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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1950-7-12, Page 5Berra Decision By hard Bill Wilkinson Bart Hodges had lived in the thy for two years and he was .getting tired of it. Country bred, he longer( for the smell of sweet, fresh air, the sound of roosters mowing and cows lowing: He wanted to go to bed to the tune of crickets cheeping and bullfrogs jug-a-runuming, It wasn't as if the pity hadn't been kind to Bert. It had. It had taken hint to its bosom, and he had prospered, or had he been un- happy. IIe loved the lights, the noise, the hustle and bustle, And most of all he loved a girl. Tonight, lying on the divan in the living room of his apartment, Bart was troubled with an annoy- ing thought. He wondered, strange- ly, which he wanted most: Sabina's love or the counliwsv It was at (anis particular moment in Bart's speculation that the tele- phone rang. A strangely familiar feminine voice answered. "Hello, there, Bart," the voice said. "This is Sadie Blake, fresh in from the old home town. Come down and talk to one of your for- gotten friends." Bart's pulse leaped. Sadie! His boyhood pall Sadie, whom one day he expected to marryI Sadie, in the city. Here! Now! Fresh from 'Centerville, with news and notes of the old home town galore. At that moment Sabina Good - now was forgotten, There was just one girl in the world for Bart. And that girl was Sadie Blake. He felt suddenly ashamed he had neglected to write, to remember her at Christ - Inas . . . Sadie, pink cheeked, blooming with good health and freshness, met him in the lobby of her hotel. "Hello, pal," she cried. 'Looking just the saute. Thinner, maybe. But otherwise old Bart himself." nor name was Sabina Good - now, and she adored him. . "Sadie!" Bart stared in open ad- miration. "Sadie! How good it is to see you. Tell rate, how are things in Centerville'' How are the folks? Tell inc everything." "Same old town, Bart, Your folks are Inc.iYour dad owns a new tractor. Polly, the horse, died, you know. But I suppose they wrote you that. The voters decided in run town water up to William's 1 -fill at the last town meeting. Not so much danger if fire breaks out now. Ed Salmon ran off with Bob Evans' wife. She came back two weeks ago, and Bob_ took her in, Shame. Poor kid ..." They talked for hours. By even- ing Bart was fully appraised of all the events and happenings in Cen- terville during the past two years, and assured that his folks were well, He took Sadie out to dinner, and delighted in showing her around. She seemed a little awed by. it alt, and more awed by Bart's iodiffer- e•tcc to the many wonders. "You get used to it after a while," he said indifferently, and stood gazing thoughtfully at the many lights along Broadway. IIe felt enlightened and no longer honies'ck. Strangely enough the •.noise and bustle associated them- selves in his mind with Saliina. He was glad to be a part of is all. He gazed furtively at the comely Sallie and pictured her in the rural setting of Centerville, They attended a theatre and d'ned afterwards at an exclusive night club. Sadie would have liked to -go back to her hotel, but she w -Anted to please Bent, "13art," she said, when at last they :stood outside the door of her room. "When are you coming home? 'When are you going to give tip all this and come back where you belong?" Bart looked down into her eyes and saw something that two years - ago he had longed to witness, He sigh ed deeply. "Salic, it's been just great see- ing you. Just what I needed, A sort of tonic," Ho smiled et her gently. "1'ni not going back just yet, Sadie. There's something keeping 1110 here, something that before I never knew ezi'sted, I 1010w• now that it's something greater ilnut -- anything, Some thue -I'm coining back, and when 1 t:o there'll be two 0f its," Surgery Not Like It Used To Be Operations today are not like they were a century ago, when more than half the victims died of shock within a few hours. Many who survived succumbed later from gangrene, and ultimately only two in ten recovered, Of these, one usually ended up a permanent ner- vous wreck through pain and shock, John of Gaddesden, who was physician to Edward II, in a book cf advice to surgeons of his period, writes: "The requisites for a doctor are an ability to lie in a subtle man- ner, to show an outward honesty, and to kill with audacity," Chances of recovery were so slim that an- other surgeon wrote: "Let hint (the patient) prepare his soule as a ready sacrifice to the Lard by earnest prayer; craving mercie and help unfainedlie." Apart from strong drink there ;were no anaesthetics. And when a limb was amputated, the stump was thrust into boiling oil or roasted with red hot irons before bandages were tied on. Rabbits' fur mixed - with aloes was sometimes applied to stop bleeding. No wonder gan- grene followed! How different today. Your fam- ily doctor lays the history of your case before the surgeon who is thus armed with every relevant detail about you. As he sterilizes his.hands, eases then( into rubber gloves and selects his instruments, he has be- fore him a clear picture not only of your trouble but of any weaknesses you may have inherited. You often hear it said: "Sur- geons don't care. They're always cutting people up; they think about as much of you as a butcher does a joint." Don't believe that. A butcher works with portions of lifeless car- case; a surgeon on a live, delicate instrument pulsating with life. No callous ratan, however skilled, ever became a successful surgeon. When you're on the table the surgeon ceases to think of you , as rich or poor; as successful or a failure. You are then his most important patient. He will use all his skill to make you well again: He works in the presence of assis- tants, nurses, an anaesthetist, and sometimes visiting doctors and stu- dents—all highly critical people. And now, for the first time, an operation has been televised! How different from eighty years ago when the surgeon was usually a bewhiskered gentleman attired in a frock coat. He made no prepara- tion except to exchange this for a blood-stained smock. Often he did 1101 bother to wash his hands, work- ed with unboiled instruments, and while operating shook a mixture of germs and snuff from his beard alt over the patient. Today, not only the instruments sterilized, but masks, rubber boots and gloves are worn, The three main risks of an oP- erationdare: sepsis, shock and loss of blood. Sepsis, or blood poisoning, is avoided partly by the precautions outlined. But doctors also found that wounds are difficult to heal if they remain open too long. So rap- id—not careless—operating is the - result. Dr. Lawrence, proved by:experi- ment that much time is lost in reach- ing for and handing back instru- ments, He designed special tables which enable the surgeon's hands to fall easily on the instruments need- ed. Surgeons also spend many hours "operating" on lumps of beef- wrap- ped in silk, using either hand to make rapid, accurate incisions, and have found that by this method not only has operating time been re- duced by more than a third, but that their patients heal more rapidly. Where loss of blood is unavoid- able, it is countered by transfusion, and -hospitals maintain stocks of every type of blood. A great ad- vance, too, is the radio knife which ensures virtually bloodless surgery. Attached to one end is a current - carrying cable. As the blade severs, Pigeons That Play Tunes, Ping- Pong, Match Colors And Count Off Seconds If Dr, 5, F, Skinner of Harvard will let you into his psychological laboratory, you will find some pigeons playing ping-pong, as likely as not, or pecking out on a seven - keyed piano such simple tunes as "Over the Fence Is Out, Boys" and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," The pigeons know no more about music than the trained circus seals that manage to blow a few bars of "My Country 'Tis of Thee" on a specially constructed mouth organ to r'ecceive a fish as a reward. The pigeons are used by Dr. Skinner to find out the role of re- ward or punishment in performing tasks. If may be that when he has proceeded far enough, Dr, Skinner will know whether or not, for ex- ample, a child can be trained more effectively by encouraging good be- havior or by punishing misbehavior, writes Waldemar Kaempffert in the New York Thnes.