Health and Light
John N. Ott
The Effects of
Natural and Artificial Light on Man and Other Living Things.
How light can work for you ...
for your health, your emotional well-being and your vibrant energy ...
no matter where you live or work!
Published by Pocket Books – New York
Copyright John Ott Pictures, Inc.
First printing 1973 – ISBN:
0-671-80537-1
Reprint edition (April 1,
2000) – ISBN: 0-898-04098-1
[
This is a Must Read Book for ALL Parents, and a MUST HAVE BOOK for ALL
Teachers, School Administrators, Social Workers, Doctors, Clergy and Court
Officials !!!
Science Teachers: This book will provide you with dozens of ideas for science fair
and classroom projects. — Tommy — ]
INTRODUCTION
Although slow-motion photography has been known for many years, it has not been popularized until recently, when Americans have come to expect “instant replays” in sporting events on television. These are motion pictures taken at higher-than-normal speed. When they are then projected on the screen at normal speed they appear to slow the motion and make it possible to analyze a golf swing, determine the winner of a horse race, or follow a football player who receives a pass and runs for a touchdown.
There had been little use for the opposite type of
photography, which gives the illusion of speeding up motion by means of taking
single exposures at relatively long intervals until John Ott began, while in
high school 45 years ago, to experiment with what is now known as “time-lapse”
photography. Fortunately for mankind, his hobby led eventually to a full-time
career as a photo-biologist. It is also fortunate that he had the fortitude to
persevere against great odds; his chosen field was so new that much of the
necessary equipment had to be designed by him and custom-built. Furthermore,
some projects that he undertook required whole years to photograph even though
the showing time of the resultant film was only a minute or two. Flowers and
plants were among his first subjects. One of these films involved the growth of
the banana from the emergence of the first shoot to the mature fruit. This
project required ten cameras and two years to complete. Another sequence
showing flowers, made to appear to dance by controlling light direction and
temperature, took three years to produce –
even though it lasted only two minutes on the screen.
Anyone who has observed individual cells under a microscope is aware of the fact that activity usually occurs so slowly that nothing seems to be happening. However, because of Ott's pioneering work in time-lapse photography, science has a new and invaluable tool, which has almost limitless application. It is now possible, for example, to observe and record what happens within a single living cell – or to watch mitosis, or cell division, take place and to see changes that occur when a given stimulus such as a drug is introduced into the cell's environment.
It was while conducting a series of experiments in which individual cells were being photographed as certain drugs were introduced into their environment that Ott noted that changing the filters over the camera lens from one color (or wavelength) to another often had a greater effect on the cells than the drugs. This observation led to further studies on whole animals and the discovery that the quality of light is of great importance to both animals and man. It had long been recognized that the quality of light is important to plants, but Ott's work now showed that the process of photosynthesis in plants is only carried on at full efficiency in the presence of the complete spectrum of sunlight.
Man has lived on this earth for at least 100,000 generations and has been almost completely dependent upon the sun for light – until about five generations ago when Edison developed the incandescent lamp. Research has now demonstrated that the full spectrum of daylight is important to stimulate man’s endocrine system properly and that he suffers side effects when forced to spend much of his time under artificial light sources that reproduce only a limited portion of the daylight spectrum. It therefore became obvious to Ott ten years ago that the design of artificial light sources should be changed to broaden their spectral analyses. His attempts at that time to persuade two of the major manufacturers of light sources in America to do so failed, but it was my good fortune subsequently to be instrumental in prevailing upon the executives of a third company in the field to undertake such a project arid to retain him as consultant. As a result, it has since produced a fluorescent light source that – for the first time in history – virtually duplicates daylight. Some remarkable testimonials have come from many industrial plants that have since installed this new lighting such as substantial reductions in absenteeism and accident rates and marked increases in production.
It would not be presumptuous in the least to look at him as a twentieth-century Leeuwenhock. As the 18th century Dutch scientist used the scientific “toy,” – the microscope – and opened up new worlds to mankind, so has John Ott taken the motion picture camera, added Leeuwenhoek’s “toy” and made a remarkable break through in the study – and understanding – of light.
Recognition of his untiring research work has come to John Ott in the form of citations and awards from horticultural, scientific and medical societies, plus the Grand Honors Award of the National Eye Institute (in 1967) for an important contribution to eye care. In 1971, he was asked to give a seminar to scientists who were designing the specifications for the first United States space station. They wanted his counsel on the problem of growing vegetables for astronauts in space. His papers have been published in many scientific and educational journals, including those of the New York Academy of Sciences, the National Technical Conference of the Illuminating Engineering Society, the Fourth International Photobiology Congress at Oxford, the New York Academy of Dentistry and others.
There is much still to be learned about the effects of light
on plants, animals and man, but there is enough knowledge already available to provide
important guidelines to manufacturers, architects and scientists who can
directly influence the environment in which millions of people work and live.
It has been my privilege to enjoy the opportunities of collaborating with John
Ott in a small way for the past ten years. I firmly believe that the reader
will gain important insights from Health and Light.
October 1972
– JAMES
WINSTON BENFIELD, D.D.S.
CONTENTS
Introduction by James W. Benfield, D.D.S.
Preface
3. THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
4. RELUCTANT
APPLES AND TIMID TIGER LILIES
5. LIGHT
AND THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
7. AN
EXPERIMENT WITH PHOTOTHERAPY ON HUMAN CANCER PATIENTS
8. CHLOROPLASTS
AND LIGHT FILTERS
10.
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF TINTED LENSES
11.
EFFECTS OF RADIATION ON
BIOLOGICAL
13.
TRACE AMOUNTS OF RADIATION AND FULL-SPECTRUM LIGHTING
15.
ROUTINE OPPOSITION TO NEW IDEAS
AS STANDARD PROCEDURE
PREFACE
Ever since the research of William Rowan in the 20s we have known that seasonal changes in the lengths of daylight and darkness have a significant effect on bird migration as well as upon mating periods for some species. Out of such studies, also, have grown the poultry industry’s programs of lengthening short daylight hours in winter by means of artificial light in order to increase egg production. The response of the hens is due to the light energy entering the eyes and stimulating the pituitary gland. This has given rise to strong evidence that the endocrine system of mammals responds to particular wavelengths of visible light as well as other areas of the total spectrum, including the longer wavelengths of ultraviolet that penetrate the atmosphere.
This book is the outgrowth of extensive time-lapse photography, described in an earlier book, My Ivory Cellar. Some of that work will be summarized in order to provide the proper prelude to what we believe to be the pioneering studies of our Institute today. Actually, most of the research on the influence of light on the human endocrine system has grown from our observation of plant and animal growth responses to wavelength variations in the distribution of light energy – a result of time-lapse pictures of plants growing and flowers blooming. This work has been developed over more than forty years.
As man has become more industrialized, living under an environment of artificial light, behind window glass and windshield, watching TV, looking through colored sunglasses, working in windowless buildings, the wavelength energy entering the eye has become greatly distorted from that of natural sunlight.
Much of the development of modern lighting has, unfortunately, been toward the use of light sources of increasing distortion. For example, the “natural white” fluorescent tube used in many hospitals to give the patients more color is greatly distorted from natural light. The sharp peak of energy in the red or longer wavelengths can make a pale, peaked patient look as though he had just come back from a vacation in a sunny climate. Flattering? Perhaps, but it creates an utterly false impression.
The tremendous significance of the rapidly developing body of knowledge about variations in wavelengths of light energy has finally spurred several big corporations to design products that permit the full spectrum of natural sunlight to enter the eye. Too little is known generally, however, about the importance of providing an environment of natural light indoors, where so many people must spend a major part of their time. It is our hope at the Environmental Health and Light Research Institute that this book will help chart new pathways toward that goal, as well as toward breakthrough findings in the fields of various ills that plague mankind.
– John N. OTT
Environmental Health and Light Research Institute
Sarasota, Florida
THE LIGHT SIDE OF HEALTH
"You look in the pink of condition.”
“I could tell that he was positively green with envy.”
“When I heard her say that, I saw red.”
Each of these phrases uses color in a figurative manner – relating a hue to an emotion, physical condition or attitude. When we use such expressions we recognize of course that we don’t mean to have them taken literally. When was the last time you saw someone actually turn green with envy?
Still, as the scientific evidence comes in, we are becoming more and more aware of the fact that a very definite relationship exists between the colors that make up what we perceive as “white” or natural sunlight and our physical and mental health.
Perhaps the use of the word “colors” in the above sentence is a bit misleading. We generally think of a color as something we can see. But what we know as colors makes up only a part of the spectrum.
For scientific purposes, different colors are defined in terms of a measuring system in which the wavelength is the standard unit. Each color has its own wavelength. The length of a color’s wavelength determines its proper place in the spectrum.
But there are areas of the spectrum we cannot see. These areas are also measured in terms of wavelengths. The wavelengths, which define these areas, are either longer or shorter than those, which define colors.
For instance, ultraviolet wavelengths are shorter than those to which the human eye is sensitive. Those beyond human perception at the opposite end of the visible spectrum are infrared. There are areas of the spectrum even shorter than the ultraviolet band or longer than the infrared band. Some arc capable of penetrating through most ordinary types of building materials as easily as the light we see passing through glass.
Wavelengths shorter than ultraviolet and longer than infrared are usually referred to as radiant energy. It is possible to be in an environment in which the eye cannot perceive anything except total darkness and yet be exposed to radiant energy in one form or another with the organism responding accordingly. The latter statement is one, which poses a fascinating mystery – a mystery I became more and more compelled to probe into. And so I found myself becoming more deeply involved with responses to light and radiation as I pursued my work in time-lapse photography.
I began to open up whole new areas of investigation into light, particularly when I added the microscope to my equipment. Microphotography has been known and used for many years; I put it into motion via time-lapse and found things no one had ever seen or suspected.
I was able to observe the movements of cells in Elodea grass, but more than that, in the course of my own experiments I learned that the cells behaved quite differently under different colored lights. Mostly, these cells perform in an established pattern when exposed to any natural sunlight condition. I soon found, however, that they broke the established pattern and displayed many variations when different filters were used in the microscope light. I could make the cells go in different directions. I could cause some of them to stand still while others took up the new patterns.
While plants were the first living things I worked with, my quest soon took me to cells from animals. Here again I found that I could create radical changes within the cells by changing color in the microscope. I could increase their metabolic activity. I could kill them.
Working with live animals – laboratory mice – I discovered that various kinds of lighting conditions could affect them physically. Not only did the changing lights cause external physical changes; the lights had a definite effect on their sex lives and life spans.
In order to cover ALL the areas that presented themselves as worthy of investigation, I found myself entering into worlds other than my own, worlds which ranged from Hollywood motion pictures to TV stations, mink farms, a prison, a restaurant where all the employees seemed inordinately healthy, and a dozen other areas I might not have entered normally.
My primary work, of course, centered on my own time-lapse studio and in various scientific laboratories where I was privileged to work or observe.
I was to find clues in very unlikely places – clues to the effects of light on life-and health. Yes, it became clearer after a while that there was some mysterious link between light and the mental and physical health of humans.
The key to all this seemed, to me, to lie in the simple act of light entering the human eye. I found many dramatic examples of changes in health when sunglasses were worn by an individual – or taken away. I found interesting improvements in physical conditions when the subjects were exposed to full-spectrum lighting or exposed to natural sunlight over long periods – without benefit of ordinary glasses.
I learned, with total fascination, of the Congolese who decided to wear sunglasses as status symbols, and what happened to their general health collaterally – or coincidentally.
Most of the things I learned were fascinating and compelling, but one instance, stumbled upon accidentally and which led to some of the most dramatic experiments ever performed, was frightening in its implications. The results of these experiments caused congressional investigation, recall of a product by a major American manufacturer, unplanned and hurried testing in industrial laboratories and radical revision of certain standards in the product involved. The story, described in detail later on, might be called “The Case of the Tired Children.”
Out of all these quests and probings have come some good things, but I still remember the frustration of one who presents a case to science and finds the academic backs turned on him to a large degree. I realize that much more work must be done in the field of light, particularly in those areas where I have shown dramatically that light can and does affect human health; the problem seems to be in getting enough recognition and agreement from science itself to undertake this additional and extended work.
Fortunately, some of the good things I mentioned above have already made progress. One of the ideas I have stressed in linking light with health lies in the fact that ordinary eyeglasses, windows in homes and automobile windshields screen from the eyes most of the ultraviolet which reaches us in natural sunlight. And depriving the human of that ultraviolet can become a strong obstacle to improving health. We humans manage to survive even with that deprivation, but now industry is taking some steps to restore the opportunity of receiving ultraviolet in the way in which it should be introduced into the system. Several companies are now making new types of eyeglasses and contact lenses, which will not block ultraviolet. These neutral gray sunglasses and tinted contact lenses are designed to cut down all wavelengths evenly, including the ultraviolet, so that the natural balance of light will not be upset and colors distorted.
New types of fluorescent lights, which closely duplicate natural sunlight, are now being made. What this does, simply, is bring a close approximation of natural sunlight indoors.
These are but first small steps in the journey toward understanding and proper utilization of light. And they’re only surface-scratchers. One of the areas I am most vitally interested in is cancer research and, as you read along, you’ll learn of some of the startling results I have gained by linking light to cancer therapeutically. And therein lies another of my major frustrations, but that’s a story that unfolds later in this book.
As we have seen, the kinds of intensities of light we are exposed to have a great deal to do with our health. Who knows? Perhaps sometime in the near future relationships between the full spectrum of the sun’s natural rays and health will be better understood. Then, to keep well and happy, we may find ourselves being put on “light diets” in the same way we go on food diets today.
Yes, there is more to the rainbow than meets the eye.
HOW IT BEGAN
The principle of time-lapse photography is very simple. It is
just the opposite of slow-motion pictures, with which most people may be more
familiar. Instead of slowing fast motion down, it speeds up many times faster
than normal such subjects as a flower opening, or the complete growth of a
plant on the screen in a few seconds. The actual time represented may have been
several months or even years. It is somewhat similar in principle to the
animated cartoon type of picture. However, instead of drawing each frame or
individual picture to be photographed by hand with the action advanced a little
each time, live growing subjects are used. It is then necessary to wait for
little growth to take place between each picture. In some instances, with rapidly
developing microscopic subjects, this may be only a few seconds. With the
opening of the petals of an average flower, it would be about every five or ten
minutes, and with something like the development and ripening process of fruit
that takes a much longer period of time, it might be one picture every hour or
two. The time interval between pictures may have to be changed as the plant
goes through different stages of development, such as the opening of a blossom,
to the slower maturing process of the fruit. Nevertheless, the individual
pictures must be taken regularly, day and night.
In observing the
growth of plants, I noticed that the flowers and leaves always faced into the
light and that the leaves noticeably drooped from lack of water, but would quickly
revive when given a drink. I always placed the camera so that the constant
daylight came from behind and thus the flowers in facing the daylight would
also be facing directly into the camera.
One night I dreamed
up a wild idea of controlling the light, temperature and moisture to make the
leaves of the plants move in different directions. To accomplish this, it was
necessary to construct special flowerpots that would move around on wheels. In
each pot was placed a small electric heating element and a water tube. Many
different flowering plants were tested and primroses were found to respond best
to this treatment. A few more Refinements on my timing contraption and
everything was set. The flowerpots were pulled around on a track like an
old-fashioned cable car, but at a speed of about ½ inch an hour. The heating
elements were turned on at the proper time to wilt the leaves down and the
plants were given just the proper amount of water to revive them again. A
battery of lights was first turned on one side and then the other, which would
attract the leaves from side to side. Thus it was possible to move the plants
around a miniature stage and control both the up and down motion and also
sideward motion of the leaves. It only remained to synchronize this motion to
music. This sequence lasted only two minutes on the
screen but required five years to complete, including an interruption of two
years while I was in the Navy. These dancing primroses have always caused
considerable comment, and later I used them as the opening theme for my
television programs.
