Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 November 1949 — Page 27

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KEgoE rl

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:

Melbourne, Lisbon, Zurich, Hong Kong, Bangkok; Cal-

W. A Dally. Wictobiolagith (left) and Dr. J.

M. McGuire,

microbiological research head, check, points from which soil sam-

ples have

Kreasived for testing.

Vial of Soil From Some Far Clime May Yield Cure for Dread Disease

_ By VICTOR PETERSON DIRT UNDER THE FEET of man some day may yield new wonder drugs like penicillin and streptomycin. In the soil of the-2000-block of -N:-Meridian-8t.-or steaming jungles of the Amazon may be locked the source of drugs which will bring relief from disease. The search is not simple. Trial and denial confront scieritists probing the unknown in their ceaseless search. Ell Lilly & Co. researchers today are helping write and rewrite this romantic chapter in the history of medicine. From the world over soil samples have funneled into the sparkling clean-

| liness of their laboratories,

Aires, Ahmedabad and Cebu package postmarks attest the scope of the quest. And these are but a few. Boil samples from some 300 remote areas have been carefully catalogued. An additional 300 samples have been _taken throughout the United States. This is the great new field of antibiotic research. A pinch of earth teams with life, millions

of bacteria, hundreds of thousands of actinomyetes, hundreds of molds. “But 1's Tike looking for the needle in the haystack. Nothing may develop, but no avenue of research can be overlooked.

Today the top six inches of soil promise the greatest hope for the development of new drugs-—drugs which might wipe out the dread of polio, the nuisance of the common cold, the scourge of tuberculosis,

Xia

If new wonder druge ould be developsd by BF Ully & Cos, the fiom is capable of going nto-mare production as these giant processipg tanks indicate.

smallpox; measles and ‘a score of others, » - » FOR TWO YEARS Lilly scientists in starched white have worked in the hospital-like hush of their laboratories seeking to unlock the .door to. health through new medicines. Heading up the work under Dr. E. C. Kleiderer, assistant director of the research divison, are. Dr. J. M. McGuire, microbiological research chief, and W. A. Dally; microbiologist. Some samples look promising. These are subjected to repeated testing. If one should develop, it would be at least two years from determination to marketing.

Before any such drug reaches the public it must be proved

stable in character; ‘non toxie in effect, active in the human body, economically feasible in production. Further, proper dosage must be decided. * » » THE CHANCE of such discoveries; however, spur scientific effort. Currently, the emphasis is on soil samples from foreign lands. Scientists feel the best bet-lies in dirt from

“other ‘climes because of the:

difference in inhabiting .organisms and those which fall to the surface from the air, To gather these, the drug firm sgnt stérile bottles to medical representatives over the world. Friends of the company. also assisted in collecting samples. The possibility of loosing upon the nation some strange disease inherent in the

soil necessitated extreme. care in handling. When a new drug is found, its initial step will have been in a test tube. By progression it expands to possible production in 12,000 gallon tanks. Virtually none of the soll pinches dropped into sterile water for dilution ' reach this stage, but all must follow a pattern of control in Experi. mentation. & . celica lovin

"ONCE THE SOIL is diluted

and the micro-organisms begin to grow, researchers isolate them into the various types of bacteria, molds and actinomyvetes. The latter appear most likely to produce antibiotics for treatment of coursing virus diseases which run rampant courses in man. The growths are placed on

e Indianapolis Times

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1040

§

Testing antibiotic fluids on infected mice are (front * oui) Misses Barbara Krutzsch, Patricia Bradley and Janet Vahle.

An antibiotic substance shows inhibiting power on vertical streaks of disease-producing micro-organisms.

separate culture plates and allowed to mature. Any antibintie properties then evidence

“BORSA

themselves by inhibiting growth known diseasé producing dace teria and molds stripped on the culture plate, Promising specimens are cultured in liquid. If they refuse to grow in a broth they are abandoned, for only a fluid medium can be used in testing against virus infections. Upon reaching this stage, the microbiological research divis-

: fon supplies serum for the bio-

logical research division where injections are made Into di-

mice.

y ry » » HERE, under the direction of Dr. Ho. M. Powell and L. A. Baker, tests determine the efficiency of the fluids on bacteria, virus and toxin induced aliments. All too often the results prove inconclusive, a new avenue must be explorpd. Statisti-

“white

Miss Gladys culture in drug research.

cal reports show only 10 pee

cent of organisms active, while not more than one

per cent of the latter indicate -

possible general application. The never-ending battle con= tinues, however, as scientists hope to alld new diseases to the ever-increasing list of those conquered.

In recent years antibiotics

have had definite effect on such health horrors as blood poison~ ing, syphillis, gonorrhea, pneu monia; wound inf 3 mengitis, tuberculosis, kidney and bladder infections, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, scrub typhus and typhoid fever.

