252 Miracles Ahead! 



egg white, will deprive a patient's tissues of biotin and thus 

 check the cancer process. The results so far have been de- 

 scribed as indicating the advisability of further tests. 



Research Work on the Common Cold 



The so-called common cold and the "flu" are the source of 

 more lowered physical efficiency and greater economic loss 

 than any other illnesses. During the winter of 1941 an 

 average of fifty million people suffered from colds, and twenty 

 million were affected by the flu, according to a survey by the 

 American Institute of Public Opinion. The common cold 

 frequently paves the way for many kinds of secondary infec- 

 tions that are often serious. A minor epidemic of influenza 

 occurs in the United States every other year. The last major 

 epidemic, which swept the world in 1918, resulted in millions 

 of deaths. 



The germs which cause colds have never been identified. 

 They are presumed to be filterable viruses (so small they can 

 pass through the pores of very fine filters). Not even the 

 electron microscope has been able to spot a cold germ, 

 although it discovered the virus of influenza a protein smaller 

 than some molecules. We have assumed that colds are con- 

 tagious, but recent experiments indicate that this may be in- 

 correct. 



Dr. William J. Kerr and his associates at the University of 

 California Medical School placed healthy volunteers who 

 catch cold easily in a room where the temperature and humid- 

 ity are controlled. Then they were exposed to people who 

 were suffering from colds. These people lived together for 

 days and drank out of the same drinking glasses. Not one of 

 the thirty without colds caught the symptoms from those who 

 had them. This experiment indicates that abrupt weather 

 changes, overheating, and exposure to drafts have more to do 



