The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-30
SUDDEN END TO one PAPER.
SCIENTISTS WOULD HEAR NO
MORE OF MR.. WREN'S THEORY
mat Human Greatness Is Due 20 q Current
From the Earth Passing Through the
Feet and Bodies search for a Sixth
Sense, that or Direction, in Rats.

That Human Greatness Is Due TO q Current
From the Earth Passing Through the
Feet and Bodies search for a Sixth
Sense, thai or Direction, in Rats.
The first real excitement at the meeting OF
the American Association or the Advance
ment Of Science came yesterday when the
section in a~nthropology squelched a p
Of which the chairman did not approve.
Christopher Wren, a tall, gray haired
man, was down on the programme for a
paper on "A Characteristic Of the Most
Masterful Nations" When his paper was
called for he was told that he must be
brief.
He began to read and after a depression
as to his reasons for reading the paper
continued:
Il have come to the conclusion that there
are two characteristics Of the people of the
most masterful nations. First, they re-
main on their feet and seldom permit their
heads or bodies TO touch the ground, and
second. there is a mysterious current that
passes through their feet and bodies from
the ground into the head"
just here Prof. Franz Boaz, who was
presiding, arose and said:
This paper has not been approved by
the section and cannot be read. The next
speaker has the loor.'
Mr.. Wren sat down. He said that he
might read his paper some time later.
Before the same section DR.. Maurice
Fishberg advanced the theory that immi-
grafton was selective in ito character and
that the problem ould take care Of itself.
According to him, only the best types,
driven from home by fear Of military ser
vice, come to America, while the weaker
types, who would not be impressed, remain
at home. After they get here DR.. Fishberg
believes that only those well adapted to
the climatic n industrial conditions sur
yive. The Others return to their native
land.
A paper which aroused was
read before the American Psychological
Association by Prof. John B. Watson. He
old Of experiments to show that rats have
a sixth sense.
He took the animals and put them in a
covered box from the centre OF which a
maze led to escape and food. After the
rat had learned to traverse the path
with all OF his senses present, DR.. Watson
then eliminated them one by one. First
the animal went through the maze with
out ny difficulty. Then he removed the
olfActory nerves and the same thing hap
pened. Thinking the animal had done it
possibly by the sense of touch, he froze the
feet OF the rat, but the rat still went through
the maze: Then. to make the test final, he
completely covered the head Of the rat
with collodion, and yet il managed to es-
cape. This, said DR.. Watson, seemed to
point to the fact that rats might have a
sense which might be called one Of di-
rection which may or may not be possessed
by other animals.
Prof. Henry B. Ward. vice-president OF
the section on zoology, read a paper on
The Influence OF Parisitism on the Host
in which he advanced the theory that many
diseases are caused by the introduction OF
the disease germ into the human BODY
through a parasite. Appendicitis, typhoid
and perhaps cholera are among the dis,
eases which he mentioned as possibly orig
in this way.
Nearly all the members of the association
yesterday visited the College Of the City OF
New York, where luncheon was served
an inspection OF the new buildings
made.