Evening star., 1932-12-27
SOCIAL STANDING MEASURED
BY LIVING ROOM FURNITURE
Association Told of New Method of
Determining Standards of
American Families.
Y. and DR.. Harlan Stetson Of Ohio
Wesleyan University.
Difference in Time SignaIs.

Y. and Dr. Harlan stetson Of Ohio
Wesleyan University.
Difference in Time Signals.
The effect Of the bump is to stretch
the earth's surface a little, so that any
two points, such as New York and
London. are farther apart at the time
of day than another.
The bump was found by discovery Of
difference in the time signals. deter
mined from the stars, sent out from
the Greenwich Observatory in England
and the United States Naval ObServa-
tory. This difference, amounting to as
much as a tenth Of a second-impor-
that the positions of these two observa-
tories on the earths surface must
change with respect to the stars. for
otherwise the "star time" at both OBJ
servatories should be the same.
The only way that the two points
could change their positions would bt
by stretching OF the earth's crust to-
ward the moon, responding to the same
pull that causes ocean tides. AS the
moon travels around the earth 1t thus
pulls out a continuous bump on the
earth's surface, which snaps back
when the moon has passed.
help substantiate the theory that the
rocks under the earth's crust ART
plastic, enabling them to stretch In
response to the moons pull 1t may
| also upset past measurements of the
positions Of stars, for 1t means that the
point from which star is measured Is
not stationary but is in a slightly diff
ferent position at different times Of the
night.
Furniture Test.
The living room furniture test of a
family's social standing. based on study
Of more than 1000 homes of all classes
throughout the United States. was
worked out by Prof. r. Stuart Chaplin
of the University Of Minnesota.
as hardwood floors. large rugs, a central
heating plant. library table, book cases
and books table lamp. general news
papers and magazines, piano, radio
and telephone, the family to which it
belongs Is almost certainly an upper
class one. he found.
In contrast lower class homes have in
the living room soft wood floors. small
rugs, stoves for heat. few newspapers,
no book cases. arm chairs, magazines
piano or telephone.
A scale for rating family's position
in the social scale at any point between
these two extremes was described BY
Prof. Chaplin Each item. such as chair
rug or piano has a definite number or
weight" in the scale. and the sum OF
the weights is the score OF the homes
social status. Upper class homes usually
score twice as high on this scale as
lower class homes such as those receiv-
ing charitable relief
General condition and appearance OF
the living room also helps place home
in the social scale.
Study Of Standards.
The scale was designed for use in
studying social standing" of families
not in the ordinary sense of the word,
but for better understanding of living
standards and human society as q
whole.
In New York City 1913 homes in each
OF which there were gifted children,
had an average score of Ill on Prof.
Chapin's scale. based ON a check Of
living room furnishings. Twenty-nine
families receiving relief averaged AZ.
In ST. Cloud. MINI, 20 homes in the
best residential district scored an aver
age of 1923: 20 homes in the poorest
section averaged IS.
A practical example of the old adage
that what is one mans meat is an
other mans poison" was an exhibit
that life-saving heart stinu-
lants and other valuable drugs can be
obtained from the poisons and yenoms
of some toads.
Epinephrine. essentially the same as
the heart stimulant adrenalin. has been
found in the poisons secreted by five
species Of toads. by K. K. Chen. A. L.
Chen and H. Jensen OF the Lilly Re-
search Laboratories and Johns Hopkins
University.
Another kind N heart stimulant,
more potent than any known before.
Is secreted in the poisons Of four species
Of toads, they reported. This belongs
to a group called the "bufagins, which
acts much like digitalis.