- So far as the experinse'nnts have gone it seems that reward is more effective than punishment. To test this tentative conclusion, Dr. Skin- ner has taught his pigeons not only to work for food, but also to co- operate in snatching colors and playing ping-pong. Pigeons and Humans All this is mere classroom work for the benefit of students. Dr. Skinner's real purpose is to discover new ways of studying human be- havior in various situations. Pigeons turn out to be ideal sub- jects, because they live as long as fifteen years (rats only two or three years), because they have a reaction time comparable to that of human beings, because they have good color vision and, lastly, because they are less susceptible to disease than most laboratory animals. In all of Dr. Skinner's experi- ments, the purpose is to persuade a pigeon to earn a reward for doing something. The reward is always a chance to peck at a bit of food for a few seconds. In some experiments, pigeons roust learn to co-operate or to compete to win the privilege of pecking at the food. A pigeon behaves very much like a small boy who is promised ten cents if he cleans up the back yard. When they learn that reward fol- lows incentive and performance, pigeons will work their heads off. One pigeon pecked away over 35,000 times in five hours for one- third of an ounce of food. To teach the advantage of co- operation in obtaining food, Dr. Skinner pputs his pigeons in a box with a glass partition in the middle. A pigeon is placed on each side of the glass. At the rear of the box is a panel with three pairs of buttons in a vertical row,. one row on either side of the glass partition. To receive food both pigeons must simultaneously strike match- ing buttons in the separated cages. when this is done, a light flashes, a buzzer sounds and the door to the food chute opens. Only one pair of food -producing buttons will worlc each time, but the two birds have little difficulty in exploring the pairs together and selecting the cor- rect pair. Colors Distinguished A small brown and yellow pigeon has demonstrated that pigeons can distinguish colors. In this case the apparatus is asemi-circular cage with bulbs in a box at the top to project a green, blue, red or yellow light. The bird faces four small squares on which are printed "YELLOW," "GREEN," "BLUE" and s'RED " When a red light is turned on in the box, the bird will peck at the sign which reads RED", whereupon the food doer at the bottom of the panel opens and he is rewarded with a bit of grain. Another light then automati- cally glows. If it is blue, the "BLUE" sign receives a peck. Pro- perly trained birds are able to peck at the pertinent sign as fast as the lights are turned on. So it is with playing a tune on a piano of seven keys. Pigeons can also be taught to compete. For this purpose Dr. Skinner has then play a modified game of ping-pong. The court is about two feet square and it has no net. One pigeon tries to bat the ball with his, beak past his opponent. Rallies sometimes go to 'three. or Pigeon Ping-Pong —The pigeons pictured here are playing ping-pong. They're pros, too, because they only do it for gain. The birds, part of flock belonging to Physchology Prof. B, F, Skinner, also play tunes on a toy piano, push buttons to 'et food, tell time and -differentiate between changing colors—like traffic lights. Dr. Skinner uses the pigeons to discover the re- lationship between human behavior and the prospect of reward for work. Pigeons bat table tennis ball back and forth with their beaks, as at top. 'Vhen bird at left missed the ball, which rolled into trough in front of him, it automatically opened feeding sta- tion at right. Lower picture shows winner at right, collecting his reward of grain. four shots but most of the shots are "aces."- The -winner is rewarded with'food-after caeh'shot. - Pigeons'in_some experiments de- velop an ability to "tell time," If an apparatus will pay off only ten seconds after a signal they learn to wait, killing time by turning around once or twice, hopping from one foot to another, or pecking at other parts of the box. Like human beings, pigeons seem to be superstitious, if you can call it that. They tend to repeat any action `that was successful in the past in producing food. Some niay go through complicated move- ments, just as a poker player may walk around his chair for luck The routine will be repeated even though it has no effect on the de- livery of food. the nerve ends are "cooked" and automatically sterilized; the natural proteins are clotted and dried. The radio knife reduces bleeding to a minimum. There are two kinds of shock: mental and physical. The surgeon does all he can to minimize phy- s,cal shock. And mental shock is almost a thing of