Evening star., 1934-07-14
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By SARAH C. BOVERlHAN.

HILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE. BY
FULTON J. Sheen. Ph.D- DID, LID.
LTD Milwaukee: Bruce Pub
fishing Co.
DR.. Sheen. a member of the faculty
Of the Catholic University Of America,
contributes this volume to the Science
and Culture Series. Of which Joseph
Husslein, S. j., is the general editor
Writing from the Catholic point Of
view. he says that "the light which
has tllumined this book has been the
writings of the most learned Of the
sanity and the most sanity of the
learned'-Thomas Aquinas." He has
not attempted a discussion OF scien-
tific methods nor a scientific tusti-
fication of the scholastic position. but
analy2es the two theories Of the phil
osophy of science, the physical and
the mathematical. and tries TO prove
that a third theory, the metaphysical,
is the true theory. The moral Of this
book is that the great verities of phil
osophy do not depend in principle on
the conclusions of empirical sciences /:
they are neither proved nor disproved
bv them. The existence of God, for
example. did not need TO wait upon
Jeans, who found God to be a great
mathematician Science has its field,
DR.. Sheen believes. end philosophy its
field, and harmonious cooperation be-
tween them should be possible, with
the promotion Of truth the objective
In the close reasoning necessary TO
the production of such a philosophic
work, many references are made TO
English, German. French and Latin
writer's on philosophy and science.
Einstein. Eddington, J. B. S. Haldane.
Jeans and Millikan are the moderns
especially quoted. Millikan, for ex-
ample, is cited as saying that "we
must abandon the 'Science-Knows-It It
All Theory of the last century" and
Eddington to the effect that that
overweening phase. when 1t was
almost necessary to ask the permis-
sion of physics to call ones soul ones
own. is past" Philosophy OF Science
is manifestly not for the casual or
recreational reader. 1t has much to
offer to the student Of philosophy,
science and religion.
X
LEARNING TO RACE. BY H. A
Callahan. New York. The Macmil-
Ian Co.
"And when in brief moments OF
achievement he gets her goin'-when
he feels his vessel take life and speed
ahead with nearly perfect sails and
nearly perfect trim and a nearly per-
feet hull-he comes pretty close TO
heaven" This isthe feeling Of the racing
yachtsman, according to Mr.. Callahan,
and feeling which can be shared by
no one else. Day sailors and cruising
men may enjoy the beauties Of sea
and sky and the glory of motion,
but they miss perfection. To the
racing man, not the prize but the
rare moments Of perfect sailing are
the supreme reward" The enthusiasm
evident in these quotations was re-
sponsible for Mr.. Calahan's first book,
Learning to Sail" and for this, Its
sequel. He Is a practical instructor
and his books are lucid enough to
teach any one but a confirmed land
lubber how to sail a boat and win a
race. In Learning to Race" he vis-
ualizes his reader as having learned to
sail, as owning small racing yacht
which he wishes to use according to its
nature, to make go, until he can per-
haps afford a new yacht. The pre-
liminary rules laid down for winning
yacht races are brief and cogent and
may be reduced to tabloid form thus:
To race, sail as fast as you can from
beginning to end. A few tactics are
necessary also, which Mr.. Callahan
tells you about Some Of them are
indicated by his chapter headings. OF
which a few are here given: Tuning
Up. The Reaching Start. The Start
to Windward. The Running Start, u.
Tides and Currents. Wind. Taking
Advantage Of a Shift Of Wind. How
Boats Interfere With One Another. ~.
Blanketing. I. . Back Winding. Broken
Water f. Breaking Through. /. General
Strategy. Distance Racing. Putting
the Boat to Bed. For IS years the
author has been sailing and racing
and he here presents the results Of his
experience in elementary and readable
form.