Letters, Dec. 25, 1939

• Share

Saliva

Sirs:

Your come-back to A. C. Whitaker's letter (TIME, Dec. 4) "Saliva is saliva, distilled or not—ED." is the most inept and unsnappy that I can recall. In fact I might say it was positively dumb. What Mr. Whitaker tried to tell you in a nice way was that the moisture that accumulates in musicians' wind instruments was not spit but actual water, and he was right. . . .

Take a piece of toast hot from the toaster tomorrow morning and lay it on a cold plate. When you pick it up you will note the plate is beaded with drops of moisture. And it won't be saliva. . . . The air the musician takes into his lungs is not saturated with saliva when he blows it into his horn, it is warmed in the lungs so that its natural moisture is more easily condensed when it passes into the cooler metal coils of the horn, and this natural moisture of the air (water) is what is precipitated within the horn and has to be dumped out.

E. M. KRUSEN Drexel Hill, Pa.

Sirs:

Millions of amateur distillers from the prohibition era will join me in agreeing with A. C. Whitaker (TIME, Dec. 4), against the editor, that the juice from a French horn is condensed hot air, and not a product of the salivary glands.

HOWARD B. POTTS Byesville, O.

Sirs:

. . . Saliva consists of that liquid derived from the three pair of salivary glands proximate and discharging into the mouth. The fluid substance removable after the playing of wind instruments consists mainly of condensed exhaled breath whose source is the lungs.

You have a good Department of Medicine —why not use it for pertinent consultations ?

VICTOR G. RUBENSTEIN, M.D. Los Angeles, Calif.

Sirs:

. . . The lungs normally excrete almost a quart of water a day, roughly 1% ounces an hour. Horn playing is not normal breathing, and in two hours' playing time a horn will act as a condenser and easily catch a glassful of water from the lungs, sir, not spit!

MARY STEICHEN, M.D. Bellevue Hospital New York City

Sirs: . . . Shame. . . .

G. S. FRAPS College Station, Tex.

Sirs:

Second shame. .

CHARLES L. CLAY Boston, Mass.

Sirs:

. . . Similar shame. . . .

SAMUEL H. BROWN Westtown, Pa.

Sirs:

Still shame. . . .

P. K. TELFORD, M.D. Los Angeles, Calif.

—To Reader Whitaker and his 33 champions (to date), TIME'S shamed Ed.'s apologies.—ED.

Boyer's Pate

Sirs:

Under picture of Charles Boyer and wife, TIME says: "Mrs. Boyer is quite adequate." Is Mr. Boyer's hair adequate? Did he leave it "somewhere in France," or has trick Hollywood photography been used on us poor fans all these years?

MRS. LEVIS HALL JR. Sherman, Tex.

Sirs:

Might as well beat the ladies to this one. Is Charles Boyer as bald as your cut on p, 60, TIME, Dec. 4, would have us movie fans believe ?

KERWIN HOOVER International Falls, Minn.

¶ Actor Boyer is bald halfway back on top. He wears a toupee (hairpiece or divot in Hollywood) for cinema and most public appearances.—ED.

One-Room Schools

Sirs: