The Washington times., 1922-07-09
Eel OF SCIENCE.
TOO MUCH FOR T
AUDIENCE "
We Come to. Grief by Quoting
at Length From Prof. J. Ar
thur Thomson's Outline Of
Science" g
~fndts. Iearntn0 turns no student
Pei ;s SsIa, tn. eel o, .es."e. BY the
BY AMES KENDRICK.

7" is,la nsIe' the eel Of 'o''"o' BY the
BY AMEs KENDRICK.
r Asst Sunday. the hottest day
In our recollection. we spen:
A reading volume two Of
Prof. ]. Arthur Thomson's "out-
line Of Science" sent us through
courtesy OF the firm Of Putnam.
Ordinarily. 30 low-brow is our
taste. failure of the publisher to
also send volume one would have
meant little to us. but on this
Sabbath day. despite the heat, we
became 30 immersed in evolution.
germinal continuity, thigmotro.
pism, Darwinism. recessive quail;
ties. Mendel's law, and other such
intriguing topics. that we have
this day spent $3.75 Of our own
money for the purchase of the
first volume.
For this violation Of Rule I Of
the Book Reviewers Union we
stand in grave danger Of fine or
even Of expulsion, but little reck
we Of the consequences Of our
act. For we got SO full Of scien-
tific information. Of which we
were sure the sports editor ana
the foreign advertising man were
sadly in need, that we spent the
evening hours in the endeavor to
give them the benefit Of. our
newly acquired fund of eruditiqp.
We began our ex-cathedra dis
course with Darwin, the topic
being one we were reasonably Ger.
tain would be of interest to these
unlettered yokels whose talk is Of
bullocks. so to speak. While we
held to this topic their interest was
unabated. but alas, we were primed
with information. which, like new
planets. constantly came into our
ken, and we felt the urge Of ex
preston.
Stimulated by this desire to con.
vey to our audience the wonders
Of science, as we'll as by other and
forbidden things, we launched into
an abstruse exposition of inherited
tendencies in Japanese dancing
mice. Occupied with our topic,
and also with eye to q nice proper.
ton OF ginger ale, we did not
notice the dirty look with which
we now understand we were
favored by the sports editor.
We ragged on, and with words of
truth and soberness told Of the
wonders Of the microscope, the
spectroscope and the electro
scope; of the jerboa, with
its neck vertebrae soldered to-
gether; of the hormones, the newly
discovered messengers who carry
dispatches through the blood from
one part of the body to another,
sort of ultra.microscopic Yale keys
sent out to search for the locks OF
letter boxes which they can fit.
We held them with our glance
while we told them that birds, were
evolved from some uncertain stock
Of bipedal dinosaurs millions of
years ago. We gave them tire
latest conclusions on the Freudian
theory; we piled them with facts
about, mammals, subterranean, ar.
boreal and aerial. We fancied they
were aghast at our immense dis
play Of escteric information. We
know otherwise now.
And then vaulting ambition
o'erleaped itself. We related the
life cycle of the eel Anguilla Vul-
garis. With fullness Of detail we
told how they are spawned in the
dim. unfathomed caves of ocean,
and then, answering some lnborn
impulse, seek fresh water ponds,
rivers and lakes to grow up. How
they journeyed thousands Of miles
In search Of q suitable spot, swim.
ming ever against the stream,
travelling by day and hiding un.
der stones or overhanging banks
by night.
How they wriggled up drain
pipes. climbed wet moss az the
sides OF rapids, and made side
trips through damp meadows.
Still we got sby.
We warmed to the Odyssey Of
the eel. We impressed on the for
eign ad man. he of sordid ca .cula.
tions Of rates and lines, how the
immature eel made its way up the
Rhine into Lake Constance, a diff.
ffcuit journey. Then, fooking the
sports editor reasonably strsigh:
IN the eye, we told him that these
eels climbed the falls Of Niagara
---and the discourse came to an
abrupt termination
Since this time we dare say
little about the Outline cf
Science" except that II is profuse-
iy illustrated. copiously ind.xed
and written in such style as 10 be
easily digested and all too provoc.
.sG... - Ai~nna,io,