Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-27
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BOOkLOUer.


while remaining perfectly safe from
tropical fevers, venomous insects and
reptiles and man-eating mammals. Do
not, or course, attempt to join him in
the flesh, for as he is a veteran eX-
plorer ne probably prefers either soil
tude or picked companions Of his own
KIND. But you may safely enter the
jungle in his company through his
books, Edge Of the Jungle" Jungle
Days, Jungle Nights and Jungle
Peace" You may prowl about in the
jungle of British Guiana, through the
dense forest, well within the realm of
black magic" through the under
growth Of young palms, among the
Webbed mangrove roots, along the
sandy beach at ebb-tide. finding every
where evidences of teeming animal
life. At night from a bungalow not
far from the shore you may hear the
deep, SOnOrous cry of the specialized
owl" the death scream Of a frog and
the Sudden babel of humming-b bird
squeaks and frenzled shrteks OF fly
catcherS" which indicate that q tree
snake has been discovered in the BAN
boos." You may dwell for Il time with
the wild life Of the jungle, watching
the eternal conflict that goes on, the
chain of jungle life" in which the
death of one animal Is the condition
Of life for another-the eternal alter
nation OF life and death"
= = II
Illustrating this law OF conflict
the preying OF one form of life on an
other-Wtlliam Beebe, in Jungle
Days" describes the death struggle Of
a. specialized owl and an anaconda, in
the mud and sand of the beach. The
Ill l..
far too heavy for it to lift, or even, as
it turned out. successfully to battle
with. The mud had been Churned up
for a foot In all directions. and the
birds plumaSe showed that IT must
have rolled over and over. The ana.
conda, having Just fed, had come out
of the water and was probably
stretched out on the sand and mud, as
/ have seen them, both by full sun and
in the moonlight" The foolhardy owl
had pOunCed upon the big snake ana
struck talons deep into his back and
neck. THE snake, like "a flash, threw
two coils around bird, wings and all.
and Clamped these tight with cross
wise of muscle. The tighter the coils
compressed the deeper the talons Of
the bird were driven in but the dam
age was done with the first strike,
anu Al owl anu SlldhC llSLA pa A'I az
this moment. neither could have sur
vived. 1t was u swift, terrible and
short fight The snake could not use
its teeth and the bird had no time to
bring its beak into play. and there in
the night, with the tapping waves Of
the falling tide only . or feet away,
the two creatures Of prey met and
fought and died, in darkness and
silence, locked fast together
= K <
Mr.. Beebe pduSeS for q moment III
his talk about the jungle and its life
to lament what he considers the far
departure Of our country today from
the principles of the signers Of the
Declaration of Independence. The OC
casion is a description Of his jungle
table, on which he examined under q
microscope all his specimens of forest
and shore. The wood Of the table was
mahogany, because here in the jun
gle of British Guiana il is the cheap
est material in the form Of boards,
and from It's rings he estimated that
the tree first began TO grow about
1876 about the time when our fore
fathers were fighting for freedom
whose memory we may not toast ever
in wine. They had just penned decla
ration of independence, whereas we
are considering passing a law to keeI
monkeys in their proper place.
pause in my table talk long enough
TO thank heaven that we are still al
lowed to believe in the rotundity OF
the earth, that the Indians gift Of to
bacco is still permitted us. and thai
tea is not yet thrown overheard
u x
A Freudian complex which causes
stimulation of paralysis in a young CIR
is one Of the striking components OF
Fanny Hurst's new novel, "AppassiO
nata." Laura Regain has a nature il
which two concealed motives war with
the normal development of her life
love for her own beautiful body anC
profound desire, unrealized at frs
by herself, to become a nun. Both o,
these work to make her shrink from
marriage, though she is swept along
toward 1t without apparent resistance
An accident-a fractured shoulder--OT
the eve of her marriage saves her
The shoulder heals, but the illness OF
her mind caused by the secret con
hict continues and manifests itsel,
outwardly by an apparent paralysis 0,
her legs. Specialists talk wisely about
her bed, but she Is still unable to walk
At last sOmething-an act Of her lover
reveals her to herself She knows
that her mystical love Of Christ is the
great force in her life, that to it ev
erything else must yield. In an &C
stacy she accepts the revelation and
miracle of religion or of psychology
she walks.
A very acceptable addition TO the
rapidly growing literature Of eVOlll
ton is DR.. Samuel G. SchmuCker':
book. entitled Mans Life on Earth
In clear, concise, underestimate Ian
guage he tells what is now known OF
prehistoric man. The book does not
claim TO be original but drawing OF
the recognized research authorities, Il
successfully summarizes their work fol
the general reader. A striking note il
DR.. Schmucker's book is the answer
he suggests to the question why W,
cannot now see the process Of evoll
ton in operation In the case OF thu
body of modern man-why there i;
now so little change. Part Of his an
swer is as follows: when man haC
| evolved a thoughtful brain and a skill
full hand, he introduced a new methoC
into the world. Now, when he wants
to fly, he does not convert his arm
| into a wing. He constructs for him
self a flying machine. This he car
use when he is flying, and it is bette
than wings. But the very best par
of it is that in gaining this new powe
be has lost no old one: His brain ant
his hand remain. Indeed the brain il
| more fertile and the hand more facilt
but with q larger scope fol
both. When he wishes to hasteI
across the land, he does not lengthel
| his legs and feet and drop most of hi
toes, as did the horse. He jumps OF
the horses back and makes him carr
him. When their speed fails to sat
| isfy him he vaults the tea kettle ant
| beats the horse. When this methot
proves to be trammeled he seats him
self astride q gasoline can and beat
| the tea kettle. And still his brain an,
1 ba pd ara rnadU INV Of oil