Each day holds forth the prospect the hour may be at hand when a new wonder drug will come to light at the hand of an EN Lilly & Co. scientist,

5 It would mean salvation from

the soil.

War Orphans Get Hoosier Schooling But Horrors Linger On

“Scholarship

Lutheran Group

"other Hoosier youths five Huros"

a,

Brings 4 of 5

By DONNA MIKELS

“WAR ORPHANS.” That term still brings to mind

o! Europe's bombed, ‘blitzed and bereaved youn

gsters: . But the war orphans nave

grown up. Almost five years have passed and five years have turned the ragged little children of yesterday into earnest young boys and girls of today. ‘The hungry, ragged look is gone, erased by Allied relief. But five years haven't erased

memories—the solemn look re-

mains, . It is perhaps this look of

solemnity, a serious attitude to-

ward life, that sets apart from

pean youngsters transplanted in Indiana by the National Lutheran Council and the Lutheran Child Welfare Association of Indiana.

r - » IN LOOKS, in dress, stances even in speech these five are. much like Hoosier youngsters their age. But they show a more eager desire for

in in-

education. Indiana schools are

“slaking ‘their thirst for Knows ledge much as American food relieved their hunger overseas, Four of these five transplanted Hoosiers were left on

the Indiana Lutheran group's participation in the war orphans resettlement program. The fifth, nine-year-old Sirje Tammer of Latvia came here with her warwidowed mother in the displaced persons program and the two were taken under the wing of the Lutheran group, d All five of the children face schooling difficulties = because their own education was upset by the war and because of language barriers. But these obstacles aren't holding them back.

a ——

Sirje Tammer

~One-of he. " - SXampies “of desire to learn is that * of 19-year-old Ervins Liepa, also of latvia. He is now. a student at Valparaiso University.

ERVINS own education was interrupted by the war, An orphan, he was torn from: a ‘foster parent, the only mother he had known early in 1945 when the advance of the Russian army caused evacuation of his home town in Latvia. . Alone, he walked by night

Sh pw out A's and B's on a report card "ist ait. "

gat REESE aE he reatheg “the safety of a DP camp some

20u miles away in Germany. There he came Lo the attention of Lutheran workers who arranged his transportation to the Urited States and eventually to Indiana. He arrived here in 1947, accompanied by Aivars Grieze, 13, afiother Latvian orphan he had befriended in the camp. The two were the first war orphans brought to Indiana under the Lutheran program : Despite his long absences from school Ervins was able to

Aivars Grieze-. «++ he's a 4-H leader.

Ervins Liepa

« + « @ desire to learn,

join the junior class at Technical High School. He worked at odd jobs to help support himself, studied nights and in the summer and was graduated with his class with

—dent

‘Won by Student

good grades. With his diploma he also won the Dr. and Mrs. Henry F. Beckman scholarship

to Valparaiso,“to seek a degree “as Sieotrioal engmesr. a

THE SCHOLARSHIP wasn't enough to keep Ervins in college. So the day after he

was ‘through at Tech he went

itself

to Valparaiso to get not a job,

but jobs. He worked as a waiter, a pinboy in a bowling alley, a farm hand and selling Christ-

' mas cards. These, plus’ student

aid, are helping the boy who wanfs the education the war interrupted. To. augment fhese sums, various Lutheran congregations are donating to Ervins’ -eollege-fund.

Ervins’ scholastic career is the

furthest advanced of his group.

year-old Anna Z., a German girl who is a high school stuin Ft. Wayne. Because Anna is soon to be adopted by her sponsors her name is not disclosed. Wea LIE Anna came to this country in 1948, unable to speak English, Now she is a freshman at Cen-

- tral High in Ft. Wayne, study: wing-pights- and. under tutors to hasten the time she can enter

college. » .::

» HERE IN Indiianapolis another sponsorship is leading: to . and Mrs. Ulysses

Martin Zenk their son. The story of Martin Zenk has been written many times, in the tales of Nazi race extermination atrocities. Martin, son of German mother and Algerian father, was orphaned in babyhood and placed in a Lutheran home in Germany. But in 1942 the Nazi race purge caused the healthy, men-tally-alert boy to be transferred to a .“mental hospital” a thinly disguised extermination center, He was kept there three

"But: not far. behind him: 8.15 ,

{

legal right to call TT.year-old =

A new start in a new lard .. ‘as Sponsors Mr, and Mrs. Ulysses Orrid will seek to 0 adopt their ware

years, “staying ‘alive becaude he was strong enough to be used in labor gangs and to pile the bodies of the less strong into the mortuary.

= His: German: captors: fled when the Russians approached and the

Red army liberated the group. Martin was wandering about Germany with a show troupe when he came to the attention of a group of American soldiers. They became attached to the bright young boy, gave him shelter in the camp school while commanding officers looked the other way. It was one of the soldiers, an Indiana man, who arranged for Martin to come to the U. B. where the Lutheran group placed him with the

“~otphan charge, Martin Zenk,

Orrids, “one of the sponsor fams

ilies who have offered to aid the war orphans, ” ~ »

HERE MARTIN is attending

——

= School 81-40 hrush- Alp. of. schooling: ~The youth, —w

speaks five languages, including near-perfect English, hopes to enter Shortridge next year.

