Evening star., 1933-08-19
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY. SARAH C. BOWERMAN.
THE UNIVERSE OF LIGHT. BY Sir
William Bragg New York: The Mac
MILAN Co

Il
THE UNIVERSE or LIGHT. BY Sir
William Bragg. New York: The Mac
MILAN Co.
One of Englands famous scientists,
. recipient Of the Nobel Prize In physics,
Is as wondering alid thrilled when he
reflects on the advances Of science in
modern times as child who exults over
q new mechanical toy. In the science
Of physics especially recent discoveries
have been so striking as to attract the
attention Of even those whose scientific
study has been limited to few high
school or college courses Sir William
Bragg describes these advances with en-
thusiasm and with simplicity and clear
ness Of style. The book ID based on
course Of lectures given at the Royal
Institution, where scientific courses have
been given "for more than Q century TO
audiences consisting largely OF young
people. Faraday himself gave no less
than 10 Of them" The starting point
Of The Universe of Light" IL the op-
position between the two theories OF
light, the corpuScle and wave theories,
associated. respectively, with Newton and
Huygens. The conflict is ending in a
reconciliation Of the hypotheses. which,
by the way, physicists have considered
irreconcilable. This illustrates the fall
lacy Of considering science fixed thing.
1t changes with new knowledge; other
ing on . nat world and be wearing
disease.
The title Of Sir william Brasg's book
indicates his belief that Tight dominates
physical science and, indeed, all
sciences" He tells the story Of the
growth Of physics through the study Of
the forms and properties Of light He
first discusses the nature Of light and
the two hypothesis already referred to;
then light In relation to the eye and
how vision is possible, with practical
suggestions about optical defects and
remedies. Color has three chapters de-
voted to 1t and brings to consideration
many Interesting subtopics as the
spectrum, wave-lengths, color blindness,
color illusions. the colors Of flowers,
dyes. colors Of the rising and setting
sun, the sea, clouds and shadows on
muddy water. The polarization OF
light. light from the sun and stars and
Rontgen Rays have separate chapters
and the final chapter compares the wave
and corpuscle theories and their sig
nificance In relation to X-rays and elec-
irons.
BANKERS VS.. CONSUMERS BY Guy
w. Mallon. New York: The John
Day Co.
Another remedy, q double headed one
and appearing rather eccentric at flrst
view, is offered by Mr.. Mallon, bank
er-lawyer, for our national ailments.
The period through which'we are living
rono lie tta doue uvtoy, natant YnAdirfneS
fiourished at the will Of their COM
Founders. before Dr. Wiley and the
pure food law hampered their pros
perity. The professional doctors for
national ills, the economists. are not
having things entirely to themselves.
Engineers, bankers, lawyers, business
men and Just ordinary men and wom-
en- are thinking and writing about eco
nomic questions and boldly suggesting
cures or palliatives. Some one will be
proposing q pure economics law before
long Meanwhile one mans guess is as
good as another's. Stuart Chase writes
an approving introduction to Mr.. NAL
Ions book, and a sympathetic good wish
from Irving Fisher is quoted on the
jacket. Briefly, Mr.. Mallon's plan in
wolves o. the restoration to Congress
Of the exclusive power to provide cur
ending the banks control OF, credit OBJ
tanned by flctitiously issuing unsound
money" and CD the maintenance Of
community purchasing power by issu-
ing to consumers a national dividend
for q period of two years" Stuart
Chase comments: Il am glad that Mr..
Mallon has written this book. In 1t he
proposes a plan whereby the consumer
may consume, whether he works or not.
Mr.. Mallon is moving in step with eco
nomic realities he is thinking straight
in the right direction" Capt. John
Smith, with his philosophy Of the re-
lation Of working and eating, would not
be at home In a world run by Mr..
Mallon's plan. His national dividend
would involve distribution to each in
dividual in q civilized community Of
sufficient means to sustain life" and
would be only an acknowledgment of
credit he possesses by virtue of his
ability to function as . member of the
community" Under such q plan new
machines would nave to be invented to
print money fast enough, and how long
would production keep up, when the
national dividend could be drawn with
out work? However, Mr. Mallon ex-
plains sufficient details of his plan to
make it seem at least plausible.
~
Among the products Of worry over
the condition of the country during the
past few years are numerous books and
pamphlets by people who have never
written before and do not consider
themselves authors, but feel that they
have ideas which might perhaps lead
somewhere If they could get q hearing.
Among such pamphlets q unique one
has just appeared, called The Love
Life of the Mule" written by A. j.
Clark. who purports to be "only a man
in the street who is wondering whether
fundamental conditions have changed
from January to July. or will change
from July to January" Mr. Clark calls
his work "A Comedy or a Tragedy"
but 1t Is really an extravaganza, hui
morous in form but deeply serious in
meaning. The principal experts" in
clude Rip Van Winkle, Alice. the Wal
rus: Humpty Dumpty, Peter Pan, other
children's favorites and, finally, Sena-
tor Sorghum and the Sage Of Rileys
Greek. Through the testimony Of these
experts Mr.. Clark discusses big busi-
ness, ballyhoo, war debts, uneconomic
distribution and mass production. stock
gambling, unemployment, farm relief,
imitation. lobbying, disarmament, sales
tax, racketeering, recognition Of Russia,
conservation Of power, reforestation and
many other questions important to all
the men In the street." and the
women, too The little book is packed
with common sense ana conclusions
drawn from acute observation and much
thinking. Senator Sorghum's remarks
on imitation give an example of the
style. Imitation of the currency?'