Watching the World
Humility, for a Change
◆ Instead of praising all that scientists know, an encyclopedia of what they do not know was recently published in England. Of the 58 prominent scientists who contributed, say the editors, “the more eminent they were, the more ready [they were] to run to us with their ignorance.” The 450-page Encyclopædia of Ignorance poses unanswered questions about the origin of the universe, why we sleep, what consciousness is, where and how the brain stores memories, and many others. “We understand how an organism can build molecules, although the largest of them is far too minute for us to see,” writes Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist James Crick, “yet we do not understand how it builds a flower or a hand or an eye, all of which are plainly visible to us.” The editors declare: “Compared to the pond of knowledge, our ignorance remains atlantic.”
India’s Surgical Advance
◆ “Dr. Shrad Pandey of the KEM hospital Bombay is blazing a new trail in the field of open heart surgery in the country,” declares the Indian Express. “He claims to be the first surgeon [in India] to have perfected the technique of ‘bloodless open heart surgery.’” The Indian surgeon says: “I had my own apprehensions about the surgery being tried out on Indians because they were nutritionally poor when compared to foreigners. But an eminent Canadian surgeon, Dr. Heimeacker with whom I trained abroad, allayed my fears and said it could be tried out on anyone with normal health.” Dr. Pandey notes that he has performed bloodless open-heart surgery on about 30 patients without complications.
Budding Bishop
◆ The Italian newsmagazine Oggi recently did some research on Adolph Hitler’s youth by interviewing his close relatives in Austria. “When he came to our home in Spital, (at age 7),” recalled Anton Schmidt, a claimed first cousin, “he built an altar with some benches and pretended to officiate mass.” Young Adolph, who wanted to become a bishop, according to relatives, then imitated typical clerical pomp. “He demanded that all his playmates kiss his hands,” said Schmidt.
“Soft” Drug—“Soft” Head?
◆ Prominent brain researcher Robert Heath reports microscopic permanent changes in the brain anatomy of rhesus monkeys that smoked marijuana. They smoked the equivalent of one cigarette a day, five days a week, for six months. Changes involved “an enlargement in the ‘synaptic cleft,’ the gap across which one nerve sends its signal to the next and certain other changes within the brain cells,” says the New York Times. Similar changes observed previously were produced with much higher doses of marijuana.
Man Moves—Animals Stay
◆ After declining to just about 1,900 by 1973, India’s tiger population is now on the rise again. The government began “Project Tiger” that year to stem the losses. In addition to strongly enforced bans on shooting the creatures or exporting their skins, the relocation of whole villages, some of them 300 years old, was also begun so that humans would not come into territorial conflict with the tigers. Most villagers moved willingly to benefit from the improved housing, schools and medical services offered by the government, as well as the financial aid for starting new farms.
Bed for Sick Child?
◆ “If you make a great fuss about each of your child’s symptoms, put him to bed, give him medicine, keep him off school and call the doctor for every trivial symptom,” writes Dr. Ronald Illingworth, professor of child medicine at Sheffield University, England, “you are making your child a hypochondriac for life.” Citing hospital research indicating that feverish children who are allowed to get up appear to recover just as quickly as those who stay in bed, Dr. Illingworth asserts: “I see no reason for keeping children in bed for chicken-pox, mumps, measles [German measles], whooping cough [glandular fever], colds, diarrhoea, sore throats, headache, cough, asthma or abdominal pain if they are well enough to be up and want to get up. . . . Naturally, a feverish child with measles would often prefer to be in bed, but as soon as he wants to get up he need not be prevented.” Of course, this is only one viewpoint.
“Birching”—Bad?
◆ The custom of “birching” young offenders on the Isle of Man, a British possession, has come under attack as “degrading punishment.” The European Human Rights Commission has brought the charges before the European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg, France. But an island legislator says birching is “the insurance premium paid to protect us from violence.” Only young wrongdoers between 15 and 20 years of age are whipped with the prescribed birch twigs for up to six strokes. Violence among the island’s 60,000 inhabitants is somewhat lower than in Britain, which outlawed birching in 1948.
Amazing Burn Survival
◆ The New China News Agency claims that surgeons in Shanghai have saved a woman with burns over virtually 100 percent of her body. Of these, 94 percent were third-degree burns (completely through the outer skin). A factory fire injured the 36-year-old woman last June, after which skin grafting proceeded, surgeons using skin from her scalp and soles of her feet about once every three days. “Now the new skin has grown well all over her body,” says the agency, and “she has begun to practice walking.” Reuters news agency notes that “Western medicine has rarely saved anyone with over 80 per cent third-degree burns.”
