52 LIFE: ITS NATURE AND ORIGIN 



one-tenth part of gum arabic in ten parts of water, when spread 

 on a microscope slide and allowed to dry, showed in some places a 

 "flowering plant," with graceful stems (carbonate) and character- 

 istic four-petalled flowers (chloride). These colloid-crystal effects 

 have been suggested as aids in diagnosis, because subtle changes in 

 body fluids often affect protective action. This principle is the 

 basis of the Lange colloidal gold test for syphilis, which registers 

 differences in the protective action of spinal fluid on highly sensi- 

 tive gold hydrosols. 18 Dr. Karl Landsteiner (Nobel prize, 1930) 

 begins his book "The Specificity of Serological Reactions" (1936) 

 as follows: "The morphological aspects of plant and animal species 

 form the chief subject of the natural sciences and are the criteria 

 for their classification. But not until recently has it been recog- 

 nized that in living organisms, as in the realm of crystals, chemical 

 differences parallel the variations in structure." 



Colloidal Protection 



This important principle has been utilized from remote anti- 

 quity by practical people who, unhandicapped by teachings of 

 what is orthodox to do or to observe, frequently make discoveries 

 that surprise scientists and theorists. The late Dr. Edward G. 

 Acheson put it about like this: "It is often the man that does not 

 know any better who does the thing that can't be done. The poor 

 fool does not know that it can't be done — so he goes ahead and 

 does it." The percentage of success of the practical man is com- 

 monly below that of the trained scientist; but because of close 

 daily contact with practical problems of life, and also their tre- 

 mendous numerical superiority, practical men, in the aggregate, 

 have in many cases made important advances, which later became 

 of theoretical value. When Lord Kelvin's son drove a golf ball 

 farther than theoretical calculations would allow, his father was 

 led to consider the overlooked factor of the spin of the ball. 



From time immemorial the highly effective protective colloid 

 gelatin (or glue) has been used to deflocculate the carbon in Indian 

 or Chinese ink — because it worked. We have recently synthesized 

 ephedrine, which we used to secure from Ma-Huang, a plant illus- 

 trated in the ancient Chinese pharmacopeia. 19 The ancient Egyp- 

 tians, whose extensive technological knowledge was outlined, e.g., 

 by Sir John Gardner Wilkinson nearly a century ago, 20 used gum 

 (probably acacia) for making their water inks; they also made their 

 clay workable, like that of Babylonia, by infusions of straw, as 



