Section IV
The Wonder World of Science
Activity 1
(Relation between parts of a text)
- If you are asked to divide the lesson into 5 sections in order to make notes, where could you possibly draw the lines separating the sections?
First section … How commercial advertising of new drugs have pushed old cures for common cold like asafedita and camphor to disuse. (Paragraph no. 1 .. Last word .. ‘definitely harmful’. Title .. “Commercialism pushes age-old cures for cold to obscurity”)
Second section .. Morphine sourced from opium was found to be efficacious in many cases of common cold, but its use was discontinued because opium created fear in the minds of the doctors. Instead, two other derivatives of opium like codeine and papaverine came to be used as they were much less toxic and quite effective in combating cold. One grain of codeine and one grain of papaverine mixed yielded satisfactory results in 72% of cases under trial. Nasal congestion and discharge decreased appreciably. (Paragraph numbers 2,3, and 4 .. Last word ‘avoided. Title .. “Morphine is abandoned and milder opium derivatives come to the fore”)
Third section .. The combination drug allowed the students using them to do their normal work. It was also found that the drug, if taken in the very early stages, gave better results. Bed rest during the treatment added to the recovery process. The name of the combination drug is Copavin which is generally not known to the public. The doctors prescribe it. (Paragraph 5 .. Last word .. ‘used’. Title .. “Combination drug yields amazing results”)
Fourth section .. Confirmation of the efficacy of the combination drug was further supported by the studies conducted by Dr. Russell Cecil of New York, and Dr. Fritz Hutter of Vienna. They, too, found that early administration of the drug gave better results. It was observed that opium addicts seldom caught cold. De Quincey, in his book Confessions, mentions how he could stave off common cold during the years he took opium. But, when he stopped taking opium, cold returned with vengeance. Cocteau, in his Diary of an Addict has supported this observation. It emerged that Dover’s powder and even Quinine had an ameliorating effect on the majority of those attacked by cold. (Paragraph no. 6,7, and 8.. Last word .. ‘complications’. Title .. “Medical science discovers better alternatives”)
Fifth section ….What was universally agreed was the importance of common cold in hastening the recovery process and curbing the spread of the infection. Hot water bath, steam bath etc. helped too as they dilated the blood vessels to facilitate better blood flow. (Paragraph no. 9 .. Last word ‘before’. Title … “Some general advice”)
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Typing your own blood
Activity 8 …
Q1.What docs typing someone’s blood mean?
Answer .. Human beings have different types of blood. Typing one’s blood lets the doctor know what types of blood they can be given from external sources during surgery or medical emergencies.
Q2.What materials are necessary to type one’s blood? Which paragraphs tell you about those materials?
Answer.. Some very simple accessories are needed to carry out blood typing tests. These are alcohol-soaked cotton balls; a sterile lancet: a small test tube containing 1 ml of saline solution; anti-A, anti-B. and anti-Rh scrums with individual eye droppers, two microscope slides, a grease pencil, a Pasteur pipette, three applicator sticks, and a warm fluorescent light or other low-heat source.
Q3. What are the three stages of the experimental process described in this text? Name them.
Answer … Step 1.. With the grease pencil, label one slide Rh, and place this slide under the low-heat source.
Divide your cool slide into two equal portions, labelling one side A and the other B. Apply one drop of anti – A serum to slide A, one drop of anti – B to slide B, and one drop of anti – Rh to the warm Rh slide.
Step 2 .. Use ail alcohol-soakcd cotton ball to swab your middle or ring finger, and allow the excess alcohol to evaporate. After opening the sterile lancet, prick the sterile finger once, approximately one quarter inch beyond the end of the fingernail. Now, collect several drops of blood in the test tube containing the saline solution and mix the solution. In the meantime, hold another sterile cotton ball over the cut to allow the blood to clot.
Step 3 .. Next, using the Pasteur pipette, transfer one drop of the saline solution containing the
blood to each of the anti-A, anti-B and anti-Rh serums, using a separate applicator stick to mix each. After two or three minutes, clumping should have appeared in one or all of the areas. A clumping denotes A – type blood, B – clumping indicates B-type blood, A-and B – clumping signifies AB blood, and no clumping denotes O blood. Rh-clumping means that your blood is Rh- positive: the absence of Rh- clumping indicates that you have Rh negative blood.
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