Evening star., 1926-11-28

Long Island, when faet
~ passenger train ran off an
open switch and crashed into
pickle factory.
On September 8, three weeks. or. to
be exact, % days, later, 23 persons
were killed when the Scenic Limited
vas derailed near Salida, Calf, and
plunged into the Arkansas River.
On September 27, again after an
interval of three weeks and a day,
8 persons were killed when the Scran-
ton Flyer crashed into the Lehigh
Limited at Bethlehem. Pa.
Were these 3 wrecks, these quite
similar disasters to crack passen-
ger trains, occurring at equal inter-
walls Of time, merely a matter OF
Chance? Was it mere chance. too,
that 20 persons We're killed exactly
23 days after the first railway tragedy?
Or was it perhaps some sinister,
mysterious force that brought about
such g. regular series Of mishaps?
If we had the answer to that ques-
ton we should probably be able to
explain many uncanny combinations
Of events such as happen In the lives
Of each one Of US. Is 1t mere chance
that bad and good luck so often come
to us in lunches or ''streaks ks'-that,
as the saying goes, ut never rains
IL pourS. HIT W. A0ChS
numbers and "unlucky dates?
One eminent scientist, at least. has
held the theory that such things are
not IL haphazard chance-matter at all.
He has maintained that nothing hap
pens without a cause, and that there
fore there must be some real agency
at work to bring about those strange
SUGGESTIONS or series" Of identical
happenings.
This scientist was the celebrated
Viennese biologist, DR.. Paul KAN
merer, who recently toured this coun-
try and leaped into prominence
through his contributions to the much
agitated theory Of evolution. tie
called the agency that governs our
good luck" and "bad luck" the law
Of series. Seven years ago he pub
lished a work to prove that such a
law can be scientifically studied-that
a knowledge Of its workings will en-
able any one to foretell many fu.
ture events with startling accuracy
ana to govern his life accordingly.
BY a curious and ironical opera
ton Of his own law of series. DR..
Kamlnerer met his own death by sui
eide on the outskirts Of Vienna on
September "a Of this year. He had
already called attention to the suicide
Of DIR. Drude, "a Berlin scientist, fol-
lowed by the similar end Of DR.. Boltz-
mann Of Leipzig. And on the eve Of
his own departure to assume a pro-
fessorship at Moscow, DR.. Kammerer
also shot himself.
Kainmerer's theory would explain
not only the regular SUGGESTIONS Of
train wrecks, mine disasters, suicides
and winning and losing streaks in
games of chance, but also what we
call "crime waves" and why, when
you think of a person, that person
very often actually appears to you
Immediately. It would explain the
frequent startled remark, Talk of
the devil! &" 1t would explain
also why wars occur with such regu.
larity, as. in American history, the
Colonial Wars, the War of Independ-
ence, the War of 1912, the Mexican
War, the Civil War, the Spanish.
American and World Wars-roughly
generation apart.
.For many years DR.. Kammerer
kept in his notebook minute record
of all the condolences Of two or more
similar happenings that he observed.
He filled it with hundreds of observa-
tions such as these:
MAY 24-ThiS morning, IN the rail-
way carriage. one pretty woman en-.
tered after another, until. besides my.
self, there were only pretty women in
the car. June 14-This morning, only
men in the car. June 19-Every per-
son who entered the car carried a
bundle. June 21-Four men sat oppo.
site me; all four wore mourning
bands, although they were not travel.
ing together. and got on and off at
different places.
February s-Jeanne Weber was
acquitted of murder today. She had
been present at the death Of five chill.
dren Of various members of her fam.
lily, all Of whom had died at different
times by strangulation Or choking. AS
there was no evidence OF motive or
insanity and no evidence of the COM
mission Of crime, she could not have
been responsible. The court pro.
nOunced it i case Of mere coinci-
dence."
"How do such things happen?''
asked Kammerer, and explained them
in the following way:
Everything in nature tends TO re-
reat itself regularly unless It Is