Obtaining some of
the necessary electrical equipment for the dancing primroses was often a
problem, especially following the war period while priorities were still in force.
Everybody always wanted to know why I needed a particular type of switch and
what I intended doing with it. At first I tried to avoid any direct reference
to the waltzing primroses but was always given some excuse for a further delay
in delivery of the equipment needed. Finally I told the manager of the sales
department of a particular company that I had to have a certain automatic
switch in order to take pictures of my dancing primroses doing a Strauss waltz.
It was hard for me to keep a straight face. The sales manager must have thought
the easiest and quietest way to get rid of me was to let me have the switch.
The waltzing flowers
were not the only subjects that required special equipment. I had experienced
considerable difficulty in trying to make time-lapse pictures of corn growing
in the glass greenhouse. Although the pictures were good, the corn always grew
spindly. The ears would not develop to normal size, and the leaves were long
and narrow. It was not possible to take time-lapse pictures of corn growing
outdoors because of the wind and weather. The leaves would be in a different
position for each picture. Finally I tried growing corn outdoors and letting
different plants develop to different stages. Then I built a makeshift
enclosure around them and tried to photograph the formation of the ears and
tassels after the plant had grown out in the open and up to the time these
parts began to appear. In making the enclosure, it was more convenient to use
some of the new plastic sheeting that had just come on the market. The corn
grew much more normally under plastic than it did under glass so I began
experimenting with the growing of corn and other plants under different kinds
of plastic.
Most ordinary glass
stops over 99 per cent of the ultraviolet radiation whereas some plastics allow
approximately 95 per cent or more to pass through. The practice of old-time
experienced nurserymen in completely removing the glass sash from the cold
frames during the daytime to expose the young seedling plants to direct
sunlight always interested me. The improved growth warranted the additional
labor of completely removing the sash in place of raising it a little for
ventilation during the daytime, and replacing it again at night when there
might be danger of frost. The results of using plastic in place of glass were
so much better that I decided to build a new plastic greenhouse entirely
without glass. This was unheard of at the time, so I had to call on my friend,
Herman Schubert, to fabricate the entire structure in his machine shop. It was
built in sections, then dismantled and moved to the selected location in the
back yard where it was reassembled again.
The roof, east,
south and west sides were made of clear plastic, so the growing plants would
receive much more sunlight. These large areas had to be covered with automatic
shutters that closed each time a picture was taken in order to have the same
amount of photographic light as in the basement studio. These large shutters,
like giant Venetian blinds, worked independently of each other and
automatically followed the sun so that the louvers all remained parallel to the
rays of light as it moved across the sky. In this way they created the least
amount of shadow and let in the maximum amount of direct sunlight. The north
wall was solid and was painted sky blue to act as a photographic background.
Sky blue seemed to be the most natural color for a background and made it
easier to match backgrounds of time-lapse pictures taken in the greenhouse with
regular shots made out in the field. The new greenhouse also had more headroom
so tall corn and small trees could be grown inside. This made it possible to
start taking time-lapse pictures of many more new subjects, and also created
many more new problems.
When the new plastic
greenhouse was completed to the point where time-lapse cameras could be started, the Ferry-Morse Seed Company
wanted a time-lapse picture of one of their varieties of morning glories. This
certainly appeared to be one of the simplest assignments I had ever undertaken.
I planted some seeds in another small lean-to glass greenhouse by the garage.
This was a good place to start some subjects and grow them until they were
ready to photograph. As the morning glory vines neared the budding stage, I
moved them from the glass house to the plastic house. Everything went well
until the buds were just ready to open. Then bud after bud would collapse.
Could it be the result of having moved or changed the growing conditions during
the bud development period? Any such slight change of conditions should have
been all for the better. Nevertheless, I started more seeds right in the
plastic greenhouse where they could be photographed and nothing would have to
be moved or changed in the slightest during the entire growing period. Again,
exactly as before, the buds collapsed just when they should have opened. I
could remember having seen morning glories growing in glass greenhouses with
flowers in full bloom, so everything was cleared out of the glass greenhouse.
Then cameras, lights, timers, shutters – the whole works – were moved in again,
and more morning glories were started from seed. This all took time and summer
was just about over, but with any luck there should still be time for one more
crop of morning glories. Though still disappointed about the results in the
plastic greenhouse, the morning glories and cameras were all installed in the
old glass lean-to alongside the garage. By slightly swallowing my pride – and
with a little luck – this picture might still be completed during the current year. But, as the buds again reached the point when they should
open, the same thing happened – no luck.
The fact that the
buds still refused to open in the glass greenhouse indicated perhaps the
problem was not with the plastic after all. This in itself was quite gratifying
even though I still did not have the needed pictures or any real clue to why
the morning glory buds persisted in collapsing without opening. One thing
learned right at the start in trying to take time-lapse pictures was not to
photograph plants out of their normal growing season. It is hard enough with
most plants, if not practically impossible, to grow them at all out of season, let alone trying to get flowers
worth photographing People are
not interested in looking at a poor picture, even though it may be of the
impossible. This project had to go down in the records as unfinished.
But I was to get
further clues to the solution of the morning glory problem from a surprising
source. During the very early days of television, I was asked to appear on
several programs and, show time-lapse pictures of flowers. These unplanned
appearances, on one of Chicago's first stations, went so well that I was
invited back again and again. After only a few Sundays of helping the station’s
program director fill a half-hour, I was surprised to see myself listed in the
paper as a TV personality. The Sunday half-hours continued, and even expanded
to include my participation either live or on film in a number of established
programs including “The Home Show,”
“Today,” “Out On The Farm,” and
“Disneyland.”
Late that fall when
the morning glories were causing so much trouble, one program was on the
subject of chrysanthemums. In researching my subject, I was
fascinated to learn how they are grown out of season, most varieties now being
available every month of the year. Largely, chrysanthemums set their buds
toward late summer as the daylight hours shorten. It has now been proven that
some plants, such as wheat, require a certain number of hours of sunlight
before the plants will head up, but with chrysanthemums it is just the reverse.
The plants of course need sunlight to grow, but it is the lengthening of the
dark or night period that controls the setting of their flower buds. When the length
of the dark period amounts to approximately ten and a half hours or more, the
buds begin to develop. It is now common practice for commercial growers to
cover their chrysanthemum plants with black cloth suspended on wires or iron
pipe frames. During the long daylight hours of the spring months, they are
covered over about four-thirty in the afternoon, and not uncovered until about
eight-thirty the next morning. The effect is to lengthen the night period
prematurely or artificially and the chrysanthemums set their buds and come into
flower ahead of their normal blooming period. Likewise, if ordinary electric
lights are turned on in the evening as the days grow shorter, and the night period held under ten and one half hours, the plants will keep on growing taller, and delay
setting their buds.
This sounded like a
possible clue to my morning glory trouble. Maybe the photographic lights going
on every few minutes for five seconds all night long were interrupting the
normal dark period. My morning glories had no problem of setting buds, they
simply wouldn’t open. The light only affected the setting of buds on the
chrysanthemums. After they were once set and showing a little color, they would
continue to develop regardless of the length of the day or night period.
I was also trying to
take time-lapse pictures of poinsettias for my Christmas TV program, and ran
into similar problems. The poinsettia flowers – that is, the colorful bracts –
literally stopped in their tracks as soon as I started photographing them. It
made no difference how far along the flower was. I heard a story from Honolulu
that the Chamber of Commerce there had run into the same difficulty when an
attempt was made to turn floodlights on some of the poinsettias in one of the
parks. It is also known that a streetlight, too near a greenhouse of
poinsettias, will cause them all kinds of blooming problems. Commercial
poinsettia growers have quite recently started to control the light and dark
period to bring their plants into peak bloom on Christmas Day. Poinsettias are
another flower that sets buds and comes into bloom, as the dark night hours
grow longer during the fall and winter period. Accordingly, as the length of
daylight shortens earlier in the season the farther north you go, poinsettias also
bloom earlier up north.
Now it is customary
to turn the lights on in the greenhouses for approximately two hours at
midnight for a ten-day period commencing September twenty-ninth. That is when
poinsettias ordinarily begin to set their buds in the latitude of Chicago. By
turning the lights on and interrupting the night period, the process of setting
buds is delayed, and now the height of the blooming period is attained right on
Christmas Day. In this way the plants are much fresher and will last longer.
All this seemed to
tie into my morning glory problem, but just how was the real question. Nothing
seemed to fit exactly, but nothing further could be done with morning glories
anyway until spring. The winter went quickly, and soon it was time to plant more
seed. When the first buds were ready to open, I had morning glories all over
the place – in the plastic greenhouse, in the basement studio under the big
skylight, in the glass lean-to greenhouse and, this time, outdoors on the
garden fence. The morning glories outdoors bloomed fine, but the ones indoors
still insisted on collapsing just when they should open. I tried cutting down
the intensity of the photographic lights to the point where pictures could no
longer be taken, and still they collapsed. Then I got an idea and,
accidentally, something happened at the same time that gave me the answer.
The name morning
glory is slightly misleading. I had assumed that they open to their full glory
with the morning sun as it rises. But one morning when I was up well before
sunrise, I noticed that the flowers outdoors were already open. In other words,
morning glories are a night blooming flower. Interesting, but still, so are
iris and others that presented no problem photographing. The night-blooming
cereus readily opens only at night even though photographic or other bright
electric lights are turned on in the same room. I decided to stop taking
pictures in the glass greenhouse altogether. That night the morning glories
opened normally. The next night I hung an extension cord with a light on the
garden fence where the morning glories had been blooming normally. It was
connected so that it would flash on each time a picture was taken in the
plastic greenhouse. The next morning the outside morning glory buds were all
collapsed within a perfect circle around the electric light. This showed
definitely the problem was clearly due to the photographic lights interrupting
the night period.
Another incident at
this same time came as a result of concern with the budget. Expenses on this
subject had to be charged to the research and experience account, so I was quite conscious of piling up additional film costs. I happened to
have a short end of daylight type color film, which I thought might as well be
used up. Ordinarily I used commercial Kodachrome, which is color-balanced to
regular photo-flood lamps. As all photographers who take any color-pictures
know, daylight film is balanced to sunlight, which is somewhat bluer than
ordinary artificial lights. Indoors it is necessary to use either a blue filter
over the lens with daylight type Kodachrome film or special bluish lights. This
time I used blue lights instead of the regular ones without giving it a second
thought. The next morning when checking the morning glories I really did give
it a lot of thought, as several of the buds had opened half way for the first
time. What was it? The only possible difference was the use of blue
photo-floods to go with the daylight film. Actually, several of them had been
used, and the bluish light was considerably brighter than the regular lights
that wouldn’t work at all. Could it be because the light was a little blue?
Maybe wavelengths of light had something to do with these morning glory buds.
That night I put
additional blue filters over the slightly blue photo-floods. The next morning
the morning glories were open full and perfectly. The pictures were, of course,
too blue, but after a little experimenting with red filters I could get a
pretty well balanced color picture. The blue filters, in effect, were filtering
out the red wavelengths from the photographic light. It was the red wavelengths
of the spectrum in the photographic lights interrupting the normal dark period
at night that was the controlling factor in preventing the morning glory buds
from opening.
Another equally
troublesome subject was in the works at the same time. This was a time-lapse
picture of the growth of a pumpkin for Walt Disney’s “Secrets of Life.” This
project presented various new problems, particularly in regard to the sex life
of a pumpkin. The pumpkin is a member of the cucumber family, which includes
most of the squashes and melons, and is known as monoecious. This means that it has separate male and
female flowers on the same plant.
To start, I planted a pumpkin under the skylight
in the basement studio. Next, I hung some fluorescent lights over it in order
to supplement the natural daylight and approximate full summer sunlight
intensity. The pumpkin vine grew well, but all the female or pistillate
pumpkin-producing flowers turned brown and dropped off very soon after they
formed. The staminate or male pollen producing flowers grew vigorously but were
of little use all by themselves. Needless to say, no pumpkins developed so I
had to try it again the next year. Meanwhile the fluorescent light tubes had
burned out, and had to be replaced. The hardware store was out of the regular
fluorescent tubes used the previous year and rather than wait for them, I used
some daylight-white tubes. These were generally less desirable and in less
demand, as their slightly bluish color made ladies’ lipstick look a ghastly
purple.
I planted more
pumpkin seeds the second year under the new fluorescent lights and watched
carefully. The vines seemed to grow just as well. The flower buds began
forming, but now all the male flowers turned brown and dropped off, and the
female flowers developed vigorously. Thus for the second time after having
photographed a vine every five minutes over a period of months from the time
the seed was planted until it had grown over fifteen feet, I was confronted
with the problem of all flowers of only one sex. This time I had a perfect
female or pumpkin-producing flower which I figured would open the next day, and
nothing but pictures of the male flower – and a year old at that.
The next day the
flower was open and would have to be pollinated before closing that night if it
was to produce a pumpkin. In this delicate situation I decided to call my
friend, Dr. Harold Tukey, head of the Department of Horticulture at Michigan
State University. I asked if he had any pumpkins growing at this time of year
in the department’s experimental greenhouses, and also if it might be possible
to use any kind of artificial hormones. Dr. Tukey had no pumpkins and advised
that real pumpkin pollen would be necessary under these circumstances.
Next I called Dr.
Dorsey at the University of Illinois, but he had no pumpkin pollen at the
moment, either. Then I called Dr. Julian Miller at Louisiana State University.
Possibly the pumpkins might be blooming in Louisiana, but Dr. Miller told me
there would be none for a week or ten days. This would be much too late for my
beautiful pumpkin flower, which was now in full bloom.
Maybe the pumpkins
might be in bloom a little farther south, so I called Mr. Deatrick of the
Flagler Hydroponic Gardens in Miami. After explaining the urgency of the
situation, he said he would see what he could do. He called me back a little
later in the morning, saying that he had spread the word. By noon an urgent
appeal for pumpkin pollen had been published in the early edition of the Miami
paper and broadcast on the radio so my beautiful little lady flower wouldn’t
die a spinster. By two o'clock that afternoon, someone living in Miami called
in that she had a pumpkin vine with male flowers in bloom and offered it in
this emergency.
Next, the phone
rang. It was a vice president of Eastern Air Lines. He had heard of the plight
of my lady pumpkin flower in full bloom and offered their facilities in the
emergency. He arranged to have the whole pumpkin vine dug up and placed aboard
a non-stop plane to Chicago. I dashed out to the airport and- waited for the
plane. Newspaper photographers and reporters had gathered, but no one really
knew who the important celebrity was. It obviously had to be a movie star or
foreign royalty. No one would believe me when I told them it was King Pumpkin.
The passengers were all held on the plane until the pumpkin was unloaded and
delivered to me. I rushed it out to my time-lapse studio, where I introduced it
to the lady in waiting. Now I am being called Uncle John by a lot of little
pumpkins and particularly the one that starred in Walt Disney’s “Secrets
of Life.”
The fact that either
male or female flowers can be brought forth by controlling slight variations in
color or wavelength of light opens up some interesting possibilities for
investigation. The next step will be to shade various parts of the plant from
the fluorescent light, and try to discover whether the control comes through
the leaves or the flower itself, and just what part of the flower at what stage
of development – and how long the exposure to light must be.
In any case, I had
solved the morning glory problem, even though the pumpkins still left me a
little in the dark.
THE
ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
From the preceding, it’s
obvious that light exerts a profound effect on plants and, as will be seen
later, on all animal life as well. It would be a good idea to pause here for a
brief look at some charts, which show the composition of the total
electromagnetic spectrum. These typical spectral charts explain its various
parts and show the differences in the wavelength energy distribution between
various light sources.
