CRYONICS

April 1984                                                     ISSUE # 45


    Contents:

    Editorial Matters.............................................page 1

    Florida Capability............................................page 1

    ALCOR Emergency...............................................page 2

    Molecular Engineering.........................................page 5

    Now, From the People Who Brought You Talking Dolphins.........page 6

    Oh What A Lovely War..........................................page 7

    Letters to the Editors........................................page 10

    Cryo '83 -- Part III..........................................page 15

    Simple Cryogenic Techniques...................................page 19

    What You Can Do -- Part III -- Part II........................page 24

    Science Updates...............................................page 29




CRYONICS is the newsletter of the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, Inc.  
Michael Darwin (Federowicz) and Stephen Bridge, Editors.  Published 
monthly.  Individual subscriptions $15.00 per year in the U.S., Canada, and 
Mexico;  $30.00 per year all others.  Group rates available on request.  
Please address all editorial correspondence to Alcor, 4030 North Palm #304, 
Fullerton, CA 92635, or phone (714) 738-5569.

Contents copyright 1984 by Alcor Life Extension Foundation, Inc. except 
where otherwise noted.  All rights reserved.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     (1)


EDITORIAL MATTERS

                                       During most of the month of April 
                                  Hugh Hixon and Mike Darwin will be away
                                  from Southern California.  Both of them
                                  will be spending several weeks in Florida
                                  (wearing a Cryovita hat:  see story 
                                  below) and a week in Indiana touching 
                                  base with the cryonics people back there 
                                  and working intensively with Steve 
                                  Bridge (the other Editor of CRYONICS) to 
                                  revamp the ALCOR suspension paperwork. 
    What this means as far as our readers and members are concerned is that 
the magazine will be produced "ahead of time":  in the case of the May 
issue almost six  weeks earlier than usual.  So, if you write letters and 
don't see them appear in print, or if orders for back issues, literature or 
change of addresses seem to take a little longer please, bear with us.  We 
are leaving a skeleton crew to handle administration and emergencies will 
be covered by the very competent and ever-ready ALCOR suspension team head 
by Jerry Leaf.

FLORIDA CAPABILITY EMERGING

    In January a contract between Cryovita and the Cryonics Society of 
South Florida (CSSF) was executed to provide for the development of a 
"state of the art" capability with respect to perfusion in the South 
Florida area.  To this end over $10,000 worth of equipment and supplies has 
been shipped to CSSF by Cryovita since February with almost another $10,000 
worth slated for shipment in the next few months.  This equipment augments 
an already significant physical capability which has been place for the 
last two years.
    The Florida group has contracted for a complete capability and has 
purchased the full range of equipment and supplies necessary to do human 
perfusions to the standards now being employed in Southern California.  
When the equipment is fully deployed CSSF will have at its disposal a 
complete operating room with a heart lung machine and all necessary 
supporting instruments to carry out thoracic surgery for perfusion.  They 
will also have a fully equipped laboratory for mixing perfusates, and doing 
blood gas determinations and laboratory analysis required to assess the 
adequacy of perfusion.
    Following shipment of the balance of the required equipment Hugh Hixon 
and Mike Darwin will be traveling to Florida to spend several weeks 
training the local suspension team to handle the initial phases of cryonic 
suspension:  resuscitation, medication and cooling.  Current plans are  for 
Cryovita personnel, directed by Jerry Leaf, to remain on-call for CSSF to 
provide for perfusion until such time as CSSF gains an independent 
surgical/perfusion capability.  CSSF and Cryovita hope to work closely in 
the coming years to insure that CSSF achieves complete independence with 
respect to perfusion capability.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     (2)


ALCOR EMERGENCY    Urgent Instructions

    A few hours after the March 4th ALCOR meeting adjourned the answering 
service paged Mike Darwin and informed him that an ALCOR member had called 
to say he was in the hospital and could we please call him back as soon as 
possible.  A call was placed, the member was reached, and what was to 
develop into a real emergency began to unfold.
    The member, who we'll call Mr. G here, had been signed up with ALCOR 
since 1977 and had cryonics arrangements for nearly twenty years.  Mr. G 
who had previously been in perfect health, told us that he had driven to 
the hospital the preceding morning because of weakness in his legs, and 
then had developed pronounced left sided weakness and double vision.  He 
was apprehensive and wanted to know if we could possibly come down the 
following day to make some changes in his cryonics arrangements.  After 
assessing the situation, we asked if he would rather we come THEN, that 
evening, rather than take a chance on his being unable to communicate and 
sign things on the following day.  It was obvious that Mr. G was at pains 
not to cause us to be "put out" or inconvenienced, but it was also obvious 
that he was worried about his condition:  his physician told him that he 
might possibly have a brain tumor.  Even though Mr. G felt fairly confident 
he would be able to handle matters in the morning (it was then nearly 8 pm 
on Sunday) he did finally ask if we could come out that evening.
    Without further ado, Hugh Hixon and Mike Darwin loaded up the video 
camera, consulted with an attorney and shoved off for the hospital with the 
necessary paperwork.  They arrived at 11:00 pm to be confronted by a 
somewhat hostile and less than cooperative staff, but with lots of 
reassurances and several firm demands from the patient, they were allowed 
to get the papers executed and film their execution (to establish 
competency and coherency on the part of Mr. G).
    The following morning would find Mr. G in the Intensive Care Unit 
almost totally unable to move, and able to speak only with effort.  At this 
point, per Mr. G's request, ALCOR contacted a relative who Mr. G wanted to 
question about overseeing his affairs while he was incapacitated.  The 
relative met with both us (and toured our physical plant) and spoke with 
Mr. G.  Mr. G repeatedly assured the relative of the long-standing nature 
of his cryonics arrangements and asked him to cooperate with ALCOR in the 
event cryonic suspension was necessary.
    The following day, another relative called and indicated that 
cooperation might well not be forthcoming.  There was a long series of 
questions about our legal status and about "whether or not we thought we 
could get away with 'this thing' if they (the relatives) took us to 
court?"  The conversation ended with the rather astute observation by this 
relative that THEY COULD MOVE MR.G OUT OF THE STATE and so prevent his 
cryonic suspension.  As they (rightly) pointed out, we had little power or 
authority to DO anything about Mr. G's whereabouts until AFTER he was dead.
    When Mr. G became aware of this, he quite wisely named someone else as 
Power of Attorney and sought to limit his relatives' influence on his care 
or whereabouts.  This was not a simple matter to achieve considering Mr. 
G's presence in the ICU.  ALCOR acted to set up (in cooperation with the 
hospital and several off Mr. G's noncryonics friends) another 
filming/document execution session:  this time conducted in the presence of 
the hospital notary and in the ICU!
    With a cooperative Power of Attorney it then became possible for ALCOR 
to act in the event of deanimation.  But it was a close call.  In the 
following weeks ALCOR has had to spend an average of four or five hours a 
day just keeping
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     (3)


things on track so that Mr. G gets good care and so that we are notified 
should his condition change or sudden deanimation occur.  Without relatives 
to act for him (none have visited him since that second night in the 
hospital) ALCOR has had to step in and fill the gaps.  Just riding herd on 
his medical care has been a major task; if there isn't someone there 
looking over the chart, seeing that you are being turned, suctioned and 
cared for, you stand a fair chance of being shunted off in the corner 
somewhere and forgotten.  One of the first things that happened to Mr. G 
after he was moved from the ICU back to a regular nursing floor was that he 
developed pneumonia from aspirating saliva into his lungs (he is totally 
unable to swallow).  This occurred because he required almost constant 
suctioning of these secretions, and the regular nursing staff was unable to 
give this kind of care (they have many other patients to take care of).  
So, his Power of Attorney and Mike Darwin arranged for him to have round 
the clock nursing care and MADE SURE that someone was there to prevent him 
from choking to death on his own secretions.  ALCOR has also provided the 
extra TLC needed to make sure he has the little things he needs:  a radio, 
telephone, contact with the outside world in the form of newspapers and so 
on.
    As it turned out, Mr. G did not have a brain tumor, but rather appears 
to have had a stroke coupled with the onset of another chronic neurological 
disease.  At this time he has been moved to a rehabilitation center a few 
minutes away from ALCOR and he is being checked on and visited by ALCOR 
people on a daily basis WITHOUT FAIL.  Mr. G's prognosis remains uncertain 
and while we are  hopeful about his future and continue to provide him with 
encouragement and loving support, it is very hard to say if he will 
recover.
    What we can say is that we have learned a number of very useful things 
from Mr. G's emergency.  First and foremost is that preparation counts.  If 
Mr. G's arrangements had not been largely in place, we would never have had 
a chance.  As it was, just making the last minute changes which were 
necessary required a tremendous amount of effort and many sleepless nights.
    We learned the importance of having an executed Physician's Affidavit.  
Initially, the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) where Mr. G. was 
hospitalized at refused to cooperate with us.  It was only AFTER we showed 
them the Physician's Affidavit which they had signed, that they changed 
their attitude.  Still, it took nearly four days for the upper echelon 
administration to REALIZE what they had agreed to.  In the end, it required 
considerable finesse on the part of Mike Darwin to work through a meeting 
with the head of the nursing department and the Hospital Administrator and 
come away with an agreement which basically said:

    a)  The hospital would start CPR and continue a "normal" code for at 
least twenty minutes.

    b)  The  hospital would notify ALCOR of any change in the patient's 
condition and would allow us to "standby" with a rescue van in the parking  
lot if deanimation looked imminent.

    c)  The hospital would allow ALCOR personnel to move into the ICU or 
patient room, couple the patient to ALCOR rescue equipment and remove the 
patient from their facility.

    d)  No attempt would be made to "slow down" removal of the patient, and 
death certificates and transfer permits would be handled later, when time 
permitted.

    e)  The patient would be transferred to a "monitored" floor should his
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     (4)


vitals become unstable.

    These arrangements required much negotiation and intense perseverance 
on the part of ALCOR personnel.  Everyone functioned beautifully in the 
emergency and special thanks must go out to Hugh Hixon and Jerry Leaf who 
took on tremendous burdens of work to insure smooth operations throughout 
the time of crisis.  Paul and Maureen Genteman must also we praised for the 
cooperation and support in making their home available as a base of 
operations should the need have arisen.  It is now clear to us that this 
kind of effort is what is required to get someone frozen, whether it comes 
from ALCOR or some other concerned party.
    It is interesting to note that even though Mr. G had a copy of our 
emergency instructions in his HMO file as well as a copy of his Physician's 
Affidavit, they had no intention of calling to notify ALCOR off Mr. G's 
hospitalization UNTIL HE DIED.  They were unfamiliar with cryonics and had 
NO IDEA what was involved.  As one nurse in administration put it:  "Oh we 
get people willing their bodies to science in here from time to time.  
Almost invariably when they die and we call the number they've given us 
it's in the middle of the night and nobody knows what to do so they end up 
going to a mortuary."  This same nurse said that prior to the orientation 
we gave, she "probably wouldn't even have bothered to call if Mr. G had 
died unattended and a lot of time went by...because she knew it wouldn't do 
any good..."
    Mr. G was VERY lucky in that he brought us into the loop while he was 
still able to.  He was doubly lucky that he made that call because he was 
NOT wearing his ALCOR bracelet when he was admitted to the hospital.  Thus, 
it is quite possible that he would have been buried or cremated before we 
ever even heard about his death.  His Physician's Affidavit and emergency 
instructions were in his file at the HMO clinic (they never made it to the 
HMO hospital) and the physician who regularly saw Mr. G was no longer with 
the HMO!  The hospital would simply never have known to call us had Mr. G 
come in unable to speak and act for himself.
    The take home messages in this incident for other cryonicists are:

    1)  ALWAYS wear your ALCOR bracelet or necktag.  If you can't speak for 
yourself, they may be able to speak for you.

    2)  Appoint someone you TRUST (preferably another cryonicist) as  your 
Power of Attorney NOW while you are healthy and competent.  (It bears  
pointing out that Mr. G was jogging 3 miles and doing 30 push-ups before 
lunch each day right up until the day he drove himself into the hospital 
for what he though was a minor problem.)

