davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The New York herald., 1922-01-22
A Thousand Years as One Day

line substance. but normally it is an
extremely viscous fluid, like coal tar,
only more so; un lei strain il will
slowly change it's shape, requiring
anywhere from a few months to sew
eral hundred years
There is a paper on the effect OF
cold on plants. Experiments seem to
show that chilling weakens the cell
walls. allowing certain digestive sub
stances to get at the enclosed starch,
turning it into sugar Later, when
water is available, the sugar sucks in
water by osmotic action, causing swell
Ing and starting growth Plants
adapted to our climate will not wake
up in the spring unless they have
been through this chilling process; a
fact of immense importance to nurs-
erymen and plant breeders.
The origin of the American Indian
is treated by comparison of his facial
type with that of races on the other
side of the Pacific. He shows signs
of relationship 20 scme of the Pacific
islanders, with slight Mongol traces;
very likely he comes of a race that
was driven across the Bering Strait
by pressure of the Mongol tribes be-
hind. Central American art shows
remarkable traces of Buddhist infiu-
ence, probably due to wandering mis-
sionaries who came by sea. No signs
of American mai have been found that
go back more than a few thousand
years; we are all immigrants of more
or less recent date
A fascinating study of the causes of
racial differentiation bases this ex
traordinary phenomenon upon the
relative activity of the ductless glands.
Isolated strains Of the original man
were evidently characterized by diff
fering powers of glandular action,
which are hereditary and which have
become stabilized as racial charac
teristics. One gland discharges a sub
stance into the blood which causes
the elimination of pigment from the
skin Different races have been whit
ened in various degrees from the coal
black color of our ape ancestors, and
occasionally some one has an over
development and turns out albino.
Another gland causes a growth of the
skull that pushes out the nose and
lower forehead. Cinnamon, Caucasians
and Jews have markedly differing
quantities of this secretion In the
white races, and doubtless in the
others, occasional diseases of the
glands cause the patient to look like
some one of a different race. The fa
nous Chinese giant whose bones are
preserved in the London Hospital Med
ical College had an overdevelopment
of the pituitary gland, which not only
made him giant but made him look
like European. Can the Ethiopian
change his skin? Who knows? Per-
haps IL he could he wouldn't want to.
Not at all a dry book, this report
Of the Smithsonian. A book to- read
little at time, to dream over and
let ones imagination run. Who says
the romance of discovery is finished?
1t has only just begun.
DAVID COYLE.
The New York herald., 1922-01-22
Shield the Child
In Daily Danger

SAFETY FOR THE CHILD. BY Doro-
thea H. Scoville' and Doris Long. Re-
public Book Company.
THE FLAME FIEND. BY Halle L.
Jameson. Allyn & Bacon.
r N these two books have been gath
cred together mass of statistics.
= tragic illustrations and very help
need of preventing the loss of chill
dren's lives from street accidents, fire,
fireworks and firearms, the water.
poisons, gas and electricity. DIR. SEQ
vile and Miss Long have written a
book for use in the school and home,
and their text covers the prevention Of
enumerated in a very practical way.
Miss Jameson's lessons are impaired
in the form of a story in which the
Flame Fiend appears to a group of
boys who have been rubbing an old
lamp in a garret in the hope Of repro
ducing the effect of Aladdin's famous
lamp. The Flame Ffend shows the
boys all sorts of familiar fatalities by
fire, caused chiefly by carelessness. the
lessons being impaired through this
form of suggestion. When ii is known
that accidents kill nearly twice as
many children as tuberculosis annual
ly, the need for imparting such les
sons as are taught In these two books
is shown to be most important one
for parents and teachers.
The New York herald., 1922-01-22

