Radiations Emitted by Living Organisms
Abstract
According to our present knowledge, three different ranges of radiations are emitted from living organisms. These ranges can be classified according to their wave lengths or their place in the general electromagnetic spectrum. First, practically all organisms emit infra-red radiation, the wave length of which depends, as far as we know, entirely upon the temperature of the body. The second group of radiations belongs to the visible range of the spectrum; these radiations are produced by bio-luminescent phenomena. This emission of visible light by living organisms has been known for a long time. Ever since the great philosopher Aristotle mentioned the light emitted by certain fish, this so-called “cold light” has held the interest of biologists, physicists, and chemists. Many organisms in both the animal and the plant kingdoms are bio-luminescent, the best known being the firefly, the glowworm, and luminescent bacteria. Though bio-luminescent radiations can be satisfactorily analyzed as far as their spectral distribution is concerned, we know as yet very little about the way in which they are produced. Fundamentally speaking, certain substances formed within the cell are oxidized, but neither the composition of these substances nor the essential processes of their oxidation are known.
The third group of biologic radiations, the so-called mitogenetic rays, are perhaps of greatest interest to medicine. Emission of mitogenetic radiation, according to their discoverer, Alexander Gurwitsch1, a Lenin-grad histologist, is universally connected with growth in general and notably the process of mitosis of cells. Cell division had been studied widely in the. . .
