Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1933-11-26


to him, mo wonder you love BIRDS" for his
boyhood home, near Englewood, N. j., was sur
rounded by fruit trees and conifers and adj
joined the estate of William Walter Phelps
lover of trees and birds, who made of his land
bird sanctuary. Dr. Chapman lived in his
birthplace until he reached middle life, when,
because Of the invasion of his cherished shrines
by man and his transportation activities" he
sought seclusion in New York in location
where he sees only Central Park and hears but
an unseen compound noise" to which he has
become almost obhvious. Association with ma
ture he finds in protected nook in the Cats
kills and on an island in Gatun Lake"
After a tentative experiment in banking he
yielded to his belief that friendship with
Nature is one of the most wholesome and in
spring influences of life, and that birds are
Natures most vital and potent expressions"
For nearly so years he has been connected with
the American Museum of Natural History. He
has not been Stay-at-hOme naturalist nor one
of limited field. He has explored for birds not
only all over the United State, but in most Gen.
trail ard South American countries. During the
World War there intermission in his
chosen work, while he did volunteer service for
the Red Cross, and his knowledge Of South
America caused him to be sent there to estab-
lish closer connections with Red Cross chap
tiers. DR.. Chapman seems to have known in
stinctively how to write good autobiography.
He writes Of the experiences which are sure to
interest intelligent general readers Routine
amount of his time are but briefly mentioned.
Descriptions of his travels and the birds he
has seen. their habits and habtats. are given
with much delightful detail. The autobiography
is illustrated with numerous photographs by the
author. DR.. Chapman is the author Of numer-
GUS other books about birds, among them MY
Tropical Air Castle" Handbook of Birds of
Eastern North America" Bird Life" Camps
and Cruises Of an Ornithologst," Color Key
to North American Birds" and Bird Studies
with a Camera
MARTIN LUTHER. Germany's Angry Man BY
Abraham Lipsky New York: Frederick A.
Stokes Co.
IN 1888, $50 years ago. Martin Luther was
] born in the German town Of Eisleben. Men
may be great, as the world estimates greatness,
and still have no very profound effect on the
history Of their own countries or Of other coun-
tries. There are. Others often not Of the finest
personal type, who, probably without being en-
tirely conscious of the import Of their actions,
have precipitated revolutionary changes in the
course of civilization Henry VIII OF England
was such man. His amorousness was imme-
diately responsible for the establishment Of an
English national church; without him the same
result might have been attained by slower
processes. Martin Luther, in his break with the
Roman Catholic Church, was more sincere than
Henry VIII. The effects Of the changes he
wrought are estimated as beneficial or damaging
to world development according to the premises
employed in judgment Mr.. Lipsky claims to
have written a strictly impartial biography. He
says that in judging Luther both Protestant
and Catholic pictures are obviously mythical.
Luther was neither all angel nor all devil" He
finds in burrowing beneath the surface Of
"eulogy and vilification," that there begins
to emerge the figure of man with the unnis-
taxable inconsistencies and the incalculableness
of reality" Luther was a composite OF fear
~~t@
uality and freshness. But. "the Luther enigma
dissolves soon we grasp the fact of his
thoroughgoing honesty" Mr.. LpSky'S final eS-
innate Of Luther is that he "defied the heads OF
the two greatest institutions Of his time, the
Pope and the Emperor. He was, however,
more than a mere rebel. He was q seeker,
though not an oFganse1 Of truth 18th, Because Of
Of mis- personality and the vitality OF the re-
ligious truth that energized his work." Luther
lasting personality in history.
Local Penal System. BY Frank william
Hoffer, Phi. D.; Delbert Martin Mann, NJ. A.,
and Floyd Nelson House, Phi. d. New York:
D. Appleton-Century Co. For the Institute
for Research in the Social Sciences, Uni
versity Of Virginia.
THREE University of Virginia professors have
! made an exhaustive study of the Virginia
penal system, which has value entirely beyond
its local interest What they have recorded
about the ia jails in Virginia has a bearing on
the general penology of the United States and
the various States In the course of the study 49,,
600 jail cards were analysed and tabulated In
addition to the text, there 81 valuable tables
giving statistics on such subjects the date Of
erection Of jails, the number Of cages in cells,
the cleanliness of windows, the frequency Of
bathing and the bathing facilities, the per-
centage Of profit on the board Of prisoners, the
type of sleeping facilities, the number and per-
centage of persons in jais, by areas, by race and
by sex, the marital status of the jail population.
The authors seem to have omitted nothing OF