sible and readily practicable. Science
has as yet merely stepped over the
threshold of the movable, for exam
PIE, in chemistry. physics and biology,
to say nothing of psychology. But 1t
has gone far enough to allow one to
imagine how broad the field may be.
The possible elimination of disease Is
an accomplished fact-smallpox, yell
low fever, the hook worm. 1t is al
ready abundantly plain that, as Prof.
Thomson says, "the application of
sound biology might do much to raise
the standard Of individual healthful-
ness and that It can help toward the
Improvement of the human breed"
The book treats in some detail of
possible biological control of life along
materia- lines; 1t discusses problems
of the influence Of nurture, environ
ment, health, occupation. as well as in
herited elements.
But IL is no machine made world that
he looks forward to; no mere juggling
with chemical or laboratory expert
mentation. The thing is not so simple
as that For, says he. I'VE must not
look at things too biologically or ma
terially." Dealing with eugenics, he
remarks that "if we lose the chivalry
and tenderness of lovers the
adventurousness of early marriage
and the delight Of having children
while we are young enough to SYM
pathize with them, we are missing the
fragrant flowers of life" The things
of the spirit remain as vital as those
that are material, but even these are
not beyond the possible control Of an
enlightened science. Science" he ar
CUES, "can do much to remove the
shaclIles which inhibt the higher ad-
ventures of the human spirit =.
Many of the shadows and dishar-
monies OF human life can be got rid
Of when good will joins hands with
science" And finally, like Burroughs,
he foresees that mans highest con-
ception, his conception of God, must
enlarge as his thoughts are widened"
in glmpsing of God Of evolution.
The central idea, which Pref. Thorn
son 40 forcefully expounds. is at work
widely i'm the thought Of the day.
manifesting itself i'm variant incarna-
tlons so diverse as those OF Wells.
Prof. McDougall. Roman ROLAND,
John Burroughs. to cite but a few Of
those who have recently expressed
some phase OF it--the idea that a bet
ter civilization is possible, that It i'm
plies certain rcmaking Of human
character, a conscious remodelling OF
human nature Itself. and that such
thing is dcmonstrably scientific pos
sibility. provided good will joins
hands with science" using science
here in it's broadest possible meaning.
This book is cminently popular In
treatment, nowhere too abstruse or
technical TO be understood OF any in
telligent reader. Prof. Thomson has
rendered a signal service in the cause
Of n better worldwide education in
these essays. III. L. PANGBORN.
The New York herald., 1922-01-22

ception, is also granular in structure.
1t is composed of quanta, which are
variable amounts of energy directly
proportional to the frequency Of the
radiation which is emitted by an elec-
tronic oscillator." A quantum is. of
course, infinitely smaller than an elec-
tron, and travels at a uniform speed
of 1S6324 miles a second. Light, ac-
cording to this theory is caused by
bundles of quanta striking the eye.
1t is not to be understood that the
quantum theory has been proved, or
even accepted by a majority of scient-
lists. It's explanation Of the photo
electric effect is certainly in its favor,
and a number of scientists of the first
rank have abandoned the ether theory
for it. But Nicholson continues to
point to the phenomenon of interfer-
ence-beyond doubt one of the most
established of scientific facts, and thus
far explainable only by wave theory
of light. AARON WYN.
The New York herald., 1922-01-22
NEW BOOKS
Fiction.

Fiction.
ADAM AND CAROLTNE-By Conal
O'Riordan. Harcourt- Brace.
PIG IRON-By Dundrea Parker. Bal
timore: Norman. Remington Com
pany.
LOST VALLEY-By Katharine Fuller
ton Gerould. Harpers.
THE WORLD IN 1931-By Stewart Il.
Bruce. New York: f.. L. Searle
THE RAGGED EDGE-By Harold Mac
Grath Doubleday-Page.
THE TRIBAL GOD-By Herbert Tre-
maine. Doubleday-Page.
Poetry and Drama.
THE MASTER FIsHERMAN-By the
Rev. Ernest Earle Osgood. Stratford,
SHAFTS OF SONG-By James Latimer
McLane, Jr Norman Remington.
DEPTHS AND SHALLOWS-By Sally
Bruce Kinsolving. Norman Reming
ton.
PRosAs PRoFANAs AND OTHER
POEMS-By Ruben Dario. Trans
lated from the Spanish by Charles B.
McMichael Nicholas l.. Brown.
ALABAMA JIM AND OTHER LIGHTS
AND SHADOWS-By George w. Sey-
mour. New York: 2olydore Barnes
Company.
POEMS AND PORTRAITS-By Don
Marquis. Doubleday-Page.
history and Public Affairs.
THE REAL JAPANESE QUESTION
BY X. X. Kawakami Macmillan.
A SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE AMER
ICAN NEGRO-By Benjamin Braw-
ley. Macmillan. =
INTERNATu ONAL FINANCE AND ITS
REORG RGANIZATION-By Elisha NJ
Friedman. Dutton.
SOCIALISM: AN ANALYSfS--By Ru-
dolf Eucken. Scribners.
THE JESUITS: 1534-192l-By the
Rev. Thomas j. Campbell. S. j. New
York: The Encyclopedia Press.
DAMIEN AND REFORM-By the Rev.
George J. Donahue. Stratford.
AmericanixatiOn Studies.
THE IMMIGRANT PRESS AND ITS
CONTROL-By Robert Z. Park Har-
pers.
Nature study.
WATCHED BY WILD AN1MALS-By
Enos A. Mills Doubleday-Page.
miscellaneous.
A SHORT COURSE IN THE TESTING
OF ELECTRICAL MACHINERY-By
J. II. Morecroft and F. w. Hehre.
New Edition. d. Van Nostrand Com
pany.
CIVILIZATION IN THE UNITED
STATES-In Inquiry by Thirty Amer
icans-Edited by Harold e. Stearns
Harcourt- Brace.
The New York herald., 1922-01-22
Is Man Remaking Himself?
THE CONTROL OF LIFE. BY J. Ar
thur Thomson. Henery Holt & Co.