    3)  Make sure that there is someone who can and will act and act 
quickly to defend your interests and keep your cryonics arrangements on 
track if you live remote from ALCOR.  At very least be sure that someone 
who is in close contact with you knows to notify ALCOR should you be 
hospitalized or deanimate.

    4)  If you have hostile or even questionably cooperative relatives make 
sure you NEVER list them anywhere as the people to contact in the event of 
an emergency.  ALWAYS list someone you can be SURE will cooperate or list 
ALCOR as the people to call should be injured, fall ill or deanimate.  Make 
sure your wallet or other personal effects do NOT contain the names or 
phone numbers of hostile or potentially hostile relatives.

    We must become aware that when we are ill and unable to act for  
ourselves
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     (5)


ALL of the traditional social structure revolves around relatives taking 
charge.  At one point, we were even cut-off from visiting Mr. G because in 
the ICU only relatives are allowed to visit!  Until legal death is 
pronounced, the cryonics organization has NO rights whatsoever.  It 
behooves all of us to appoint some one to act for us, or we may find 
ourselves cut-off and in the hands of "family" who want only to bury or 
burn us.

MOLECULAR ENGINEERING: ARE THE BEGINNINGS JUST AROUND THE CORNER?

    One of things which it is difficult if not impossible for 
noncryonicists to understand is HOW we will be revived.  Or, more 
specifically, what physical technology will be used to achieve 
reanimation.  Those of our readers who have been with us from the start are 
probably no strangers to the scenarios of Thomas Donaldson and Mike Darwin 
wherein "living systems" using synthetic or specially manufactured 
catalysts or "molecular machines" will effect repair on a cell by cell, 
molecule by molecule by molecule basis.  Donaldson in particular has 
written at some length in numerous articles in both LONG LIFE MAGAZINE and 
CRYONICS about the coming age of synthetic catalysis and its impact on 
cryonics.
    For those of our readers NOT so familiar with Donaldson's previous 
work, a little review is probably in order.  Basically, all of the work 
that gets done inside our cells is done my small machines, so-called 
molecular machines, which we commonly refer to as enzymes.  These molecule 
size machines string amino acids together, break and make chemical bonds 
and generally carry out the business of metabolism, growth and 
development.  They are in essence, the machines which build and maintain 
us.  Until very recently we have had very little insight into how these 
tiny machines work.  Certainly we have had no capability to do engineering 
on the level of molecules.  All of our engineering efforts are carried out 
on a fairly coarse scale with NO precision at all with respect to the 
positioning of individual atoms.  All of the machines we now have at our 
disposal are extremely coarse and crude compared to the ones operating in 
nature right inside our cells at this very moment.
    Because we have no way to deal with atoms except as big blocks and 
coarse groups it is almost impossible to envision repairing individual 
cells and patching up individual ravaged memory molecules.  All we can do 
right now is to move big hunks of tissue around or relatively big hunks of 
cell components and affect metabolism and repair only by the crudest 
means;  by poisoning or stimulating one system or another (as with drugs).  
However, this will not always be the case.  Soon we will have the 
capability to build our own molecular machines and to carry out engineering 
and repair at the level of the cell.  Recently, mainstream science has been 
giving more and more attention to this idea.  Science (233, 154 (1984)) 
carried an excellent review article entitled "Semisynthetic Enzymes Are New 
Catalysts" which boldly predicts:

               "More complicated procedures may involve combining the
           enzyme with an external reagent to produce a semisynthetic
           enzyme with different catalytic potential.  The most
           complicated procedures may involve a complete redesign of
           the enzyme itself...  Research has only just begun on such
           applications, but the results so far suggest that there is
           great potential for success and that it might be possible
           one day to find or make an enzyme to carry out nearly any
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     (6)


           reaction desired."

    The article goes on to point out that a whole range of semisynthetic 
catalysts have been made, many of which outperform their natural cousins in 
many respects;  such as rate of reaction, range of temperature activity, or 
yield of reaction product.
    This work should be extremely encouraging to cryonicists because it is 
this kind of technology which will likely be required to revive us.  Along 
these lines, we have received a very excellent manuscript from Eric Drexler 
of the L-5 Society dealing with just these developments in a very elegant 
and exciting way.  We sincerely hope Mr. Drexler's manuscript sees print in 
the near future and that his designs will have the same powerful, positive 
effect they have had on us.  This entire area of molecular engineering is 
one which we will be following and reporting on closely in the coming 
months and years.

NOW, FROM THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT YOU TALKING DOLPHINS, BROADCASTING 
EXTRATERRESTRIALS, AND SUDDEN DEATH FROM OVERPOPULATION:  NUCLEAR WINTER

    In this issue is an excellent article by Thomas Donaldson entitled "Oh 
What A Lovely War."  The article is excellent because it cuts through waves 
of hype and emotionalism to come to grips with basic issues of common sense 
and personal responsibility.  Shortly after the media hype on the Sagan, 
Ehrlich, Pollack report on "nuclear winter" began, this editor began to 
have doubts.  Doubts about the veracity of the "data" and doubts about the 
strategy to be adopted in the face of that data.  I felt quite strongly 
about writing something concerning those  doubts, but was restrained, I 
believe wisely, by colleagues who felt CRYONICS should stick to its largely 
"apolitical" editorial policy.  My colleagues were certainly right in 
urging ME not to write a critique of the report, largely because it would 
have lacked the balanced, careful reasoning present in Donaldson's 
commentary.
    But, my colleagues were also wrong.  Wrong in assuming that the issues 
of nuclear war and disarmament should be excluded from the pages of 
CRYONICS because they are "political."  Like it or not these issues are 
ones which intimately affect our survival as individuals if not as a 
species.  Those are just the kind of issues CRYONICS has dealt with and 
must continue to deal with whether they are political or not.  We have 
avoided discussing most so-called political topics largely because we feel 
they are irrelevant to the big picture:  just so much grunting of hogs 
which should be listened to for tone much more than for specific content.  
Unfortunately, the issues of nuclear war and disarmament cannot be dealt 
with in the same way.  In particular, these issues cannot be dealt with 
lightly when statements and policy are shaped on the basis of scientific 
study and concrete facts.  Such is the premise of the Pollack/Sagan report.
    I must point out at the outset that I don't think there is anything 
"wrong" with nuclear weapons or that to make or use them (or threaten to 
use them) is an intrinsically immoral and criminal act.  Indeed, it bears 
pointing out that in large measure our standard of living here in the U.S. 
has been shaped by the fact that we have not had to spend gigabucks on 
conventional defense strategies which are so much more costly in terms of 
lives and material.  Nuclear weapons are scary because they are BIG and 
POWERFUL and DEADLY.  But they are not out of
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     (7)


scale with the rest of our technological capability and in the future we 
will have things which will be even MORE DEADLY and MORE POWERFUL and MORE 
AWESOME.  Just wishing, or labeling something as "evil" will not make it go 
away.  If we wish to control awesome power and knowledge we must accept  
awesome responsibility.
    All of the disarmament and freeze apologists want to make nuclear 
weapons go away.  They want the personal fear and load of possible 
annihilation to vanish from their shoulders on the basis of "simple" 
solutions.  But that cannot happen.  New discoveries, new ventures, new 
territories always carry with them new risks and uncertainties.  Imagine 
the situation if the colonists who fought their way across this continent 
had insisted on SAFETY and SECURITY as they extended their reach!  It is a 
fact that nuclear weapons exist:  a consequence of our growth in 
understanding of the world around us.  It is also a fact that competing 
ideologies and government systems exist, and that they are not going to go 
away or be simply persuaded of some universal "correct" course of action. 
These things are with us, and will probably remain with us for the 
foreseeable future.  It behooves all of us to take Donaldson's advice and 
STOP wringing our hands or idly wishing for a simple solution to the 
problem and get on with the business of learning to LIVE with nuclear 
bombs.
    As much of a contradiction as that may seem, it is really only a slight 
variant of what we as cryonicists are already doing:  living with the 
knowledge of the certain annihilation which awaits us in the form so-called 
natural death and taking responsibility to deal with it.  --M.D.

OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR

by Thomas Donaldson

    Although the report I discuss here does not concern either gerontology 
or cryobiology it does merit some attention in an immortalist publication.  
I am referring to the report by Sagan et al, (SCIENCE 222 (1983) 1283), and 
its sister by Paul Ehrlich et al, (SCIENCE 222 (1983) 1293), describing the 
effects of a large nuclear war on the climate and ecology of the Northern 
Hemisphere.
    To summarize, Sagan and his co-conspirators assert that a nuclear war 
(their "reference war" involving 5,000 megatons of bombs, most above 1 
megaton) would cause climactic disruption such that for a year afterward 
clouds would cover most of the earth, temperatures would fall as low as -
20C, and plants would have difficulty growing because of the dark.  Fallout 
would cover 50% of the land area.  About 75% of the population of the 
Northern Hemisphere would survive the initial attack, to face these extreme 
climactic conditions afterwards.  In the subsequent article Ehrlich, 
Stephen J. Gould, and others observe that these conditions would severely 
impact most life on earth (!).
    This is actually wonderful news.  Neither the temperatures nor the 
other conditions, are so severe that a prepared community could not cope.  
The one novel point of these claims is the idea that the community would 
need stored food for two years, together with seeds, breeding stock, and 
other equipment to restart agriculture afterwards.  (Sensible planning for  
such a catastrophe,
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     (8)


though, should have already included such preparations).  For instance 
there are many areas in the U.S., Canada, and Russia where the temperature 
falls to -20C right now.  These conditions are survivable.  In particular, 
with preparation, more than half the population of the U.S. would survive 
long term.
    However, on reading these documents I somehow get a pronounced feeling 
that survivability just wasn't the message Sagan and his co-conspirators 
wanted to put out.  Of course they aren't going to TELL us their message.  
In fact, nowhere in either of these documents do they actually state what 
CONCLUSIONS they wish us to draw from the claims they are making.  They are 
being coy.  I'm going to look at that and try to piece out what's really 
going on.  After all, if they don't tell us their own conclusions, they can 
hardly object if we draw our own!
    In the first place, the articles are actually, both of them, quite 
atrocious "snow jobs".  If we read them we discover all sorts of facts and 
statistics, tables of megatonnage, tables about the characteristics of dust 
and smoke released by nuclear detonations, volcanic detonations, and 
fires.  It is then ASSERTED that all these facts imply the climactic 
results described (and described fully, in charts and graphs).  When we 
examine the article for any sort of substantiation of these claims, we find 
that the detailed simulations on which these charts and graphs are based 
are "in preparation", and the models used, and their validity, are 
discussed elsewhere.  Not only that, but even some crucial "facts", such as 
the characteristics of dust created by nuclear explosions, are to be 
substantiated in this same work "in preparation" (their reference l5).  
Fundamentally, anyone reading this and wanting to check the conclusions for 
themselves will have to do a great deal of work, and might simply have to 
wait until those parts which are "in preparation" become ACTUALLY PREPARED, 
which may take a long time, if ever.  As they stand, these documents depend 
PURELY upon the trust of the reader for their effect.  If we don't want to 
blindly believe Sagan et al, we're left completely up in the air.  Nor is 
it even a simple matter of conclusions which are true or false;  if we 
actually had a  complete document (rather than a snow job) we would 
probably discover many more important qualifications.
    This tactic reminds me powerfully of an old debating trick.  By the 
time the opposition has DONE all the work needed to answer and clarify 
these papers, several years will have passed and the impact of any 
refutations or qualifications will be almost nil.
    What exactly are these people trying to prove?  What is the effect that 
they wish to create by these documents?
    In the first place, everyone already knew that nuclear war would be an 
unparalleled catastrophe.  Perhaps not so grave a catastrophe as a major 
asteroid impact on the earth, but still the greatest catastrophe to affect 
mankind within historical memory.  Their conclusions are therefore not 
novel at all;  when we come to discuss catastrophes, after all, it matters 
little whether 50% or 99.9% of the population dies, my own chances and 
those of my family and friends look pretty grim.
    HERE IS A CLUE:  there is, you see, another way of looking at the 
conclusions that they are drawing.  After all, if a 5,000 megaton nuclear 
war would have these horrific effects, what they may have produced is a 
cogent argument that their "reference war" will simply never occur.  This 
isn't to say that nuclear weapons will never be used in war, but simply 
that the war wouldn't be pressed so far.  No one will HAVE a 5,000 megaton 
nuclear war.  Period.  However, on examining their article we discover 
about 5 lines, and two references, devoted to this crucial point.  Sagan et 
al, allege that "nuclear war would be very difficult to control."  They 
omit virtually all argument for this assertion, which they seem to feel has 
obvious verisimilitude for any
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     (9)


reader to accept.
    Their "reference war" is thus not just a matter of X megatons 
detonated.  Their reference war is an ORGASMIC RELEASE.  It is as if, 
starting from a condition of peace, with no previous warning or preparation 
by anybody, all of a sudden 5,000 megatons of bombs are detonated all over 
the Northern Hemisphere.
    This picture represents more accurately the effects of an unprovoked 
surprise attack by flying saucers from Arcturus than it does the likely 
course of a nuclear war between existing Earth nations.
    Even if we assume that no restraint is exercised (a very large 
assumption indeed, considering the horrific consequences of NOT exercising 
restraint), there are in fact at least two Northern Hemisphere nations 
which have made extensive preparations to ride out exactly this kind of 
attack.  I am referring to Switzerland and Sweden.  Both countries have 
very extensive civil defense preparations and stockpiling.  They would 
probably not be target areas themselves.  They will further have armies and 
governments in being afterwards, and be capable of repelling all bands of 
marauders from other, less provident countries after the attack.
    However, for some reason they do not reveal, Sagan and Ehrlich do not 
choose to consider either the effects of any sort of restraint or the 
effects of extensive civil defense preparations.  They are being coy and 
don't want to tell us what they are really trying to prove (probably they 
would assert, with injured innocence, that they weren't trying to prove 
anything).  HOWEVER, just from looking at their assumptions we can surmise 
that what they really want to prove (by RHETORIC rather than RATIONAL 
ARGUMENT) is that restraint is unlikely and civil defense impossible.  Of 
course they haven't proven, or EVEN DISCUSSED, either of these 
propositions.  They want to "prove" these "theses" by repeating them over 
and over in sly ways.
    Where else is their argument going?  In the first place, there's no 
inconsistency at all in making PRIVATE civil defense preparations and 
taking a political position in favor of total disarmament.  After all, our 
ability to alter political trends is far behind our ability to affect our 
own fate.  For some reason, people who simultaneously hold these two views 
are few and far between (except of course in Switzerland and Sweden). 
However, the whole thrust of debate in the U.S. tends towards arguments 
that these two opinions are POLAR OPPOSITES.  That is the context into 
which Sagan, Gould and Ehrlich have delivered their documents, and they can 
hardly have been ignorant of it.  I would therefore conclude that these 
gentlemen want to DISSUADE us from any sort of private action.  They are 
trying to get us to follow their own political flags, in a condition of 
emotional and intellectual dependency upon them and their kind.  People who 
feel helpless and unable to affect their own fate, off course, will happily 
follow any available demagogue.
    Although such emotional states are not religious in the literal sense, 
they have much to do with the drives and conditions which also produce 
religion.  Nuclear war involves death on a mass scale.  It is the secular 
version of Armageddon, so much as to be a cliche.  (Why is nuclear war so 
OBVIOUSLY impossible to restrain or limit?  Well, who ever heard of a 
restrained Armageddon?) The implements of such war are evil and WE CAN ONLY 
ESCAPE EVIL BY RIDDING OURSELVES OF IT TOTALLY.  Restraint is impossible.  
We cannot save ourselves by any private activities, we can only save 
ourselves by giving our souls over utterly to Christ.  That is, if you 
happen to be pro-disarmament and ALSO believe in civil defense, you haven't 
given your soul over to the cause.
    Not being already immortal, I can't really speak for other times; 
certainly there is enough in the history books about similar attitudes at 
other times to make me think that NOW isn't really any different.  Many 
people now seem quite unable to see any alternative to behaving in public,  
politicized, and
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (10)


fundamentally symbolic ways.  They go through life acting as if they could 
only express their opinions by a communal, religious demonstration.  In 
particular they can't respond to the nuclear war problem other than in this 
way, even to save their lives.  It's really quite symptomatic here that 
Sagan, Ehrlich, and Gould are media superstars.  Let's suppose that their 
campaign is "successful" and gets lots of followers, even that it leads to 
total U.S. nuclear disarmament.  In what way will their own personal 
prospects for survival be improved?  China and the U.S.S.R. would then have 
their 5,000 megaton war, and an UNPREPARED United States would then be duly 
wiped out by the (presumed) climactic effects.  Sagan and Ehrlich would, of 
course, bask in the public attention and receive large sums on lecture 
tours UNTIL that dismal event.
    I am saying that these gentlemen are just as much caught up in cult 
thinking as those they are trying to ensnare.
    Most readers known that some cryonicists actually own fallout 
shelters.  Others have taken other measures.  This isn't done in a belief 
that these measures will necessarily work, but only in the belief that they 
can significantly improve the odds.  Our attitudes are much the same 
towards our own suspensions.  Neither of these preparations is symbolic at 
all.  What we are specifically NOT doing, of course, is renouncing all 
private preparations and giving ourselves over to one or the other politico-
religious cult movements against Death.  People who do not think our way, 
including virtually all of the American intellectual class, will rage at 
our indifference to their charismatic cults.  They even think that cryonics 
is just another one of the same kind, and will probably never understand 
the difference.
    Could cryonics survive a major nuclear war?  Of course that's what we 
really want to know.
    Rather than accept their quite implausible scenario, I shall assume 
that extensive civil defense preparations do take place in SOME countries.  
If a country isn't a target, the major preparation it needs is storage of 
food and supplies.  It will certainly be visible before the event just 
which countries are behaving in a provident fashion;  so long as the  
American establishment continues its insane policy towards civil defense we 
should expect to leave the U.S.   With  food and supplies, a provident, 
nontarget country would keep its industrial capacity, hence its ability to 
produce liquid nitrogen.  We might also have to buy our way in with our own 
supplies...which is only fair.  Cost would be very high;  on the other 
hand, so would be our motivation.  Every other major war was preceded by a 
long period of extreme tension, so that we can expect time to get our 
affairs in order.  Without a detailed contingency plan, no one can work out 
detailed costs or activities.  It is clear however, what we would have to 
do, and also clear that we could probably do these things (although it 
would really hurt).  Since (thankfully) we live in a time of relative 
peace, it may not even make sense to work out any more detailed plans.

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

Dear Mike,

    I have just finished reading the March 1984 issue of CRYONICS and feel 
that some comment is required, not so much about the content of the issue 
itself (which was as always excellent) as about some underlying assumptions 
both you and Jerry Leaf SEEM to be making.  I feel that these assumptions 
need to be seen as assumptions rather than obvious truths, particularly 
because at SOME point we as cryonicists are simply going to have to abandon 
them.
    In the March 1984 issue of CRYONICS, you have an article "What You Can 
Do--Part  III"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (11)


and a second article, co-authored with Jerry Leaf, on cold agglutinins.  
Both of these articles are good, substantial pieces of work.  I can't 
disagree with the facts and observations produced, and I agree that they 
SHOULD have been produced.  It is the conclusions which disturb me.
    Let's look at the "Cold Agglutinins" article.  On pages 24-25 you have  
a discussion of transport protocols, in which basically you assert that 
"every patient requiring transport by commercial air carrier...should 
undergo total body washout with an appropriate intracellular type flush 
solution."
    There is a sense in which you are quite correct.  Every such patient 
SHOULD undergo total body washout.  What bothers me about this statement is 
that this sense is exactly the same in which we might say everyone should 
be immortal.  Given the condition of cryonics today, patients who are 
transported by commercial aircraft will have been so transported precisely 
BECAUSE no facilities were available for total body washout.  If these 
facilities HAD BEEN available, the patients would have been perfused and 
frozen.  Your other transport protocol, of course, is likely to cost at 
least $50,000, again presenting a severe problem of a different kind.
    You certainly don't have to be told about the conditions under which we 
all operate;  you must already know that if a patient has to be transported 
by commercial air carrier, then washout just wasn't a viable option.  The 
quoted statement bothers me because I don't know where you are "coming 
from" when you make it.
    As you know, I've spent a lot of time and work advocating that those 
who live in a remote location plan as their PRIMARY strategy, to go to a 
cryonics center if they become terminally ill.  I've also tried to work out 
ways to tell WHEN moving should commence.  Now isn't really the place to 
discuss that strategy in detail.  The point I do want to bring out, 
however, is that NOT EVERYONE WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT 
STRATEGY.
    For instance, I have myself had the opportunity to peruse the list of 
BACS suspension members.  An absolute majority did not live in the Bay 
Area.  Furthermore, I know very well that some important members of ALCOR 
also do not live in Orange County, such as the Chamberlains and a prominent 
cryobiologist whom I shall not name.  I am talking about a large percentage 
of existing suspension members, and an even larger (but unknown) number of 
people who WOULD become suspension members if they felt that there would be 
any POINT (them not living in Orange County or the Bay Area).
    Of course you and Jerry can correctly observe that I can solve my 
PERSONAL problem by relocating to California.  As a comment on my own 
personal problem, that's entirely fair.  It will cost a lot in many ways, 
but I particularly may soon find the cost acceptable.
    However such a comment does not deal with the GENERAL problem at all.  
The GENERAL problem consists precisely of the fact that only a small 
proportion of people interested in cryonics will EVER be able to take up 
permanent residence in California.  If you can only make cryonics 
attractive to those people who live in Orange County, California, then 
cryonics has little chance of growing significantly and a strong chance of 
someday being wiped out by a disaster LOCAL to Orange County.
    What badly needs doing (yes, I know that many things in cryonics badly 
need doing!) is precisely to work out sensible things which can be done to 
improve the position and chances of people who ARE NOT near a trained 
perfusionist, who ARE NOT prepared to double their suspension costs to 
include the cost of transport, in short, people who are not going to 
relocate to California.
    I'm not asking you to do this alone at all.  What I do want is a shift 
in attitudes towards the work you are already doing.  The problem facing 
MOST cryonicists is NOT like open heart surgery in a superbly equipped 
modern
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (12)


teaching hospital.  The problem facing most cryonicists is much more like 
doing thoracic surgery in a PRISON CAMP, with surgical implements cadged 
from the camp kitchen.  No one would claim that these conditions are 
ideal.  A discussion of how surgery ideal SHOULD be performed has a lot  of 
use;  your  article on agglutinins was a useful contribution.  BUT these 
discussions omit most of the major problems the prison camp surgeon must 
face.
    These sorts of problems aren't even irrelevant to cryonicists who 
happen to live in Orange County.  It is just not true in present day 
conditions, that we can reasonably expect ideal treatment or conditions.  
Hospitals may not cooperate;  county  officials may not cooperate.  They 
may well present the suspension team with the patient, lying in the morgue 
at 2 degrees centigrade, cold agglutinins and all.  There may be only one 
person available and that person untrained when the patient deanimates.  
You certainly know all this already, and have had to make compromises;  you 
must have thought about what to do.  Your thoughts are important and should 
be spread around in CRYONICS, to help the rest of us make our own hard 
choices.
    The point of this letter is that intelligent, prepared prison camp 
surgeons ought still to do a lot better than people who are totally  
unprepared.  Every prison camp surgeon must make compromises;  what he 
needs is scientific work to help  him make informed compromises.  For 
instance, even if total body washout isn't possible, does it make more 
sense to try to drain out as much blood as possible before cooling or to 
leave the blood in the body?  That may be easier to do than a total body 
washout (perhaps by gory and crude methods but still...). I note that 
methylprednisolone will also decrease cold agglutination.  Would this 
suggest that much higher doses of Solu-Medrol will help someone who must be 
transported packed in ice?  That also may be easier to arrange.
    There are also more general questions.  Undertakers and embalming 
equipment are widespread.  Let us suppose, for the sake of discussion, that 
such equipment is the only kind available which can come anywhere close to 
doing a perfusion.  At one time suspensions with this level of technology; 
you YOURSELF did such suspensions.  Cryonics has now gone a lot farther, 
and no one would ask you to do a suspension with a Turner Porta-Boy IF 
other means were available.  But knowing what you know now, do you have any 
constructive suggestions for dealing with the problems of someone who has 
nothing better than that?  We are in a prison camp, not a teaching 
hospital.  Would recommend that the patient simply be left to await rescue 
by Cryovita, or could the embalming machine be usefully employed?
    THESE PROBLEMS ARE IMPORTANT.  They are important because GROWTH in 
members and equipment is important, and the only effective way any group 
can grow is by starting with primitive facilities and working up to the 
more advanced.  That is how you grew yourselves.  Anyone who wants to grow 
will desperately want to know USEFUL things they can do with the limited, 
clumsy equipment they may have available.  Do you really believe that you, 
Michael Darwin, would ever have become involved in cryonics if you had felt 
that facilities like those of Cryovita's were the minimum needed?  Would 
you have even performed those crude suspensions from which we all learned 
so much?  Not to mention, perhaps even saving a life.  In fact it is 
unlikely that cryonics would have gotten off the ground at all unless you 
and others had decided to press forward, EVEN THOUGH the means you had were 
very crude.  Most cryonicists are STILL in the situation you were in when 
you began in Indianapolis;  they simply won't leave the ground at all 
unless they use crude means to start off.
    I feel that this problem, of what to do in the prison camp, is crucial 
to the growth and future of cryonics.  Certainly INDIVIDUALS can solve it 
by relocating, but that just isn't going to solve the general problem.  I 
would like to see a lot more attention to it, especially in scientific and
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (13)