the .past. The pati- ent is wheeled into the anaesthetic room where an expert, while con- versing naturally to him, gives hint a gentle jab in the upper arm and sends him off to sleep. He sees nothing of knives or fearsome instruments when wheeled into the operating theatre, where the anaesthetist administers a fur- ther dose of suitable anaethetic, suf- ficient to keep him under for the entire operation—possibly- a small affair lasting minutes, or a brain operation which sometimes takes eight hours. The patient knows nothing about it. He wakes to find himself back in bed. Few people realize how deft a surgeon is with his fingers. He not only cuts with accuracy, but sut- ures (sews) with skill. He - is far removed from the ordinary ham- fisted shale trying to .sew on a but- ton. Needlework is part of his training and despite the rubber gloves that encase his hands, he is an artist with silly, thread, nylon, catgut, tine wire, stainless steel and platinum. He must sew flesh, or fat which does not hold stitches easily. He must knit bones. He must sew speedily and tie knots with his ,gloved left FI l'M' — By Harold Arnett BENCH LEVEL LEVEL BENCH OR TABLE, EGS ARE ONE E IN LENGTH *WITH LAG SCREWS,TURN SCREW INTO LOWER END OF LEG UNTIL BENCH IS ADJUSTED .A HOLE FOR THE SCREW IS DRILLED FIRST. DON'T USE SCREWS TOO LARGE AS THY WILL SPLIT THE WOOD SHOVEL PROTECTION A SHOVEL USED INHERE THERE ISA CONCRETE FLOOR MAV BE PROTECTED FROM ABRASION -FROM CONCRETE BY TWO FLAT IRON PIECES RIVETED TO THE BOTTOM, RIVETED 'i"t'p'•i;t!d!'I }'�iP7t'6�i!ir'"''P;i i($'!i�1f''llr:::,pili''"•iifll�fi!Ili€{I!'r'i''I I'ip ° ..f .� �,:,f.. r,. Honors Author — This new stamp honoring the great French satirical writer Fran- cois Rabelais is being issued by the French postal system. The stamp is dark red and has a value of 12 francs—about 3r/z cents. hand, or with two pairs of forceps., Inside the body space is restricted and often he cannot see what he does. He works then by that extra sense which all good surgeons de• velop. To ensure your comfort and safe- ty surgeons spend endless hours sewing—in gloved hands—handker- chiefs together. They practise tying knots with the left hand, and with instruments. If ever you are in hospital, take a good look at the surgeon's long, strong—seldom pointed—sensitive fingers, which do their bit—every bit as much as his brain—to bring you back to health. Every surgeon dust be able to do the glover's stitch, running stitch, mattress and cobbler stitches, hid- den stitches for facial surgery, ' stitches that go over one edge and under the other, and sutures that look like the stitches on a quilt. The cutting out of diseased or- gans; the stitching up of lacerated walls—these are only part of the surgeon's many problems. His job begins when your family doctor interviews him, It ends only when yotr are fit again. Giant Atomic Tulips A giant tulip, five inches in height and four inches wide, with a stem no 'thicker than a man's finger, is the sensation of Lisse, center of the Netherlands bulb -growing industry. This giant tulip and other flowers are the offspring of mother bulbs that were bombarded with X-rays or with neutron,- by Dr. Willens 11. de Mol, director of the Laoratory for Ornamental Plant Research in Amsterdam. After years of experimentation with irradiation, Dr. De Mol has produced tulips with flowers that vary in form from large smooth cups to small blooms with fringes like those of a Chinese fan -dancer. These last are variations brought about by treating the mother bulb, a white and flame -red flower, with X-rays. The first experimental plant of this kind was achieved two years ago; now there are five plants each worth about 1,000 guilders. The mother bulb of the atomic tulip, the Utopia, was subjected to bombardment with neutrons. The result was a scarlet tulip five inches long, with a diameter of four inches. It is a splendid flower, though the stalk is no thicker than a man's anger. The leaves resemble those of a succulent plant. Tulip growers are particularly interested in the fact that ten years after X-ray treatment new variations still appear, proof of the powerful effect of irradiation on tulip bulbs. Geneticists are not as- tonished. They have' long' known that X-rays will bring forth new species of fruit flies by the hundred ,,,_and also new species of plants, Even after the first new acceptable