Ragweed

Date: circa 1957
Cfa collection: John Nash Ott Collection
Notes: This film shows close-up and microscopic time-lapse footage of ragweed plant growth, ragweed pollen germination, ragweed pollen grain development of pollen tubes and content discharge, and partially developed pollen tubes as they grow from grains of apple pollen.; After Ott observed through a microscope a drop of distilled water cause grains of pollen to burst, he developed a theory that the moisture within the nasal passage of a person prone to hay-fever would also cause grains of ragweed pollen to burst and discharge their contents without having to follow the initial step of growing a pollen tube. Ott's theory was supported by the results - each specimen of nasal fluid gathered from a hay-fever sufferer showed that fresh, live pollen discharged droplets of fluid, whereas the results for each specimen taken from someone not suffering from hay-fever were negative. Ott repeated the process using ether de-fatted dead pollen, and received the same results for hay-fever suffers and non-suffers as those that he received from both subjects when testing live pollen.; In his autobiography, My Ivory Cellar: The Story of Time-Lapse Photography, Ott provides his conclusion:; "What does this mean? It is hard to say definitely, but I am hopeful that it may show that the body chemistry of people who suffer from hay-fever is just right to cause ragweed pollen to give off these little droplets of fluid, which in turn might possibly be the irritating factor to the nasal membranes rather than the mere contact with the outer surface of the dormant grains of pollen themselves. If this is so, then the exact chemical balance of the particular individual that causes this activity might be altered by raising or lowering such things as the sugar ratio or acidity (P.H.) or something else vital to ragweed pollen. Possibly hay-fever could then be prevented rather than trying to cure it or counteract it with medicines after the irritation has once set in."
Subjects: Plants; Time; Flowers; Science; Scientific equipment; Diseases
Places: North America > United States > Illinois > Winnetka
Cfa elements: Reversal Positive Print, 38 feet
Cfa records: https://collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objects/36487