Evening star., 1941-01-23
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henry.


bers of the National Academy OF
Sciences all Of whom have contributed
something Of outstanding Importance
| to civilization-differ in small but sig
| nificant details from those of the pop
ulation at large, according to report
just made to the academy by DR.. Ales
| Hrdlicka. curator of physical anthro-
| pology Of the Smithsonian Institution.
These men have bigger and broader
| skulls. lower cheek bones and darker
hair. There is considerable evidence,
although there was no way Of making
direct measurements, that their skulls
also are thinner, thus giving consider
ably more room for the brain inside.
Generally, DR.. Hrdlicka found, the
members Of the academy were sturdy
individuals. The popular idea of the
association Of great intellect and puny
body was found to have no basis. In
most respects the academicians fell
within the normal standards Of the
prosperous, well-educated element OF the
population.
The study, DR.. Hrdlicka says, finally
disposes of the old high brow" theory.
The ratio of high to low brows was
almost precisely the same as among the
population at large with at least three
generations of American ancestry.
There is also popular belief, he says,
that persons with decidedly sloping FORE
heads are mentally inferior. Actually
seven per cent of the academicians had
receding brows compared to less than
three per cent of the three-generation
American population.
In persons with normal brains, DR..
Hrdlicka explains, the forehead slope
usually is due to an unusual development
Of the frontal sinuses and the area di-
rectly over the eyes.
1.-THE upper part of the forehead Is
not depressed" he says, "but the lower
part has been carried forward more than
usual. Such condition gives more or
less of an external slope to the forehead
which lnwardly, together with the fore
part of the brain, may be quite free from
slant.
I'm one Of the academicians, and In
another now dead, the slope was about
as pronounced as ever is met with among
normal white men. One of these rlen
vas one OF the foremost technlcians OF
the country while the other was one of
its outstanding naturalists."
DR.. Hrdlicka found marked absence
Of red heads among scholars and fewer
decided blonds than would be expected
1t may be that dark hair and mental
ability go together to some extent. It
also is possible, he points out, that red
heads may tend toward types of ability
which, while outstanding. do not lead
to achievements honored with academy
membership.
More than half the academicians, he
siderably larger proportion than among
the population in general.
Here for the first time" he says. "the
members present really noteworthy diff
ferences from outsiders"
The lower cheek bone, he explains. Is
one result of increasing civilization and
less use of the chewing muscles.
A ceiling detector," which makes it
possible for the first time to measure the
height of clouds above the earth in day.
light. has Just been perfected by ply
sicists of the United States Bureau OF
Standards.
Determination of this distance is ex-
pected to be invaluable to both COM
mercial and military flyers The height
of the ceiling" and the rate at which
1t Is rising or falling above an airport
are of exceptional interest to a pilot
scheduled to land there in an hour or so.
For the past few years weather serv-
ices of both the United States and
Canada have been able to supply this
information at night, by means of a
so-called ceiling protector" An intense
beam of light is projected on a cloud,
directly above it. It forms a very con-
spicuous spot which can be seen through
a glass few feet away from the pro-
jector
Calculating the height Of the cloud
thus becomes a simple problem in sur
veying, with the length of the base line
and two angles of the triangle known.
The light is projected upwards in a
straight, vertical line forming a right
angle with the earth and the observer
can determine easily his own line of
sight.
During the day. however, the clouds
are so bright that the spot of light is
not visible, and hence it is impossible
to determine the second angle. The
ceiling height has been almost entirely
a matter OF guesswork and some serious
accidents have resulted from bad guesses.
The new instrument devised by Drs.
Maurice K. Laufer and Lawrence w.
Foskett of the Bureau of Standards staff
gets around this difficulty by shooting
against cloud not continuous beam
of light but series of short, evenly
spaced pulses of light. The observer
| places a photoelectric tube a carefully
measured distance from the protector.
This instrument sets up an electric cur
rent when light falls upon it. In this
case, however, 1t is calibrated so that
only light OF certain wave lengths con-
talned in the projected beams influence
1t. These may be present in the re-
hected earth light from the clouds. The
strength of the current, however, varies
with the strength of the illumination
falling on the photoelectric element.
When the tube is trained on the
clouds Immediately above the light pro-
Jector point soon is found where the
electric current begins to fluctuate in
exact rhythm with the light beams with
ha d L>S.~