The Washington times., 1937-01-02

ArmageddOn OF Jnelr ldlJn, no
longer make the theory of evolu-
ton major issue. An amazing
encounter, but quite inConclusive,
was that famous tourney between
William Jennings Bryan and Clar-
ence Darrow. Neither had meas
ured up to his capacities.
Darrow, as in his debate with
Chesterton, showed the limitations
of a man who believes any con-
ception of religion should be linn
tied to the plausibility of biblical
miracles. Bryan'S testy and OBJ
durate insistenCe on the literal
Cosmogony of Genesis, as he was
crowded into this corner by Dar-
rows strategy, did not do justice
to his powers as ControversialiSt.
But what a story! The issues it
raised will still be vital concerns
of the human race long after the
British crown is dust and Edward
and Wally are forgotten names.
I saw a neat little Silver-gray
gibbon with bright eyes and an
Eskimo cap at the Zoo the other
day. He looked at me so know
ingly l thought he was going to
give me the old lodge grip. 1t
seemed to me that he and his
people might have something to
tell us, if we would listen-which
is. of course, what the Harvard
scientists propose to do.
With more humility than ever
before, the scientists are watching
and listening these days. They
perhaps recall the old story about
the Skeptic who, arguing with an
old Scotch parSon, ridiculed the
story of Balaam'S talking ass.
People of the Orient have, OF
course, always bowed before this
infinite mystery of life, and it is
lust now that our braSh Western
civilization is beginning to realize
how much it doesn't know-al-
though st. Francis of Assist, who
communed with the birds, told us
of a lot which we should have
needed but didn't.
NEW ENTENTE
The late Ivan Pavloff, of Rus
sia, founder of the behavioriSt
school of psychology, found mon
keys invaluable in studying hu-
man behavior reactions, which just
now are opening the vast new field
of the conditions reflex" which
may some day give clearer un-
derstanding of our desires and mo-
tivationS.
But what I have in mind, par
ticularly, is that scientists, off to
the iungles to study the anthro-
poids, or to the poles to study ter
reStrial magnetism, aren't so cock
sure as they used to be. There is
a new entente between the men
of faith and the men of science
attained in the decade which fol
lowed that clash of two worlds
at Dayton.
Be that as it may, you can't
help liking a monkey, full Of fool
ishneSS as he is and frequently a
disturbing parody of our more SOL
emn pretenSe. There is, so the
scientists tell me, the same range
between genuiSes and moronS as
that of humankind. The new eX-
pedition expects to get some light
on the perennial problem of the
comparative weight of heredity
and environment.
AS to that, this story may well
finish with the story of Paul, a
lis tinguish ed Philadelphia
monkey. He fought with Dom
Paul Kruger in the Boer War
and was shot in the leg. He de-
veloped a violent hatred of the
British. In his Philadelphia zoo
today, if he hears word of strong
British accent, he rattles the bars,
bares his teeth and lets loose his
terrified Boer War cry of "Wah-
Hooooo!"
A count for environment, per-
haps!
Copyright. 1885, by King Features
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