Omaha daily bee., 1922-06-07

THE GLANDS REGULATING PER.
SONALITY." by DR.. Berman. pub
lished by Macmillan, Is being com.
pared with HuxIey's writings.
In the very title Of the book is ar
indication of the viewpoint, the type
of treatment and the worth of DR..
Berman's work. The viewpoint is
apparently a struggle between two
motives. On the one hand, Berman
seems to share the native wish of
every physiologist to reduce" psy-
chic life to chemical processes.
Loeb is a modern extremist Of this
view. He looks forward to the
time when scientists will make pro-
toplasm in the laboratory. But.
should this occur, far from being a
support of mechanism. it will be a
final demonstration that man makes
his organism and not vice versa.
Berman must recognize the SIM
pie truism that life is not the chemi-
cal process, even that of a ductless
gland, but is the chemical process
recognized as such. The actual
truth is that life regulates the duct
less glands, that is, builds up such
glands as are required in the ever
present task of mastering (adapt-
ing) an environment. There is ac-
cordingly a rather amusing con-
trast between Dr.. Berman's "robus-
tious pathos" with which he speaks
of "the religion OF science" and the
loose way he shows what the actual
significance Of science is.
1t is unusual for a biologist to
have the penchant for phrases that
Berman shows. In this respect he
contrasts sharply with Sherrington,
Cannon, Pawlow. who are the rec
ognized authorities on the subject
of endocrinology. Compare his
flowing style with the cautious pro-
cedure Of Morgan, Jennings, Wilson
and Charles Child; the conclusion
will be that Berman is to be regard
ed as a popularizer of highly diff
ficuIt subject: and like all popular
izors he speaks with tone of GER
tainty about matters that are far
from established. His analysis" of
Napoleon and dozens of other great
personages are, of course, dare
devil inferences; they are pictur
esque if not actually physico-
chemical.
Molly was a native daughter of
south California and the old family
home, Alloway place, was notable
center Of hospitality. Harriet ". C.
Ogden. in her new book, Then Came
Molly" writes OF the Alloway fam
lily. THE Alloway family, besides
the heavenly creed bequeathed to
them by their ancestors and comfort
ably accepted and carefully lived up
to, held an earthly creed consist
ing of three parts: the United States
is the finest country in the world,
South Carolina is the finest state in
the union and the Alloways are the
finest family in the state"
Molly Prioleau was of the house OF
Alloways. The author has made her
a girl OF sterling characteristics and
has fashioned story that has one
setting in South Carolina and the
other in New York. The book has
no overtones of thrilling situations,
but it carries the reader along in
pleasing manner. 1t is an interest
ing romance. Molly goes to the great
city. studies art, and she meets the
man who fills her life completely.
Philadelphia.
By the Penn Publishing company.
"sHoE.BAR sTRATTON." by Joseph B.
Ames. The Century Company. New
York.
Returning home from France
where he was wounded during the
war, and recovering from a years
lapse of memory during which he
could remember nothing of his pre-
sious life, -Shoe-Bar Stratton returns