experimental work by major cryonics centers.  High technology in cryonics 
ought not to consist just of knowledge of how to do a total body washout, 
it should ALSO consist off knowledge of HOW and WHETHER to usefully employ 
an embalming machine.

                                        Thomas Donaldson
                                        Canberra, Australia

Dear Thomas,

     First of all I should point out that I did NOT co-author the cold 
agglutinins article with Jerry Leaf.  Also, I had virtually no editorial or 
other input into that article and I did not even type it.  It stands as 
Jerry's own work, free and clear from any opinions and/or prejudices I 
might have.
    As regards the article:  I do not share Jerry's degree of concern, and 
would point out, as you have, that suspensions remote from a facility (and 
even some CLOSE to a facility) do not always go down the primrose path.  We 
do the best we can under those circumstances.  Jerry can speak for himself 
about any points he was trying to make.  Jerry and I differ on many points 
concerning perfusion procedures--usually his standards are much higher and 
less flexible than mine.  As you point out, I herald back to the days when 
cryonics was little more than guerrilla theatre.
    I was not trying to demoralize people in my article.  I simply feel it 
necessary to point out that very few if ANY people are following the advice 
offered in your first two excellent articles.  I know of at least two 
people trying to start their own cryonics society.  One fellow is back East 
and one is in the Northwest.  Neither of them has taken the time or had the 
good sense to SIGN UP THEMSELVES, and consequently I have given them little 
help and feel quite confident no one else will take them very seriously 
either.  NO ONE has bought any water, or even had the sense to try and buy 
remote standby insurance when that was being offered.  In short, I must 
conclude that most people out there just don't give a damn about doing 
ANYTHING much to improve their chances.  Those that are signed up and live 
a long distance away can be divided into three groups:  those that plan to 
retire to the vicinity of a cryonics society, those who have at least one 
or two closely associated "others" they can count on to GET THEM TO 
CRYONICS FACILITIES OR GET CRYONICS FACILITIES TO THEM, and those who are 
happy fools and who are buying nothing more than peace of mind with the 
bland assumption that "everything will work out all right" when the time 
comes.
    Any way you figure it, MOST people out there just don't spend much time 
worrying about cryonics.  Cryonics just isn't that real to them, and it 
just isn't something they care to be seriously inconvenienced about.  This 
is sad, but it is what the evidence strongly suggests the situation is.  I 
do NOT think this situation exists because people feel helpless or 
demoralized by isolation.  I think it exists because most people, including 
most cryonicists, simply don't understand how IMPORTANT cryonics is, and 
how precious life is.  This isn't something you or I can change easily with 
a stroke of the pen or a strike off the key.
    As to relocating, I proposed it as the SIMPLER alternative to starting 
your own cryonics group because it is PASSIVE by comparison.  No 
responsibility, no danger, no "hard-thinks" about water for injection, 
embalming pumps, cooperating morticians, what gauge needle to use or 
concentration of glycerol to perfuse.  Just relocate and let someone else 
make the big, tough decisions.
    The GENERAL PROBLEM is that people just don't give a damn enough to do 
anything.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (14)


    In response to your prison camp analogy:  the first edict of medicine 
is do no harm.  If I needed thoracic surgery in a prison camp, chances are 
I'd figure on living a lot longer waiting to die of whatever was killing me 
rather than letting someone try a fix job with knives and forks.  I MADE MY 
DECISION in Indiana several years ago.  It was not easy or painless for me 
either, because I FAILED in Indiana.  I did not have confidence that those 
around me could act and act effectively to GET ME FROZEN and to KEEP ME 
FROZEN.  I could not see any way that my efforts would change that 
situation.  Even though it was a blow to  my ego and a financial whipping 
of immense proportions, I got the hell out of there because I felt it was 
necessary.  There are no GENERAL PROBLEMS of the kind you describe.  Only 
lots of PERSONAL ones which MUST BE DEALT WITH INDIVIDUALLY.  As YOU well 
know cryonics and life are hard, tough things.  There are no easy choices 
if you REALLY want to survive long term.  It just depends on HOW BADLY you 
want to survive and to WHAT DEGREE you think cryonics is a ticket to that 
survival.
    I think you are sadly mistaken with your strategy of trying to predict 
"when to hop on plane and fly to your cryonics society."  I say this based 
on my own personal experience and on my experience with literally hundreds 
of dying people:  several of whom were/are cryonicists.  You underestimate 
the complexity of the situation and you underestimate human optimism and 
capacity for self deception in the face of the unthinkable.  Such a 
strategy may work well for YOU, but I do not believe it will work well for 
most cryonicists and what's more I think most of them KNOW THAT.  Basically 
the flaws in your "get up and go approach" are that it uses highly 
uncertain criteria for WHEN to go, these criteria are subject to optimistic 
biasing on the part of the ill or dying individual and this scenario allows 
no room for any significant error in judgement.  That's the real bad 
combination in my estimation.
    If I had realized what a total mess cryonics was in in 1968 when I 
first heard of it, I would have walked away and probably never looked 
back.  I got involved to the extent I did early on because I NAIVELY 
thought that the Cryonics Society of New York was PERFECTLY PREPARED to 
suspend me.  When, at the tender age of 17 I ended up helping to suspend 
someone for the Cryonics Society of New York and I saw what a SLOPPY 
DISORGANIZED MESS things were in, I was shaken to the bone.  The morning 
following MY first suspension this pioneer was vomiting his guts up in the 
toilet of a workingman's bar on Long Island.  Not because I was unable to 
handle the physical aspects off perfusion, but because the enormity of 
realizing I was RESPONSIBLE had hit home for the first time.  I realized 
then and there on that morning that there WAS NO gleaming cryonics society 
waiting to take care of me.  There was only a mortician, a dirty embalming 
pump, and a few gallons of glycerol and Ringer's Solution waiting for me at 
the end of the line.  UNLESS I DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT.  If someone told me 
I could have solved those problems by MOVING, simply by MOVING then I would 
have MOVED.  In fact, when I met the Chamberlains and saw them starting to 
solve those problems I packed up, left school, and MOVED.  I've no regrets 
about that move or the one from Indiana and I consider that compared to the 
nightmare of effort required to start your own cryonics group I got off 
CHEAP!  Had I known, at age 13, that I was in for all that, I am CERTAIN I 
would have walked away.
    I think the bottom line is that those isolated cryonicists you speak 
off must at least manage to persuade a couple (or as a bare minimum ONE) 
other person into being a cryonicist.  Not only had they better persuade 
them, but they had better make VERY SURE that at least one of those people 
will act and act aggressively to GET THEM FROZEN (by whatever means) when 
the time comes.  Without at least that level of support, it is my honest 
opinion that a person's chances for getting suspended are very poor unless 
they've provisioned for a cryonicist to show up and act for them should the 
need arise.  Even then...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (15)


    There is SAFETY in community, in being close.  Great safety.  If you 
want my advice, create it or get to it.  PERIOD.  Neither road is going to 
be an easy one to travel.  Whichever one a given individual picks, both 
ALCOR and I will be here to help with advice every step of the way:  even 
about embalming pumps.  But don't expect people to beat a path to our door 
trying to start a cryonics society.  Only three people responded to ALCOR's 
efforts to establish a cryonics coordinator program (as a prelude to 
establishing new groups) and two of those three people were not serious 
enough to sign up so that they could qualify for help.  Until and if we see 
some signs of real interest in DOING something on the part of people remote 
from a cryonics organization, we are not going to redirect our  efforts 
away from improving the state of the art, attracting more members locally 
and generally trying to put cryonics on a more credible and professional 
technical basis.  I for one, have made my sacrifices and tough decisions so 
as not to end up being hacked on with kitchen utensils and embalming 
equipment.  Others will have to decide for themselves what to do.  I would 
simply point out that compared to starting your cryonics group (as you must 
now be painfully aware) moving is EASY.  In any event, the first step is to 
decide to DO something, and that's a step neither one of us can be accused 
of failing to make.  --MD

REPORT ON THE 20TH ANNUAL MEETING OF
THE SOCIETY FOR CRYOBIOLOGY -- PART III

    We continue our coverage of the 20th annual meeting of the Society with 
a review of advances in fundamental cryobiology.  More on fundamental 
cryobiology as well as miscellaneous points of interest will be covered in 
the fourth and final part of our report in the next issue of CRYONICS.

FUNDAMENTAL CRYOBIOLOGY

    Running concurrently with the organ cryopreservation symposium was a 
symposium on "Life at Low Water Activities."  Water "activity" is a 
reflection of the effective amount of water present or, looked at another 
way, low water activities mean substantial dehydration.  Dehydration is a 
direct consequence of freezing and also takes place in attempts to replace 
a substantial fraction of water with cryoprotective agent (CPA) for the 
purpose of allowing vitrification.  Dehydration is thus of central 
importance in all phases of cryobiology, and understanding of its 
deleterious effects would presumably speed the day when we can all become 
immortal!
    Five papers were presented in this symposium.  The first was by G.W. 
Gould (Unilever Research Labs, Bedford, UK) who spoke about bacterial 
endospores.  He presented a large array of proposed mechanisms by which 
these structures survive and control dehydration, but as yet there seems to 
be no consensus concerning which processes are critical and which are not.
    J.G. Baust presented the next paper.  Baust claimed that insects are 
the most advanced animals known to survive freezing under natural 
conditions (thereby ignoring mussels and frogs).  Insects elaborate high 
concentrations of CPAs such as glycerol, sugars, and proteins to protect 
themselves against freezing injury (dehydration injury).  Beyond this, 
though, it seemed not much
----------------------------------------------------------------------


*** TYPISTS NOTE:  THE NEXT THREE PAGES CONTAINED PHOTOGRAPHS.  THE 
FOLLOWING TEXT APPEARED WITH THE PHOTOS. ***

(PAGE 1)

THESE PHOTOGRAPHS ACCOMPANY THE ARTICLE "SIMPLE CRYOGENIC TECHNIQUES" WHICH 
APPEARS ON PAGE 19

Photo A (left) shows the ALCOR/Cryovita cryogenic pump assembly.  The long 
section of pipe to the left of the pump is used to conduct liquid nitrogen 
to smaller dewars during pumping operations.  The ALCOR dual patient dewar 
is in back of the pump.

Photo B (right) illustrates the use of short pipe sections to facilitate 
lowering and raising the pump assembly in the dewar.