THE CONTROL OF LIFE. BY j. Ar
thur Thomson. Henery Holt & Co.
n ONE time ago H. C. Wells point
cd out that the scientific and
~ economic teachings and thought
Of a generation ago--the SOS and '90s
Of the last century-"recognized no
need for wilfully coordinated efforts"
and that "the end OF education :.
was the diffusion of knowledge
Victorian thought in England took
good motives for granted, seemed, in
deed, disposed to regard almost any
motive az equally good for the COM
mon veal" Herbert Spencer seemed
20 think that IL every one went his
own way unrcstrained ana free to fol-
low anything that would make for the
perfection of his personal individuality
a sort of millennium would evolve it
self out of chaos. The viewpoint of
the scientist and economist of to-day
is radically different from that atti-
tudo--a fact that in itself may be the
OF civilization that has yet been taken.
Science, Prof. Thomson demonstrates
in this remarkable book is for life;
not life for science. 1t is no longer
the mere diffusion of knowledge. ir-
respective Of any other aim, that is
the goal OF education. Prof. Thomson,
and other keenly discerning critics
who have made the same point in
other ways, foresees nothing less than
q control of life" in practically all its
functions as at least q potentiality of
applied science. What is distinctly
modern" says he, lis the idea of an
oil around utilization OF science as
basis for action, the determined at
tempt to substitute the rational for
the empirical, the growing habit of TO-
cussing scientific inquiry on practical
puzzles, the recognition OF scientific
investigation as an agency likely TO
produce well being as well as enlight-
eminent" And he reaches the conclu-
sion that lit is mans part TO continue
building up a scientific systematiza-
ton Of knowledge which will increas-
ingly form the basis for a control Of
life. For life is not for science. but
science for life"
The late John Burroughs glimpsed
the same possibility in his last. and
perhaps most significant. book. where
In he suggested that man is become
a self-conscious biological legislator.
able not merely to adapt himself and.
tc a large extent. nature--to the
proper functioning OF existent biologi-
CAL evolutionary laws. but to create
practically new laws by conscious ef-
fort in collective action.
Prof. Thomson's book is a concrete.
definite step toward the practice Of
this idea. The conception is still in it's
infancy. but its possibilities are clear
enough. In fact. there can be no theo-
rctic limit 10 what may become pos
The New York herald., 1922-01-22


ume demonstrating chat inventors
have done more for civilization than
most persons realize. Beginning back
in the prmeval times, when it was
considered a feat to make fire, and
carrying forward to the latest wrinkle
in aeronautics, he shows where inven-
ton has been linked with history in
the forward march of civilization.
The Rear Admiral seems to be ever
trying to convince a public, which he
apparently believes to be incredulous,
that invention is worth while.
TRY to imagine what would hap
PEN" he writes, "if the invented art
of-say writing, for instance-were
suddenly lost. Would not the whole
civilized world be thrown into chaos
as soon as the fact were realized? A
like disorder would be occasioned,
though possibly not so quickly, if men
should suddenly forget how to print.
or even how to use the telegraph, tele-
phone or the comparatively unimpor-
tant typewriter.
"Try to imagine what would hap
pen even in one city-say New York
if the typewriter were suddenly to be
withdrawn Would not all of the
a single day?
"Or fancy that all the machines for
making and utilizing electricity for
supplying light and power should sud-
denly become imperative. Would there
not be a panic within twenty-four
hours or less? Fancy that all the
elevators should have to stop. Imagine
what would happen if the steam en-
CINE should suddenly cease TO operate
and all the steamships and railroad
trains should stop, and the countless
wheels of industry that are turned
directly or indirectly by steam should
cease TO turn. Imagine that gun
powder should cease to function and
that savages should meet modern
armies on equal terms
Rear Admiral Fiske does imagine
each one of these catastrophies, and
then asks if it is not certain that the
human race would revert to savagery
after these inventions had ceased 70
operate.
The book is a thorough vindication
of invention as an occupation for any
man, woman or child. At the same
time it is a careful study of inven-
ton and an accurate source book for
any one whose mind swings in q crea-
tive direction. 1t is technical without
making too many demands on the lay
person with non-mechanical habits.
The Rear Admiral's predictions for
the future of invention are that 1t will
lead us all to progress. prosperity and
happiness. While he is somewhat
vague as to the exact direction 1t will
proceed, he insists that all the omens
indicate that the future of invention
is to be as brilliant as it's past. which
should be sufficient promise to satisfy
almost any demand.
TORREY FORD.
The New York herald., 1922-01-22

