The Washington times., 1934-12-15
NOW
Nation sWisdOm
On Exhibit
A PHI. D. FROLIC.
BY Helen ESSary

The sum Of human knowl-
edge took off its spectacles,
laid away its test tubes and
it's microscopes, and went to
o party last night.
Approximately 369 pages of
Who's Who in the scientific
world stepped lightly up the
red velvet carpet, laid beneath
the ceremonial canopy outside
the Carnegie Institution, and.
with its wife or its husband
by the hand, as the case might
be, entered the hall of the
Administration Building, dis
guised as frivolity in broad
cloth and satin.
DiSguised-I Say-but not for
long. Practically every other
person at the party wore a
medal casually announcing ap-
probation of its wearer's dis
covery of some great force
that makes the world go
round; the existence of a run
away planet: or a canal on
Mars; or the progeny OF an
atom.
Every man at the party and
some of the women were Doc
tors of Philosophy. First in the
receiving line was DR.. Frank
C. Merriam, president of the
Carnegie Institution of WASH
ington. DR.. Merriam, before he
came here, was dean of the
faculties of the University of
California.
And-listen carefully-he Is
famous as an educator, admin
istrator, and paleontologist. A
paleontologist Il looked the
word up myselD studies the
fossil remains of past ages,
particularly the stone age, the
earliest age known to science.
He can tell you in the twin
king Of an eye, in an after
dinner speech or in a learned
treatise, how the universe
looked millions of years ago.
DR.. Merriam, I am happy to
say, is not only a great scien.
tist, but a delightful person.
The guests at the reception
wished to stay and chat with
him and his attractive wife in.
stead of hurrying off after a
brisk handshake as guests often
are glad to do.
Next I met DR.. and Mrs. Gil
bert Grosvenor. DR.. Grosvenor
is president of the National
Geographic Society. Mrs. Gros-
venor was Elsie Bell, the daugh-
ter Of Alexander Graham Bell,
inventor of the telephone. She
is interested in politics and in
social and civic work.
Talking to DR.. Grosvenor was
DR.. Lyman Briggs, director Of
the Bureau Of Standards. The
Bureau Of Standards, you real
ize, knows minutely by labora-
tory tests how deep is the
ocean. how high is the sky. the
contents of a tomato can, the
number Of bubbles in a box Of
soap powder, the weight of a
pound and the length of a mile.
Nearby were DR.. Raymond
Patton, director of the Coast
and Geodetic Survey, and Mrs.
Patton, looking very smart. DR..
and Mrs. Abbott were there, too.
DR.. Abbott is secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution. His
speciality is the effect of heat
radiation from the suns rays
on man and climate.
I also saw DR.. and Mrs. Ray
Smith Bassler. DR.. Bassler is
head curator Of geology in the
National Museum. where the dis
plays of geological specimens are
as fascinating as cases in a
jewelers. window. And DR.. Paul
Bartsch, who knows much about
animal life in the depths of the
ocean "a philanthrophist re"
Gently financed a scientific ex-
pedition for him).
It was pleasant to meet DR..
and Mrs. William A. White-Dr.
White, who has been in charge
Of st. ElizabethS for many
years, is a famous neurologist.
Also DR.. and Mrs. Whitman
Cross. DR.. Cross is a geologist
and a rose "roWer of reputation.
Mrs. Gross s]unded the Instruc-
tive Visiting Nurse Society in
Washington.
There likewise were big hand
some DR.. Arthur Day, physicist,
and his pretty bride; DR.. Fred
erick c. Coville, botanist, cura-
tor, and acting director of the
National Herbarium, the man
who cultivated the wild blue
berry into a luscious fruit, and
Mrs. Coville; DR.. Harold Glenn
Moulton, president of the Brook
ings Institution, and Mrs. Moul-
ton; and DR.. Waldemar Kaemp-
fert, of New York, brilliant
scientific writer.
Last nights reception was the
beginning of the annual exhibl.
ton of the Carnegie Institution.
glanced hastily at some OF the
exhibits, and was enchanted
with the relics of Mayan civiliza'
ton in Guatemala. The Lind
berghS flew over Guatemala sew
eral years ago and charted the
region for the Institution.
Alf0Onther ~ U,oc a veTU