Show J LUMINOUS LUMINOUS MOUTH I St Studying U the SECRETS the of FIREFLY J t to 0 FIND FIND- FIND I t. t b i t- t t COLI COL COLi IJ I a i I L. L LU I t Yo Y LUNG BARS BAR'S o J II r r J f i BLOOD l FORMING ORG ORGAN j t J The Glow Worm Which Gives a Milder Light Than That STOMACH o Diagram r of the Common Firefly of the Light Light- Making laking INTESTINE N NA A An P to I gu s of the Luminous a Marine arine Organism Said to Have the Lar Largest est Quantity o of f Illuminating Substance Substance Substance Sub- Sub stance That Produces a Heatless Light By J. J D. D Haseman Ph D. D rainy day on which Benjamin Franklin THE bottled lightning by means of a door key keyon on the end of a string b to his silk kite there thero was laid the foundation for all marvelous modern modera mod mod- ern era ern developments and applications of electrical energy Indeed at that time the telephone tele tele- graph tungsten lamp electric trolley nolley and ph phonograph phonograph no- no graph etc were not even dreamed of and would have been considered mere folly of a dreamer Therefore tho the following authentic discovery should be given most serious consideration because be because because be- be cause someone is bound to become an Edison or Steinmetz by perfecting and commercializing 1 h unique system of illumination A few years ago while I was still in college at Indiana University I made my first real acquaintance acquaintance acquaintance ac ac- with enzymes and their astonishing powers And by way of explanation I will say that an enzyme is an organic compound secreted by cells or glands and has an unbelievable power of catalytic action under proper conditions For example under proper conditions one grain of ot ptyalin extracted from your will if given time change in the presence of water a potato or a piece of starch as big as the world into sugar providing the concentration of sugar does not reach above a certain point i. i e. e if the sugar HT i is s Q o L At the Right Is Shown the Common Firefly Fire Firefly fly Said to Give the Best Light The Firefly's Lighting Apparatus Is Shown at atthe atthe the Left of the Firefly R Is the Reflecting Reflecting Reflect Reflect- ing Tissue and L the Luminous Tissue is removed from the solution and md fermentation does not set in In other words the presence of that enzyme or ferment alone is sufficient to in initiate initiate initiate in- in this chemical transformation of starch into sugar and the enzyme itself does not take part directly in the chemical reaction This is perfectly wonderful when one knows that all aU life or vi vital 11 activities are the result of enzymatic energy of special organic compounds In fact li life e is the orderly arrangement of actions actions actions ac ac- ac- ac and reactions of enzymes and the reproduction tion of these same reactions while death is the loss of the powers of enzymes enzymes co-enzymes anti- anti enz enzymes mes etc Hen Hence e the injection of these enzymes or implantation of certain glands p o temporarily rejuvenate an in old individual It ii is entirely possible after we know all aU about li life e or enz enzymatic action to produce complicated concoctions con con- which will wiIl make an old individuals individual's tissues tissues sues embryonic again But of course this will willbe willbe willbe be equivalent to reproduction itself and will be bethe bethe bethe the finis or end of science and perfection of human mental power Think of enz enzymes mes preventing in individuals individuals in in- from digesting their own alimentary canals During my college days I also became deeply interested in animal phosphorescence I had seen the marine jelly fishes of the thc Gulf of Mexico rend read by the light of Cuban captured fireflies fireflies fireflies fire fire- flies and seen glow worms And I had read about the deep sea sen fishes that carried their own lights So I decided to attempt to solve the mystery of phosphorescence of the common firefly firefly fire fire- fl fly because of the abundance of material near my home After I captured many specimens I decided to work out the details of their anatomy And as soon as I thoroughly understood the anatomy of the fly fire or lightning bug I began to study why they flash from time to time instead of glowing all aU of the time To my surprise I discovered that when I 1 pushed a needle through their third thoracic ganglion a nerve lump between the third pair of legs that instead of flashing from time to ta time they glowed continuously for hours or days without food until death ensued I discovered discovered dis dis- dis co covered ered that this ganglion controlled the flaps or spiracles covering the entrance to the trachea or breathing tubes which are the insects insect's lungs so to speak In other words when I punctured the ganglion the spiracles remained open and allowed al allowed allowed al- al lowed the oxygen of the air to flood the trachea I also found that when the air was cut off the glow or flash ceased These results forced me to the conclusion n that tha the fire fly fire y used the same substance a horn zed fat over and m over a again in by means o of enzymes So I boiled some machine oil oU to get et fy j of the tho oxygen and smothered about three three- ree zen flies fire in it t and then dissected out their producing Might ng material underneath the oil and put it itin in in a clean portion of the oil It was ap ap dead and emitted no light I then se sep ep p some out of the tho underside of a potato peeling you can see how powerful po this thu oxidizing fm enzyme is by putting a little of it into a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and md freeing the oxygen leaving water and I put the on the thc non glowing light producing material of t the he lightning bug Light was produced immediately and md it glowed without producing appreciable heat I then tried to get the light back into the same condition that it was when I put the potato on it by means of a reducing enzyme an and was partially successful ul even though I worked with a crude outfit in the country and had no laboratory I was able to make it low reg-low and feel fecI certain with proper equipment and a good pure re reducing enzyme rne that the material could bi ba used over and over again as docs does the live lightning light light- ning bug These experiments show more than the bo battling bottling bat bot o of lighting They suggest that if one could get a similar compound and pour on automatically oxidizing enzymes during the night and reducing enz enzymes mes during the day light would be produced produce l las as easily as turning on a gas lamp It is quite probable that somo some inorganic compound with catal catalytic tic agents would do do as well if not better than the organic maternal material The beauty of the system would be the in initial initial in low cost low upkeep etc as it would be a l small installation with no big power plants anti and it could be used over and over again and again At any rate this is natures nature's va way of making light cheaply an and efficiently and the chemical work of ot nature is always cheaper and more efficient tot thin the mechanical or physical work of man |