Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Some Electrical Differences between Healthy and Virus-infected Potato Tubers

An Erratum to this article was published on 23 August 1952

Abstract

SUCCESSFUL electrical diagnosis of living and dead roots1 suggested that it might be possible to distinguish between healthy and virus-infected tissues by similar measurements. Related examples of the application of electro-diagnosis are the investigations of Crile2, who reported a difference in capacitance between benign and malignant tumours, and of Brazier3, who showed that thyrotoxicosis could be diagnosed by an abnormal phase angle. Measurements on similar batches of healthy and virus-infected potato tubers have shown some significant differences in their electrical properties; but no reliable method of using these differences to distinguish between tubers has so far been developed.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Greenham, C. G., and Cole, D. J., Nature, 164, 669 (1949); Aust. J. Agric. Res., 1, 103 (1950).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Crile, G. W., J. Cancer Res., 9, 388 (1925).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Brazier, M. A. B., J. Inst. Elect. Eng., 73, 204 (1933).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

GREENHAM, C., NORRIS, D., BROCK, R. et al. Some Electrical Differences between Healthy and Virus-infected Potato Tubers. Nature 169, 973–974 (1952). https://doi.org/10.1038/169973a0

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/169973a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing