davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17
Science Mocked
Mr.. Forts Record of
Strange Happenings

THE BOOK OF THE DAMNED. By
Charles Fort Boni & Liveright, New
York.
In our view Of the universe we ac-
cept the conclusions of science as un-
reservedly as our medieval ancestors
accepted the pronouncements of the
Church. True, we would not burn a man
for denying the law of gravitation or
insisting that the earth is fiat, but we
would certainly set him down as crazy;
and this is apt to prove quite as effect
i've punishment.
Now, Mr.. Fort is not in the least
afraid of being adjudged crazy or be-
ing subjected to any other penalty for
challenging the prevalent conception of
the "immutable" laws of nature. He
assemblies large masses of outlandish
unreasonable, impossible phenomena
that have appeared in different parts of
the globe and hurls them at the dc
voted head of dogmatic science. Mr.
Forts phenomena are absolutely
damned by every canon of orthodox
theory; they cannot be explained in the
light of any current conception of the
universe. They are strange and mot
ley crew, this assemblage of the
damned; mysterious bodies observed
In the sky by sailors at sea, unrecog-
nizable footprints discovered in the
snow by Devonshire peasants, blood and
stones unaccountably falling out of the
air and recorded in sober scientific
journals.
Out of his host of damned occur
rences the author evolves an icono-
elastic metaphysical system. He labels
this system Intern ediatism. All phe-
nomena merge imperceptibly into one
another. No single fact can be proved,
no single fact can be defined, no. single
fact can be separated from it's context.
All things are part of an unending
chain of the universe that cannot be
broken into component parts. Mr.. Fort
attacks conventional theories with the
keen logic of an Athenian sophist.
Take, for example, the following re-
ductio ad absurdum, which he EMPLOYS
in analyzing Darwinsm:
"The fttest survive:
what is meant by the tittest?
"Not the strongest; not the clev-
crest
weakness and stupidity everywhere
survive.
"There is no way of determining fit
ness except in that a thing does sur
vive.
Fitness then, is only another name
for survival
"Darwinism:
"That survivors survive"
Merely as a record Of amazing events
"The Book of the Damned" makes fas-
cinating reading. No imaginative fic-
tion writer could conjure up stranger
visions than Mr.. Fort creates in his col
lection of mysterious happenings all
over the world calculated to confuse
any Horatio and his philosophy. In
the Middle Ages science disposed of
disturbing facts by declaring that they
did not exist and showing that Aris-
totle had no record Of them. Mr. Forts
phenomena cannot be disposed of so
easily. Unless his book is smothered
by conspiracy of silence it should
provoke an extremely lively series of
scientific controversies.
w n e.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17
Elizabeth Cary Agassiz
Memoirs of Wife of Famous
Scientist and Noted Educator

ELIZABETH CARY AGASsIZ. Biog-
raphy by. Lucy Allen Patton. Published
by Houghton Miff,in Company.
The effect of any vivid biography is
rightly disturbing and trif1e unseemly
to conservative and finite minded peo-
pie who like to see things neatly An
lshed off. The conve ntional biography
is in a sense the last of the last rites.
The biography which recreates a subtle
and powerful personality in all it's
wrinkles of idiosyncrasy, its contradic-
tlons of character and inviolable mys-
teriousness is a betrayal of the un-
spoken trust in the biographer that he
will compose the features of the de-
ceased.
There is the correct odor of mortuary
wreaths about the biography that Lucy
Allen Patton has written of Elizabeth
Cary Agassiz. She has embalmed her
subject in reverence and laid a grave
stone of eulogy upon her from under
which no resurrection seems possible.
Elizabeth Cary Agassiz was the wife
of Louis Agassiz, the famous scientist,
but she seems to have been a person
allty in her own right as we'll. She was
born in Boston in 1922, the daughter of
well-to-do merchant in the China
trade. a member of one of the most
VI DOSCOu IdullleS. Sne was
given only the slim genteel education
accorded to elegant females of the
period. By what affinity of taste this
prlm New England young woman and
the eager young Swiss naturalist discov-
erred each other the biography does not
make plain, but all the other most impor-
tant processes of her life are equally ig-
nored in this biography. During her
twenty-three years of marriage with
Agassiz, she accompanied him on the
most important of his scientific expe-
ditlons, took an intelligent and sympa-
thetic part in his work and mothered
generously the little foreign children
of his first marriage The intellectual
agitation in Boston stirred her to an
interest in the education of women and
at the death of her famous husband
she returned to this subject with
more active interest. She was one of
an early group who clamored that the
resources Of Harvard be opened to
women. She was thus one of the
founders of Radcliffe College and its
first president. She guided its des-
TIMES with great astuteness until she
was eighty.
1t was with heavy sinking of the
heart that we read early in the book
that the nearest approach to misde-
meanor recorded against Mrs. Apassiz
IN. the course of her eighty-five years
was, when at the age of sixteen Or
whereabouts, she sat up late to finish a
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17
A Western Tale
New Adventure Story
By William P. White

LYNCH LAWYERS. BY William Patter-
son White. Little. Brown & Co.. Boston.
Mr.. Whites new story of the myth
cal wild and woody West opens with
mournful plaint from Mr. Red Kane
who inquiries:
"Why don't somethin' ever happen ?"
Evidently Red did not realize that he
was cast for the hero of a Western
novel and that the authors honor and
reputation depended upon crowding as
much action as possible into its pages.
Happenings, frequently of homicidal
nature, soon begin to take place so
rapidly that even Reds thirst for d-
version is more than gratified. A stage
coach robbery and a murder inspire
the rather emotional inhabitants OF
Farewell, Reds native town, with a
burning desire to lynch some one, the
guilty persons preferably, but some
one, IN any event
Red assumes the dangerous and deli
cate task of averting suspicion from
the innocent and unmasking the guilty.
His efforts in behalf of abstract JUS
tice involve him in some ticklish ad-
ventures; but he displays the cunning
Of Sherlock Holmes and the marks
manship Of William S. Hart, and he
finally emerges from his struggle tri-
umphant. A girl in the story whose
beauty snd attractiveness are not i'm
paired by the fact that she can handle
q six-shooter with the best of them
adds further zest to the narrative.
AS in "The Owner of the Lazy D."
MIR. White shows himself master in
the field of the Western adventure story.
He writes with more humor than can
usually be found in tales Of this kind,
and his hero possesses quaint and
definite individuality that is usually
lacking in the stalwart cowboy who
begins by shooting up the village sa-
loon and ends by reforming as he wins
the girl of his desire.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17
By William l.. Mcpherson

MY MEMOIRS BY Grand Admiral Won
rirpitz. Two volumes: svo.. PIP. x, SIT
42s. Dodd. Mead & Co.
Friedrich Hebbel's tragedy "Maria
Magdalena" ends with this exclama-
tion Of the broken-hearted old father:
'Ich verstehe die Welt nicht mehr"
('I no longer understand the worldly.
Grand Admiral Won Tirpitz might
have put that sentence on the title
page Of his memoirs" When he wrote
them he saw his lifework ruined. The
great German fleet which he built had
hauled down its flag in ignominy He
had been forced to sit by helpless while
Germany was being clumsily involved
in a war in which the fact of her ag-
gression was blatantly advertised. To
add to his cup of. bitterness he was not
permitted to control in war time the
use Of the powerful instrument which
he had so skillfully constructed in
peace.
Tirpitz was one of the chief authors
of the war and Of Germany's defeat,
since it was his policy of naval ex-
pansion which challenged British su-
premacy on the seas and thus inevi-
tably pushed Great Britain into the
Triple Entente. 1t was also an incident
Of his policy of sea power for Ger
many that led to the submarine Of
u-boat- through which the United
States was drawn into the war on the
Allied side. Yet in the diplomatic
maneuvers which preceded hostilities
and throughout the struggle itself he
was compelled to remain an anxious,
embittered onlooker. deprived of au-
thority and frozen out of imperial favor.
Naturally his retrospect is en-
venomed. He heaps unmeasured scorn
on the leaders who rejected his coun-
sci, undermined his influence and com
mitted that extraordinary series of
blunders, diplomatic, political and
military, which sealed Germany's fate.
bethmann- Hollweg was, in Tirpitz's
view, the arch-blunderer. Next in
culpahility came the Kaiser, whose in
competency and vanity stood in the
way of any real unification of Ger
man efforts. And behind these two
was the rigidity of the imperial sys-
tenn OF government, which divided re-
ssponsibility, created vacillations and
fricticns and barred the way to any
Qualification of German military
policy. Tirpitz reviles the German
democrats and democracies in general.
Yet he is frequently obliged to CON
trast the efficiency of the war dictator
ship which the French, British and
American democracies were willing to
set up with the feebleness of the
autocratic system under which Ger
many operated.
In his "reminiscences patriotic hu-
initiation is, of course, accentuated by
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

