“HEAVY WATER”

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 March 1935, Page 12

“HEAVY WATER”

■ PROFESSOR’S £2O EXPERIMENT. OSLO, February 5. The first man to drink “heavy recently discovered fluid which it has been suggested might* be poisonous—stood at the microphone in a broadcasting studio in Oslo tonight and described his experience, only a few hours after drinking ten grammes of the liquid. He told listeners that he felt none the worse for the experiment, and that he would try. again with a larger quantity: Prof. Klaus Hansen is the young scientist who took the risk of pouring this strange liquid down his throat. The experiment took place in a laboratory at Oslo University before several fellow-scientists. With one of his assistants he has bought two litres—about £l,OOO Worth—of the liquid. He said that it had a slight taste reminiscent of “laughing gas.” Four doctors, equipped with emergency apparatus, stood by and conducted a thorough examination of Prof. Hansen every half hour for some hours after the experiment. Stimulant injections and a stomach pump were in readiness in case his condition caused anxiety.

Actually his condition shojved no change. Within a few minutes of drinking the fluid he was laughing and talking to his colleagues in the laboratory as if he had just taken a cocktail.

- As heavy water produced commercially on a, small scale would cost at least £2 a gfamme, Prof. Hansen’s drink was worth £20 —one of the most costly drinks a man ever had.

A friend of Prof. Hansen who spoke to him shortly after the experiment told me that apart from a slight feeling of “scientific excitement” just after drinking the liquid, the professor felt completely normal. .. “He told me,” said the friend, “that he had no qualms about drinking the heavy water, as he was convinced ten grammes was too small a quantity to have any serious effect on the human body. He is convinced that in any case heavy water is not poisonous, and he informed me that he intends, after gradually increasing the dose, to drink ten times the amount in two weeks’’ time. “He admitted ithat neither he nor anyone else knows the full possibilities of heavy water or its reaction ♦ in Igrge quantities on the human organs, but- he is prepared to take the risk ;in the cause of science. To-mor-row he is going to test his blood and make other , experiments on himself.” Prbf. Hansen is single, aged 39.

LORD RUTHERFORD’S SUGGESTION

LONDON, February G.

? Lord Rutherford, the scientist, who has . investigated the possibilities of herivy water and discussed them in a recent lecture at the Royal Institution, told- a representative of the “Daily Telegraph” last night that in his opinion Prof. Hansen’s experiment was on too small a scale to be .of, great importance. “Ten grammes is a very small doae,” he said. “There is so much writer in the human body already that it would be very heavily diluted. The risk of taking 10 grammes is vei-y slight. “It would be interesting if the experiment were carried out on a large scale, and it would be even more interesting if small animals were kept .regularly on a diet of heavy water instead, of ordinary water. This should be done first.” . Heavy water is a combination of oxygen and 'the recently discovered heavy hydrogen. Its chemical, physical and biological '’properties differ materially from those of ordinary water:

Its density is 10 per cent, higher than ordinary water, and boiling and ■freezing points are also higher. ' A thimbleful a day is a large output.

5,000 parts of rain water contain pnly one part of heavy water. It has been proved poisonous to certain fresh-water animals. •The discovery of heavy water was claimed as one of the most outstanding achievements of physical science in recent years.