The chart of the
total electromagnetic spectrum shows the continuity of the different
wavelengths pictorially rather than to scale. The length of the different
wavelengths indicated on the chart is from 0.0000000000003937 of an inch for
cosmic rays up to a length of 545 meters for the longest radio broadcast
wavelengths and 3,100 miles for electric waves produced by a 60 cycle
generator. As can be seen in the chart, the wavelengths of visible light
represent only a very narrow band near the center of the total electromagnetic
spectrum.
Sunlight is a broad,
continuous spectrum peaking a little in the blue-green. It then cuts off
abruptly in the ultraviolet at about 2900 angstroms* because of the filtering
effect of the earth’s atmosphere.
*The angstrom in a unit of length, one ten billionth of a meter in
diameter, used in optical or spectral studies. It is applied to macroscopic
measurements such as thickness of light wavelengths, liquid films, molecular
diameters, etc.
The
human eye sees less than 1 per cent of the total electro-magnetic spectrum.
Little is known about the mysterious light sources at either end of the visible
spectrum-the ultraviolet, infrared, and so-called background radiation-but
evidence now seems to indicate that they exert a profound influence on the
physical and mental health of animals, plants and mad.
The longer wavelengths of ultraviolet that do
penetrate the atmosphere at intensities comparable to visible light are
sometimes referred to as near ultraviolet, and include the so-called black
light ultraviolet. The shorter wavelengths of ultraviolet that do not penetrate
the atmosphere are sometimes referred to as far ultraviolet, and include the
germicidal wavelengths that can be very harmful.
The ordinary incandescent
light contains virtually no ultraviolet, is lacking in the blue end of the
spectrum, and produces its maximum energy in the infrared wavelengths that are
not visible to the human eye, but do produce heat. This is why the incandescent
light bulb gets so hot and is less efficient than the cooler burning
fluorescent light tube. A tungsten filament operates at twice the temperature
of molten steel, and is hot enough to melt asbestos or fire brick.
The fluorescent
light operates on quite a different principle from that of the incandescent
bulb. It is filled with argon gas and mercury vapor. At each end of the
fluorescent tube is a cathode. When electric current is turned on, the cathodes
discharge electrons and a flow of current takes place through the mercury vapor
and produces an electrical arc. This arc is an efficient producer of short wave
ultraviolet light concentrated at one particular wavelength of 2537 angstroms.
This is called a mercury vapor line. There are also other mercury vapor lines of
lesser intensities in both the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths, as shown in
the accompanying spectral charts of fluorescent tubes in common usage.
The 2537A short wave
ultraviolet line causes the phosphor coating inside the glass tube to
fluoresce, thus converting the invisible short wave ultraviolet to longer
wavelengths of visible light. Different phosphor materials fluoresce at
different wavelengths, or colors, and the proper blending of different
phosphors produces the different types of fluorescent lights, such as cool
white, warm white, daylight white and some of the deeper colors as well. The
type of glass used in the tube of a fluorescent light will allow the longer
wavelengths produced by the phosphors to penetrate, but filters out the short wave
ultra-violet produced in the mercury arc, just as the atmosphere filters the
short wave ultraviolet from sunlight. A short wave ultraviolet, or germicidal,
fluorescent tube produces the same basic mercury arc. However, the tube is made
of a type of glass that will permit the shorter ultraviolet wavelengths to
penetrate, and it is not coated with any phosphors, so that the light source is
basically the 2537-angstrom wavelength of the far ultraviolet part of the
spectrum, which will kill bacteria and can be very dangerous and harmful to
humans.
Photo biological
responses to specific colors, or relatively narrow bands of wavelengths within
not only the visible spectrum but also the ultraviolet, give further evidence
of the need for scientific control of experimental laboratory light sources. If
a certain photoreceptor mechanism responds only within the range of near
ultraviolet, then it becomes rather meaningless to study its responses to high
intensity light sources containing no ultraviolet. If the responses are to
either red or blue, then cool white fluorescent tubes would not be the best
light source, because their peak of energy is in the yellow-orange part of the
spectrum. Consideration should also be given to what the wavelength resonance
is of any drugs, vitamins or other components of the diet being studied to
determine if they coincide with any of the mercury vapor lines, which in turn
vary in intensity in different types of fluorescent tubes. Mercury vapor lines
are conventionally represented at 100 times their true width and at only 1/100
of their true intensity, thus giving one a distorted impression of the actual
values involved.
RELUCTANT APPLES AND TIMID TIGER LILIES
The same year my pumpkin vine was producing all male flowers; I was also having problems with an apple that refused to ripen. Walt Disney wanted to include a picture of the growth of an apple in the same film, “Secrets of Life.” It was hardly practical to move an apple tree down into the basement, so I built a complete time-lapse studio in miniature on a scaffold by the apple tree in the front yard. It consisted largely of a glass window or skylight in the top of a large box, equipped with shutters that would close to keep the sunlight out momentarily each time an individual frame was exposed on the moving picture film. It also contained the necessary timing equipment to operate three cameras, the overhead shutters, and photographic lights. Two automatic thermostats controlled an electric heater and ventilating fan to maintain the proper temperature in the box and prevent over-heating in the direct sunlight.
A branch of the apple tree that had the best looking buds was selected, and the large box-like time-lapse studio was placed around it. Both the subject and equipment were then completely protected from wind and rain. The apple branch was fastened securely so it would not move during the time required for the dormant bud to develop into a nice juicy red apple. The entire tree had to be battened down with many wires and turnbuckles to hold it rigid and motionless during a severe thunder or windstorm.
Everything was completed and ready to go about the middle of March. The switch was turned on and the project officially started. If all went well, this picture would be completed by apple harvest time in October. The cameras had to be checked at least once each day and a careful watch maintained for any insects or disease that might harm the apple. All went well for a while. The buds opened on schedule and were large and healthy looking. Pollen from several other varieties of apple trees was collected and a small camel hairbrush used to hand pollinate the blossoms being photographed. Ordinarily this is done by honeybees, and frequently commercial orchard growers hire beekeepers to bring their hives into the orchards during the blossom period.
There was no problem in hand-pollinating the blossoms in the box, but I needed a close-up of a bee itself on a blossom, and this was not easy. The bees never stayed on any blossom long enough to set up a camera and focus it properly. The blossom also had to remain perfectly motionless, as the field and depth of focus on such an extreme close-up were very critical. Finally I fastened a twig with a freshly opened apple blossom on one end of a board with a sky-blue background. At the other end I mounted my camera and waited for the bees from a “planted” beehive. However, they completely ignored both me and the blossoms. I kept poking it a little closer to the hive opening where the bees were streaming in and out. I moved it around and wiggled it to attract their attention. Suddenly, as though someone had given a signal or command, the bees all came at me like dive-bombers. They got in my hair and buzzed and swarmed all over me, but surprisingly enough, not one stung me. I got the idea, though, that my presence was not appreciated near their hive and quickly retreated. Then I noticed bees in a tree in another yard nearby. When I placed the end of the board with the apple blossom on it up in this tree, the bees would accept it, and I was able to get a good close-up of a bee at work collecting nectar and pollen.
Soon the blossoms were dropping, and the small apples were beginning to take shape. As the pictures later showed, apples grow during the daytime and relax at night. The effect on the screen was like someone blowing up a balloon a little at a time. During the entire summer I continued to watch the development of the several apples on the branch inside the time-lapse box and compare them with the other apples on the same tree that were out in the open. Everything seemed to be going along perfectly normally until all the apples not in the time-lapse box began to mature and turn a nice red color. The apples inside the box were still green and continued to grow larger and larger. The increased size was fine, but Disney wanted the picture to show the apple turning red. Spraying the apples with various chemical products that were supposed to make fruit develop better color had no effect. At last the apples outside my box began dropping off the tree. Inside the box they kept on growing until the weather was so cold that they froze solid – and still a disgustingly healthy – looking green color.
This was another disappointment and also a very important subject. There was no real clue as to what could have been the trouble. Down came all the equipment, and down came the unsightly box from the apple tree by the front door of the house. I thought about this all winter and discussed it with many friends and experts on growing apples. The best thing to do was to try it again the next year on a different variety of apple. To make doubly sure of getting a picture on the second try, two scaffolds were built by two other varieties of apple trees. On each one went a big box with all the equipment.