novel against her fathers exnr...
commands. This augured III for snp'sss .S'
convincingness of what would fo,,n"e
rms incident occurs on page Is :.
the 400 pages that follow Miss pstan
remains consistent in ner deferm,n.
ton never to record another lifal;r.
or interesting incident about Nv
Agassiz "fs'
One blighting perfection after =,
other is scored against her-"her hah;,
ually hlgh-minded attitude toward NJ,
the relations and purposes of life -
purity of character" "unselfishness" "e 81
conduct" readiness to render serv;ce y, y
Without single lapse all of her sn
cestors accumulated for her her;tsn.
OF elevated moral ideals, refinement
OF taste, executive ability, etc" Fven
II so much saintliness as Miss paton
records were possible it would hava
been better to have concealed it. Imar
ination perishes as one fiat, unouaiiSsa
quallty after another is dropped upon it
None OF the influences that so ap;'
tated Boston in the middle of the n;na-
teentn century-and Elizabeth Cary
Agassiz lived in the midst of them.
indicated in their effect upon her Sho
seems to have been no flaming spirit not
one Of those early crusaders who fes
themselves divinely called to the eman' s
cipation o. women. She was, more DEF
initely, a good and proud Boston;sn
who, because she was so ardentlv -
Bostonian, desired its greatest beat.
tude-Harvard-open to women. And
within such local boundaries sbs
worked to great purpose-undeniablv y
woman Of 1orce. of great adaptabilitv
and Of occasional flashes of insight.
None of these living qualities of ber
are preserved in Miss Paton's bioeranhy
which is not only dull and superficial
but which, in its admiration for her
does Elizabeth Cary Agassiz the great
injustice of being insincere about her
r. D.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17
Untimely Papers
1ntellectuals' Position in the
War Stated by Randolph Bourne

) ssistible moral force, and saw that pol
icy disappear in favor of the one of the
knockout blow" 1t was an appalling ex-
perience for the liberal to discover that
each pronouncement of American war
aims was received with disconcerting
unanimity in England, France and Italy
as ratifying their own aspirations and
policies"
Bourne was spared The CALLING
readjustments, the inexorability of
the buttered slide of the liberal,
now that the war is over to esti-
mate his observations. Certainly, only
the fanatic at one extreme or the other
have any comfort from the outcome.
They apparently are the only true real
lists. 1t is the Liberal who is con-
tinually baffled in his effort to find an
ideal synthesis first in war, then in
pence. There is truth in Bourne's as
sertion that "thc penalty the (pseudo)
realist pays for accepting the war is
to see disappear one by one the justi
either become genuine Realpolitike:
and brazen it through or else he must
feel sorry for his intlition and regret
full that he willed sthe war;"
No history Of the war can be COM
plete without taking into consideration
this outstanding intellectual minority
that so stubbornly resisted mass con-
cer.ions whom Bourne 50 clearly ex
presses. There is great value in these
papers because these bitter. critical,
brilliantly written papers give a much
fairer idea OF the philosophlc position
of the objector to war than the gro
tesque wartime notion of him.
The first few chapters follow the
war step by step through the summer
and fall months of 1917. The last is
an interesting fragment OF projected
work on the philosophy of the State.
In foreword James Oppenheim lik
ems Bourne to Liebknecht, of Germany,
and Roland. of France With them he
believed that peoples aspirations lay
not in the chauvinistic will to power
but in the just resolution of it's in
ternal class problem.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

cabin in long outburst of dithy-
rambic free verse. Witter Bynner
shows the human Lincoln as he lived
in the memory of an old Union soldier.
And John Gould Fletcher pronounces
q eulogy in sonQrous, polyphonic,
Biblical verse.
The Lincoln poems are an epitome
of the wide scope and diversity of the
whole anthology. Mr.. Untermeyer
plays no favorites; he includes repre-
sentatives of all artistic creeds. Edwin
Arlington Robinson and Sara Teasdare
are placed side by side with Vachel
Lindsay and Amy Lowell. This quail
ity of fairness, of tolerant considera-
tion for verse of every school, makes
the book, despite its brevity, a remark
ably faithful and adequate expression
of our modern poetic tendencies.
w II c.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17
"Voices from the Void"

E. P. Dutton g. Co. have just
brought out "Voices from the Void
a record of six years experience in au-
tomato communications, by Hester
Travers Smith, with an introduction by
Sir William F. Barrett Mrs. Smith is
the eldest daughter of the late Edward
Dowden and close personal friend
of Sir William Barrett. Her expert
and their publication has been urged
by some Of the most careful, conserva-
tive and responsible of American in
vestigators
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17
Farm Management

AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS. Bv
Henry c. Taylor. The Macmillan Com
pany, New York. .
All of the details Of farm manage
ment are scientifically discussed and
analyzed in this volume, which is pub
lished in the series of Social Science
Textbooks, edited by Richard T. Ely.
In the authors own words the book
is intended "for the student and the
farmer interested in the study of these
economic principles, which underlie
the effective organization of the farm,
and for the statesman interested in
establishing laws and institutions for
the development of agriculture"
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17
Mystery Tales

Readers Of "Uncle Abner" who saw
the announcement of Mr.. Posts new
book, "The Mystery of the Blue Villa
last fall and have been awaiting impa-
tiently the appearance Of this latest
child of his brain, will be glad to learn
that the long delay in publication is
strike, Appletons (Mr. POSTS publishers)
were forced to postpone publication, but
they now announce that "The Mystery
of the Blue Villa" IS in press and the
first copies will be ready for distrbu-
ton in a few days
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17
Among Those Present

EUROPE: BOOK FOR AMERICA. By
Samuel Roth. Published by Boni & Live
right, New York.
A book of prose poems about the
world situation and the future of Amer
ica, written in a fiery, mystical and de-
clamatory style.
OTHER POEMS. BY Helen Gray Conc.
Published by Il. p. Dutton & Co, New
York.
A volume of verse by the author of
"A Chant of Love for England" the
widely quoted answer to the German
Hymn of Hate"
HAIL MAN; BY Angela Morgan. Pub
lished By John Lane Company, New York
Poems written in forid and cxu-
berant style.
wouNDED WORDS. By Cora Berry
Company, Boston
A little book of charades in verse
form.
Fiction
Published by Doubleday. Page & Co.
New York.
A story of adventure in the deserts
of Arizona.
SELDWYLA FOLKS. BY Gottfried Ket-
Ter Published by Brentano's. New York.
Three tales of Swiss country life by
we'll known Swiss scholar, artist and
author
THE ns RAGGED "a; INLET GUARDS. BY Dill
Revcll Company, New York
A boys story Of adventure in Labra-
dor.
THE OUTLOOK STORY BOOK FOR LIT
ILE PEOPLE. Edited by Laura Win
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

REBUILDING EUROPE IN THE FACE
OF WORLDWIDE BOLSHEVISM. By
Newell Dwight Hills. Published nv
Fleming II. Revell Company. New York.
A dicussion of the difficulties of re-
construction and a vehement denuncia
tion of Bolshevism.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

A book written to give public health
nurses concise view of such aspects
of modern public health as may be
conveniently listed under sanitation.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

DEMOCRACY MADH sAFM. BY Paul Har-
ris Drake. Published by the -Four Seas
Company, Boston.
The author suggests the abolition of
money and all forms Of medium of ex-
change as the means for better social
order.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17
Miscellaneous

miscellaneous
MAN OR THE STATE? Edited bv w.,ao
X Browne. Published by b. w. Huebsch
A symposium of famous writer's onin-
ions about the nature of the state and
the problem Of human freedom. The
authors quoted are Kropotkin, Buckle.
Emerson, Thoreau, Spencer, Tolstoy
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

THE NARCOTIC DRUG PROBLEM. By
Mrrss,,s, Mrnest $; Bishop: Published by the
A study of the problem by physi-
c1an, VINO urges that drug addicts
should be treated as patients ra+her
than as criminals.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

COMMERCIAL RESEARCH BY c. s
Duncan. Published by the Macmillan
Company, New York.
A discussion Of scientific principles
for the solving Of commercial problems.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17
Religion

