New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-05-09
The Human

in" that they had to be lifted Ike limp rags
out of their boat The spectacle was really
pathetic. and many an onlookcr had synpa-
thetic eulp in his throat; while feminine wear
crs OF the Crimson just frankly shed water
out of their eyes. 1t was the same IN the los
inc boat OF the last Cambridge Oxford race,
as shown by the photographs taken on the
spot
And yet. wouldn't you have expected Just
the reverse; that the winning crew, having
taken the extra eXertion TO win having worked
more nearly to the limit OF their powers, should
therefore ard just naturally have been more
nearly played out than their rivals?
1t was the same in the last pennant series,
when the Bostons got the Athletics goat
When Jefries fought Johnson nc was plainly
done for before the first gong sounded, as the
pictures Of him taken in the ring and Just be-
tore the fight proved.
And those who are impressed with homlles
can see moral in these observations with re-
spect TO the everyday battle OF life. The man
conscious of his reserve potencies is ever self
reliant and practically unbeatable but the man
without any such realization is done for before
he has made a start.
THE TREMENDOUS STIMULUS OF
VICTORY.
in the present awful war one may notice,
without being guilty OF lapse Of neutrality,
how Tremendous IS the stimulus OF victory
the one hand, how physically and mentally de
pressing on the other hand, is the sense OF de
I. I,r 81 4l,,+ h.
from wounds in a defeated army is in proper
ton to that Of the victors as four to three or
even as three TO two And what can be the
reason for this2 1t must be that success brings
into play the factors of safety in the living
body. while failure has the reverse effect,
weakening, oftentmes paralyzing, those fac
tors.
1t is indeed the factors OF safety which pro-
mote the integrity of life-those forces in re-
serve which, generally not calculated upon,
avail in times OF undue stress and strain, de-
fend us against accidents, pull US through Sc
rious diseases, by means of which fairly
healthy condition is preserved in most OF US
up TO the span Of human life, in spite Of the
many nmcal agencies that exist in our en-
vironment. The reserve forces in our bodies
are indeed wonderfully, providentally ample,
and that is why so many of us are able to live
up TO threescorc healthily, hardly and hap
PLY.
1t is the factors Of safety which keep our
bodily machinery in fairly smooth running
ger, despite the outrageous treatment to which
we subject that machinery; it is these factors
which insure the perpetuaton of the species;
the biologist discerns them to have an impor-
tant bearing on the process of natural sclec-
ton
THE MARGIN OF SAFETY IN
MECHANICS
This amazing capacity of the animal body
TO adapt itself to sudden and various changes
OF structure and environment has frequently
been realized and dwelt on by observing physi-
clans; but DR.. Samuel J. Meltzer was surely
the first TO take the subject into scientific con-
sideration in his address before the Harvey
Society OF New York on The Factors OF
Safety in Animal Structure and Animal Econ
omy'
DR.. Meltzer borrowed the term factors Of
safety from the mechanical engineer, who
thus designated the margin of safety required
in constructing engines, bridges, houses and
tn like. II, for instance the tensile strength
OF boiler steel plates and stay bolts is 10000
pounds to the square inch the actual stress
which is allowed for the work of the boiler
should not be more than 5000 pounds for the
plate, and not more than 5000 pounds square
inch for the stay bots-whch means that the
stress TO which the plates may be exposed in
the boiler should be only one-sixth or one
tenth OF the actual strength OF the steel. The
factors Of safety are here said TO be six for
the plates and ten for the bolts.
In mechanics, therefore, it ic calculated that
the structures should be capable of withstand
ing not only the stresses of reasonably ex-
pected maximum loads, but also those Of six
or seven times such loads. The factor of
safety is founded upon finite human ignorance
OF what might happen and upon wise and
most praiseworthy desire (snce safety in civ
ilization is the ISSUE to provide against con-
tlngencies that cannot always be foreseen
INFINITE IGNORANCE. WHICH. HOW
EVER, is DISAPPEARING
And that is why these factors are oftentimes
termed factors OF ignorance. And with regard
to the human machine the latter term would