I watched and waited. The blossoms opened and were hand-pollinated again. The small apples began to take shape. Day by day, all summer long, I waited and watched them grow larger. If you think it takes a long time for a kettle to boil while you’re staring at it, try watching apples grow for two years.
In the past no difficulty had been encountered with the ripening process or coloration in making time-lapse pictures of many other subjects including peppers, tomatoes, and various fruits and vegetables from bud to full maturity. (Tomatoes will turn red even when picked green and stored in complete darkness.)
As the season progressed and the time of year rolled around again, I watched faint traces of red color begin to show in all the apples in all the trees except those being photographed in my two time-lapse boxes. There the green color persisted, and again they continued to grow larger and larger. I double-checked the temperature controls in both boxes and found only approximately two degrees variation from outside. Taking into consideration the wide fluctuation of temperatures from day to day and variations between daytime and nighttime, this slight difference certainly could not be enough to matter. What could be preventing the apples in the box from maturing?
In desperation, I removed the glass from the window over the apples and replaced it with the new plastic material that let more of all the sun’s rays penetrate and particularly the ultraviolet and shorter wavelengths. These are the ones that ordinary glass will not transmit. Within two days the apples in the boxes were showing a nice red color. The picture was completed just in time to be included in Walt Disney’s film, “Secrets of Life.” I was convinced that the maturing and ripening process of an apple can be prevented. by filtering certain wavelengths of energy from normal sunlight.
For quite a few years I used the waltzing primroses as the grand finale to my lecture film. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and as many times as I had seen the flowers dance around and take a bow, they never became tiresome to watch. Five years was a long time to spend on one short sequence, and I felt it should last a long time. As new pictures were completed, I would replace some of the old ones but the waltzing flowers were like a trademark, and to leave them out was unthinkable.
Times change, though, and one day two of my sons tactfully tried to explain to me that the waltzing flowers had seen their best days and were getting out of date. They thought I would do much better to introduce some rock and roll or Dixieland rhythm. It was hard to visualize primroses doing rock and roll, but gradually the idea sank in. Maybe some other kind of flowers would respond faster, tiger lilies, perhaps. It required two or three days for a primrose leaf to wilt down and then revive, but many flowers would open and close their petals in response to light and heat alone, and much faster than primroses wilting. The accepted theory was that the petals of flowers opened and closed from a more or less mechanical response to light and heat. If the timers on the skylight controls were adjusted, it would be possible to shorten the day and night periods artificially to just a few hours. The individual pictures could be taken at shorter intervals, and perhaps several days’ work could be accomplished in one ordinary 24-hour period. The day and night controls on the thermostat could also be adjusted so that the temperature would correspond to the shorter light and dark periods. The air-conditioning equipment would cool the studio down 10 degrees while the skylight shutters remained closed to simulate the cooler night air. There was no doubt about it now; the dancing flowers were going to keep up with the times. I would make the petals open and close three or four times during one ordinary day.
The music, supplied by a group led by a neighbor’s son, was recorded on magnetic tape, and then re-recorded onto an optical film track so the various vibrations could be analyzed. The motion could then be plotted for the tiger lilies’ growth. A sound track can be pulled through a sound reader so that the sounds of different instruments can be heard and marked on the film. However, after studying the sound track for a while, it is not too difficult to read the characteristic vibrations visually and pick up the beat of the rhythm as well as the different instruments. My procedure was to number each individual frame on the picture part of the film and then sketch the position the flowers had to be in at that particular point. Next, the length of time necessary for the plants and flowers to reach that stage of development had to be estimated. Then the number of frames along the sound track between the various points of growth development were counted. A little simple arithmetic, and the automatic timers were set. All that remained to be done was to grow the plants so the flower buds would reach the predetermined stages of development on schedule.
Certain flowers like roses, peonies and tulips open their petals during the daytime and close them at night. Many other flowers open only once and stay open until they fade away. Another group open during the nighttime and close their petals during the daytime. Then there are those that open for the first time during the night and stay open. “Four O'Clocks” open at the end of the day along towards dusk, and tiger lilies are in the group that opens at the end of the dark night period as the eastern horizon begins to show the first faint glimmers of light. The opening and closing habits of different flowers are one more factor to contend with when adjusting the timing mechanisms that control the cameras, lights, shutters, temperature and automatic watering devices used in making flowers dance in time to music.
At last came the day when the flowers would start dancing to Dixieland rhythm. When the pictures were finished and projected on the screen, the action had to coincide exactly with the rhythm of the music. While the pictures are being taken, the flowers of course do not hear any music, as this has already been recorded. The speeded-up action necessitated by Dixieland rhythm means that one single movement of the petals must be accomplished in two hours now instead of twelve as in the past. This faster action still cannot be seen at normal speed as the flowers grow, but through time-lapse photography, the flowers when projected on the moving picture screen move about in rhythm with the music.
Again, everything worked as planned at the outset. The skylight shutters opened at sunrise, and the heat came on as scheduled. The petals on the flowers all opened up perfectly. With the increased rate of taking individual exposures, the normal full day’s work was accomplished by 10 o’clock in the morning. As planned, the skylight shutters closed, the heat went off, and the air conditioning started. All the flowers closed their petals just as they would normally do during the night. At the continued increased rate of picture taking, the night’s work was completed by 12 o’clock noon. Automatically, the skylight shutters opened again, the air conditioning shut off, and the heat turned on. The sun was bright and clear and at its maximum intensity. The closed flowers were in full direct sunlight. This would most likely make them open a little faster than the early morning sun, so I made a slight change in the timing schedule, as this was one thing that had been completely overlooked. I watched closely and waited. Ten minutes went by, and nothing happened. Fifteen minutes, a half hour, and still the petals remained in their closed position. I changed the timing mechanism from the faster schedule to an extremely slow one, but by now everything was completely off schedule. The action of the flowers would already be out of synchronization with the prerecorded music. This group of flower subjects was spoiled, but perhaps I could use them to experiment with and make them open with additional artificial light and higher room temperature. Then I would be ready with the second set of plants that would be coming into bloom in a few days.
Nothing would make the petals open again, and I found that they would not open a second time until the plants had gone through a full night period of darkness without having their sleep interrupted.
Later, when the reserve flowers came into bloom, I exposed all the individual frames of the petals in any one particular stage of development in quick succession. It was necessary to skip a number of frames and leave them unexposed until the flower reached various stages of development. Then I would go back and fill in the unexposed frames and thus be able to give the effect of the flower opening and closing, whereas actually the petals only opened once and would fade away without ever closing. I n effect it would be like showing a picture of a flower opening on the screen and then reversing the projector and running it backwards again and repeating this same procedure to look as though the flower opened and closed several times. Instead, the same effect was obtained by photographing the proper stages of development in the respective locations along the film to record a number of openings and reverse action closings.
The method of taking these pictures is possibly of some interest, but the preliminary failure of this project of trying to speed up the opening and closing of the petals of flowers is of some possible importance in itself.
I believe it shows that the response of the petals in opening and closing is not of a mechanical nature but is tied into the principles of photochemistry. Certain chemical changes apparently take place during the dark night period while the plant seems to sleep. The petals will not open in response to the energy of the light until these chemical changes have taken place. I suspect that the plant produces a chemical substance during the dark hours, but there is the possibility also that the plant could be disposing of certain wastes or byproduct chemical substances accumulated during the daytime. Either way there seems to be a close correlation with human sleep.
If the chemical produced by the plant during the night period could be isolated and produced synthetically, it would make possible an interesting experiment. Could this chemical substance be administered to the plant in such a way that the petals would respond to light repeatedly without the plant having its uninterrupted night sleep?
If so, then would the same principle work with animals and humans? If this proves to be the case, then it might add helpful knowledge regarding such drugs as tranquilizers. Carrying this even further, it might even be possible some day to make a pill that would be the equivalent of a good eight or twelve hours sleep. Sounds incredible, but no more so than a trip to the moon seemed only a few years ago.