Religion
THE SPIRIT. Edited by Canon &. H.
Streeter. Published by the Macmillan
Company, New York.
The relation of God and man con-
sidered from the standpoint of recent
philosophy and science. Among the
contributors to the book are A. Seth
Prlngle Pattison, Captain j. A. Had
field, L. Dougall, Rev. c. A. Anderson
Scott, Rev. C. w. Emmett and A. Clut-
ton-Brock.
THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW PHILos-
0PHY. BY John Herman Randall. Pub
lshed by BrentanoS. New York.
The spiritual forces brought into
play by the war analyzed from a liberal
viewpoint by a we'll known lecturer
and philosopher of the New Thought
school.
LIVING WATERS. OR MESSAGES OF
JOY. Published by Brentano's. New
York
This book contains alleged messages
from the spirit world, which breathe
the consciousness Of the reality of
God as loving Presence. 1t is pro-
vided with an introduction by Dwight
Goddard
Stires. Published by E. p. Dutton e.
Co. New York.
a collection of sermons delivered by
the rector of St. Thomas's Church dur
ing 1918 and 1919.
COME YE APART" BY John Henry
Jowett. Published by the, Fleming II.
Revell Company New York
A book of daily exercises in prayer
and devotion.
Sociology
LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE.
edited by Hayes Robbins Published by
E. p. Dutton & Co., New York.
Extracts from speeches and articles
delivered and written by Mr.. Gompers
at various times and bearing upon in
dustral problems.
ESSAYS ON WHEAT. BY A. n Reginald
Butler. Published by the Macmillan
Company, New York.
Wheat growing in America consid-
cred from an experts standpoint.
THE LABOR MARKET BY Don D.
Lescohier. Published by the Macmillan
Company, New York.
A volume which aims to prove the
necessity FOR rational machinery for
the control Of the problem of employ
ment, written by the ass>riate pro-
fessor of economics in the University
of Wisconsin, and brought out in the
social science textbooks edited by
Richard T. Ely.
THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT AND SOCIAL
WORK BY Arthur James Todd Pub
lished by the Macmillan Company. New
York.
A discussion of sound principles of
social work by the professor of sociol-
ogy and the director of the training
course for social and civic work in the
University of Minnesota.
SANITATION FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
NURSES; By HILBERT winslow Hill.
New York.
A book written to give public health
nurses concise view of such aspects
of modern public health as may be
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

WORKINGMEN's STANDARD OF LIv-
ING IN PHILADELPHIA by William
e.; Beyer, Rebekah P. Davis and Myra
Ihwing. Published by the Macmillan
CompanY New York
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

MAKING TIN CAN TOYS. BY Edward
Thatcher Published by J. Is. I.ippin-
colt Company, Philadelphia.
instructions about the best methods
of Transforming tin cans into useful
and attractive toys.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

SANITATION FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
NURSES. BY HILBERT Winslow Hill
published by the Macmillan Company
New York
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

THE SINGLE TRACK. BY Douglas
Grant. Published by w. J. Watt & Co..
New York
A tale of exciting life in Alaska by
the author Of "The Fifth Ace" Booty"
etc.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

HAIL MAN. BY Angela Morgan Pub
lished By John Lane Company, New York
Poems written in forid and exu-
berant style.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

THE COAT WITHOUT A SEAM AND
OTHER POEMS. BY Helen Gray Cone
Published by Il. p. Dutton G. Co. New
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17
Books and Their Makers Randolph Bme Untmy PapesMmoy

nfnyton. Published by the Macmillan
Company. New York.
A collection Of children's stories by
various authors.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

The result of an intensive study by
the Bureau of Municipal Research Of
Philadelphia of the household budgets
OF 200 workingmen's families in the
city. The authors estimate the income
necessary to maintain fair standard
of living at $1,636.79.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

A volume of verse by the author of
"A Chant Of Love for England" the
widely quoted answer to the German
Hymn of Hate"
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

A discussion of sound principles of
social work by the professor of sociol
ogy and the director of the training
course for social and civic work in the
University of Minnesota
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW PHILos-
OPHY. By John Herman Randall. Pub
lished by Brentano's. New York.
The spiritual forces brought into
play by the war analyzed from a liberal
viewpoint by we'll known lecturer
and philosopher of the New Thought
school.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT AND SOCIAL
WORK. BY Arthur James Todd Pub
lished by the Macmillan Company New
York -'' @~''
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17
Former U. S. Senator Albert J.
Bereridge has 1pritten in
the N. Y. Times Rou;oyn.

TT is not Lincoln the reformer nor Lincoln tho
statesman that we think of when we read "A
human being, as he appeared among the neigh
bors and friends with whom he lived, when the
great purposes OF his life were being formed and
those purposes.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

THE OUTLOOK STORY BOOK FOR LIT
Tie PEOPLE. Edited by Laura Win
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

WOUNDED WORDS. By Cora Berry
within Published by The -Four Seas
Company, Boston
A little book of charades in verse
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

~ SaysIthe Philadelphia Press, r.
Mr.. Bachelor has produced a story that is
fuli OF winning charm, redolent OF the atmos-
phere OF most picturesque period in American
history, and delicatey quaint in that humorous
attitude which is 30 much like Lincoln:s own.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

COME YE APART" BY John Henry
Jowett. Published by the Fleming II
Revell Company. New York.
A book of daily exercises in prayer
and devotion.
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

LIVING WATERS OR MESSAGES OF
JOY. Published by Brentano's. New
New-York tribune., 1920-01-17

MODERN AMERICAN POETRY. BY Louis
lntermeyer. Harcourt, Brace G. Howe,