacteria. Urease has been prepared by Dr. Sumner as octahedral crystals that are slightly larger in diameter than human red blood corpuscles. ‘The erystals are proteln and belong té the class known as globulins, ‘Fhw are able to transform their own weight of urea into ammonium eam bonate every 1.4 seconds at room tém. perature. The isolation of urease has opened up new flelds of research and is ex- pected to aid in the solution of many problems of the chemistry of enzymes and to lead to the isolation of atill other enzymes. B oy TS TREY Bright Children. HE old {dea used to be that the exceptionally bright little boy, the becoming genius, was usually weak physically, undersized, anda émo- tionally unstable. That idea has to be discarded entirely, according to a re- port just put out by the noted psychologist, L. M. Terman, who has made an elaborate study of 1,000 es- pecially bright children. If there is any variation from the normal at all. he says, the gifted child is usually of better physical and nervous con- dition. “The snperiority of the gifted child is evidenced at a very early age, in the majority of cases,” says Dr. Ter- man. “Among the most commonly mentioned indications are intellectual curiosity, wealth of miscellaneous in- been found inghe horseshoe crab and formation, and desire to learn to read.”