May-June, 19i5 



CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN 



Pager 



"ROMANCE OF WOOD" ENDS 

 SUNDAY LECTURE SEASON 



"The Romance of Wood," an entirely new 

 subject not presented in any of his previous 

 seasons, will be offered as the Sunday after- 

 noon lecture of Paul G. Dallwig during May. 

 This will be the concluding presentation in 

 the Layman Lec- 

 ture series for the 

 current season; 

 Mr. Dallwig will 

 resume lectures 

 on Sundays next 

 November. 



Mr. Dallwig 

 supplies the fol- 

 lowing summary 

 of what he in- 

 tends to cover in 

 "The Romance 

 of Wood": 

 He will tell the romantic history of our 

 ancient forests and how they served our 

 pioneer settlers; and will relate the interest- 

 ing history of pulpwood, plywood and 

 veneers. He will also explain the difference 

 between hardwood and softwood, and the 

 terms "solid," "veneer," "genuine" and 

 "imitation" as applied to mahogany and 

 walnut. In addition, he will explain the 

 startling new scientific discoveries making it 

 possible to twist, bend or mold wood like 

 clay, yet make it as hard as steel and smooth 

 as glass. As a special feature he will drama- 

 tize early logging operations — the life in the 

 camp bunkhouses, as well as the actual 

 felling of the timber in the forest, and the 

 log drive. 



Lectures begin at 3 p.m. (an hour later 

 than in previous seasons) in the lecture hall. 

 The heavy demand by the public, and the 

 necessary limitation of audiences to the 

 accommodations, make it essential to require 

 advance reservations. Lectures are re- 

 stricted to adults, and children cannot be 

 admitted. Persons desiring to attend are 

 advised to apply several weeks in advance 

 by mail or telephone (WABash 9410). 



PENICILLIN 



By WILLIAM A. DAILY 



(Mr. Daily, of the Biological Research Divi- 

 sion, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, 

 Indiana, has been a frequent visitor to the 

 Museum's cryplogamic herbarium since 1939, 

 doing research on algae. He is now working 

 on penicillin in the Lilly laboratories.) 



In 1929, Alexander Fleming of St. Mary's 

 Hospital in London proposed the name 

 "penicillin" for the powerful antibacterial 

 agent produced during growth of the blue 

 mold, Penicillium notatum Westling. For 

 approximately ten years following Fleming's 

 brilliant work, his results were not followed 

 up by other investigators and the study of 

 mold antibiotics was left dormant, mainly 

 because of the sudden appearance of the 



sulfa drugs. However, research was revived 

 by British scientists, notably Florey and his 

 colleagues, and subsequently many Ameri- 

 cans turned their attention to the problem. 



The production of penicillin is a difficult 

 process influenced by a host of factors. 

 Briefly, the mold selected for its high 

 potency is inoculated into suitable media 

 and grown at optimum conditions to pro- 

 duce abundant spores. When these are 

 mature, they are transferred aseptically to 

 liquid media. 



Penicillin has been obtained by "surface" 

 culture in small bottles containing about a 

 pint of liquid or, more recently, by "sub- 

 merged" culture in huge aerated tanks con- 

 taining thousands of gallons of media. The 

 antibacterial substance exuded into the 

 media during growth of the mold is extracted 

 and refined by a long, complicated process. 



The finished commercial product is a deep 

 reddish-orange powder. Potency is lost 

 rapidly while in the liquid state; therefore, 

 penicillin is dried in vacuo as a sodium or 

 calcium salt and stored as such. When 

 ready for use, the powder is dissolved in 

 saline solution to produce a yellow liquid. 

 It is an acid with a faint but characteristic 

 odor and bitter taste. 



Therapeutically, penicillin is effective 

 when administered locally, as well as 

 intravenously. It is most valuable in the 

 treatment of those diseases caused by the 

 pus-forming bacteria. The organisms re- 

 sponsible for pneumonia, meningitis, gonor- 

 rhea, and syphilis are rapidly killed or 

 inhibited in growth by its action, while 

 those causing typhoid fever and a form of 

 food poisoning are less sensitive. Some, 

 such as those producing plague, cholera, 

 dysentery, and tuberculosis, are quite 

 insensitive. 



Future research will determine more 

 nearly the full therapeutic value of this 

 timely drug which has equaled and in many 

 instances surpassed the sulfa compounds in 

 usefulness. 



AFRICAN LEG MAKEUP 



The subject of leg makeup, of all things, 

 has attracted the attention of the Museum's 

 Department of Anthropology. Dr. Wilfrid 

 D. Hambly, Curator of African Ethnology, 

 comments that American girls' complacent 

 assumption of originality in their solution 

 of the problem caused by lack of nylons 

 and silk, is quite unjustified. 



The idea was anticipated years ago by 

 policemen — African tribesmen civilized and 

 trained for police work, and used in the 

 service of the government of Nigeria 

 (British West Africa). Likewise, Africans 

 enlisted as soldiers in the service of the 

 British Empire completed their uniforms 

 with leg makeup of a sort, says Dr. Hambly, 

 as a result of observations made some years 

 ago when he conducted the Frederick H. 

 Rawson West African Expedition. 



"The uniform of the Nigerian police was 

 a dark blue, with knee breeches, and blue 

 puttees," said Dr. Hambly. "But more 

 often than not the feet were bare, yet they 

 were resplendent with an unnatural jet 

 black luster. Indeed, no shoes were worn, 

 for all the toes were visible, but at a distance 

 there was a remarkable effect of wearing 

 patent leather shoes polished to a dazzlingly 

 high degree. 



"The solution of this mystery came unex- 

 pectedly during an early morning visit to a 

 government station where a number of 

 police were preparing for parade. All their 

 feet were up on a low wooden bench, and 

 shoe polish was being liberally applied to 

 the bare pedal extremities up to the lower 

 edge of the puttees. The men then vigor- 

 ously brushed until the skin of their feet and 

 ankles assumed a polished surface." 



JOHN W. MOVER 



C. Sp., USNR 



MOVER IN ACTION 



From The Analog, publication of the 

 U.S. Naval Air Station, Anacostia, D.C., 

 the following news has been received about 

 Mr. John W. Moyer, Museum Staff Taxi- 

 dermist, on leave for service in the Navy: 

 "Several months ago C.Sp. John W. Moyer 

 was lugging cameras and other varied photo- 

 graphic equipment 

 th rou gh North 

 Africa, Italy, Eng- 

 land, and France. 

 Sent on this tour by 

 the Bureau of Medi- 

 cine and Surgery, his 

 photographic rec- 

 ords on 16 mm. color 

 film deal mostly with 

 the Army and its 

 medicine. Eight 

 types of wounds 

 common to the Med- 

 iterranean area were 

 chosen, and a complete record of treatment 

 was photographed. Everything in connec- 

 tion with the wound from its occurrence to 

 the evacuation of the injured man back to 

 the U.S. was recorded. Chief Moyer was 

 on a number of hospital ships, including the 



newest one afloat 



' 'After spending three weeks in the south- 

 ern part of England where robot bombs were 

 everyday occurrences. Chief Moyer learned 

 to respect this Nazi revenge instrument. 

 He says it was not a pleasant experience, for 

 the robot bomb is actually more terrifying 

 and more horrible than anyone who has not 

 seen its effects can imagine. 



"On the brighter side, however, is the 

 Chief's report that in all of his eight months 

 of travel and work on this series of pictures 

 concerning Medicine in Action he did not 

 see a man die on the operating table, and 

 only one who had been brought in for treat- 

 ment. He believes that 98 per cent of the 

 wounded men live." 



