Medicine Looks Ahead 257 



ting of broken bones, amputations, and surgical treatment of 

 varicose veins. 



New instruments, such as an electronic device which gives 

 an electric signal when it detects metal fragments buried in 

 the tissue, and the "radio knife," an electrosurgical apparatus 

 used in brain surgery which seals off tiny blood vessels as they 

 are cut, permit the surgeon to work new wonders every day. 



Electronic Aids 



The electron microscope, which is fifty to one hundred 

 times more powerful than the strongest optical microscope, 

 will permit the scientist to learn more about the functions of 

 the cells in the body, to view deadly types of virus and plan 

 new ways to attack them. Radioactive atoms, which give off 

 the same rays as radium, can be traced through the body. Just 

 as the gunner uses tracer bullets to check his aim, the bio- 

 chemist can use these tracer atoms to reveal the functions of 

 the body. These new techniques and machines will, accord- 

 ing to Professor Gerard, enable scientists to "prepare delib- 

 erately drugs and other substances which can modify cell 

 growth, drugs which specifically hold in check or destroy 

 disease bacteria, including perhaps the tuberculosis germ, as 

 the sulfa drugs and gramicidin already do for many." 



Onion "Broadcasts" 



Shortly after the Russian Revolution a Soviet professor 

 named Gurwich discovered that onion roots "broadcast" an 

 absolutely new form of electromagnetic wave. Other scien- 

 tists checked Dr. Gurwich's discovery and also picked up 

 onion "broadcasts." Because the waves are produced when- 

 ever living cells are dividing and growing, they were called 