species or variety of a plant ap- pears, much cross -breeding is neces- sary before an acceptable com- mercial producct is obtained. It takes from twenty to twenty-five years, for exxample, to prepare a new tulip for the market. HEALTH HINT—Diabetes funs in families. Members of families in which there is diabetes bbtli on the mother's side and the father's side arc the ones who should be especially careful io avoid over- weight. The Perfect Loaf? What is the ideal loaf of bread— and how is it made? Because he believes he has found the secret, 76 -year-old Lord Teviot has been advocating the claims of the whole- meal loaf (made his way) in the House of Lords. And at his home, Adbury House, Newbury, Berks., a few days later, Lord Teviot dem- onstrated the right way to make the loaf, which, he declares, is his recipe for health and long life. Here's the recipe. Take 2 lb. of wholemeal flour, 2 oz. of yeast, 2 tablespoonfuls of salt and one pint of water. Mix and knead well. Then bake for exactly one hour. Says healthy -looking Lord Tev- iot: "My digestion is perfect and I've had only four teeth out in all my life .Much of the nutriment is taken out of the modern loaf. Give the children 100 per cent. bread and you would rid the country of half its stomach and dental troubles." He points out that although the wholemeal loaf costs more than the white loaf, it is more economical because it is still fresh after a week and none has to be thrown away. More Courtesy In Night Driving Now that warmer weather has ar- rived, more and more drivers will be taking to the highways in the even- ing. We hope they will remember that a road is not a one-way affair, but two-way, with cars coating from each direction, often( at speeds ex- ceeding the legal limit. In the daytime, even when traffic is running beyond the speed limit, there isn't too much danger so long as the driver has his mind ort his driving and his eyes on the road. In the evening and at night added consideration must be given to the matter of glaring headlights. A re- cent study has found that "at speeds of fifty miles an hour a driver blinded by glaring headlights often will travel as much as 150 feet before he recovers sufficiently to distinguish a pedestrian or object on the highway," d often serCityious offendersantown inpeople neglectingare to dim their lights on passing other cars, becacuse they are accustomed to drive with parking lights ott In the city. On the open road they forget that they are using their brights and hence disregard the ordinary courtesy of using passing lights. All drivers are entitled to their driving pleasure, but at the same time the individual driver must remember that a little jtit of courtesy on his part will snake night driving safer for himself and others. HOW TO GUARD AGAINST POLIO As Polio began its seasonal V:. swing, there are indications that last year's epidemic might have marked a turning point in the his- tory of the long war against that dread scourge, Experts think that advances in research may, before iongk, break much of polio's power. But while science girds for the nal assault on the great crippler, POLIO IS STILL DANGER OUS. Out of long experience doc- tors, hospitals and health depart- ments epartments suggest these basic precau• tions for protecting yourself and family against Infantile Paralysis, better known as polio. 1. Avoid crowds, especially con- tact with strangers who may carry the infection. Keep children with their own friends. 2, Don't get over -tired. Fatigue increases the danger of infection, makes results more serious. 3. Keep from getting chilled, Swimming is safe if it is done in. non -polluted waters, for not too long a time. Don't remain in wet clothes. 4. Be clean. Wash hands before eating; keep food covered, well re- frigerated. 5. Be alert to polio's early symp- toms so you can call your doctor promptly. Symptoms include head• aches, sore throat, nausea, fever, muscle stiffness. • A Clip To Remember—Deter Edson, co-respondent for N A Service and this newspaper, got a shock when he had his hair cut by Lee Dynes, a hotel barber. Using a technique he learned from a I+renchnran, Dynes did the complete job with an old- fashioned, straight -edged non -safety razor. Reported Edson: "There was no bloodshed." z Nav6R s;cc FARO Ar r/eaMueSsy. HM's Al -WAYS morn it MOO nun , ' 1MWSPAPAR • ,4 By Arthur Pointer