TEST A: EXPLOSION IN AIR 



The third important effect of severe exposure to 

 gamma radiation is reduction in the body's ability to 

 prevent excessive bleeding. The injured bone marrow 

 is no longer able to produce the so-called platelets which 

 normally circulate in the blood. Platelets are the 

 particles that produce the enzymes essential to blood 

 clotting. Without platelets, the supply of the enzyme 

 vanishes. Then, when bleeding starts anywhere in the 

 body, the blood is unable to form clots ; bleeding con- 

 tinues. Hemorrhagic patches may appear almost any- 

 where on the body's exterior or interior; such patches 

 may appear, for example, on the skin or on mucous 

 membranes. Severe hemorrhages may cause death.* 



Useful correlations of injury and distance of the 

 animals from the Zeropoint were made. Additional 

 correlations were made between injury and intensity 

 of effect responsible. This latter correlation was made, 

 of course, taking full account of the exact degrees of 

 protection afforded the animals. Captain Draeger's 

 records show the exact location of each animal; and 

 by combining these data with the measured values of 

 peak pressure, thermal radiations, and gamma radia- 

 tion, very useful analyses result. 



The effect of the gamma-ray dosage given the mice 

 will not be known for some time. These animals were 



* Although exposure of the entire tody to a few hundred roent- 

 gens may he fatal, exposure of only a small part of the body may 

 produce relatively little injury. There is at least one laboratory 

 case on record in which a patient's brain was given an X-ray ex- 

 posure of 24,000 roentgens, and the patient survived. 



43 