The two. remaining of the

quintet, Alvars and Sirje, are younger than these three but they too are making progress in school. Aivars, who saw his father flee the Russians only to be forced into the German army and lost in Berlin, was left alone when his mother died in 1945. He was alone until Ervins

_ child it was “gut.”

befriended: ni an ——— mr get to the U. 8. Now with: a farm family in Ft. Wayne he is attending school and active An 4-H works,

trie onty—tn—this—

lish. ‘When she brought home her first report’ card from Trine ity Lutheran School last wereld she anxiously asked her mother, employed at the Lutheran Chil dren's home, if it “ist gut?”

- Mrs, Tammer relayed the same

question to the Rev. A. G. Deke, executive secretary of the Luths eran Association. Glancing at the A a B-stud-ded card, the Rev. assured the anxious mother and

»

Clem propites a.

since June, knows little Eng oe

Deke’ -

Times Reporter Ventures Into The Weird World Where ‘Quiet Spirits Dwell

By JEAN MANEY IN THE BASEMENT room of a North Side home 15 men

and women sat perfectly still

arranged in a circle—waiting for the seance to start,

in straight, hand-backed chairs It was my

first venture into the realm of “spirits” and “voices” from beyond. “One of the spirits has been playing jokes on me all week,”

a dignified gray-haired matron said | ina ‘matter of fat to tone, Bhe

pulled out her collapsible trumpet, through which she said the ~ spirit voices are amplified, and placed it. on a round table in the center of the room. A frail old man said proudly that his people didn't need trumpets. “My wife comes to me all the time. We laugh and talk, T've found the open door.” She

“The spirits speak 1 independently, without using my voice,” she explained. Then the seance began. The lights went out. The, room was in total darkness you couldn't possibly see the person next to you or even your own hand. “5 » “OUR FATHER, Who art in the medium began

volce of a deceased spiritualist minister. The voice told us it would bring the other spirits to us. “John, this is Addie,” a voice whispered in the darkness, “I'm with you always and I'm so proud of you,” ° The old man's voice shook. “Addie, am I doing good?” he asked. “And will . Hazel and Bill be OK?" “Yes,” John, they'll overcome all their obstacles. I'm so “proud of you. God- bless you, Dear. " The voice faded. “God bless you Addie. Goodby. You see how clear her voice is—she never has to use =r.

Someone else in the circle added, “I think it's the spirit of a bride. She's looking for someone.”

I looked all around and finally under my chair. I couldn’t see any lights, “The vibrations aré very strong tonight,” this was the medium’s voice. “I think the bride just came to visit us she doesn't seem to know, anyone here.” % “Bertha, this is Clarence,” said a weak voice. The circle quieted down. , “Clarence, my son, I'm so glad you could come to me tonight. Are you happy and is

your sister with yours Bertha

, you're

come all your obstacles, (All the spirits had trouble pronouncing the word obstacles.) God bless you.” “God bless you, too, Clarence.” There was a crash. Clarence had dropped the trumpet before going back to the spirit world, the medium said, The circle members told me that ‘a young girl's spirit kept coming to me. They sald they

could .see her by my chair, Fi«'

nally she spoke in a low, almost inaudible, voice, “This is ~— I'm so: glad here and that I can come to you. You must come again. I'm so proud of you and #0 is ——" her voice faded

; get ange ¥

were

-disappointed when couldn't | identify the voice. They were pleased, though, when they said they saw my grandfather appear. The medium’ said he was grandpa because he pointed to nie, she. sald. » » »” I HEARD a voice say, “I'his is Grandpa. This is my first time to do this, Can you hear me?” 1 assured him that I could and told him to use a trumpet. “I'm so proud of you," he sald. “Keep on with what you're planning and everything will work out. You'll overcome all your obstacles. God bless you.” “God. bless you,” 1 answered.

Just then “Grandpa” dropped §

the borrowed trumpet and asked another for directions. “I'm new at this. How do:

The seance lasted three hours. It got very hot and close in the dark basement room, but every one received one or two messages from the “spirits.” Sev. eral times during the evening we sang hymns to bring the spirit world closer to us: A voice that identified himself as the spirit of Mark Twain visited our circle just before it ended. It spoke to us on the wonders of the spirit world and congratulated us on finding the “open door.” . The circle members reported that at various times they'd

met, in spirit form, Will Rogers,

Buffalo Bill and St, Patrick.

can overcome here,” he advisied. After he departed we sat in darkness for a few minutes, Then the medium turned on a shaded blue light. After our became ;

found the open door and you obstacles