Scope - Volume 07, Number 12

              A Striking* similarity
Rattlesnakes in lab could replace guinea pigs
Sixty captive rattlesnakes de
voted to science are helping an
environmental health expert in
the School of Public Health
trace the development of a par
asitic worm disease commonly
found in animals and sometimes
in man.
In addition to the worm's life
cycle, through this and related
studies with the snakes, Elmer
A. Widmer, PhD, parasitologist
and chairman of the School of
Public Health department of
environmental health, has made
another discovery which may
be useful to future medical re
search in general that rattle
snakes may make superior lab
oratory animals for a number
of human diseases, such as
cancer, leprosy, and multiple
sclerosis.
The reason is that in the
laboratory a medical scientist
needs animals vulnerable to
disease, in order to find out
how to cure them. Snakes, be
cause they are cold- blooded,
don't have the same intense
rejection phenomena that is,
immunity to disease as warm
blooded creatures.
They also require less feed
ing than rats or other labora
tory animals. A mouse every
two weeks will suffice to main,
tain a rattlesnake, if his cage
is kept at ordinary room tem
perature. ( If the temperature
is higher, the snake will prob
ably be hungrier; but if the
temperature is lower, he could
be fed even less than once in
two weeks.)
Another reason for using rat
tlesnakes in the laboratory is
that, in this area, within an
easy drive of the deserts, they
are easier to find in large num
bers than are other, non- poison
ous snakes.
However, they do make some
what more noise. In Dr. Wid-mer's
laboratory, they respond
to his visits in unison, each
snake raising its head within
the glass enclosures, each black,
forked tongue flickering out at
the same time, and all 60 tails
rattling away in a steady rat-tat-
tat, like the sound of a mili
tary drum corps.
Regarding their part in worm
diseases, Dr. Widmer reports
on how the round worm ( Phy-saloptera)
is carried from one
unwitting host to another as it
grows to adulthood, with the
snakes playing a major role, in
the current issue of the Journal
of Wildlife Diseases. In an
earlier study of the Physalop-tera,
he found that the rattle
snakes serve as collector hosts;
they pick up the parasites in a
larval form, probably through
Continued on page 5
ELMER A. WIDMER, PhD, chairman of the School of Public
Health department of environmental health, forcibly ushers one of
60 rattlesnakes in his laboratory into its cage. The snakes are used
in experiments tracing the development of a parasitic worm disease
commonly found in animals and sometimes in man.
Vol. 7, No. 12 Thursday, April 23, 1970
_ rf organist Virgil FOX University welcomes visiting
to perform at UALS program students in physical therapy
sion concert in New York City s * I m Concert organist Virgil Fox
will present the final program
in the University Artist and
Lecture Series this academic
year Saturday, May 9, at 8: 30
p. m. in Gentry Gymnasium.
Mr. Fox has recorded 17 al
bums of organ music for the
Decca, Command, Capitol, and
RCA Victor labels. He has
played three times at the White
House, and performed 44 major
organ works in a series of three
concerts at the Library of Con
gress, Washington, D. C., under
the auspices of the Elizabeth
Sprague Coolidge Foundation.
He is also the only American
organist to play a paid- admis
City's
Carnegie Hall. Appearing as a
soloist with the New York Phil
harmonic, Mr. Fox was chosen
to inaugurate the new organ
at Philharmonic Hall in New
York's Lincoln Center for the
Performing Arts.
He has also appeared with
the Philadelphia Orchestra, the
Boston Symphony, the National
Symphony, the Columbia Broad
casting System Symphony, and
the orchestras of Baltimore,
Rochester, Detroit, Dallas, Los
Angeles, and Toronto, as well
as with the orchestra of the
Paris Opera in France.
Continued on page 5
Former ambassador to Japan
to speak on La Sierra campus
Nearly 150 physical therapy students from four schools in southern California will
visit the Loma Linda campus of the University on Sunday, April 26, according to Eliz
abeth Rogers, instructor in physical therapy.
The students, members of the American Physical Therapy Association of South
ern California, are from the
University of Southern Cali
fornia, Los Angeles; California
State College, Long Beach; San
Fernando Valley State College,
San Fernando; and Childrens'
Hospital, Los Angeles.
While here, they will tour
University Hospital, particu
larly the physical medicine sec
tion, the School of Health Re
lated Professions in Nichols
Hall, and the anatomy and em-briology
laboratories. After
lunch, physical recreation
sports and games are planned.
The five schools involved, in
cluding Loma Linda Univer
sity, send two representatives
from each school to a periodic
meeting ' in Los Angeles. At
such a meeting, students from
the other schools expressed an
interest in visiting Loma Linda
Continued on page 5
Former United States ambas
sador to Japan Edwin O. Reis-schauer,
PhD, is scheduled to
speak on Thursday, May 7, in
Hole Memorial Auditorium on
the La Sierra campus at 8 p. m.
for the Loma Linda University
Lecture Series.
Dr. Reischauer served as the
American ambassador to Japan
from 1961- 1966 as an appointee
of former President John F.
Kennedy. Since then, he has
During World War II, Dr.
Reischauer worked in the war
department for a year, then in
the United States Army from
1943- 45, emerging as a lieuten
ant- colonel at the end of the
war.
Dr. Reischauer was professor
of Japanese history at Harvard
University from 1950 until his
appointment as ambassador to
Japan.
Admission to the University
Lecture Series is free.
CONCERT ORGANIST Virgil Fox practices for his performance
Saturday, May 9, in Gentry Gymnasium at 8: 30 p. m. Mr. Fox, who
has recorded 17 albums of organ music, is the final performer for
the Uni^ rsity Artist and Lecture Series this academic year.
Three SD faculty
members are elected
to national posts
Three School of Dentistry
professors were named as of
ficers of the American Associa
tion of Dental Schools at their
last meeting March 22.
Charles T. Smith, DDS, dean
of the School of Dentistry, was
elected vice president of the
associations' Council of Deans.
Betty L. Zendner, chairman of
the dental assisting curriculum,
was chosen as chairman of the
section on dental assisting. And
Edwin F. Shryock, DDS, assist
ant professor of restorative
dentistry, was elected chairman
of the dental anatomy and oc
clusion section.
Dr. Smith's election to the
deans' council automatically
puts him on the executive com
mittee of the American Associ
ation of Dental Schools.
Dr. Reischauer
been a member of the faculty
of Harvard University, Boston,
Massachusetts.
Born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1910,
Dr. Reischauer received part of
his education from Tokyo Uni
versity, Kyoto University, Ky
oto, Japan; and in Peking,
China, prior to the start of
Worl dWar II. He also at
tended the University of Paris,
Paris, France, from 1933- 35.
Radiologist speaks
at- New York
physicians' confab
Melvin P. Judkins, MD, chair
man of the School of Medicine
department of radiology, was
one of 14 guest faculty partici
pants from medical schools
throughout the world at a con
ference on angiography last
month in New York City spon
sored by the College of Physi
cians and Surgeons at Columbia
University, New York City.
The conference, designed for
radiologists and other physi
cians conducting angiography,
dealt primarily with techniques,
instrumentation, and room de
sign in angiography.
Angiography is the process
of injecting solution into blood
vessels for easier visualization
by physicians studying x- rays.
Dr. Judkins presented three
talks and took part in a panel
discussion during the three day
seminar.