Evening star., 1934-04-21
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C. BOWERMAN.

COLLECTED VERSE. BY Edith Scott
Magma. Northampton: The Hamp-
shire Bookshop.
Mrs Magma, president general Of the
.. A. R., combines the eXecu..ve abil-
| ity of an administrator and the imag-
combination. This attractive small
volume, bound in blue and silver, con-
! tains some excellent verse, written in
conservative meters and Of consider
able variety in subject matter. The
poems are classified under seven head
ings: Patriotic, To individuals, The
Seasons, Read at Dedications, To
Various Places, Camp Verse, and Mis-
| cellaneous. Subjective and objective
, poems share the pages almost equally,
revealing both receptivity to beauty
Of many kinds and in many places
and reflectiveness both grave and
gently satirical. Impressions of place
are vividly conveyed in such poems as
ITO Robert Service" with its setting
of the Yukon, and Dawson of the
Old Days; Crafts Tavern" of Holy
oke, Mass; Scotland" the land AYE
fair" to those Of Scottish blood; ITO
Dublin" which sings itself like an
Irish melody, and "Carcassonne,"
with its allusion in meter and senti-
ment to Gustave Nadeau's whimsical
French poem of the same name. The
Camp Verse shows love of the out
doors-of mountains, lakes and
streams, Of hunting and fishing and
cooking over camp fire. THE Camp
Stove" Where Is Camp" Fisher
mans Philosophy" and THE Lean
To" are among the best of these.
Among the reflective poems are a
number written for special occasions,
as "A Pledge" THE Well Known,s
read at the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier. April 10, 1893, and MY Amer
ica"; the delicate bits, Fortune Tell
ing" and THE Written Word" and
the good-naturedly ironical poems,
Gossip" and ITO Rejected Verse"
MENTAL HYGIENE IN THE COM
| MUNITY. BY Clara Bassett.
New York: The Macmillan Co.
The word psychology" Is one Of
the dominant words Of the present
age. Many who could not successfully
define it habitually use it. The in
| fuence Of mind in the affairs Of life
/ formerly considered purly physical Is
being more and more recognized. Not
only scientists, but novelists, play
wrights, poets, educators, priests, min
| listers and business executives are
much concerned about mental atti-
tudeS OF people. The author Of this
book, consultant in psychiatric social
work OF the division on community
clinics of the National Committee for
Mental Hygiene, refers in this connec-
ton to a recent cartoon representing a
garbage collector "admonihing his
buddy, perched high on the wagon, to
watch out for the last number of 'Psy-
chology, a magazine which he ap-
parently collected in the litter from
doorSteps is defined by Clara" Men
tai hygiene is defined by Clara Bas-
sett as that growing body of knoWl-
/ edge and techniques which has for its
purpose the understanding of the evo-
luton Of human personality - the
promotion Of mental health the
study, treatment and prevention Of
emotional and behavior disorders . -
the efficient organization and opera
ton of community facilities which
may be necessary for the achievement
Of these aims. . ." Her thorough
study of the subject, sane in its con-
clusions, should be of great val"e to
| physicians, educators and social
workers Of all kinds. She treats men
tai hygiene in its relation to medicine,
nursing. social service agencies, de-
linquency and law, parental and school
education, the church and theological
training recreation, industry and psy-
chiatric agencies. She disclaims any
attempt to introduce new material in
connection with any Of the problems
discussed (the ground has already
been covered by many specialized
books and reports on the subject, but
does correlate and organize data al
ready available into practical trea-
tise or handbook.
HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT
Studies in the Genesis of Psyche
logical Characteristics. BY Gladys
c. Schwesinger. New York: The
Macmillan Co.
The basis of this scientific study Is
the analysis Of data on intellectual
similarities and differences of iden-
tical twins reared apart; the compari-
son of children adopted into foster
homes with their biological and their
foster relatives and the investigation
of cases of children affected by dis
ease, accident and other physical
handicaps, by language difficulties,
by urban or rural residence, by edu-
cational DEFICIENCIES and by other cul-
tural and social factors. An interest
ing mass Of facts has been collected,
from which conclusions have been
| drawn. Heredity and environment are
so closely related that it is impossible
for even the most thorough scientific
investigators to attribute correctly the
exact influence of each on the in
dividual. 1T has aptly been said that
there is not, never has been and never
will be a germ plasm without an
environment" Two fundamental, al
most automatic, principles seem to be
Cd THE extent to which heredity
can determine individual differences
is magnifled by environment" and (2)
''The extent to which environment
can modify original differences Is
limited by heredity." Heredity seems
to hold the balance of power. This
is borne out by certain findings that
children who have been separated
from their parents since birth, never
theless tend to maintain the original
group differences which characterized
their parents" and that children
born Of socially superior stock, but
reared since birth with children born
of socially inferior stock, continue to
manifest their genetic superiority in
spite Of uniform rearing" Miss
Schwesinger was formerly associated
with the Institute of Educational Re
search at Columbia University and
Is now on the scientific staff Of the
Eugenics Research Association Of New
York.
NATURE, M. D. Healing Forces of
Heat, Water, Light, Electricity and