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Show Lets 300,000 Mosquitoes Bite Him To Find Perfect Insect Repellent v. r VV ' K ' l 1 tz..ss, i'A ..4.,.Iii.-iL. vr-Trfl Young Research Worker on University Staff Real "Iron" Man WHILE other people try to keep away from mosquitoes during the summer months, Philip Granett, young "iron" man at Rutgers University, Uni-versity, goes to a great deal of trouble to get them to bite him. He has endured more than 300,000 bites to help make it possible for other folks to escape insect annoyance. Granett is one of a group of scientists sci-entists at Rutgers who, under a grant from the National Carbon Company, are studying insect reactions reac-tions to various chemicals. They have been working on this one problem prob-lem for five years. As a result, they have already succeeded in making a repellent lotion that not only prevents pre-vents mosquitoes from biting but keeps them at a distance. Granett's job in this research has been that of a human guinea pig. He has tried out on himself the hundreds of chemical combinations produced by the laboratory staff to learn which solution would work best. His method has been to take a sample of the chemical to be tested, stand in a mosquito bog, roll up sleeves and trousers, and apply a measured amount of the repellent to one arm and one leg. The other arm and leg have been left unprotected. unpro-tected. Then the number of bites received on the untreated parts of his body were counted. Bites were counted until Granett got one on the arm or leg having the repeiient coating. As soon as that happened, he noted the time that had elapsed since the test began, be-gan, and the experiment was over. His purpose, of course, was to find a chemical combination that would extend the protection time as long as possible. Philip Granett Day after day Granett has gone through this routine, trying out one chemical after another. During the summer he has stood in swamps under un-der a boiling sun. In winter has been bitten by mosquitoes especially especi-ally raised in the Rutgers laboratories labora-tories at New Brunswick, N. J. Every one of the thirty-five kinds of mosquitoes found in New Jersey has had a chance to feed on him, Granett says. Along with them are many others of the 350 varieties that exist in different parts of the United States. Granett's endurance has been finally fi-nally rewarded. The laboratory staff reports that it has developed a lotion lo-tion that withstands all tests better than any other. Not only does this substance offer protection against mosquitoes, but it keeps away gnats, sand fleas, black flies, deer flies, chiggers and similar pests. One application ap-plication may last as long as three hours. |