LIGHT AND THE
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
A happy accident stemming from my TV appearances now occurred and it came in the form of a letter from a viewer. He was a biology teacher in Chicago doing research with fish eggs and he wanted to experiment with time-lapse pictures. Delighted to help, I moved one of my time-lapse units right into his laboratory. Acting on a hunch, I suggested that we hang some of the various fluorescents used on the pumpkins over two or three of the fish tanks. Each fixture held two 40-watt fluorescent tubes placed about ten inches above the water and equipped with morning and evening timers.
Three different types of tubes were used – cool white, daylight white and pink. The aquariums were not located near any window, so the fish were being subjected entirely to fluorescent light. The first thing that happened was that the fish completely stopped laying eggs. Unhappily, because the teacher needed eggs for his work. On the other hand, it did indicate that light possibly did have some effect on the fish. After two weeks the light intensity was cut in half by removing one of the fluorescent tubes from each fixture. Still no egg production. Gradually we shortened the length of time the lights were left on. When the duration was down to eight hours a day, the fish began producing eggs.
Ordinarily, the sex of certain fish can be determined by the development of the secondary sex characteristics in much the same way brilliantly colored plumage is more noticeable on most male birds. We waited and watched the pinhead-sized fish grow larger day by day as the weeks went by. One day the biology teacher moved all the aquariums and lights from their location alongside his desk to another room. Several days later he told me that the young fish were all beginning to look suspiciously like females, but it was still too soon to be certain. We waited approximately a month past the time the sex can normally be determined, and one evening he called me and said he had carefully checked each fish. He couldn’t believe it, but all the ones under the pink light were definitely females. This was just the opposite from what might have been expected after the results with the pumpkin flowers. We waited another ten days, and then I told a few people about this first experiment with the fish. Although this was only one incident, and could not be given any scientific significance until repeated many more times, it was interesting that all fifty fish hatched from eggs of different parents appeared to be female.
The very next day after telling the story of the female fish, the phone rang again, and the biology teacher was quite excited – or possibly I should say upset – for now some of the fish he was certain were females were beginning to show faint signs of masculine coloration. We waited several weeks more, and the final results were that 80 per cent of the fish definitely turned out to be females and 20 per cent were questionable. They appeared to be males, but the development of the secondary male sex characteristics had been materially retarded. Word of the preliminary results reached the newspapers, and articles appeared in several magazines. As a result, a letter came from a lady in New Jersey who wrote as follows:
My sixteen-year-old son, who has a very keen interest in science, drew my attention to an article in a magazine regarding your experiments with light rays and their possible effect on sex determination.
I happen to be a chinchilla breeder and at the present time I am trying to establish a sizeable herd with sufficient breeding animals to enable me to start pelting within the next few years.
The loss of two excellent producing females in the last eight months, plus the fact that for the past three years my few breeding animals have yielded one female and nine males prompts me to write this letter to you.
I realize that perhaps you are not too familiar with chinchillas, but females are at a premium since one good male can serve several females thereby increasing the herd more rapidly plus cutting down on the costs of feeding, cages and space required. My interest in your experiments is more than passing, since I am in a position whereby I could benefit greatly if it were possible to produce more females than males.
Would you advise experimenting with my breeding stock, on my own, of course, as I certainly wouldn’t expect you to do it? I am not interested in learning or obtaining your “trade secrets” and if you should advise in the affirmative, I would initiate the program on my stock only after I had consulted with my veterinarian since it would be too expensive a gamble otherwise.
Chinchillas have very dense fur and are very sensitive to extreme heat; thriving best in cool, dry temperatures of between 65–70 degrees. Even in this temperature, chinchilla books state that they can be overcome with heat if they happen to be in a cage where bright, warm sunlight strikes them through a window for several hours during the day. ...
Right now I imagine you have concluded that there is a selfish motive behind my interest and I suppose basically I would have to admit that there is, but the majority of small ranchers are faced with the same problem as I, more or less, and are being “held back” because they lack enough females to increase their herds rapidly.
It is very, very discouraging to wait anxiously for three and a half months for a litter to be born only to discover that the offspring are all males. And then you wait another three and a half months and find all males again. At this stage of the business, a rancher is too small to pelt these males off and doesn’t have the females to mate them with so he reaches a stalemate, which puts him behind several years insofar as realizing any profits is concerned. The excess males cannot sire offspring and increase the herd, but they still require cage space and food. ...
I wrote and asked for all the details and particulars regarding the lighting conditions of the location where she was keeping her animals. She advised me that she was keeping the chinchillas in cages in a basement playroom. The room had one ceiling fixture with a regular 75-watt incandescent light and a small window at one end of the room. She also advised me that one baby female chinchilla was born of the animals in the cage at the end of the row nearest the window.
These conditions seemed to match closely the pumpkin situation except that she was using ordinary incandescent light whereas I had used fluorescent tubes to supplement the sunlight on the pumpkins. I purchased two 100-watt daylight incandescent bulbs and sent them to her, one to be used and one as a spare. This is the kind of bulb with the clear bluish glass that you can see through compared to the painted, frosted type that makes it impossible to see the filaments.
At last I received another letter from the lady in New Jersey:
The blue light bulbs arrived on November seventh, and I want to thank you for them. ... The first litter just arrived on January third. I am not in the habit of handling new babies until they are a week old unless it is absolutely necessary, but yesterday I couldn’t control myself any longer, and I still find it hard to believe that I found three female baby chinchillas. ...
Again this was only one isolated instance, but a very
interesting one. Another matter of particular interest was that the blue lights
did not arrive until somewhere between one-third and one-half way through the
period of gestation. If the lights did
have anything to do with the controlling of the sex of the baby chinchillas; it
would indicate the controlling factor had to do primarily with the female
parent. It would also indicate that the sex of the offspring could be
influenced well along during the pregnancy. Several months later another letter
came advising that the next litter from other parents was all females. This was
doubly interesting.
Once, while
reflecting on some of the unusual results that seemed to be associated with
light, it suddenly occurred to me that the various growth responses that I had
produced or controlled were from using different types of artificial light
containing a peak of energy in specific narrow bands of wavelengths. The normal
growth developments that I had prevented, such as the apple not ripening, were
the result of filtering certain wavelengths from natural sunlight. This
positive and negative way of acting certainly emphasized the importance of
specific wavelengths of light.
Possibly a picture
in one of my films might hold an answer or at least a partial explanation of
all this. I found a microscopic time-lapse picture showing the streaming of the
protoplasm within the cells of a living leaf of a plant. This activity goes on
in connection with the process of photosynthesis in which the leaves respond to
the energy of sunlight. They combine air and water with the minerals taken by
the roots from the soil to create the food energy that supports all life on
this earth. When the sun sets and it gets dark, this process of photosynthesis
stops. It is a process of photochemistry through which chemical changes take
place within the cells of the leaves of plants as they produce chlorophyll,
carbohydrates and other chemical substances. Inasmuch as light is the source of
energy that brings about these different chemical changes, it then seems
reasonable to assume that by changing the characteristics of the light, the
resulting chemical changes would likewise be altered.
This could explain
the control of plant growth in response to the wavelength energy of light, but
how could light affect the fish and the chinchillas? Here, the fact that the
poultry industry knows that light received through the chicken’s eye stimulates
the pituitary gland and increases egg production might be a very important
clue. The pituitary gland is the master balance wheel of the entire glandular
system, not only in chickens but in other animals and humans as well. If this
is so, and the entire glandular system can be affected – or glandular actions
modified – by light received through the eye, the resulting consequences and
possibilities of what this might mean are utterly fantastic. Possibly the basic
principles of photochemistry in connection with the process of photosynthesis
do carry over from plant life into animal life, but in a greatly improved way.
If the basic chemistry of the human body responds to glandular actions
controlled by the pituitary gland responding to light energy, then – as with
plants – the characteristics of the light energy would be a very important
factor. Different types of light and lighting conditions ranging from natural
unfiltered sunlight to various kinds of artificial light, or natural sunlight
filtered through different kinds of glass, or light reflected from different
colored interior decorations in a room could affect the physical well-being of
an individual.
