Evening star., 1934-12-21
SCIENCE AS NEWS
CITED TO ACADEMY.
DR.. Austin H. Clark and
Thomas R. Henry Speak
at 260th Meeting.

Science is a fulfilment of an un-
conscious yearning for the super
natural and the uncanny. Science is
q source Of real. gripping news stories.
These views were brought out by DR..
Austin H. Clark of the Smithsonian
Institution and Thomas r. Henry Of
the repertorial staff Of The Star, joint
speakers at the 26Oth meeting of the
Washington Academy Of Sciences held
last night at the Cosmos Club. The
subject of Mr.. Henry, who is a men,
ber of the academy, was introducing
Science to the Public" while that of
DR.. Clark, eminent biologist. was
'Science and the Public"
Scientists, asserted the scientist, to
the general public are detectives solv-
ing natures mysteries and thus fur
nishing the data for fascinating serial
stories. The science reporter, said the
reporter, may be hkened to a war
correspondent accompanying an ex-
pedition of hardy adventures en-
camped on the shores of the great
darkness of the non-sensory realm,
with his primary problem that of get
ting his dispatches back to the office.
He must devise a sensory terminology
for non-sensory events of great mo-
ment. The field of science is the in
visible world of the mind; that of the
newspaper is the overt, physical world,
and the way of the translator is hard.
News of Science in Demand.
Newspapers, declared Mr.. Henry,
are sensing demand on the part of
their readers for scientific news in
telligently reported. Perhaps the best
that can be said for the scientific
reporting of today is that it is Great
ing that demand which will newt
ably. bring about its own future i'm
provement. He expressed the hope
of eventually seeing an ever-increasing
journalistic recognition of the impor-
tance of happenings that cannot be
photographed"
Science in this country has had an
uphill fight for recognition. Looked
upon only a short time ago as the
occupation of cranks, it is now re-
garded as worthy of acceptance by the
great mass of people, said DR.. Clark.
AS contrasted with Europe, where,
owing to the social system, for genera
tions it has been supported as
a form of culture by nobility
plus means, in the United States its
recognition must depend largely on its
final economic and industrial signifi-
canoe. The rosy vision OF potential
dollars, as well as the fascination OF
the mysterious and the unexplainable,
fertilize the soil in which the tree OF
science is rooted. For it is nourished
by the lively interest and good will OF
the common people.
Henry on Symposium Program.
Announcement is made by the
American Association for the Advance
ment of Science that Mr.. Henry will
be one of the speakers at symposium
on the important relations between
science and the press to be held at
a meeting of the association and its
associated societies at Pittsburgh, De-
cember 80.
The list of speakers includes Presi-
dent John c. Merriam of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington, DR.. Robert
A. Millikan of the California Institute
of Technology, President Karl T.
Compton of the Massachusetts, Insti-
tute of Technology. Watson Davis,
director of Science Service, Washing
ton: David Dietz, science editor OF
the Scripps-Howard newspapers; Go
bind Behari Lal, science editor OF the
Hearst newspapers; William L. Lau-
renee, science news editor of the New
York Times; DR.. Benjamin c. Gruen-
berg, American Association for Adult
Education, and Howard w. Blakeslee,
science editor of the Associated Press.