eevv TE have all followed with
\A/J breathless interest the
adventures of Robinson
Crusoe on his island. We watched
him as he met the difficulties and
problems of life alone with none to
help him build house or to sell him
food or clothing. We saw how he
learned to be his own carpenter.
farmer. butcher, baker and candlestick
maker. But suppose Robinson had
not had the help of the things saved
from the wrecked ship. And suppose
he had never seen a plough. a boat. an
umbrella, or any of the many other
things he managed TO make. :.
Can you imagine the story If Robinson
Crusoe had been without this help?"
Such is the introduction to Mary r.
Parkman's "Conquests OF Invention"
which presents epoch making chap
ters in the development of civilization
for boys and girls. and for others too,
who know nothing about the teIe-
phone they use, the motor wagon"
they ride in, the steam engine, tele-
graph. air brake, sewing machine.
The way in which man met the chals
lenge Of nature on the unexplored
island of the world, solving the prac
teal problems OF food, clothing. shell
ter. lighting. transportation and COM
munication. is presented through dra-
matte stories OF great inventors and
their work.
Thus Cyrus Mccormick and his
reaper contributed TO the feeding OF
millions: Hargreaves. Arkwright and
Cartwright i'm England FASTENED the
passing OF the spinning wheel and
hand loom: ELI Whitney gave TO
American cotton its place in the mar
kets of the world. and Elias Howe's
sewing machine brought relief from
household drudgery The stories of
Charles Goodyear. who made the
wheels of progress rubber tired" and
of Murdoch and Edison. who proved
what artificial light could do for civil
lization, are followed by the epic Of
transportation. including sketches Of
James Watt
Robert Fulton, George Westing-
house, yes. and Henry Ford. are repre-
sented in this collection. The leaders
In the conquest of the air--Langley
and the Wrights--are also present. An
other portion of the book is devoted
TO communication and the triumphs
of Morse, Thompson, Bell, Marconi and
Carly. Brief synoptic chapters giving
bird's-eye view of each epoch serve
as a general Introduction 10 the group
of Biographical narratives.
The New York herald., 1922-01-22
How Man Has Met
Natures Challenge

Mary r. Parkman. The Century Com
pany.
The New York herald., 1922-01-22

Sml floOINl<AlN i1Notl ~ AVN LOie
1919. Washington: Government Print
ing Office.
THlS dry appearing title covers a
series of papers on subjects
- which are by no means dry.
For the general" reader science is an
absorbing interest, so long as 1t keeps
out the formulse of the form dydx-
psin a cos 2bmx. Mostly the scientists
whose conclusions are published in
Smithsonian report are able to express
themselves in terms which any IN
telligent person can understand, and
what they have to say is very well
worth understanding.
The first half of tho volume is made
up of reports from various depart
ments. interesting only to those who
are interested. Then the plot starts.
Modern theories OF the spiral nebul@.
There is reason to believe that we
and our Milky Way with its millions
of stars are nothing but spiral
nebulm, round and fiat, about 5000 light
wears thick end 10000 In diameter.
And outside, at an average distance
of something like 10 100000 light years
are hundreds OF thousands of other
spirals, each made uL like our own, or
suns and planets and star dust all
complete. In these distant universes,
as in our OWL. stars sometimes collide
and explode with a tremendous flash.
Men now living have taken photo
graphs of these explosions, which last
for some months, and-here is the
thing to hit the imagination--the
events recorded in the photographs
happened ten million years ago be-
fore there were any men at all; the
light or them has been rushing to us
since before the ape-man was born or
thought of. "A thousand years in thy
sight are as but day, and as watch
in tho night" We, who can see ten
million years, can begin to appreciate
what that passage means.
Let us skip to the HD4. This is DR..
Graham Bells motor boat, which toots
about the Bras dor Lakes at the
modest little speed of seventy miles
an hour. She is boat, too, not an
aeroplane, though her deck is sloped
so as to give her bit of a lift at full
speed. Underneath she has three sup
ports that look like wide stepladder.
When she gets up speed these little
planes lift her clear of the water, at
full tilt she is skating on the two or
three bottom steps of the ladder, the
upper ones being above water and out
of action. 1t is this reefing of the
carrying surface that makes her so
much more efficient than an aeroplane,
which cannot reef its wings with In
creasing speed. She is said not to
pound or jolt in rough water like an
ordinary hydroplane
Glass is treated In another article;
the general reader will learn with sur
prise that the essential quality of glass
is that it remain liquid at all tempera-
lures. Certain impurities may cause
it to solidify into ar Opaque, crystal
The New York herald., 1922-01-22

THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION FOR
1919. washington: Government Print
ing Office.
The New York herald., 1922-01-22
EAR ADMIRAL FIsKE. an

ventor of no mean accom-
plishment. has written a vol
The New York herald., 1922-01-22

equivalent for yelling and "shirty,'
which means "huffy."
We wonder when the phrase stand
ard American poets"-and it appears
even in good books like "The Book
mans Manual'-will be scrapped? To
our notion. there isn't smugger term
in the language.
Who, by the way, are "the standard
American poets"?
One of the neutrality-suspicious. John
Cournos can tell us his name-said,
Respect the faculty that forms thy
judgments" We wonder what the
old boy would say If he could return
to earth and listen to the long trousered
schoolboys, members Of the fire eater
school, of which Profs. Ben Hecht
H. L. Mencken, Burton Rascoe. &C.,
are the faculty, handing out second
Eand opinions-the shopworn thoughts
of these respected tutors-on the
American novel, the poetry renais-
sance, and the Stupidity of the Ameri-
can college.
But gosh! Maybe the old boy didn't
mean that kind of faculty!
Our principal quarrel with Fl. L.
Mencken, by the way, is that his
philosophy. which calls for the chloro-
forming of the boob and the breaking
of all the eggs in the BOBBY hatchery.
attracts so many who themselves be-
long in any authentic symposium of
simps. It never dawns upon any Of
the jealous choristers Of every dia-
tribal refrain of the Sage Of Baltimore
(choirboys who might be called chorus
Menckenites) to think. "He may
mean me-"
A defense of gum chewing at last!
Drs. Ryan and Bowers, in Teeth and
Health" (Putnams) say it's good for
the teeth. DR.. Ryan, noted dental
authority--and gum specialist--ought
to know
We enjoyed William McFee's "Har-
bors of Memory" collection of in
teresting essays, even though the au-
thor indulges--in the paper called "a
New Method of Reviewing Books
in the very logrolling tactics that he
decried in a recent newspaper article.
Which isn't meant to prove any,
thing except that Mr.. McFee is human
and that there is no reason in the
world why, if he wants to, a mariner
author shouldn't paraphrase ,Byron's
well known line as follows:
LooroH on. thou deer and dark blue
ocean, lo0roHi
! With the prevalence Of free verse
it must be hard for poets to get peo-
pie to endow them. Any sensible pros
pective angel would point out that
1t isn't necessary to have the entire
day for writing poetry since a whole
book of pers Iibre can be written after
supper say between seven and nine.
FURTHER THOUGHTS ON VERA -
THE NOVEL BY "ELIZABETH."
with memories of Meredith's treat
ment of the same theme in THE
Egoist.')
An -Meredithian sort
OF study in meanness-
Embittered, though we must report
1t has vigor and keenness.
Elizabeth" writes like a dream
Though Meredith's better;
But IL she would take the same theme
I'm willing to let 'er,
Last week we told of a book of ours
that had It's binding changed to
crushed levant by a trip in the SUBJ
way during the rush hour Another
look at tEe pummeIed volume sug-
gests that ii might also qualify as
Limp leather
The New York herald., 1922-01-22
What Will Happen
If Machines Stop

THE MASTER KEY TO
PROGRESS. BY Rear Admiral Brad
ley A. Fiske. LII. d. e. p. Dutton &