Evening star., 1937-10-30

Delightful anecdotes and bits OF
Western lore dot the volume, which
between the lines carries an effective
sermon on the conservation Of our
natural resources. The book is illus
trated with l3 full-page photographs,
many from the files Of the Forest
Service. P.W.F.
SOLDIERS OF DARKNESS. BY
Thomas r. Gowenlock, with Guy
Murchie, jr.. Garden City, N. Y:
Doubleday, Doran 6S Co., Inc.
A FTER years of espionage books
featuring glamorous female spies.
suave gentlemen in evening dress who
plot between the opera and supper for
two, invisible inks and dawn firing
squads for one, 1t is refreshing to read
this sort of volume, which deals
with the exploits of those anonymous
heroes from the combat companies
who performed the arduous, dangerous
and vital duties Of scouting across
no-mans land into the enemy lines.
Col. GoweAlock was the G-2 or in
telligence member of the staff of the
American 1st Division in France. He
was in charge of the collection OF in
formation concerning the enemy, his
works, at the battle front. The author
trained, supervised and very often
accompanied the divisional scouting
patrols which penetrated the enemy
positions to obtain that very neces-
INF uyhirh h1ph
commands must depend for the intel
gent planning of battles.
In this volume he tells the story OF
those combat heroes, the scouts, who
went out ahead of the Army to locate
enemy gun positions, trench lines,
dugouts. machine-gun nests and other
information by night, and then per-
sonally led the attack waves over the
land they had so perilously recon-
noitered.
The result is a tale of high adven-
ture, keen excitement and flaming
courage in the face of the most des-
perate peril There is, also, not
little very good history Of the war
from the standpoint of the famous
1st Division. j. 5. E.
THE GREAT ADVENTURE. By Ed
win C. Parsons. Garden City:
Doubleday, Doran g. Co., Inc.
ONE of the most gallant chapters
~ OF World War history deals with
the Lafayette Escadrille. The story
of this strange squadron, made up of
young Americans who volunteered
their services to France as combat pi-
lots before their own country entered
the war. has been written and drama
tized often.
Seldom, however, has the story of an
aviation squadron been told more eff
fectively than has this story of the
Lafayette Escadrille by Parsons. The
author learned to fly in 1912 and be-
came the entire aviation service of
the Villa forces in Mexico during 1918
and 1914 When war was declared he
Joined the French Foreign Legion,
then transferred to the Escadrille, with
which he flew until it was transferred
to the United States Army. Parsons
was the only American to remain with
the French after April. 1917. flying
with Capt. Guynemer's famous squad
ron of aces, the Storks.
Out of the wealth of his own expe-
riences and those of his friends of the
Escadrille. Parsons has woven a story
which moves with the brea thless speed
of a squadron raid. He captures for
the reader the vicarious thrill of
facing the blazing guns of enemy air.
men in fatal duels thousands of feet
above the trenches. He makes very
real and vivid those days in which
aviation met its first great military
test and established its place through
the heroism and daring of its pioneer
personnel. J. S. E.
THE STORY OF MOTHERHOOD.
BY DR.. Roy P. Finney. New York:
Liveright Publishing Co.
THE man who can make of med
ical history fascinating book,
one that holds the attention from
beginning to end, and one that leaves
one with much food for thought, is
man of talent. THE Story of
Motherhood" is such a book 1t at
tempts to recreate the methods of
accouchement from prehistoric an
tiquity to the present. 1t does pre-
sent the science and arts of these
methods from ancient Egypt. through
enlightened Greece. licentious Rome,
the brutal middle ages, the pestilen-
tial 18th and early 18th centuries
to the present. 1t traces the progress
of the human race in the changing
fashions of treating parturient wom-
en-. From the enlightenment of Hip
pocrates, through the Ignorance
stepped ministrations of the medieval
church, to the death-d dealing hospitals
of the early 10Th century redeemed
by such men as Semmelweiss, Lister
and Pasteur, the story is traced to
the giant strides made in the last
three decades.
The third part of the book con-
sists of three chapters of absorbing
interest to every thinking, modern,
adult person. They are voluntary
Parenthood," illegal Abortion" and
"Childlessness." They are treated
with frankness, yet the scientific at
titude is apparent in every word.
They are also treated with a breadth
OF understanding, a knowledge Of the
subject and clarity of vision pos
sible only to the scientifically trained
person of wide experience who has
lost none of his humanity Of toler-
ance in the daily tussle which has
given him the necessary experience.
FLYING vISTAS. BY Isaac H.
Jones, M. D. Philadelphia: j. B.
Lippincott.
A Walton has opened many new
horizons to mankind its demands
extend to many branches of science.
Not least among the sciences affected
is that OF medicine and surgery
Mankind, obviously, was not designed
to fly. To do so imposes upon him
most unusual strains. The safety Of
| the pilot and his paSscnQers depfnds