MARINE SCIENCE 159 
Finally, Senator, I would like to thank you again for your keen study into 
the problems of this science. Anyone acquainted with the field sees in this 
bill a level of high effort devoted to patient work, and to discussion with ‘“ex- 
perts” of various pursuits, and can discern the real intent to fulfill the best 
interest of the country and of the science. It is a bill I am proud to support, 
and one which I am eager to commend to the full consideration of your col- 
leagues in the U.S. Senate. 
Very truly yours, 
WAYNE V. Burt, 
Chairman, Department of Oceanography. 
STATEMENT BY Dr. Harry SopoTKa, Director, DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY, 
THE Mount Sinai Hospirat, New York, N.Y. 
The undersigned, Harry Hermann Sobotka, Ph. D. (Munich), has been re- 
search fellow at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, 1924-26; re- 
search associate at New York University, 1926-28; and director of Department 
of Chemistry at the Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, since 1928. 
My scientific work in the field of organic and biological chemistry has included 
numerous marine biological investigations. As far back as 1936 in the introduc- 
tion to one of my books, I predicted the development of a new branch of bio- 
chemistry, namely comparative biochemistry, that is the study of the composi- 
tion and metabolism of all known living beings. At that time, the knowledge of 
the chemical metabolism of animals was based on and confined to observations 
in man, dog, cat, rabbit, rat, mouse, the proverbial guinea pig, and with a few 
scattered frogs, horseshoe crabs, and sea urchins thrown in for good measure. 
The prediction that the remaining hundreds of thousands of animal species will 
become the subject of biochemical investigation has been borne out fully during 
the last 25 years. Within the domain of animal chemistry, the study of the fauna 
of oceans and lakes plays an important role because of their infinite variety. 
I have myself participated in this development and my investigations in this 
field have been greatly facilitated by various marine biological laboratories both 
on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the American Museum of Natural History, 
and by the collaboration of colleagues in marine biology. 
As an instructive example, I should like to mention the study of a poisonous 
principle, occurring in a Caribbean sea cucumber, not a plant, but a cucumber- 
shaped animal related to the starfish. We have isolated the poison from the 
poison gland of these animals and have named it holothurin. Amongst the in- 
teresting properties of this compound, I wish to mention the three following: 
1. Holothurin is a terrific poison for fish and will kill them rapidly, even when 
diluted 5 million times. The sites where they are found are therefore, not sur- 
prisingly, poor in animal life. 
2. A similar poison has been found in starfish and appears to be involved in 
the ravages caused by starfish in the oyster beds along the Atlantic coast. 
8. Holothurin has been injected into rats carrying experimental tumors. If 
the amounts of the poison are kept below the dose that would kill the rat, it 
exerts a definite cancerolytic effect, that is it stops the growth of the cancer and 
even makes it vanish. Since holothurin is still too toxic for the use in therapy 
of cancer, we are at present engaged in unraveling its exact molecular structure. 
This will enable us to produce synthetic drugs of similar constitution to be tried 
in the chemotherapy of cancer. 
I have given these three examples to illustrate what I consider to be three of 
the most important applications of marine biology and therefore, three of the 
most cogent reasons for the prompt enactment of the Marine Sciences and Re- 
search Act. 
1. The poisonous action of holothurin has suggested to the Navy its use 
as a shark repellent. This is just one of the innumerable applications of 
marine biology to the use by the Armed Forces, and thus to the security of 
our country. 
2. The knowledge of the chemical weapons used by the enemies of our food 
supply will be of great importance to our fisheries. A little reflection renders 
it obvious that the food requirements of our ever increasing population will 
have to rely in increasing measure upon the products of the ocean. 
8. The study of the chemistry of marine life will contribute to the physi- 
cian’s arsenal in the fight against cancer and other disease. 
