Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 50 — page 131: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION cate that there is no “dis- similarity between the central body of pox viruses and the nuclear _ structure of bacteria”’*. It may well be, then, that we are approach- ing a deeper understanding of the significance of these lowly forms in connection with the origin of life. THE ATTENTION OF ALL readers interested in elec- tronic brains is directed to a recent paper* by Dr. A. D. Booth, of the physics depart- ment of Birkbeck College, in which he discusses in great and lucid detail the design and functioning of mechani- cal translating machines. These incredible devices are able to receive a card on which is typed a message in one language, and to give .out a. card . ‘on which is typed a translation in another language. The machines will work not only for languages of similar struc- ture—as, say, French and English—but also with !an- guages of quite distinct form and characters, as for exam- ple, Russian and English. Naturally, the designer of the instrument must have a good 130 knowledge of many _lan- guages, so the machines would not be useful for first contact with alien races; but they would certainly come in handy for long-term commu- nication. A CONSIDERABLE ADVANCE IN therapeutic medicine has re- sulted from the discovery by Dr. Alan Kekwick and Mr. G. L. S. Pawan, of the Mid- dlesex Hospital Medical School, that one of the adrenal cortical hormones is effective when administered by mouth’. Hitherto, the only hormone known to be unaffected by the digestive juices, and therefore suitable for oral therapy, is the thyroid hormone, thyroxin. Since this adrenal cortical hormone (“aldosterone”) _ is standard treatment in cases of Addison’s disease and has to be administered over long periods, the new method of giving it to the patient greatly increases the mental well-being of the patient by avoiding the necessity for fre- quent injections. BUZZING COGITATION IN MANY circles has followed the recent publication of a paper by comicloooks.conm