Evening star., 1933-06-04

cally ana Sne mentally, ana tney aVOloeu lTlC-
ton from lack of energy. Over the friendship
and love of Marie Antoinette and Count Fer
sen Stefan Zweig becomes almost lyric and
he Is convincing in his evidence that the
Swedish noble brought into the life of the
Queen of France the only real joy and per-
manent satisfaction she ever knew The de-
scriptions of the flight to Varennes and the
execution of Marie Antonette are examples of
powerful and sustained dramatic prose, which
seldom yield to the temptation to melodrama
THE NEW BACKGROUND OF SCIENCE. BY
Sir James Jeans. New York: The Mac
milan Co.
~ speaking of Sir James Jeans on physics
and metaphysics Is his use Of illustrations
drawn from the commonplaces of everyday
life. Thus radiation is compared with shot
fired from gun and travelling through space,
the exploration Of nature by the scientists is
hkened to stamping the earth with their own
footprints and raising clouds of dust and the
separation of space and time by ordinary
human beings is similar to the division Of the
field of vision by an astigmatic pair OF specta-
cles. This book owes its existence to the be-
lief of Sir James that without background
OF rudimentary philosophy, the philosophy of
8 scientist, the new knowledge of physics can
not be viewed as consistent whole nor can
its significance be apprehended. His own opin-
ion is that the philosophical implications of re-
cent advances in scientific theory and dis
covery are away from nineteenth century ma
teriaGsm and determinism, toward something
which will accord better with our everyday
experience"
1.-The New Background of Science" Is in
tended not only for students of physics, but
also for non mathematical general readers Sir
James has, however, found it necessary to en-
ploy few mathematical symbols and formulae
which the aforesaid general reader may skip
without seriously impairing his understanding
OF the text. The chapter "The Framework
Of the External World-Space and Time" deal
ing with one of the subjects most difficult of
comprehension illustrates especially well the
teaching ability and clarity of style of one of
the foremost research scientists of today Our
mtuitive conceptions of time and space the
first as an ever-rolling stream and the second
as classification Of objects according to the
points of the retina they affect have been
altered by the Einstein theory of relativity.
But, in spite of Einsteins doctrine that ut is
just as impossible to locate an event in time
in an objective way as to locate an object In
space in an objective way" and that Mature
Is such that it is impossible to measure an
absolute velocity by any means whatever" Sir
James assures us that in our individual expert
ence we shall all probably continue to follow
our intuitive ideas of time and space. The
framework of time and space will still serve
our newspapers historians, and story-tellers
Other chapters discuss THE Approach to the
External World" 1.-The Methods of Science"
Mechanism THE Texture of the External
World-Matter and Radiation" Zone Of the
most Interestingly, "Wave-Mechanics" 'Inde-
terminacy and Events"
THE MONROE DOCTRINE: 1826-18s7. BY
Dexter Perkins. Baltimore: The Johns
Hopkins Press
IA /HEN President Monroe sent his message
w to Congress December 2, 1928 in which
he said that "the American continents
are henceforth not to be considered as SUBJ
jectS for future colonization by any European
power" he probably had a realization of the
radical nature of his dictum but it Is doubtful
II he. foresaw how important 1t was to be in
the development Of our country or how greatly
1t would influence world diplomacy Dexter
Perkins, who is Watson professor of history in
the University Of Rochester, has made an ex-
haustive study Of the origins and effects of the
Monroe Doctrine, from the archives of the
United States and many foreign powers and
intends to follow this book by two more vol
umes dealing with the period after 1s67-a
period during which the implications of the
ooctrlne nave become more and more compli-
Gated. The present volume begins with the
logical growth of President Monroe's idea from
George Washington's maxim of no entangling
alliances and avoidance of participation in
European politics At the benning the Monroe
Doctrine was not doctrine at all, but merely
general statement of preference in policy,
which was welcomed by the people of the
United States with enthusiasm, but was not
considered to be binding pledge. In Europe
the message had little influence In the new
South and Central American states it was con-
sdered important but less so than the powerful
protection of England BY 1867 however, the
principles of the doctrine had taken root in
the minds of the American people, were re-
spected in Europe, and had been invoked by
governments of Latin America Between 1926
and 1867 many international episodes had
taken place which called the doctrine into
action and tended to strengthen it. These epi-