(PAGE 2)

Photo C (left) shows a Dwyer falling ball type flowmeter similar to the one 
used to monitor boil-off on ALCOR dewars.

Photo D (below) shows the monolithic lid of the ALCOR dual patient dewar 
with bicycle inner tube cemented in place with silicon caulk.

(PAGE 3)

Photo E (above) demonstrates application of the compression frame to the 
lid of the ALCOR dual patient dewar.  Mounted on the compression frame is a 
flowmeter for monitoring evolved boil-off gas.

Photo F (right) shows the quick fill manifold with one transfer line 
disconnected and the second fill port blocked off so that the assembly can 
be used to fill the dewar with one LS-160 of liquid nitrogen.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (16)


could be said.
    The next paper was that of R.G. Wyn Jones (University College of North 
Wales), who reported that plant cells subjected to low water activities 
tend to nonspecifically accumulate solutes such as sodium chloride and 
other salts in their vacuoles to counterbalance extracellular dehydration 
and thus prevent volume loss.  But the cytoplasm itself responds highly 
specifically accumulating only certain types of solute molecules which are 
non-toxic in molar levels.  These solutes are known as "compatible solutes" 
and include betaine, proline, glycine, sorbitol, and many others.  In 
addition to not interfering with normal biochemical functions in high 
concentrations, these compatible solutes seem to stabilize proteins and 
membranes against hypertonic salt and thermal denaturation.  Although these 
agents might also be protective of our own cells, the problem in applying 
this new knowledge is that these solutes are quite obviously unable to 
cross cell membranes (or else they could not be accumulated by these plant 
cells).  Perhaps some analogues of these solutes can be developed which 
would be able to enter animal cells and confer "frost hardiness."
    R. Jaenicke (Universitat Regensburg, Germany) then discussed in greater 
detail the responses of proteins to low water activity.  Halophilic ("salt-
loving") microorganisms appear to have remodeled most of their cellular 
proteins to make them more compatible with high salt levels;  this 
impressive feat of evolution clearly does not help us, since we cannot 
alter our protein structure.  However, one apparent reason the proteins of 
"cold-loving" or psychrophilic organisms are more stable is that increasing 
hydrophobicity of the protein surface increases low temperature stability.  
This might be something we could mimic by binding certain molecules to the 
surfaces of key enzymes -- in fact, this could be why dimethyl sulfoxide 
seems to stabilize cells against low temperatures in the absence of 
freezing.
    Felix Franks (Editor of "Cryo-Letters," in which journal he has 
published letters from R.C.W. Ettinger and Thomas Donaldson) closed out the 
session.  He gave a much-needed description of the concept of water 
activity and pointed out that water activity as such tells nothing about 
how the activity has been reduced, and that "how" makes all the difference 
in the world (e.g., reduction of water activity by salts versus "compatible 
solutes").  He also admonished the audience not to use the term "bound 
water" as there is really no such thing, only "perturbed water."  Nothing 
practical seemed to emerge from Franks' remarks except that better 
theoretical modeling may one day help to guide more practical approaches to 
withstanding dehydration.
    The session of Membrane Permeability and Structure had several papers 
of importance for fundamental cryobiology.  Cell water permeability of 
granulocytes (Scheiwe and Korber, West Germany) and of a population of 
cells from human bone marrow (L.E. McGann et. al., Canada) was reported.  
This type of data is required for an understanding of cell shrinkage during 
freezing and cell "swelling" during thawing.  R.S. Pearce and J.H.M. 
Willison (UK) found a specific relationship between freeze-thaw damage of 
wheat cells and the appearance of particle (protein) -free areas on the 
cell membranes which "appeared to be centers of membrane reorganization."  
This is a good clue to the nature of one molecular mechanism of freezing 
injury.
    The session was closed by four papers from Peter L. Steponkus's lab at 
Cornell University.  The first described measurements of apparent water 
permeability of plant cells at temperatures as low as -30 degrees 
centigrade.  The second showed that plant protoplasts, which seem to be a 
very fruitful model, are injured at 0 degrees centigrade by most solutes at 
a concentration of 3 osmolal, whereas the "compatible solute" proline is 
not damaging until 4 osmolal levels are used.  For cold-hardy protoplasts, 
the damaging osmolality
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (17)


for proline was 11 osmolal.  Still greater resistance was found at subzero 
temperatures (-6 to -8 degrees centigrade) in unfrozen or frozen media.  
This latter result is of basic importance because theories of freezing 
injury which assume one given level of stress is going to be damaging 
regardless of the temperature at which it is experienced would be 
invalidated if, as in this system, one level of stress has effects that are 
significantly affected by temperature.  (W.J. Armitage and N. Parmar of the 
MRC medical Cryobiology Group, UK, similarly reported in a later session 
that platelets were more tolerant of osmotic stress at lower 
temperatures).  The third Steponkus paper (with W.J. Gordon-Kamm), again 
using plant protoplasts as a model, reported no effect of extracellular ice 
lying adjacent to the cell membrane but that glycerol induced both 
crystallization of membrane proteins and blistering of the cell membrane.  
Just what the implications of these deleterious effects of glycerol might 
be for mammalian systems is not at all clear.
    The final paper showed that proline has the effect of allowing greater 
than usual membrane expansion during thawing.  Explaining this will require 
a little background.  Steponkus is well known for his concept of TSAI or 
tolerable surface area increment.  When cells are frozen, they shrink.  
Cryomicroscopic observation of a cell at a temperature which will prove to 
be lethal upon thawing often does not reveal any obvious end-point 
associated with a certain critical increment of cell surface area.  This 
paper (You-Liang Liu and P.L. Steponkus) now shows that proline raises TSAI 
for 50% of the protoplasts TSAI (sub 50) by 74% to 120% depending on the 
concentration of proline used to shrink the cells.  This result was only 
seen in protoplasts shrunken in proline solutions;  proline did not have to 
be present during volume expansion but only during volume contraction.  
Apparently proline prevents loss of membrane material during shrinkage, 
allowing the cell to subsequently re-expand without running out of 
sufficient membrane material to cover the cell at its normal volume.
    Also of fundamental cryobiological interest were several papers 
presented in Session 6 (Phagocytes and Platelet Preservation).  T. 
Takahashi et. al. (Cryobiology Lab, Red Cross, USA) found that the seeming 
toxicity of cryoprotectants is affected by how the solution is prepared.  
If CPA is added to a salt solution, thereby keeping salt osmolality and 
molality roughly constant but diluting the salts relative to solution 
volume (molar concentration), the result is injury (in granulocytes):  
whereas, comparatively little injury is seen if the molar concentration of 
salts is held constant by replacing solution water with CPA.  The 
explanation for this effect is not clear as even "low" concentration (2M 
glycerol) produced this effect.  Takahashi et. al. also reported, in a 
separate paper, that osmotically stressed granulocytes release surface 
receptors into the medium.  Presumably this release is a key part of the 
molecular mechanism of freezing injury for this type of cell.  Finally, E. 
Richter, R.V. Versen, G. Matthes et. al. (East Germany) reported more 
evidence concerning the role of free radicals in freezing injury.  They 
found that 0.2% benzylpenicillin was cryoprotective to platelets in the 
presence of iron;  benzylpenicillin enhances anti-free radical enzyme 
activity.
    Fundamental cryobiology surfaced again at the "Conversazione."  John 
McGrath et. al. (Michigan State University) looked at the osmotic responses 
of artificial cells known as liposomes.  Severe dehydration led to loss of 
lipid membrane material both to the inside and to the outside of these 
artificial cells. Liposomes put into hypotonic media swelled and "popped" 
open, resealed, swelled again, "popped" again, etc.  This system should be 
very useful for basic cryobiological studies.  S.J. Aggarwal, K.R. Diller, 
and C.R. Baxter (University
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (18)


of Texas) looked at the water permeability of human skin cells 
(keratinocytes).  S. English and M.W. Scheiwe (West Germany) found two 
optimal cooling rates for human lymphocytes frozen with 15% dimethyl 
sulfoxide.  M. Cosman et. al. (MIT) found that red blood cells, which 
normally will not freeze internally at cooling rates less than about 1200 
degrees centigrade per minute, could be made to freeze internally at only 
10 degrees centigrade per minute if freezing was initiated while the cells 
were supercooled by only 6 degrees centigrade.  Supercooling obviously 
should be avoided at all costs.  Similar results were found for human 
lymphocytes.  D.E. Pegg presented theoretical justification for keeping 
salt concentration constant on a volume (or molar) basis in cryoprotectant 
solutions and went on to calculate the effect of freezing on red cell 
volume (however, the latter is really impossible with presently available 
data).
    Arthur Rowe (Editor-in-Chief of the Journal "Cryobiology" and current 
president of the Society for Cryobiology) and Leslie Lenny found that red 
cells frozen rapidly either in the absence of cryoprotectant or in the 
presence of glycerol were stable for at least 15 years at either -196 
degrees centigrade or, even more interestingly, at -165 degrees 
centigrade.  The stability was based on hemolysis, metabolite levels, blood 
typing reactions, and in vivo survival after transfusion.  This result is 
particular important to cryonics because of the length of storage, because 
of the inherent instability of rapidly frozen cells (making them 
susceptible to change with time), and because storage at -165 degrees 
centigrade was also examined.  Recent data obtained with thawed human 
bodies suggest that temperatures in this range may be preferable to storage 
at liquid nitrogen temperature in order to avoid fracturing problems.  
Incidentally, storage of red cells at -80 degrees centigrade in these 
experiments was only possible for 1 week to 6 months.
    Peter Steponkus and Michael Dowgert (Cornell University) presented an 
amazing videotape on the freezing of plant protoplasts.  The tape began 
with a protoplast rising like the sun as "Thus Spake Zarathustra" (the 
theme from "2001") rang triumphantly in the background.  Then followed a 
set of incredibly direct visualizations of membrane behavior during cell 
contraction and expansion.  Non-hardy (non-acclimated) protoplasts lost 
membrane material in the form of vesicles;  their membranes actually became 
flaccid during contraction but then tightened up again as the material was 
lost.  Of course.  Re-expansion caused lysis owing to absence of sufficient 
membrane material.  Hady (acclimated) protoplasts also lost material from 
the plane of the membrane, but the material remained attached to the 
membrane by stalks and was re-incorporated into the membranes during re-
expansion.  Impressively, the film showed an experiment which seemed to 
prove that the membrane area change and not the hypertonic conditions was 
the cause of the observed damage.  By sucking the protoplasts into a 
micropipette it was possible to alter cell shape such that the protoplasts 
could lose volume while maintaining a constant surface area under 
hypertonic conditions.  These protoplasts survived osmolalities far greater 
than would normally be tolerable without acclimation.  It would be hard to 
imaging more convincing evidence for Steponkus's theories than the highly 
visible phenomena recorded on this videotape.  And of course we cryonicists 
welcome any information such as this which shows that the actual lethal 
event of freezing and thawing takes place during thawing rather than during 
freezing.
    Many exciting results were presented which show that cryobiology is on 
the move.  Naturally, this can only be good for cryonicists.  We will 
conclude our coverage of fundamental cryobiology in Part IV of our report.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (19)


                        SIMPLE CRYOGENIC TECHNIQUES *

                 by Mike Darwin (Federowicz) and Hugh Hixon

    In any area of technical endeavor competence can be divided into two 
broad classes -- the theoretical and the practical.  To achieve success 
both are required.  Of the many textbooks which have been written on 
handling of cryogens and cryogenic systems, none has prepared us for, or 
even suggested the numerous small, practical problems which lie in wait for 
the practical cryonicist.  In large part, this is because we are breaking 
new ground, and many of the troublesome situations we encounter will be 
unique to our particular situation.  Because we lack large budgets for 
research and development, or even troubleshooting, we have had to develop 
solutions to problems on our own simply and economically.  It is the 
purpose of the article to share some simple, rather unglamorous insights 
which have been of great benefit to us, and which may help others faced 
with similar problems.

MOVING LIQUID NITROGEN

    One of the most frustrating problems confronting cryonicists has been a 
simple, economical way to rapidly move liquid nitrogen from one open-
mouthed dewar to another.  There are a number of situations where this is 
desirable:  in the event of a patient transfer so that a dewar in service 
may be pumped down or leak checked, in the vent of a vacuum failure where 
rapid transfer of liquid and patients is required, or in the testing of 
prototypes of new dewars at the conclusion of a test run.  Recovery of 
liquid nitrogen is extremely important to small operations such as cryonics 
groups because of its expense -- 40 to 50 cents a liter.  In the case of a 
dual patient storage tank, failure to recover nitrogen after a patient 
transfer would result in a loss of approximately #320 at a price of 40 
cents a liter for nitrogen.
    In the past, the only feasible way to achieve this kind of transfer was 
with a "bucket brigade."  In other words by literally lowered a weighted 
metal bucket on a rope into the liquid and then "dipping" it out.  This 
system has a number of drawbacks:  it is unsafe and likely to result in 
burns, and it is terribly inefficient both in terms of time and nitrogen 
transfer losses due to heat leak and spillage.  What we have needed for 
some time is a low cost, cryogenic pump which can be lowered into an open 
mouthed dewar and be used to rapidly evacuate its contents.  In 1982, Frank 
Rothacker of the Bay Area Cryonics Society demonstrated a small, submersed-
head centrifugal pump powered by a standard 1/2 horsepower motor which 
could continuously pump approximately 10 liters of liquid nitrogen per 
minute at a four foot head.  The pump consisted of a motor, a shaft 4 ft. 
long and a 4 and 1/2 inch diecast Labwaco model P centrifugal pump 
purchased for $14.00.  In this prototype model two 1/2" holes were drilled 
in the top of the pump housing to allow for the escape of nitrogen 
generated during pumping.  One drawback to the Rothacker pump was its 
inability to be restarted if stopped during pumping, and the rapid 
icelocking of its bearings if the pump was exposed, even briefly, to the 
ambient atmosphere;  the latter requiring the pump be dried by sitting 
overnight before reuse.
    A few months after Frank's prototype, ALCOR and Cryovita set out to put 
our own cryogenic pumping system together.  We were fortunate in that the 
first off the shelf pump we tested performed superbly and (for reasons not 
clear to us) did not exhibit any of the undesirable features present in the 
Rothacker prototype.  We selected a standard sump pump used to move water 
from flooded basements.  This type of pump, common in areas where the water 
table is near the surface, is designed to run for years under conditions of 
severe abuse and

______________________________________________________________________

* The photographs which accompany this article appear in the center section 
of the magazine.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (20)


neglect.  The model we used was a Lima Electric Co. #B155E0, 1/3rd 
horsepower, 1725 r.p.m., 5.6 amp. sump pump.  The pump is a centrifugal 
type pump with a large perforated screen intake and a pump head of bronze 
with stainless steel impeller and shaft.  The principal pump bearing (which 
is immersed in liquid nitrogen during operation) is a large oil impregnated 
bronze bearing.  No attempt was made to remove oil from the bearing or 
bearing surfaces and to our surprise, even after prolonged submersion in 
liquid nitrogen with the pump off, the bearing did not freeze-up nor did 
the pump give any indication of hesitation on start-up.  In order to make 
the pump suitable and safe for use in large upright cryogenic dewars (such 
as the dual patient whole-body unit which ALCOR owns) we had to build a 
frame to allow the pumphead to be lowered into the liquid without 
submerging the drive motor.  We constructed a simple rectangular wooden 
frame to mount the pump in (see photos A and B) and bored a series of 
parallel 1" holes 4" apart down a 4-1/2' length of both sides of this 
support frame.  These holes were to allow for the insertion of a length of 
3/8" galvanized pipe to act as a support bar for the pump assembly on top 
of the dewar.  With this arrangement, as the liquid level dropped, the pump 
could be progressively lowered into the dewar (always keeping the motor 
above the liquid level) by simply threading another support rod in the set 
of holes above the ones then in used, and the removing the lower support 
rod and lowering the assembly until the support rod one "step" up was 
resting on the lip of the dewar.  An alternative to this arrangement would 
have been to extend the shaft and the motor outside the dewar, safely above 
the liquid level.  Owing to our limited engineering capabilities and a 
desire to preserve the pump in its current configuration for other uses, we 
decided to use the somewhat unorthodox strategy of raising and lowering the 
pump head out of the liquid.  We cannot recommend this strategy to others.
    For our plumbing assembly we used standard 1 1/4" electromechanical 
tubing conduit (EMT) which was taken to a muffler shop and bent to our 
specifications for a small fee.  We replaced all flex wires on the pump 
with asbestos wrapped (high) temperature wiring which our tests disclosed 
would tolerate liquid nitrogen temperatures without cracking or splitting 
off, even if flexed.  The on/off switch was placed on the top of the 
assembly where it was easily accessible, and was a watertight heavy duty 
switch for outdoor service.  All exposed asbestos wiring was covered with 
flexible metal conduit.  The plumbing for the system, excepting the bottom 
36" which was likely to be under liquid nitrogen, was wrapped in 1/2" thick 
polyethylene foam pipe insulation which was in turn double-wrapped with 
heavy adhesive aluminum foil tape:  the type commonly used for home gutter 
or muffler repair.  This maneuver was carried out to prevent the 
condensation of liquid oxygen and nitrogen from room air on the plumbing 
which poses a serious fire hazard as well as a risk of burns to personnel 
handling the plumbing during pumping operations.  A section of Volkswagen 
corrugated aluminum foil heater conduit (NOT the type with a plastic 
coating or lining) was used to make a flexible joint at the top of the 
plumbing assembly to accommodate another (straight) length of EMT tubing 
which acts as a fill line for another open mouthed dewar.  The flexible and 
solid tubes are clamped together with common stainless steel automotive 
hose clamps.
    This system, as it is currently configured can pump approximately 100 
liters of liquid nitrogen per minute and can empty a dual patient cryogenic 
dewar such as the ones manufactured by MVE in under 10 minutes!  The pump 
we are using has performed with extreme reliability and has been used on 
five occasions to transfer large volumes of liquid nitrogen.  It tolerates 
shut down and restart with no problems and it can be exposed to ambient air 
for short periods (we haven't tried long periods) and restart without 
fail.  As the sump pump was
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (21)


acquired used for about $50.00 our total expenditures for the system was 
about $100.00.
    Several words of caution should be mentioned in the testing and use of 
such a pump.  First and foremost, the integrity of the plumbing connections 
at liquid nitrogen temperature is CRITICAL.  Early in our testing of this 
pump we carelessly forgot to check the status of our plumbing connections 
and nearly had the top connection which is directly adjacent to the on/off 
switch come loose.  This would have exposed the operator, AND his assistant 
on the ground below to a 100 liter per minute stream of ultracold liquid 
nitrogen.  Additionally, the standard EMT unions for joining sections of 
conduit do not always tolerate liquid nitrogen temperatures well.  We have 
experienced several failures of the zinc alloy compression nuts which hold 
the conduit sections together.  Apparently, as a result of differential 
contraction between the steel conduit tubing and the zinc nuts and fitting 
as well as the increased brittleness of the zinc at cryogenic temperatures, 
the compression nuts will crack completely through.  So far this has only 
occurred in the smaller sizes of EMT fittings.  For others who may wish to 
construct such a pump for more continuous duty (such as in prototype 
testing) we would strongly recommend a different connecting system or the 
use of continuous lengths of EMT conduit, or accepting the weight penalty 
of threaded pipe.  Where small prototypes or working dewars may need to be 
emptied, safety may be greatly increased by using a lower output pump.  
There is a definite trade-off here between convenience and speed.  Handling 
the Alcor-Cryovita pump is definitely a two-man affair needing a high 
ceiling, while an improved low flow design could be handled by one person.  
On the other hand, emptying a large dewar with a low flow pump is a rather 
glacial affair after exposure to the performance of the massive Alcor-
Cryovita pump.  Both designs are top-heavy, due to the requirement for 
keeping the motor out of the liquid nitrogen.  Pumps of both sizes have the 
nasty and unavoidable habit of "autopumping," as their plumbing is 
submerged in liquid nitrogen.  This is most effectively dealt with by 
having all plumbing connections made and the outlet properly positioned 
before the pump is immersed.  In any event, a variety of submersed-head 
centrifugal pumps seem to work for this application and total costs for 
even a high capacity system such as the one described here should be well 
under $300, a bargain when weighed against heavy nitrogen losses and risk 
to personnel experienced with the "bail out" method formerly in use.

EVALUATING DEWAR PERFORMANCE

    Another frustrating problem which has confronted cryonicists since they 
first began caring for their own patients is knowing just how well a dewar 
is working at any given time.  A coarse way of finding this out is to put a 
dewar in service and run it over a period of months, keeping a record of 
how many 160 liter containers (LS-160s) of liquid nitrogen it uses per 
month.  Unfortunately, this technique can be used only to get a rough idea 
of the actual performance of the dewar because it does not account for 
losses encountered in transferring liquid nitrogen (such as boiloff due to 
cool down of plumbing and heat leak through uninsulated transfer lines 
during pumping) or for variations in the fullness of LS-160's being used 
for filling the dewar.  Another technique is to weight the dewar at daily 
or weekly intervals and then convert pounds lost to liters lost.  
Obviously, this technique is only as accurate as the scale used to weigh 
the dewar, and if the dewar weighs 3,000 pounds, bathroom scales become a 
bit problematic.  While it is true that load cells are available for such 
applications, they are expensive ($2,500 to $3,500) and inherent 
limitations in their sensitivity mean that a period of observation of at 
least a day, and
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (22)


preferably several, are required to have any confidence in the accuracy of 
data generated in this way.
    Another alternative, only infrequently used by the cryogenic industry, 
is to monitor the rate of generation of evolved boiloff gas.  In our 
experience, if a good seal can be achieved, this is the most accurate, 
reliable, and certainly the fastest way to evaluate the performance of a 
dewar.  We are currently using the Dwyer Instrument Co.'s Model VFB 66 
falling ball flowmeter for boiloff monitoring on our dewars.  This 
flowmeter consists of an acrylic housing (see photo C) with a black glass 
float.  The flowmeter must be connected to the vent line of the dewar or, 
in the case of an open top dewar, a gas tight seal must be made which 
allows all of the evolved boiloff gases to be channeled past the 
flowmeter.  In the case of the ALCOR dual patient dewar we were faced with 
a considerable problem in achieving this end.  The dewar necktube is 25" 
inside diameter and almost 30" outside diameter.  The metal on the top of 
the necktube was uneven due to the presence of welds, and the stainless 
steel cover (to which the cork was attached) was of relatively light 
construction:  (0.060") stainless.  Achieving a good seal under those 
conditions presented a number of seemingly insurmountable problems.  
Finally, after much experimentation (and failure), a bicycle inner tube 
(without anti-slip ridges to prevent getting a good seal) was located of 
the right diameter (approximately 31").  This inner tube was then filled to 
1 pound of pressure with air and heavily cemented to the dewar cover with 
silicone caulk (see photo D).  The top of the necktube was then heavily 
greased with Dow-Corning silicone high vacuum grease, and the lid was 
compressed onto the top of the dewar with a wooden frame which was attached 
to the dewar by inserting hooks into the four handling lugs and tightening 
wings nuts (see photo E).  The high compressibility of the bicycle inner 
tube, augmented by the vacuum grease, provides an excellent seal which 
allows for measurement of evolved boiloff gas.
    The Dwyer flowmeters currently being used for this application are 
graduated from 1 to 10 liters per minute (LPM) air in .25 liter 
increments.  Since nitrogen is slightly less dense than air (and 
consequently less viscous) a conversion from LPM air to LMP gaseous 
nitrogen is necessary:

    Viscosity (CRC Tables): Air = 182.7 micropoise @ 18 C (measured value)
                             N  = 173.9      "     " "  " (linear
                                                             interpolation)
    and, viscosity(N)/viscosity(air) = 0.95

    Conversion of LPM evolved nitrogen gas to liters per day of liquid 
nitrogen boiloff may be achieved by:

