o .
ANSWERS SOUGHT TO TANTALIZING QUESTIONS
Research Chipping Away at Secrets of the Virus
By ALTON L. BLAKESLEE
Of The AssocUtrd Press
BERKELEY, Calif, ifl The
virus is king in a laboratory here
where scientists seek answers to
its tantalizing secrets.
Viruses cause a host of diseas
es human, animal and plant.
This winter, as in many others,
ene variety has put hundreds of
children and adults to bed for
from 24 hours to several weeks,
suffering from what once was
just called flu. To humans,
viruses also bring polio, the-common
cold, measles, smallpox,
other, diseases. The virus caus
ing one disease differs from that
causing another.
Was a virus the beinnine
of life?
Is a virus the cause of can
cer? '
How does a virus carry out
its fantastic sabotage of living
cells, making the cell manmac
ture hundreds of new viruses?
Can viruses be created arti
ficially by science?
Can they be tamed, altered
to make them harmless, free of
their old sting of disease?
And can viruses be pro
duced intentionally which
would do many good things for
you, even perhaps protect you
from radiation dangers of A
bomb or H-bomb fallout?
Theists, Atheists Debate
Existence of 'Heaven9
By J. HUGH PRUETT
Astronomer, Extension Division
Oregon Hither Education System
The response from readers of
the recent article on Heaven
prompts me to consider a some
what related subject. When we
realize the immensity of the
starry expanse around us and the
seemingly perfect order existing
in it, we at times irresistibly cry,
'What is it all about, Is this a
result of blind chance? Could
there be purposeful intelligence
behind it all?"
; Some are completely satisfied
that the grandeur of the heavens
was provided solely for the plea
sure of the dwellers on our tiny
globe. The less we know of the
"great spaces," the easier it is
to accept this thought. The agnos
tic claims we do not know whether
there is purpose and that we can
never find out. The atheist says
there is non; the theist, that there
Is. '
ATHEISTIC'S COD
Jhe editor of a magazine pub
lished by the Free Thinkers once
wrote me that he saw no purpose
ful intelligence in the universe in
general. "If we designate by the
term "atheist" a person who does
cot believe that any individual
personality designed and created
the universe, takes an interest in
mankind and demands worship,
then I am an atheist." He believ
ed that "even the rudimentary
knowledge of various sciences
negatives such a god. The atheist
makes mankind his god and ser
vice to mankind his religion."
A different view is given by fhe
noted astronomer, the late Dr.
Edwin B. Frost, who was con
nected with the Yerkes obscrva
tory of the University of Chicago
for a quarter of a century. In "An
Astronomer's Life" he wrote:
"Everything that we learn from
the observational point of view of
astronomy seems to me to point
precisely and always loward a
purposeful operation of nature.
When you accept-this, it seems to
me to be inconsistent with physi
cal sciences not to believe in a
mind behind the universe. I can
not imagine the planets getting
together and deciding under what
law they would operate. The order
that we see does not appear to
have been produced as the chance
outcome of random motions co
erced into some measure of uni
formity ...
SPIRITUAL BEING
"Thus in a purposeful creation
I find it not at all inconsistent to
believe that there must be mind
behind it, developing the purpose.
I make the premise that it is a
spiritual being . . . distince from
matter, and that it is not subject
to sense perception ...
I find it justified in my own
mind by the effects which this
view has had on inspired men
through the ages ... If the uni
verse is purposeful, then it is
plain to me that man . . must
himself be distinctly a result of
purpose rather than of accident
"One thing illustrative of this
spiritual attitude is that man has
his curiosities, his wonder, his
awe and his reverence for the
material universe . . . which may
indicate to him a divine power
behind it."
These are. the kinds of ques
tions being asked and possibili
ties being considered in the re
search of the virus laboratory at
the University of California. The
laboratory is directed by Dr.
Wendell M. Stanley, winner of
a Nobel Prize for brilliant work
on the nature of viruses.
TARGET CELLS
A virus works by invading a
particular kind of cell the polio
virus for example strikes nerve
cells. Viruses cannot reproduce
or duplicate themselves except
inside their favorite target type
of cell. But once Inside, they
commandeer the machinery of
the cell, forcing it to produce
many new viruses. The damage
they do inside the cell brings
the symptoms of sickness. '
But viruses, all far tinier than
bacteria, are not all bad. Some
are useful. One, known as bac
teriophage, destroys a type of
bacteria found in the intestines.
In the virus laboratory, our
emphasis is on the virus itself,
not the diseases viruses cause,
nor treatments of those diseases,"
Dr. Stanley explains. ,
VIRUS IS KING
"The virus is king. We want to
learn what its basic properties
are, what it consists of, how it
docs what it does. From that
knowledge could come the con
trol measures or new and useful
jobs for viruses."
In one line of research, scien
tists take viruses out of invaded
cells, make slight changes in the
virus structure, and stick the vi
rus back inside the cell.
Does the slight change alter
the behavior of the virus, make it
more or less virulent?
. Viruses are precision crafts
men, reproducing themselves
with astonishing exactness. But
once in every 100 million times,
something goes wrong. The virus
is changed or mutated, does not
follow the parent pattern exactly.
This spontaneous change alters
its character, can make it more
or less dangerous.
DIFFERENCES SOUGHT
Scientists want to learn what
the changes are, how they are
produced. The knowledge could
show the way to taming some
lethal viruses.
The same kind of virus can
occur in different strains or
types. With precision techniques,
research teams are determining
the chemical differences between
strains. It appears that the dif
fernce can be in just one amino
acid or protein brick out of which
viruses are made. Dr. Stanley
said.
Laboratory researchers are
chipping away at viruses, taking
them apart bit by bit to learn
what all the different parts are
This opens the possibility of ul
timately synthesizing viruses.
making them artificially.
VIRUS CULTURES
Viruses are grown and harvest
ed;, by the billions, by culturing
them on living tissues. From tis
sue cultures come viruses of
polio, hog cholera, fowl pox, flu.
many plant viruses lor use in
research.
And by new techniques, scien
tists now can study what hap
pens between one single virus
particle and one single living cell.
They hope to trace exactly what
happens to the intricate machin
ery of the cell when a virus takes
control. Is a virus akin to or is
it a gene, the chemical unit of
heredity? in some ways, they
act like genes.
There Is reson to suspect that
viruses were the first living or
ganisms on earth, coming from
tome spontaneous organization of
protein material which was cap
able of reproducing itself. At
times viruses behave like living
things. But they also can be crys
tallized like salt without losing
their ability to spring to life and
reproduce.
TAKES TEAMWORK
Some viruses are known to
cause certain types of cancers in
mice, chickens and rabbits. Arc
human cancers due to some yet
unrecognized virus?
Time will tell. Time and the
Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.
Sun., Mar. 13, 1955, . 9A
skills of scientists, ' working on
projects such as those here. The
assault on virus problems takes
teamwork of physicists, chemists.
physicians, plant pathologists,
bacteriologists, botanists, '
There is no doubt that viruses
exert profound influences on liv
ing cells. To Dr. Stanley, that
raises the Intriguing possibility of
developing viruses which would
do helpful, healthful things to liv
ing things, from human to plant.
UNLIMITED VISTAS .
Protection against radiation
damage or sickness could be one
prospect. ..
Right now some scientists are
worried that increased exposure
to radiation, as from atomic fall
out, is doing definite harm to the
genes of human beings, changing
heredity so there inevitably will
be more humans born as freaks
or with inherent weaknesses.
Some scientists see no chance of
ever preventing such damage, or
protecting against it.
With this philosophy, Dr. Stan
ley disagrees.
"There is almost no limit to
what science can do. Most of the
things which are commonplace
today seemed impossible at one
time. They were impossible at
one time, simply because we did
not know enough.
"The only limitation is our ig
norance. If we keep learning,
there is no limit to the vistas
ahead of us."
Flies to Paris
LONDON to Mrs. Eleanor
Roosevelt left, by plane Saturday
for Paris after a 4-day visit to I
Britain. ... ' ;
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