“Benefit for Everyone”
◆ The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that artificial hip surgery performed without blood transfusions is now routine at the University of Arkansas Medical Center, U.S.A. The professor of orthopedic surgery who heads the team of physicians explains that the anesthesiologist uses chemical techniques to lower the patient’s blood pressure and thus reduce bleeding. The method was developed for Jehovah’s Witnesses, he says, “and I think you can fairly say that working with Jehovah’s Witnesses has been a benefit for everyone.” He notes that “there are many things we’ve learned,” and says: “We’ve now applied this technique to patients other than Jehovah’s Witnesses who are undergoing surgery—orthopedic and otherwise—because it is a superior form of anesthesia, and it’s logical not to lose all that blood. . . . Transfusion reactions are avoided as well.”
Who Owns Your Body?
◆ The New Jersey Superior Court, U.S.A., recently ruled that a 72-year-old man could decide for himself whether to allow amputation of both his legs, though doctors claimed that his life was at stake. The judge said that he “has the right to consent to the amputation of his legs or to withhold such consent regardless of the consequences.” The hospital had tried to get a court order to force the operation, as is often done in an effort to force Jehovah’s Witnesses to accept blood transfusions.
Forced “Charity”
◆ An employee of the Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.A., YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) was fired because she gave only $10 to a charity drive. Her supervisor said that she should have given at least $27.60, in keeping with YWCA policy of donating an hour’s pay each month. The employee and her husband had decided to give more to their own church’s educational fund. “Holding a job over somebody’s head for a certain dollar amount sort of takes the love out of charity,” he remarked. The YWCA headquarters in New York denied requiring minimum contributions.
More Tobacco Woes
◆ Nicotine accumulates in the breast fluid of smoking women, according to a recent report in Science magazine. A researcher notes that nicotine buildup occurs in the ducts of the breast, where cancer begins. The drug was detected in women’s breast fluid within 15 minutes after smoking a cigarette.
Polycythemia, a disease that causes headaches, fatigue and fainting, is most likely to strike smokers, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine. The disease reduces the oxygen supplied to the body through the blood. “People who have this disease are essentially asphyxiating themselves,” says the report. An accompanying editorial in the Journal declares: “Cigarette smoking far exceeds as a public health hazard saccharin, radioactivity, food dyes, freon propellants, asbestos and the many other environmental toxins and potential toxins that have generated great public and governmental concern.”
Fixing Responsibility
◆ The Chicago, Illinois, city council recently passed an ordinance requiring parents to pay for vandalism committed by their children. One supporter said that the law was aimed at combating “parental delinquency.” Suburbs that already have similar ordinances “have reported marked decreases in vandalism,” notes the New York Times.
Double Standard?
◆ Recently a Japanese film director and a book publisher went on trial for violating obscenity laws. It was charged that a book version of one of the director’s films contained material constituting “indecent exposure” in the Criminal Law. Yet the next day Japan’s Supreme Court acquitted another man “who had been indicted for possessing pornographic pictures for the purpose of selling them abroad,” reports Tokyo’s Daily Yomiuri. According to the Court, the Criminal Law banned distribution only in Japan to defend good morals, while sales overseas did not violate the law.
Sporting Spirit in U.S.A.
◆ To instill a winning spirit in his football team, a Florida high-school coach admits that he would bite the heads off live frogs during pregame pep talks. “Our kids loved it,” he claims. Officials ordered him to stop.
Parents in Massachusetts are taking their 8- to 10-year-olds’ hockey playing too seriously, according to the New York Times, which says: “Parents have verbally attacked other parents, anonymous threats have been made to coaches, lawyers have become involved and some parents are threatening to sue other parents. . . . On at least one occasion, parents have exchanged punches.”
Odyssey of Wealth
◆ The Queen Elizabeth 2 sailed in mid-January for a 90-day cruise of the Pacific, the longest and most luxurious of the ship’s career. Her 1,400 passengers are indulged with tons of caviar, lobster, champagne and other delicacies on the 36,000-mile (58,000-kilometer) journey. They are pampered and entertained by 1,000 crew members, 690 musicians, 120 nightclub performers and 217 lecturers. What does it take to go on such a cruise? One indication is that each of two new penthouse suites went for $160,000.
Biggest Filmmaker
◆ The federal government is by far the biggest moviemaker in the United States. About 2,300 films and tapes reportedly are produced each year at a cost estimated at $500 million. According to TV Guide magazine, film titles include “Fuel Pump Disassembly,” “Hacksaws, Part III,” “Hospital Housekeeping: Mopping, Two-Bucket Method,” and “Climbing and Working on Poles.” A dozen films on how to brush your teeth are also available, including “Oral Hygiene—Swab Your Choppers.” Some officials have complained of unnecessary duplication and waste in government films.