Evening star., 1939-12-03

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cradle and even decrepit with centu
demure structures OF rosy brick,
chiefly Colonial and mantled with
immemorial ivy.
Founded In 1896 as King Williams
School, the first free public school
in America, and chartered as COL
lege in 1884, this is the third Oldest
college In the United States, being
Junior only to Harvard and William
and Mary. It's most distinguished
al,umnus was Francis Scott Key, au-
thor of "The Star Spangled Ban
ner."
At present there are 124 students
and a faculty of Is. The school pos
sesses neither baseball team, rowing
crew nor varsity eleven. Two years
ago it was tottering on the verge of
bankruptcy. Yet Walter Lippmann
has placed on record his belief that
some day men will recognize st.
Johns as "the seedbed of the Ameri-
can Renaissance" In Harper's Mag
aZine for June, Milton S. Mayer was
still more emphatic. Recalling
dictum of the elder Oliver Wendell
Holmes that the United States, by
its very existence, threatened every
government in Europe, Mr.. Mayer
exclaimed: "St. Johns College, in
significant as it is in buildings, en-
dowment and prestige, by its very
existence threatens every college
and university in America"
Credits Renounced.
Certain it is that strange, mad
things are commonplaces on St.
Johns campus. Upper classmen are
given to impulses under which they
fling from the window two or three
years of study and re-enroll as
freshmen. There is pointed out
graduate of the Massachusetts, In
stitute of Technology who started
his education all over again as a
f1rst-year student. Another fresh
man is bachelor of arts from the
University of Virginia, where he had
even embarked on a postgraduate
course. The rolls are dotted with
the names of youths who have re-
nounced credits of one or two years
at famous universities to become
"rats" at st. John's-this being the
schools nickname for first-year
students.
A recent lecturer there was Prof.
Edward j. Kasner of Columbia, one
OF IL men supposed to be able to
understand Einstein. Prof. Kasner
admitted he had never succeeded in
finding the equation for a certain
curve. Whereupon a sophomore rose
and said: 1--WE had a theorem the
other day in the Comics of Apol-
lonius that might solve it," And
among them-Apollonius, Kasner
and the sophomore-they found the
equation.
A slim, sedate lad barely out of
his teens escorted the writer about
the college. In an attic laboratory,
several students were poring over
tetrachords, or sounding boards with
four strings. 1t was explained that
they were verifying Galileos re-
searches into the pitch of tones.
The visitor remarked that Pytha-
goras was pioneer in this field,
and was patiently admonished that
the Greek dealt merely with the
length of vibrating medius, while
Calico took into account also its
tension and mass.
The next halt was machine shop,
where the guide tenderly fondled
an instrument of brass rings. Its
an astrolabe," he murmured, prob
ably the only one in existence, built
according to Ptolemy's 'Almagest.'
Then, by way of lightsome chatter,
he added: OF course, it S calibrated
to the latitude of Annapolis"
Study Ancient Ways.
From faculty officer came a story
of the construction of this astrolabe,
a device for observing the positions
of celestial bodies. The principal
authority on Ptolemy is an Oxford
scholar, to be known here as Prof.
X" In the course of four volume
work, he described the ancient as
tronomer's astrolabe as a two-di-
mensionable affair that could be
hung on a wall The students were
puzzled to discover that with such
an instrument the observations re-
corded by the Alexandrian could not
have been made. The contrlvance