PROJECTS PURSUED BY THE BIOLOGY WAR COMMITTEE

Living in the Jungle

The booklet, or ‘Service Manual’, would be of use to both air crews making forced landings and to troops operating behind enemy lines. For its preparation a sub-committee was setup to collect and collate information on a wide range of subjects including the fauna, the flora (particularly the common edible wild and cultivated plants and principal poisonous plants), insects, pests, diseases, native customs, methods of food preparation, and jungle craft. Besides consulting individual biologists, foresters and doctors with an expert knowledge of the area, contact was also made with travellers and serving officers with personal experience of local conditions. In addition, collateral information on the New Guinea front was obtained from the Australian Army Staff at Australia House.

The final draft was completed by July 1944 and, in consultation with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, special drawings were prepared to illustrate the chief food and poisonous plants. The native names of these species were provided by the School of Oriental Languages.

The booklet, as produced by the War Office Section of the Stationery Office, consisted of 50 pages (7” X 4.25”) and 44 text figures. On the basis of information obtained by the Committee from the Ministry of Supply, it was printed on long fibre paper of the type specified for use in the field under tropical conditions.

On the Dangers of Swimming in Tropical Waters

The Biology War Committee (BWC) was asked by the Inter Services Research Bureau to provide information on the potential dangers likely to be encountered by crews of midget submarines, and swimmers on operational missions, in an area stretching from the Indian Ocean through the East Indies to the Australian seas.

As the matter was considered highly secret, enquiries were handled by the Executive Committee. The same procedure was adopted as in the case of the ‘Jungle booklet’ (above). The principal marine biologists with knowledge or experience of tropical and subtropical waters, resident in Great Britain, were consulted, together with other biologists and doctors who had first-hand knowledge of these regions. The main sources of information included departments of the Natural History Museum, several University departments, the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth, and the Australian Army staff.

It was possible to classify the main dangers into (a) attack by sharks and other predatory fishes, (e.g. barracoutas), moray eels, and gropers, (b) crocodiles, (c) poisonous stings from species of (i) jelly fish, (ii) stone fish, (iii) cone shells, and (iv) corals, and (d) being trapped by giant clams. For some of the risks it was also possible to assess the degree of danger, to indicate the distribution of the various species, and to define the areas or conditions where or when the potential dangers were greatest.

Recommendations were made as to the equipment of the ‘swimmers’ (e.g. type of footwear, etc.), the treatment of wounds and poisonous stings, and possible means of minimising shark attack, apart from the ‘repellents’ being developed by the Americans and tested in the Caribbean.

Charcoal for Explosives

Rhamnus frangula (= Frangula alnus), commonly known as Alder Buckthorn, is a small tree reaching 5m height. Its wood is exceptionally close-grained and ever since the 15^th century it has been known by the manufacturers of gunpowder to provide the finest charcoal; prized because it ignites readily, yet burns evenly and slowly. With the development of more powerful and sophisticated explosives in WWII, demand for the charcoal grew rapidly. Thus, while the New Forest had supplied 50 tons in 1939, by 1941 the nation’s need had increased to 200 tons. The other main source of R. frangula was Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire, but by 1941 its stock, like the New Forest’s, had been severely depleted.

Alder Buckthorn grows widely in England and Wales, though in small numbers – it is rare in Scotland and Ireland. In 1942, the BWC determined that new sources should urgently be identified. Botanists from universities around England and Wales were co-opted and on 31 March met at Wicken Fen, under the chairmanship of Prof. FT Brooks (Cambridge) to agree the regions that should be surveyed; liaison with natural history groups and with the forestry Commission was deemed important. The surveys began as soon as leaves of the Alder Buckthorn opened in mid-May.

Seemingly, there were no other sites where the plant was common enough to make commercial exploitation feasible. On 3 July 1944, Geoffrey Blackman (Secretary) reported to the BWC that ‘…further research on Rhamnus and other special charcoals was not likely to be undertaken’. He understood that, ‘alternative methods of fusing [high explosives] had been evolved’.



In the process of stripping away the bark before burning the wood for charcoal, a potentially useful drug, and a valuable export market in the USA had been overlooked for the bark contains the glucoside ‘frangulin’, which is a highly effective laxative.