**- 
who was attached to the Botanical Garden expedition, 
accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Phelps. 
Scientific results will be reported at a later date. 
It may be said, however, that the botanical findings 
were commensurate with early expectations. The orni¬ 
thological collections have proved these mountains to 
have an exceedingly high ratio of endemic avifauna. 
The mountain itself, one of several sandstone or 
quartzite massifs probably exceeding 8000 feet in alti¬ 
tude, will be described more fully when the geologic 
and geographic data have been evaluated. The nomen¬ 
clature of the frontier ranges and the system of sand¬ 
stone table mountains will be worked out in the light 
of the new findings and the scanty historical data 
available. Richard Spruce, the pioneer South Amer¬ 
ican botanical explorer, visited this area 100 yr ago 
and almost certainly approached at least one of the 
smaller sandstone mountains to its base. 
Bassett Maguire 
New York Botanical Garden 
Science News 
The following statement by the Executive Commit¬ 
tee of the Federation of American Scientists has been 
released by M. Stanley Livingston, chairman. 
9 
The majority report of the Personnel Security Board 
which heard the Oppenheimer case bears the imprint of 
fair-minded men struggling unsuccessfully against the 
pressure of a security system extended beyond reasonable 
bounds. The report finds Oppenheimer to be unquestion¬ 
ably loyal to this country. 
Evaluating the charges relating to his past associations 
and beliefs, the report finds that they would not in them¬ 
selves affect his clearance. It finds no substantiation for 
the charge of overt efforts to impede or slow the H-bomb 
program. Nevertheless, it finds it impossible to recom¬ 
mend his continued clearance because of: alleged lack of 
enthusiasm for the H-bomb program, serious disregard 
of security requirements, susceptibility to influence, and 
“less than candid” testimony before the Board. And 
this despite the findings that Oppenheimer has displayed 
‘ 1 a high degree of discretion reflecting an unusual ability 
to keep to himself vital secrets” and that the nation owes 
him “a great debt of gratitude for loyal and magnifi¬ 
cent service. ” It is ironic that this service included a 
major role in producing many of the very secrets the 
security system is designed to protect. 
We believe the majority findings to be unfair to Op¬ 
penheimer. But more than that, we believe them to illus¬ 
trate the dangers and the bitter fruits of a security sys¬ 
tem which is now motivated more by the risks of politics 
than the risks of disclosure of information. The Board 
itself recognizes that much larger issues are involved in 
this case; it notes that the reopening of the Oppenheimer 
case is the result not of a change in Oppenheimer but 
of a change in security regulations and the climate of 
national opinion. 
If it does not make sense to find risk in a man who 
has proven himself in the most secret councils of govern¬ 
ment—and we believe it does not on the evidence so far 
provided—then attention must be directed to the security 
svstem under which the case has arisen. The fault lies, 
at least in part, in criteria so loosely and generally drawn 
that they can even admit to serious consideration, in esti¬ 
mating security status, such fantastic assertions as “lack 
of enthusiasm” for official policy. The threat lies in the 
use of security machinery to dispense with technical con¬ 
sultants whose views m y no longer be acceptable to the 
administration in office. The danger lies in the discour¬ 
agement of independent minded men, including many sci¬ 
entists, from lending their talents to government. 
We hope that the Atomic Energy Commissioners will 
again review the record and, within the bounds set by law 
and Executive Order, do justice to Oppenheimer as an 
individual. But beyond that we urge strongly that the 
entire machinery of security must itself come under re¬ 
view. The American people are seeing samples of the 
mixing of politics and security in such highly publicized 
proceedings as the . . . [certain current] hearings. It is 
to be hoped that these hearings will attract attention to 
the underlying problem—the exploitation of legitimate 
concern for national security for political ends. Security 
machinery has only one justification, to protect a small 
area of vital national information. It cannot efficiently do 
more; it cannot do more without sapping our national 
strength and eventually destroying our traditions and 
practices as a free people. 
It has been necessary to assume, until recently, that 
the rate of oxygen consumption by photosynthetic 
organisms is the same in the light as in darkness. Thus, 
a correction for the dark respiratory rate was applied 
to the “apparent” photosynthetic rate to obtain the 
“true” photosynthetic rate. Recently, studies on respi¬ 
ration rate in light have been made possible by the use 
of mass spectrometer analysis and heavy isotopes of 
oxygen [Brown, Nier, and Van Norman, Plant Physiol. 
27, 320 (1952) ; Van Norman and Brown, Plant 
Physiol. 27, 691 (1952); Brown, Am. J. Botany 40, 
719 (1953)]. Through the use of oxygen 34 to label 
oxygen in the reaction vessel, and by following the 
isotope dilution, the processes could be studied simul¬ 
taneously in the light: C0 2 -f 2H 2 0 —> (CH 2 0) 4- 0 2 + 
H 2 0 (photosynthesis); (CH 2 0) + 0 2 34 —> C0 2 + H 2 0 
(respiration). 
A steady decline in the concentration of 0 2 34 was 
observed, owing to respiration; the disappearance oc¬ 
curred at a steady rate whether in the light or in the 
dark. Simultaneously, unlabeled oxygen released from 
water during photosynthesis increased in the light and 
decreased in the dark, owing to respiration. Thus, light 
was demonstrated to be without effect on the respira¬ 
tion of a photosynthetic organism. These methods 
have been applied to the study of several strains of 
algae and certain higher plants. From this work it is 
therefore demonstrated that light is without effect 
on the respiration of photosynthetic organisms, and 
thus a firm basis is supplied for the afore-mentioned 
correction to obtain the “true” photosynthetic rate.— 
W.J.N. 
An Army dentist, Col. George T. Perkins of Walter 
Reed Army Medical Center, has invented a new elec¬ 
tronic thermometer, the “Swiftem,” that will give an 
accurate reading in 5-7 sec. It works through a car- 
boloy thermistor at the end of a stainless steel probe. 
June 11, 1954 
827 