It occurred to me
that two films I had made might possibly offer further clues to the effects of
light on the basic chemistry of both plants and animals. One was The Story of
Wheat, made for the Santa Fe Railroad, covering the growing, harvesting,
transportation and marketing of wheat. The other was a study of tomato virus
for the Wright Brothers Greenhouses in Toledo, Ohio.
In searching for a
proper wheat field, the County Agent called our attention to two wheat fields
on opposite sides of the road, both belonging to the same farmer. One field was
outstanding, the wheat waist high, with large, full, firm heads. The other,
badly infested with virus, was ankle high. The virus-ridden field had been
replanted regularly to wheat for years without any crop rotation or application
of fertilizer. Obviously, there was a nutritional deficiency in the soil and
the County Agent explained how this lowered resistance and made the crop more
susceptible to disease. What impressed me most was the uniformity of the virus
throughout the field. There wasn’t the slightest trace of virus in the healthy
field across the road.
The other half of
this story pertains to the studies of tomato virus. The Wright Brothers have
fourteen acres of tomatoes growing under glass in Toledo, Ohio. There are a
great many hothouse tomatoes grown in northern Ohio. The tomato virus is one of
the biggest problems growers have to contend with. It usually appears following
long periods of cloudy weather and low sunlight intensity during the short
winter days. It breaks out even under the most sterile and carefully guarded
conditions. Nevertheless, it is generally agreed that the low light level also
weakens the plants so they become more susceptible to attack from the virus.
During the course of
making the film, I brought some virus-ridden tomatoes from the glass greenhouse
into my plastic greenhouse. Ordinarily, such plants are rogued out and burned
immediately before the virus can spread. The plants always seem to die anyway.
With just a few days of sunlight in my greenhouse, and a light foliar feeding
of the leaves, the tomato plants quickly came to life, started new healthy
growth and began producing normal tomatoes.
In what I have
learned about viruses, no consideration has been given to the possibility of a
virus originating within the living cells of the plant itself – (developing
from pleomorphic Somatids). It seems to be generally accepted that the virus
must be introduced from an outside source.
The metabolism, or
life itself, that goes on within a living cell is the utilization of the nutritional
factors present by the energy of light. The nutritional factors are like the
coal or oil used for fuel to fire a boiler, and the light energy could
be compared to the fire that burns it. Another comparison would be the gasoline
used in an automobile engine and the spark that ignites it. If the draft in the
boiler is not adjusted right, or the carburetor is giving too rich a mixture,
there will be incomplete combustion. This can result in both the boiler and
engine giving off not only obnoxious smoke and fumes but also partially
consumed fuel. In a similar way, it seems quite possible that a chemical
substance of a poisonous nature could result as a by-product from an incomplete
or unbalanced metabolism within the cells of a leaf. This could result from
either a nutritional factor as in the case of wheat virus or light deficiency
as with the tomato virus. If so, then this chemical by-product would fit all
the various descriptions of a virus. It would not be capable of reproducing
itself, but if injected into the cells of other leaves, it might throw the
metabolism of these cells off balance so that they would in turn produce more
of the same chemical substance of a poisonous nature. It could be easily
transmitted from one plant to another either by direct contact or some
intermediary carrier. It could also be isolated and crystallized. It could fit
all the various descriptions of a virus and still originate within the affected
plant itself. This might also explain why too much plant food will kill a plant
faster than not enough – simply too much of a good thing.
By now, a new theory
was boiling within me and I determined to attack the virus problem through
time-lapse. To take pictures that would show what I wanted to study required
building additional time-lapse equipment specially designed for taking
microscopic pictures. This new unit was designed to take microscopic time-lapse
pictures of the streaming of the protoplasm within the cell of a leaf as
stimulated by direct unfiltered sunlight, as contrasted with various types of
artificial light illumination.
The temperature of
the subject being photographed could be controlled from 0º to 250º Fahrenheit.
A secondary optical system was designed to superimpose an image of an
electronic thermometer recording the temperature so that it would show
simultaneously with the picture of the subject. In this way it would be
possible to show precisely the effect of different sources of light and
variations of temperature on the photochemistry that goes on in connection with
the process of photosynthesis within the cells of a leaf. It would then be
possible to study the effect on the germination of spores, mitosis of cells and
other growth processes.
I BREAK MY GLASSES
The increasing demand for
time-lapse pictures necessitated building a mezzanine floor in the plastic
greenhouse and installing additional cameras. More and more bits of interesting
information were turning up at a much faster rate. All in all everything was
beginning to run more smoothly except for two major problems. First, no one
would pay any serious attention to the medical research possibilities of my
time-lapse films. Second, advancing arthritis in my hip was making it
increasingly difficult to carry a projector around for lectures or even to go
up and down the basement stairs. Several doctors had recommended wearing a
large metal brace and advised that a plastic hip joint would be necessary
before very long. As a result, my wife and I were seriously considering moving
to a house on one floor in order to avoid the stairs.
But the time-lapse
studio created a real problem, for this would be extremely difficult and costly
to move. Meanwhile two lecture trips took me to Florida during two successive
winters. While there I spent as
much time as possible on the beach to find out if basking in the sun would
possibly help my arthritis. There were many stories about arthritis being
affected by weather, but much as I would have liked a good excuse to spend more
time in Florida during the winter, I could not honestly notice the slightest
benefit. Sometimes it actually felt worse. On one trip I drove the family down
and back. I enjoyed driving in the country, but my arthritis was always
noticeably more aggravated at the end of the day regardless of how comfortable
and relaxing the driver’s seat might be. Nerves and fatigue, said the doctors.
I should relax more. But how could I relax more than by sitting in the sun on
the beach? Furthermore, while driving the car or sitting on the beach, I was
always extra careful to wear my dark glasses to avoid any eyestrain, since my
eyes were very sensitive to the bright sunlight.
The only other times
my arthritis definitely seemed to bother me more were immediately after my
regular weekly TV program and following its filming the next day in the
converted garage studio. Here maybe I could agree with the doctors about nerves
and fatigue, but some extra aspirin would usually help considerably. Other than
this, it was not possible to correlate my arthritic discomfort with anything
else, including diet. Many well wishing friends brought various remedies,
tonics, and vitamin pills that had cured some distant relative. My arthritis
must have been of a different variety, as none helped at all. Hot baths were
relaxing but of no real value. Injections of various new glandular extracts
would increase the discomfort for the first day or two and then give only four
or five days’ relief. Then the arthritis would be right back again. A cane
helped a great deal by relieving some of the weight from my hip, but after
using it for over two years, my elbow began to give trouble. I rode a bicycle
around the yard back and forth between the house, tool shed and greenhouse. It
was a girl’s bicycle because it was easier to get on.
The problem of what
to do continued to become more acute; then, one day I broke my glasses. While
waiting for a new pair to be made I wore my spares. The nosepiece was a little
tight and bothered me, so I took them off most of the time. The weather had been nice for several days and there was some light work outside that I did as best I could with
my cane in one hand. Suddenly I didn’t seem to need the cane. My elbow was
fine and my hip was not bothering me much even though I hadn’t taken any extra
amount of aspirin. It was hard to figure out why my arthritis should suddenly
be so much better. My hip hadn’t felt this well for three or four years. I
began walking back and forth on the driveway. Fifteen minutes went by, and I
must have walked a mile. I ran into the house and up the stairs two at a time
to tell my wife. She had been watching me out the window and worrying. Had I
lost my cane again? And why all the walking back and forth and around in
circles without my glasses? It was shortly before Christmas, and – I told her –
if she would hurry and finish her Christmas shopping, we could go to Florida
for a week between TV programs. I wanted to sit in the sun again without any
glasses. In three days we were on a plane headed south.
During that week the weather was very cold; in fact, an overcoat was necessary most of the time. Nevertheless, it was possible to be outdoors in the natural sunlight all day without any glasses. Perhaps this was a good thing because the light intensity away from the beach was not as great and made it much eas