    N density(gas) = 0.00116 g/ml @ 70 F
    "    "   (liq) = 0.804    "   " -195.8 C (BP of LN @ 760 mm Hg press)

    so that, density(gas)/density(liq) = 693.1

    and, LN consumption(liters/day) = N flow rate (liter/min) x
                                        1440 min/day / 693.1 x 0.95
                                    = 2.19 x N flow rate(liters/min)

    This system is an incredibly sensitive one and is capable of evaluating 
the status of a dewar on a minute by minute basis.  We first observed this 
when we hardened the vacuum on a dewar which was still in service.  Within 
a minute or two after the start of vacuum pumping, the flow rate of evolved 
boiloff gas dropped dramatically.  This technique has obvious application 
in evaluating
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (23)


dewars after transport, mechanical shock or damage, or during prototype 
testing where timely evaluation of vacuum integrity/ efficiency are 
required.
    The use of the flow monitoring technique on open mouthed dewars does 
carry with it some risks.  An assembly such as we have described should not 
be left in place on open neck dewars for more than a day or two at most 
without the provision of a rupture disc or an overpressure valve in the 
event of sudden vacuum failure.  While restricting boiloff gas through a 
small orifice (such as a flowmeter) is acceptable for normal operation, 
sudden failure of the vacuum (due to a crack or puncture in the outer or 
inner cylinders) could result in explosion of the container due to 
overpressure resulting from greatly increased boiloff.  While the pressure 
increase due to restriction of the gas flow through a small orifice is 
relatively small, the large lid area of the wide-mouth dewar converts these 
small pressures to hundreds of pounds of upward force.
    It is also important to provide a long enough path of good conductivity 
between the exit point for the boiloff gas through the lid, and the 
flowmeter, in order to warm the gas and prevent icing of the flowmeter and 
plugging of the vent.  The latter can of course result in explosive rupture 
of the dewar.
    One of the side benefits of this system has been the elimination of 
"ice pumping" (condensation and freezing of atmospheric water vapor) in the 
necktube of dual patient dewars.  This has been a significant problem in 
the past and in one instance was indirectly responsible for loss of vacuum 
integrity in an MVE dewar and subsequent thawing of two patients who were 
being care for by relatives.  In contrast to previous MVE dewars, the ALCOR 
dual patient dewar was manufactured with a monolithic lid and no fill 
line.  All previous dewars of this type were made with a split cork and a 
stainless steel fill line.  Ice pumping occurred not only around the 
circumference of the dewar, but along the split and especially at the fill 
line.  We have eliminated the fill line not only for this reason, but 
because its low diameter (necessary to minimize its impact on boiloff) 
results in slow filling and increased transfer losses.

RAPID FILL SYSTEM

    In lieu of a fill line we have constructed a filling manifold which 
allows for simultaneous emptying of two LS-160s.  This cuts filling time 
down to about 25 minutes when two LS-160's are being added.  This filling 
manifold consists of a galvanized pipe Tee and fittings for two cryogenic 
flex hoses connected to a length of EMT conduit bent into a hook which may 
be paced over the side of the dewar after the cork is remove (see photo 
F).  After filling the manifold is removed and the cork is replaced.  It is 
quite possible to use such a manifold for filling without removing the cork 
or resorting to a permanent fill line by simply boring a 1" hole in the 
cork and threading it to receive an appropriate gasketed plug.  We prefer 
to remove the cover, and do so at weekly intervals anyway, in order to 
directly measure liquid level with a steel measuring tape.  The use of a 
measuring tape is quite accurate provided a visual verification of the 
contact point of the tape with the liquid is used, as opposed to listening 
for the "sizzle point."  Providing good light is available, it is possible 
to measure liquid level in an upright dewar using a measuring tape to at 
least a depth of 50" with 1/8" accuracy.  This technique may also be used 
to assess daily/weekly boiloff in lieu of, or as a direct adjunct to, flow 
or weight measurement.  In our experience this technique is observer 
sensitive and the same observer should ALWAYS log depth measurements during 
a given evaluation period.

                END OF PART I OF SIMPLE CRYOGENIC TECHNIQUES

----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (24)


                   WHAT YOU CAN DO -- PART III -- PART II

                         by Mike Darwin (Federowicz)

    Last month we cover the more general aspects of moving to Southern 
California -- all the essentials, food, sex, friends, jobs. . . .  This 
month we're going to deal with the specifics.
    As I've been at pains to point out, a lot of how California treats you 
will be dependent upon how you prepare to come here and what you expect.  
The latter is especially important.  If you expect sunshine, endless blue 
skies, stardome, and easy life in a big house with a Jacuzzi you had better 
have a VERY GOOD IDEA OF HOW TO GET ALL THOSE THINGS as well as a way to 
change the weather.  It does rain in Southern California (just like the 
song says) and unless you have a skill you will probably end up cleaning 
tables or slinging hamburgers in a McDonalds (I did BOTH of these things on 
my first, unsuccessful trip out here -- the McDonalds job represented an 
ADVANCEMENT).  If you are in school now STAY IN SCHOOL.  Unless you are in 
a seminary, STAY IN SCHOOL WHERE YOU ARE AT.  The added load of moving to a 
colorful and exciting place like L.A. and getting involved in cryonics is 
NOT conducive to a quality higher education.
    There are exceptions to this rule.  If you are young and do not want to 
go to school or are unable to afford a university education living in 
Montana, then you should consider California as a high priority almost 
immediately.  What many people don't realize is that California has an 
excellent educational system for those who are motivated and willing to 
work and it is almost FREE!  In Indiana a higher education would have been 
a terribly costly affair (had I chosen to pursue it);  here in California 
it is so inexpensive it is almost a crime not to have a Masters degree if 
you have the ability.  The rube to all this is that you must be able to 
manage working and supporting yourself through school.  This is no easy 
task and will require considerable mettle.  If you've got willpower and no 
other options in your home state for higher education, then coming to 
California, working a year to qualify as a resident and going to school can 
be an excellent opportunity. *
    For those who have exhausted other options and wish to try this 
approach, one way to make it through the first year or at least get on your 
feet is to look into a residence hotel.  There are several of these 
operations in the L.A. area and basically what they offer is room and board 
in exchange for part-time employment of a sort.  The accommodations aren't 
thrilling, but it is a low cost way to save money or get through school 
without spending all your time just working to make a living.
    It should be pointed out that even "unskilled" people can make 
reasonable livings here and may exist in a fair amount of comfort.  As I 
said earlier, it just depends on what you want out of life and on what you 
expect.  Make sure you don't overvalue what L.A. has to offer or you may 
find yourself spending "just another shitty day in paradise" as the bumper 
stickers out here say.
    If you do decide to come to Los Angeles and go to school out here then 
it would probably help to know a little bit about the university system.  
First, there are the big prestigious schools such as the University of 
California,

______________________________________________________________________

*  It is important to point out that most California Universities require a 
year of physical residence plus proof of a year's intent to move (such as a 
California driver's license, bank account, and so on).  Thus, two years of 
residency is more like it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (25)


Stanford, and so on.  We will write these off pretty much up front unless 
you get a scholarship because the big name means big bucks.  Then there are 
the state schools such as California State University at Los Angeles or 
California State University at Fullerton.  Cal State Fullerton is of 
particular interest since it is located a scant 10 minutes away from ALCOR 
by freeway and is also easily accessible by city streets.  Cal State 
Fullerton is a good place to go to get a B.S. or an associate degree.  It 
is not heavily oriented toward academia and is somewhat like an academic 
trade school -- a lot of teachers, electrical engineers, nurses, and so on 
get churned out.  Definitely not the kind of place you want to go if you 
are considering a career in high energy physics or cryobiology.  But then, 
if you are passionately interested in either of those things, you probably 
won't want much to do with a bunch of cryonicists anyway.
    A final point about students and young people in general.  In the past 
I have tended to try to dissuade young people from jumping into a move to 
Southern California.  There has been something of an effort underway to 
"spare" tender youth from the ravages of a life in cryonics and shunt them 
all of to graduate programs in cryobiology or cell membrane biophysics in 
Augusta, Georgia or Cambridge, Massachussetts.  This has been WRONG.  There 
ARE some people who need to be shunted off to cryo or bio programs 
somewhere incredibly good and rarefied.  but there are also people who 
don't want that.  People too brash, unconcerned about their own welfare or 
otherwise anxious to do CRYONICS to take that kind of life.  I guess I'm 
one of them.  While I readily admit to having my share of regrets now, in 
looking back, there was simply no way that I could have or would have been 
able to leave cryonics alone for four years or six years or eight years or 
God forbid, the rest of my life.  While I have a cryobiologist friend who 
sadly shakes his head at my academic ruin, the fact is, I sadly shake my 
head at HIS from time to time.  I LIKE CRYONICS, and I feel it was what I 
was made to do.  NOTE:  I said CRYONICS here, not water chemistry, or 
cryobiology but CRYONICS.  All those things are of use to cryonics and they 
urgently need to be done.  But, then so does cryonics -- and it's a heck of 
a lot more fun!
    So, what I'm trying to say, is that for some people, granted, a very 
few, cryonics is where it is at.  Those folks know who they are and no 
amount of cajoling or sober advice will stop them from doing what their 
hearts, if not their head, tell them they have to do.  I'm not sure that's 
an altogether bad thing.  What is important is that these individuals 
realize that this is the case and that they prepare in some way to earn a 
living and keep ends meeting while they pursue the life of a "full time" 
cryonicist.
    One good approach to combining those two things is to get skill or 
training in an area of work that leaves a lot of free time and provides a 
background that is useful.  Being a Registered Nurse is a good suggestion --
 even for men.  It takes about 3 years to do, pays about $22,000, 
(starting) and only requires you to work three 12 hour days a week!  I do 
something very similar -- I'm a dialysis technician, and while I don't make 
nearly as much as Registered Nurses (only about $15,000) I didn't have to 
go to school for three years either (a 6 month training program!).  There 
are other variants on this theme such as becoming a Licensed Vocational 
Nurse which pays about $15,000 a year and only takes about 9 months to a 
year to complete.  While none of these things pay spectacularly well, they 
DON'T CONSUME MUCH TIME OR ATTENTION EITHER.   When you leave work, you 
leave work.  This is rarely true with most other high paying, competitive 
professions.  The list of such jobs could go on and on and obviously 
neither space nor time permits a comprehensive discussion.  These examples 
may suggest approaches for the would-be full-time cryonicist which bear 
looking into.
    A word or two should also be said about professionals interested in 
living and working in L.A.  There are plenty of job opportunities here for 
almost every kind of professional.  The big hump to get over is the 
question of making the
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (26)


move and take the initial cut in pay and quality of life which may 
accompany starting a new job in a new city.  Certainly if you are coming 
from Pawtucket you're in for a surprise in the housing department.  Housing 
is expensive out here.  Generally speaking, you can multiply by a factor of 
3 -- so, if you have a house that sells for $50,000 in Pawtucket it will 
sell for $150,000 out here!  Something to consider before putting up the 
For Sale sign.  I have sometimes heard would-be California cryonicists 
complain about this situation and the problem of finding another job.  In 
the case of the former it should be pointed out that WAGES are higher here 
and, as I found out myself, things generally balance out about even 
(excluding real estate!).  One thing I can say with a great deal of 
confidence:  for thsoe who have a skill, jobs are available and what it 
takes is a willingness to look and look hard and a commitment to moving 
here.  Nothing comes easy and determination in building a new life is 
important.  For some, it will be an easy decision, for they have little to 
lose, for others, not so easy.  Everyone has to decide for themselves 
whether it's worth it or not.
    Finally, we come to the folks who may be considering a move to 
California from outside the United States.  This is a much more difficult 
proposition and one which I hope to hear some advice on from cryonicists 
who are going to or who are trying to do just that.  For now, it is 
possible to give some highly specific pieces of advice.
    First of all, it is almost impossible to get into the United States (if 
you are not a citizen) unless you meet one of the following criteria:

    1)  Have $75,000 to start a business and thus qualify for an investor's 
visa.

    2)  Come from a place you can (reasonably) claim you need political 
asylum from, such as El Salvador, Russia, Poland. . . .  Coming from France 
is not going to cut it in the political asymlum department.

    3)  Marry a United States Citizen.  This is almost a cottage industry 
in the U.S. right now, and it is quite possible to get reliably married and 
obtain your green card for about $3,000 to $4,000 depending on the quality 
of arrangements.  Obviously 60-year old women (or men) don't present as 
credible a case if the proposed spouse is 20! *

    4)  Have some valuable skill and a company ready and willing to hire 
you.  If you aren't Albert Einstein or a nurse, you're chances aren't good 
in this department.

    5)  Apply to emigrate under the "quota" from your country allowed in 
each year, and hope for the best.  This is usually a waste of time, and it 
can really work against you if you later find someone to partake in a 
marriage of convenience.

    All in all, immigrating to the U.S. isn't easy.  I would go so far as 
to say it's extremely difficult.  Anyone who thinks otherwise is in for a 
most unpleasant surprise.  Immigration is also expensive.  Aside from just 
getting here, it is highly recommended that you bring enough money for a 
car and a good

______________________________________________________________________

* This may NOT be obvious.  Arthur McCombs, who proofread this article, 
accused me of being a fascist, ageist pig because of this remark.  
Actually, I was just conveying the U.S. Immigration/Naturalization 
Department's attitudes toward such marriages.  THEY are the fascist, ageist 
pigs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (27)


immigration attorney, as well as enough to buy some time while getting 
settled in.  Probably the lower end for coming here would be about 
$10,000!  Not a trivial sum.  One other word of advice to those in non-
english speaking countries:  Then U.S. is NOT enlightened as the rest of 
the world.  We do not teach European languages in our schools here.  We are 
real chauvinists about ENGLISH, even though we may appear to scarcely speak 
it ourselves.  If you come here, you should speak English WELL.  Unless you 
find employment in a community of your own people, you will not find 
employment in this country unless you speak English and speak it fluently.  
I should probably qualify that.  It is possible to find employment -- if 
you like sweeping streets or cleaning tables.  This is no exaggeration.
    So, two rules for immigrating here -- 1) plenty of money, 2) be single 
so you can marry and get a green card.  Certainly come and visit here FIRST 
before even thinking of moving.  LIFE IS RADICALLY DIFFERENT HERE.  People 
are more aggressive and more self centered in the U.S. than in most of 
Europe and the third world (true, those people kill each other on the 
battlefield with regularity, but in life they are so much more relaxed and 
charming).  Compared to Europeans Americans spend a lot of time shouting at 
each other and stomping around in a rage about one thing or another.  Also, 
the PACE is faster here.  If you're from Australia or Germany you'll be 
amazed at the RUSH, RUSH, RUSH.  While all of this may sound exciting on 
paper, it can grow to be quite wearing and irritating after awhile.  I've 
seen some "foreigners" just grow more and more on edge with life here 
(after an initial good start) until they are bitter about everything and 
anxious for home.  Test the waters first.  Be sure you can live in a 
"disposable" society where people are perhaps a good deal less relaxed and 
personable than they are elsewhere.
    On the flip side of immigrating here, it should be noted that this is a 
GOOD country to live in.  Tremendous freedom, tremendous wealth.  Many 
opportunities exist here which simply aren't available anywhere else.  
Cryonics itself is an example of such an opportunity.  I was recently 
talking to an Italian journalist and he asked me which government agency 
controlled ALCOR.  It was all I could do to convince him that we didn't 
require anyone's permission to do this.  He sadly shook his head and said 
via his translator "in Italy this would not be so, this would never be 
allowed in Italy."  So it is with much of life here.  Schemes and dreams 
are everywhere here -- and many of them turn into reality.  For almost 
anyone willing to work hard or even to work, a good life with much to 
recommend it is here.  I guess I can sum it all up best by pointing out 
that I really like life here myself.  I'm not a rabid patriot, but I know a 
good thing when I see it.  Just judging from the number of people who are 
trying so hard to get in here, I gather that a lot of other people think so 
too.
    One final word about coming here from outside the U.S. If you want to 
know what is required in detail I would strongly recommend obtaining a copy 
of "Immigrating to the U.S.A." by Dan P. Danilov, published by 
International Self Counsel Press, Limited, 1303 North Northgate Way, 
Seattle, Washington 98133, phone:  (206) 522-8383.  This book has ALL the 
basic information you'll need plus step by step instructions on how to fill 
out and file the mass of paperwork required for immigration -- regardless 
of WHAT approach you're using.  ALCOR also maintains a list of immigration 
lawyers of varying degrees of competence and craftiness (priced 
accordingly) which is available upon request.
    Now, for a few words about California and moving here -- San 
Francisco.  I'd be the first to admit that L.A. isn't for everyone.  But, 
if not L.A. then certainly San Francisco.  I'm a man peculiarly free of 
intense chauvinism affected by most who have fallen in love with Los 
Angeles.  I guess that's 'cause I fell in love with San Francisco first.  
It is a city with a million
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (28)


things to see and do.  Physically, it is a jewel with a beautiful, rough 
hewn character.  I can't walk its streets without feeling its romance and 
its rowdy, glorious past at every turn.  There are also some cryonics 
people up there who are working hard to make their dreams a reality too.  
Anyone thinking of making a move to California should check out both cities 
and groups.
    Still, in all fairness to L.A., I should also point out some of San 
Francisco's weaknesses.  The first is the climate.  It's bad enough up 
there (even in the summer) to sometimes make you wish you'd stayed in 
Anchorage.  Rain, fog, freezing winds. . . ugh!  It is also an expensive 
city, more so than L.A. by a long shot.  Of course it should also be 
delicately pointed out that in concert with its wild past, San Francisco 
currently has a decidedly gay flavor.  Some may find this intolerable.  I 
know of one cryonicist who did nothing but complain about the "gay 
situation" and finally gave up (in part for other reasons) and moved back 
to the Rust Bowl.  If you live in urban San Francisco you should be 
prepared for interesting times -- in a very Chinese sense.*  Perhaps the 
most important thing to say about San Francisco is that it has a tremendous 
unity of character, unlike Los Angeles which is incredibly diverse in terms 
of climate and character.  For San Francisco this unity is both a great 
strength and a great weakness.
    So that's it.  Probably not ALL you need to know about moving to 
California, but a start anyway.  Write us if you want more general 
information or if you need help in some specific way.  In any event, give 
these words some thought.  If you've been thinking about it, longing for 
the sun, sitting there ready for a real change of pace or a little 
ADVENTURE. . . then DO IT!  There's never going to be a better time!!

                      THE END (. . . OR THE BEGINNING)

______________________________________________________________________

* This refers to the ancient Chinese curse:  "May you live in interesting 
times."

______________________________________________________________________



*** TYPIST'S NOTE:  IN THIS SPACE WAS A PICTURE OF AN MEDICAL EMERGENCY 
BRACELET. ***

                       WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

It's missing an arm.  Which means that somewhere an ALCOR General Member or 
a BACS Suspension Member is walking around unprotected.  Should an 
emergency occur and the member be unable to communicate THERE WILL BE NO 
WAY for anyone to know WHO to call.

    Think about it.  It your ALCOR or BACS bracelet is out of your picture 
now's the time to do something about it.  Find it.  Wear it!

    If you are an ALCOR General Member and need to order a replacement or 
extra bracelet or necktag simply send us a check or money order for $8.00 
and specify whether you want a bracelet or a necktag.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (29)


SCIENCE UPDATES  by Thomas Donaldson

A TEST FOR RISK OF STROKE

As cryonicists it's very important for us to find out predictors of severe 
or fatal illness, since such information will tell us of our imminent 
suspension, therefore that preparations should start.  We also want of 
course for these predictors to have as much accuracy as possible, since 
false alarms will put us to very great trouble and expense for no benefit.

A recent paper in LANCET (August 27, 1983, p. 479) by M.E. Stewart et al, 
presents results of a new blood test which may help to predict more 
precisely the risk of stroke or heart attack.

One event which doctors knew for a long time as suggesting a greatly 
increased risk of stroke is called a transient ischemic attack.  These are 
simply episodes in which one particular brain region might suffer a 
pronounced fall in circulation, causing a temporary paralysis or blackout, 
which does however resolve leaving its victim very shaken but no worse off 
than before.  Such episodes forecast a considerably increased risk of 
stroke.  However like all predictors they promise nothing and many people 
who have them recover without later problems, so that we need a much more 
precise test.

Stewart et al report in their article that increased blood levels of one 
factor involved in clotting, beta-thromboglobulin (BTG), shows an increase 
of almost 50% in the blood of those people who have had one transient 
ischemic episode and who alter actually suffer a stroke.  They took blood 
samples over a period of a year from 3 different groups:  43 normal elderly 
controls with no known circulatory problems, 27 elderly people who had 
already suffered an episode of transient ischemia, and 32 young controls.  
After a year, three of the high-risk subjects had actually suffered a heart 
attack or a stroke;  fatal in two of them.  Twelve other patients had 
suffered yet again another attack of transient ischemia.  Among all of 
these patients levels of BTG were almost 50% higher than in the others.

Over the course of the year, levels of BTG tended to decrease in all 
subjects.  This suggests some healing, although at the end of the year all 
patients who had had one transient ischemic episode had abnormally high 
levels of BTG.

A high proportion of patients who had suffered an episode of transient 
ischemia were taking drugs to prevent clotting, such as aspirin or 
dipyridamole.  As it turned out, elevated levels of BTG bore no relation to 
whether or not patients were taking any drugs to prevent clotting.  Stewart 
et al also tested for another blood factor, fibrinopeptide A, as a possible 
predictor, but it turned out that this chemical did not correlate with 
subsequent strokes or vascular problems.

Besides allowing prediction of risk of stroke a chemical test of
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (30)


this nature can also allow doctors to distinguish a class of patients on 
whom new drugs to prevent stroke can be tested.  However in our terms as 
cryonicists improved prediction of the risk of stroke seems most 
important.  In particular, the blood test involved does not seem complex or 
difficult.

WATER IS VERY SOLUBLE IN LN2

To some extent people such as the Editor of CRYONICS, who have much 
clincial experience with liquid nitrogen, might find this report a 
confirmation of something they have suspected for a long time.  However it 
may still seem novel for almost all readers.

In NATURE (305 (1983) 412) three chemists at the University of Southampton 
in the UK have just reported their surprising discovery that water is 
highly soluble in liquid nitrogen and other cryogenic liquids such as 
liquid oxygen and liquid methane.

On grounds of theoretical chemistry scientists had previously thought that 
water would have comparatively low solubility in liquid nitrogen or oxygen 
(J.H. Hildebrandt et al THE SOLUBILITY OF NON-ELECTROLYTES).  
Theoretically, it seems that water should saturate a liquid nitrogen 
solution at only 1 billionth of a part per million.  The three chemists, R. 
Rebiai, A.J. Rest, and R.G. Scurlock, report from their careful 
measurements of water solubility in cryogenic liquids that liquid nitrogen 
can contain as much as one part per million of dissolved water.  They used 
infra-red spectroscopy to make this discovery, and of course a lot of the 
difficulty came from the need to carefully exclude contamination by 
atmospheric water vapor or other sources of water.

Readers will of course realize that water is just as solid as salt at these 
cryogenic temperatures.  The authors point out considerable consequences 
flowing from this high solubility, particularly for longterm handling and 
storage of cryogenic liquids and biological specimens in cryogenic 
(cryonic!) storage.  High solubility of water may lead to desiccation of 
any cells or organs stored for a long time directly in contact with liquid 
nitrogen.  Furthermore, solubility of water will probably vary with 
pressure and temperature, so that water may come out of solution, 
depositing in the container.  The authors of this paper also report some of 
their own experiences, particularly with liquid nitrogen.  They found that 
LN exposed to the atmosphere contained considerable water.  They also 
report that after exposure to air in open topped containers, LN will 
contain large amounts of a particulate matter which they strongly suggest 
may be crystals of ice.

I don't myself feel that desiccation after prolonged storage will be a 
likely problem to revival.  What we can remove by dissolving in liquid 
nitrogen we can also put back.  However this paper does increase 
understanding of the physical consequences of prolonged storage in liquid 
nitrogen.