MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON
FRIDAY, MARCH 22. 19S3
Small Worlds
Around Us
By LYNN M. W ATKINS
(Rei later m4 TrikniM
Syndicate, 1M3)
Sony, You Jutt Can't Ctt
Banana Oil From Bananas
One would naturally expect
that the origin of various
types of oils - olive oil, corn
oil, soybean oil, castor oil,
fish oil and many others - is
tied to the plant or animal
whose name it carries.
But there's something a lit
tle fishy about another oil
which we are all rather
familiar. That one just doesn't
come from where its name
would indicate. We never did
get banana oil from bananas.
Squeeze as hard as you
can, and you can't even get
juice from them, let alone
oil.
It's downright peculiar, too,
for there is a great deal of
banana oil used. Most folks
have used it some time or
other, or have at least smelled
it. It smells just like bananas:
that's why it is called banana
oil. But the stuff was never
any closer to a genuine ba
nana than you are, right now,
To Timbucktu.
Strang Fruit
The absence of banana oil
In the banana is little stranger
than many other common
facts about this tropical fruit:
seeds, for one thing. It is a
rare plant that produces fruit
without seeds, but the banana
accomplishes it. Banana seeds
are more scarce than "hen's
teeth"; there just aren't any
produced.
The tiny specks you may
notice in the pulp of a ripe
banana are remnants of seeds,
but they are only pieces. The
, plant does not grow from
seeds but from shoots which
come up from the under
ground root system.
When a banana plant final
ly succeeds in producing a
bunch of fruit, it "turns up its
leaves and dies. Before it ex
pires, however, it makes some
arrangements for future ba
nanas. It sends up a shoot
or two which 'later develop
, into a banana plant.
No 'Banana Treat'
You have heard about
banana tree, but surprisingly,
there is no such thing. To be
a tree a plant has to develop
a woody stem. The trunk of
the banana plant is composed
merely of the ends of the
Tooth Decay Cut by More Than Half in Fluoridation Program
A 3
leaves wrapped around one
another, each leaf forming
concentric sheath.
Long ago before the banana
became a common household
article, it grew and developed
in China and India. But it
does as well in its newer
American home, the tropical
section of our hemisphere, as
it ever did m the Orient.
The banana grows its fruit
in bunches composed of
hands," and the entire as
sembly grows on the plant in
an upside down position. If
a banana is subjected to a
low temperature, it loses its
banana flavor. Whip a ripe
banana and it turns to a
thick, creamy liquid.'
But no matter how hard
you beat it, you can't get
banana oil from a banana.
Banana oil is produced chemi
cally; it doesn't come from
bananas. But, it sure smells
like it does.
By A. ROBERT SMITH
Mail Tribune
Washington Correspondent
Washington (Special) - Dra
matic evidence of the effec
tiveness of fluoridation in
sharply reduc
ing tooth de
cay has been
revealed here
by city offici
als of the na
tion's capital.
The program
for chemical
ly treating the
Was hington,
smitk D.C., drinking
water supply has cut dental
decay rates by more than
half since it began over 10
years ago in June. 1962,
This finding was based on
Openings Available
In Nursing Course
Mrs; Thomas Donahue, Red
Cross nursing instruction
chairman, announced today
that -valley . residents, may
still register for. the Care of
the Sick . and Injured class
scheduled to start Tuesday,
April 2, at 7:30 p.m. at Rogue
Valley hospital.
Students will be instructed
in standard home nursing pro
cedures, how to cope with
home emergencies, nursing
care under special conditions,
causes and symptoms of ill
ness and community health
The 12-hour class will be
taught on consecutive Tuesday
and Thursday evenings by
Mrs. Natalie Reichenberg, a
qualified Red Cross instructor.
There will be no charge for
the course now being organ
ized; however, Mrs. Donahue
said that registration should
be made in advance as the
class will be limited in num
ber. Registration may be made
by calling the Red Cross of
fice, 772-4405..
Picture Showing
Communists In
Europe Scheduled
'My Latvia," a motion pic
ture describing the Commu
nist take-over of eastern Eu
ropean countries, will be
shown at 3 p.m. Sunday in the
Medford High school auditor
ium, The Rev. Claude G. Pike,
Portland radio commentator,
has announced.
The picture, produced by
the United States Information
service from films taken by
an official of the Latvian gov
ernment, smuggled from be
hind the Iron Curtain, por
trays the Communist con
quest.'
It is the same grim pattern
still followed as late as Cuba,
Mr. Pike said in announcing
the Medford showing. "It re
veals how the Communists
released hardened criminals
and placed them in top lead
ership. It also shows how cler
gymen, police officials, law
yers, teachers and other civic
leaders were marked for tor
ture and liquidation."
Showing of the picture is
part of the Christian Ameri
canism seminar to be conduct
ed during the afternoon by
Mrs. Claude Pike.
Following the discussion of
current topics, Mr. Pike will
speak. He has spent 25 years
as an ordained minister in the
Methodist and Evangelical
United Brethren denomina
tions in nation-wide speaking
tours and as a radio commen
tator. There will be no admission
charge for the motion picture
or the seminar.
AND WHEN I GRADUATE, THE
WARRANTY ON MY NEW PLYMOUTH
WILL STILL BE IN EFFECT!
SEEKS . DAMAGES .
Blackburn. England OIPD
Poultry farmer Hindle Tay
lor sought $1,000 damages
from George Corta in court
Thursday because the horse
Corta sold him wasn't worth
$336. Hindle said the mare,
Sundowner, was at least 10
years older than Corta said,
had a bent leg, couldn't jump
fence, was frightened of
traffic, and was not, as ad
vertised, "one of the finest
horses in England."
real for Towels
Lucky freshman! He can't drive on campus so he
won't pile up many miles in the next four years.
But... he's got a Plymouth with a 5-year50,(XXV
mile warranty. So he's well protected. If you'd
like that kind of protection, buy a new Plymouth
with America's longest and best new-car warranty!
ao.000 aim.
"JZZ " ": T-XTl
- .j-j ik. etirt nam MM rvsao aw nawwuw
DICK KNIGHT CO.
33 S. Riverside, M&Hord, Oregon
rjrfj 7102
1 X V
the largest and longest area
tudy yet made to determine
the consequence of adding
sodium silicofluoride to the
water supply. It is based on
dental examinations of more
than IVi million youngsters
in the public and parochial
schools, according to Dr. A.
Harry Ostrow, chief of the
District of Columbia Health
Department's Bureau of Den
tal Health.
Insidious Effort
The question of adopting
fluoridation program has
been a hot issue in numerous
Oregon cities during this same
decade. Inflamatory cam
paigns against fluoridation
have been waged in many
communities, often by per
sons who charged that it rep
resented an insidious effort
to poison the American popu
lation. Plans of officials in
many cities have been block
ed by such propaganda cam
paigns when the issue was put
to a vote of local citizens.
Because the citizens living
Washington, D.C., have not in
many years been permitted
to vote, the issue has never
been one for the local water
users to decide in a referen
dum. It was adopted by city
officials after various U.S.
Public Health Service reports
and investigations indicated
that dental health among chil
dren would improve with flu
Before the program was
launched in 1962, all school
children were examined to
determine the prevalence of
decayed, missing and filled
teeth. Similar examinations
were made each successive
year as ' the program ad
vanced. These examinations showed
that in 1951-52 the 6-year-olds
had a DMF (decayed, missing
or filled) tooth rate of .22 per
child. That is, about one child
out of five at that age had
some dental trouble.
The rate for 6-year-olds in
1961 had dropr ;d to .09 per
child, or only about one child
in every eleven youngsters
had any tooth trouble.
This represents a 59.1 per
cent reduction in the inci
dence of decayed, missing or
filled teeth in youngsters who
were born after the program
began and had the benefit of
fluoridation from birth, as
suming they lived in the
Washington area during those
six years.
Trouble Had Dropped
As the age of the children
examined in 1961 increased,
the comparison with children
their same age 10 years be
fore showed less improve
ment. Dental trouble for 9-
year-olds, for example, had
dropped by 46 per cent, for
11-year-olds by about 30 per
cent, for 16-year-olds by about
15 per cent.
Doctor Ostrow said prac
ticing dentists report that
they can see the difference
in the mouth's of today's
children, who seldom have
cases of crumbling badly de-
ayed teeth, unless they have
moved to Washington from
non-fluoridated city.
These findings take into
account a unique feature of
the Washington, D.C., school
population - its change in
proportion from white to
Negro. The results were fd
jusied to take into account
the less prevalence of tooth
decay among Negro children,
otherwise the findings would on the reason for a greater more apt to eat plainer foods
have shown a more marked incidence of decay in whites and fewer sugared foodstuffs,
change between 1052 and than Negroes is that more The cost of fluoridation
1961. of the latter race are less here has been eight cents per
The most accepted theory economically prlviledged and person yearly.
Washington - tan - Presi
dent Kennedy has named Ice
land J. Haworth, a member of
the Atomic Energy commis
sion since 1961, to succeed
Dr. Alan T. Waterman as di
rector of the National Science
Foundation.
8
Fruit V vegetables in
singing mood! Do in bright
colors-orange, yellow, green,
red - cheer a kitchen!
Brighten cloths, towels.
curtains with this embroi
dery. Pattern 7102: transfer
six 6x7-in. motifs; directions.
THIRTY FIVE CENTS
(coins) for this pattern - add
15 cents for each pattern for
first-class mailing and special
handling. Send to Alice
Brooks, Medford Mail Trib
une, Ncedlecraft Dept., P.O.
Box 163, Old Chelsea Sta
tion, New York 11, N.Y. Print
plainly NAME, ADDRESS,
PATTERN NUMBER.
1963 s Biggest : eedlecraft
Show stars smocked accesso
ries - It's our new Ncedle
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fresh-to-you designs to knit,
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Send 25 cents now!
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partment give your
power mower a com
plete tun upf
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RE-CONDITIONED!
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tighten mounting bolts; align
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JUST SAY
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SIRVICI DIPAKTMiNT
MONTGOMERY WARD
k. 771-JJ1 115 S. Riverside
SkV SAID
. js
(PBjf ill IE - !
RADIOS?
Someone must have misunderstood
and ordered more ! We are
overstocked and need shelf room.
There is no foolishness here we
have just plain cut the prices to
sell these radios now.
All types of models -portable or
bed side. These GE units
feature advanced
design & AHAPCO
engineering,
feature Jow
price ! stop in toaay ana tane
a look -this is the time to buy!
gmfcSpJU WU : 1 MWel C44 '
wm
n a a aaaaaaan
mm0
?ggC0G90(
GENERAL ELECTRIC
SWIVEL-TOP
VACUUM CLEANER
Famous double action cleaning unit
full size canister double action rug
and floor cleaning unit powerful,
permanently lubricated G-E motor
kink-proof hose disposable dust bag
and all attachments you need for
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practically steal one of these nowl
I
P-SICED
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- W
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There Is Nothing "Just as Good" as General Electric
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