12 ADVANCEMENT OF MARINE SCIENCES 



HEALTH FROM THE SEAS 



The sea as a source of food has been known ever shice Stone Age 

 man left shell mounds on the shores and Brazilian aborigines ham- 

 mered fishhooks out of gold, a metal for which they knew no other use. 



Life m the sea other than fish, shellfish, and such huge marine 

 mammals as whales, walruses, and seals, until recent times was 

 considered useless, if not possibly a menace. 



Then a few — and a very few — inquisitive scientists began to wonder 

 what fish feed on and to trace the chain of life that exists in infinite 

 and complex variety in the ocean. 



The chain leads down from large fish who eat smaller fish, who in 

 turn eat lesser fish and on down the ladder of hfe to the minute 

 zooplankton, which feed upon microscopic diatoms and phytoplankton. 



Marine microbiology, bacteriology, and toxicology, which treats of 

 poisons and their antidotes, became suddenly important branches of 

 biology, divisions which may become as useful to mankind as study 

 of the fishes that it eats. Many of the organisms in the seas hold 

 clues to remedies for man's ills. 



This was recognized by the American Medical Association last year 

 when it published in its magazine Nation's Health a report on the 

 discovery of "an antibiotic of marine origin which in the test tube is 

 eft'ective against hospital-plaguing stapliylococcus aureus." The dis- 

 coverers: Dr. John M. Sieburth of the Narragansett Marine Labora- 

 tory, Kingston, R.I., and Dr. Paul R. Burldiolder, Director of the 

 Kil^chawan Research Laboratory on Long Island. 



Titled "Miracle Drugs from the Sea," the article cited a number of 

 other specific discoveries from the ocean and added: "The sea may 

 be an untapped reservoir to answers to scores of medical problems." 



Medical implications of marme research are vast. 



Dr. Dixy Lee Ray, consultant in biological oceanograpliy to the 

 National Science Foundation, testified before the committee at hear- 

 ings on S. 901 in part as follows: 



A number of potentially important antibiotics are known 

 to be produced by marine micro-organisms, and recently an 

 effective antiviral agent lias been found in the muscles of 

 abalone. 



Vitamins, health foods, blood extenders, are all known to 

 be produced by a variety of marine plants and animals. 



Carrageen, extracted from certain seaweeds — Chondrus 

 crispus, or Irish moss — appears to be effective in the treat- 

 ment of stomach ulcers. 



Some marine animals harbor no enteric bacteria. AMiether 

 this is due to production of antibiotic or lysing agents by the 

 digestive tissues is not at present known, but if it could be 

 determuied, the information might have implications 

 for treatment of bacterially caused digestive ailments hi 

 man * * *. 



One of the most active fields of medical research today 

 involves studies of tissue compatability and the nature of 

 immunity. Here animals we call sponges are especially 

 useful experimental material for their tissues can be sepa- 

 rated into the constituent cells tliat then are capable of re- 

 aggregating to form the typical animal once more. 



