Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-19

JUNGLE PEACE. William Beebe.
The Modern Library.
Another man of science who nota
bly, and habitually and usefuliy
stands in between scientific learning
as such and the need of the average
man to touch at least the hem of the
flowing robe of that learning which
is today taking over the bulk OF
human affairs. There are. without
doubt, bales of exact report charged
To the account of William Beebe. sci
enlist, by more than one great in
stitution dedicated to the promotion
of research and investigation. Mr..
Beehe is authority of high repute.
He goes about the world loaded down
with all sorts of Contraptions for the
capture of new forms of life. for their
subsection to microscopic intimacy Of
scrutiny. for their various reactions
to chemical and mathematical treat
ment. Yet-worthy and useful as all
this Individually is-here is a little
book. as easy to handle and carry
along as a cigarette case that gives
| the other William Beebe-the poet,
| the picture maker. the loafer along
strange coasts, the easy hobnobber
with every kind and condition of
man, provided only that the man be-
| so to speak. in a state of nature
| A book of beautiful adventures along
| the coast and in the near inlands of
| Dutch Guiana. Adventures, these, that
make no count of personal discon-
| fort-soaked clothes, Scant food no
shelter. all means of Transportation
quite shut off or of the worst-but.
right off this broken-down and crum-
bling pier-relic of prosperous old trad
| ing days-right out there, is some
thing floating, or swimming, or strug-
| Cling in the water-and William
Beebe is off. Nothing on earth, in
such case, could lure this man from
his perch by the waterside while he
settles this problem of sea travel by
some creature obviously designed by
the Creator for other means of locomo-
ton than the sea requires. Now this
| may not be the exact situation. But
it serves. And while William Reehe
is apparently engroSSed with it. there
are fringes of him that sense the col
ors all around him-colors of tree
and flower and sky-that feel the
secret spirit of that particular place.
dividing the purpose under the hushed
movements at this hand or that one.
And it is these fringes of sympathy
and enjoyment and deep understand
ing that make William Beebe the
chosen companion in many an hour
like those covered by the various ad-
ventures making up the deep beauty
of Jungle Peace"
SERMONS OF A CHEMIST. Edwin
E. Slosson. Harcourt, Brace &
Company.
A preacher-this middleman-with
text, and firstly, and in conclusion
and the rest of the familiar formula.
The initial discourse indicates some
thing of the nature and quality of the
whole. This is sermon on the mir
acle of the creation of man. "And
God formed man out of the dust of
the earth" The opening out of this
miracle at the hands of the preacher
is so simple and plausible and con
vincing that one secretly chides him
self for not having solved it for him
self. For, as it turns out, we are all
formed out of the, dust of the earth.
Every birth is a creation. The soil
transmitted into plant nourishment
becomes the only sustaining power of
all animal life, indeed without it life
could not be produced. The preacher
presents this topic with argument and
illustration and new approach from
one angle and another, with repeti-
ton and fresh example. All this the
essence of creation itself. Picturesque
speech is the habit of the Oriental
And may it not be that many another
miracle, as well as this one of the
creation, is, as it were, a form of
speech, inherent in the genius of
Oriental language as a whole? Whether
this be true or false, the sermon is a
most provocative one, setting the read