Part Four, entitled "Solar Activity and the Earth", deals with some new and important questions. The article of V.V. Arsent' ev and S. I. Isaev introduces the subject. It is explained that our Sun is a weakly variable star with a principal period of 11.1 years. In years of peak solar activity, tremendous chromospheric flares in the ultra-violet and X-ray portions of the solar spectrum produce streams of solar corpuscles of a density of - per and a velocity of about 1000km/sec, which have a powerful effect not only on the electrical and magnetic life of the Earth but also on its biosphere. Prof. A. L. Chizhevskii and those who followed up his work in the USSR (G. A. Ivashentsev, A. A. Sadov, S. T. Vel'khover, G. D. Belonovskii, and some others) and abroad (M. Tanon, R. J. Dubos, M. Faure, J. Sardou, M. Takata, T. Murazugi, S. Takata, M. Laignel Lavastine, T. Dull and B. Dull, H. Berg, and some others) devoted much effort to the study of this interesting realm of phenomena. In 1939 the First International Congress of Biophysics and Biocosmics was held in New York, at which the honorary presidents were Prof. A. L. Chizhevskii from the USSR, and Profs. Paul Langevin and Arsene d'Arsonval from France. The two articles by Prof. Chizhevskii, devoted to the subjects of space biology, space epidemiology, and space medicine, give an account of these new disciplines, which were founded in the USSR more than forty years ago. These articles show how valuable these disciplines can be in modern medicine, as was proved by the recent notable investigations of the Italian scientist Prof. G. Piccardi and by a large group of scientists in various countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Chizhevskii's studies of the relation between space phenomena and physiological effects (infections, strokes, infarctions, sudden death, etc,) are paving the way for electronic medicine (as it was named by K. E. Tsiol kovskii) and reveal new fields of application for medical practice (such as the prophylactic drug treatment and "screening" of patients under ground, on the basis of heliophysical data).
Credit should be given to People's Commissar of Public Health Prof. N.A. Semashko, under whose editorship the above works appeared in print, and to the foresight of K. E. Tsiolkovskii, who wrote a paper on that subject published in 1924.
Dr. N.A. Shul'ts discusses the effect of chromospheric flares on hemo genesis, i. e. , on the mass increase or decrease of white blood cells in man all over the globe. N. S. Shcherbinovskii, Corresponding Member of VASKhNIL, gives an account of his investigations on the periodicity in the mass reproduction of a redoubtable pest, the locust, in the Asiatic countries and the southeast of the Soviet Union. This work is also of considerable practical value.
Part Five presents a study of the biosphere of the Earth and the way it is affected by physical fields. This section opens with a very interesting article by the eminent Soviet astronomer, the late M. S. Eigenson. The main point of the article is that interplanetary space is pervaded with the raw material necessary for the genesis of organic life. This apparently para doxical idea is supported by convincing evidence, whose significance is stressed by the author.
In the next article, Prof. Chizhevskii gives an account of his well-known
investigations, taking place over forty years, on the effect of the carriers of atmospheric electricity—the airborne negative oxygen ions—on the organism of animals and man. He clearly shows the great importance of artificially produced negative air ions in everyday life and in the prophylaxis and therapy of many serious diseases. Particularly significant are Prof. Chizhevskii's studies on the effect of deionized air (i. e. , air completely deprived of its ions) on animals. Normal, natural air, from which all the ions have been removed does not sustain life and the animals die. When studying in the thirties the ways in which air ions affect human beings, Chizhevskii felt it was necessary to investigate some of the geometrical, electrical and magnetic properties of the blood. This topic is treated by B.D. Vasil'ev, Candidate of Medical Sciences, in the article "Atmospheric Air, Life and the Blood". This article demonstrates the strong bond that links together the system "air—blood".
The article by A. A. Peredel'skii, Doctor of Biological Sciences, deals with some aspects of penetrating radiation and radioecology. The author is an eminent authority on radioecology. The article deals with a broad range of problems—from the impact of cosmic sources of background radiation on organisms to the practical importance of radioecology for the decontamination of land and water bodies. The author describes the pattern of distribution and translocation of radioactive wastes produced by natural biological and abiological processes and activities. The article demonstrates the importance of radioecology in the study of the effects of radioactive wastes and in developing effective ways of eliminating health hazards. Methods are given for the disposal of the wastes and the possibility is appraised of "steering" the phenomena in question.
Lastly, the article by the late botanist A. V. Krylov, Candidate of Biological Sciences, deals with magnetotropism in plants. Actually, the effect of a magnetic field on bioprocesses has been a moot point for a long time, and many scientists denied its possibility altogether. However, in 1951, a paper was published to the effect that the erythrocytes moving in the bloodstream exhibit a magnetic field (Chizhevskii). Independently, A.V. Krylov conducted experiments showing that the roots of plants grow along the lines of force of the Earth's magnetic field. In recent times, many authors have detected a reaction to a magnetic field in several specimens of animal life. Consequently, biology and geophysics find themselves linked together in a novel way.
The last portion of the book, Part Six, highlights some points in the history of science which fittingly display the trend toward the cosmization of natural science. In a brief personal account, Chizhevskii recalls the struggle for world recognition of the contribution of K.E. Tsiolkovskii, in which he came to be involved in his youth.
It is hoped that the body of ideas presented in this collection will impel the reader to seek further knowledge on the topical issues of natural science bearing on the relationship between the Earth and the boundless universe around it.