356 Walter Gordy 



whereas burned food, scorched toast, charred steak, etc., have strong radical 

 resonances. The temperature at which a cigarette is burned should have 

 significant effect upon the number of radicals produced, although it may be 

 impossible to produce smoke without producing radicals. If it proves harmful, 

 we do not have to preserve our food by atomic irradiation. 



Acknowledgement — Several of my students, Howard Shields, Harvey N. 

 Rexroad, Frank Patten, and Gene McCormick, assisted with microwave 

 magnetic resonance experiments in connection with the hypothesis proposed 

 here. I am indebted to my wife for encouragement and for assistance with 

 library reference work. 



REFERENCES 



1 . See, for example, comments by : 



G. E. Pake, J. E. Ingram, J. Cambrisson, and J. Uebersfeld, R. Livingston, W. Gordy 

 et al.: Disc. Faraday Soc. 19, 179, 184 (1955). 



2. General treatments of the subject are given in: 



W. Gordy, W. V. Smith, and R. F. Trambarulo: Microwave Spectroscopy, Chap. 5, 

 J. WUey and Sons, New York (1953). 



W. Gordy: Microwave and radio-frequency spectroscopy. In: Techniques of Organic 

 Chemistry, Vol. 9, 71-185, ed. by A. Weissberger and W. West, Interscience, New York 

 (1956). D. J. E. Ingram: Spectroscopy at Radio and Microwave Frequencies, Butterworths, 

 London (1956). 



3. W. Gordy, W. B. Ard, and H. Shields: Microwave spectroscopy of biological substances. 

 I. Paramagnetic resonance in x-irradiated peptides; and 11. Paramagnetic resonance 

 in x-irradiated carboxylic and hydroxy acids. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., Wash. 41, 983-1004 

 (1955). 



4. E. C. Evans: Effects of hydrogen peroxide produced in the medium by radiation on 

 spermatozoa of Arbocia punctulata. Biol. Bull. 92, 99-109 (1947). 



O. Wyss et al. : Role of peroxide in the biological effects of irradiated broth. /. Bact. 56, 



51-57 (1948). 



W. M. Dale: Some aspects of the biochemical effects of ionizing radiations. In: 



Symposium on Radiobiology : The Basic Aspects of Radiation Effects on Living Systems, 



177-178, ed. by J. J. Nickson, J. Wiley, New York (1952). 



R. E. Zirkle: Speculations on cellular actions of radiations. In: Symposium on 



Radiobiology: The Basic Aspects of Radiation Effects on Living Systems, 333-356, ed. by 



J. J. Nickson, J. Wiley, New York (1952). 



5. A. Haddow: Comparative studies of the biological effects of ionizing radiation and of 

 radiomimetic chemical agents. Proc. Int. Conf. Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, 11 

 213-218, United Nations, New York (1956). 



