Indianapolis Times, Volume 43, Number 58, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 July 1931 — Page 6

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CM I f>p J - H OW A JtD

Experts Not Wanted? The administration of President Hoover was welcomed as the dawn of anew and scientific era in government in which engineers, scientists and experts woulci man the ship of state, the politicians be sent to the galley. In view of recent events, however, one begins to wonder if the expert aboard this ship isn't about as popular as was the late Mr. Jonah on that leaky tramp schooner en route to Tarsish. The first inkling of the Hoover coolness toward experts was the prompt filing in the White House wastebasket of a protest of 1,000 economists against the Signing of the Hawley-Smoot tariff act. Then there was the story of a similar fate that befell recommendations of Colonel Arthur Woods of the emergency employment commission. The expert Wickersham commission has not been free from political tinkering as shown by the modified report on prohibition and the shelving of the SternFollak expert account of the Mooney-Billings trials. Finally there came the open charge by Dr. Ray O, Hall, commerce department finance specialist, that he was fired because he refused to doctor his report in the interest of political considerations. Professor James Harvey Rogers of Yale sees in all these incidents "a tendency apparent in Waslrf Ington to hide expert findings behind a false front of political expediency.” He wonders how long men of science will offer their services to a government that ignores or misuses their reports. “We were led to believe this would be a scientific administration," said Dr. Rogers. "In interpreting the data of experts it appears that often officials have been guided by political considerations rather than by scientific realism.” The criticism is serious. Tired of muddling through With the politicians, the people chose Hoover as their first expert in the White House in the hope and belief that he would make their democracy intelligent. If he now has deserted his own experts for the devious way of the politicians the people may well feel a sense of betrayal. Railroad Rates and Wages The railroads have marshaled armies of figures to Bupport their contention that freight rates should be increased 15 per cent. These statistics have been presented to the interstate commerce commission which is hearing the case. And before the hearings are ended, other railroad experts w’ill testify to bolster the carriers’ claims. The railroads, their spokesmen contend, are seeking the increase “without any thought of increasing revenues sufficiently to earn a fair return.” The higher freight charges are asked, they explain, to tide the carriers over the depression, to give them revenue enough to insure adequate transportation for the country. They do not seek, they declare, to escape their share of public burdens. This appears to be a fair attitude, but the carriers must prove their case if they expect the interterstate commerce commission to approve the proposed increase. The commission and the public has understood that if the railroads failed to get increased rates they might economize by reducing working forces, reducing wages and reducing railway expenditures. These methods might temporarily increase earnings by decreasing expenses. But none of these, and particularly the first two, Should be used. Further reductions in working forces might be brought about with ease, and while wage cutting would be more difficult to attain, because federal agencies concerned with railway pay scales would be involved, it might be resorted to. But railroads evidently understand what a serious blow to business would result from general Wage cuts. And, even if they do not succeed in getting the freight rate increase, the resourcefulness of railroad executives and their whole industry will, we hope, be turned toward finding other ways of meeting what they call their revenue crisis than the disastrous way of reducing the pay of their employes. A Splendid Gesture Honorary degrees are rarely given to men of -liberal opinion. They are usually reserved for persons of assured stability and substantial pecuniary or political achievement. Even Clarence Darrow has no LL. D. to embellish his entry in "Who's Who.” Hoover has a score of honorary doctorates. It is not infrequently charged that honorary degrees are given as rewards to past donors or as bait to those w r hom the university hopes to shake down later. Therefore, it is with great satisfaction that one may note the granting of the doctor of laws degree to that veteran liberal, Professor Harry F. Ward of Union Theological seminary. The degree was given In the recent commencement exercises of the University of Wisconsin. President Glenn Frank fearlessly commended Dr. Ward’s services in the cause of liberalism and social justice and particularly praised him for his work as chairman of the American Civil Liberties Union. On this point he said: “As chairman of the American Civil Liberties Union you have valiantly defended those basic rights of free speech, free press and free association, without which neither scientific advance nor social progress Is possible. Such a gesture as this may shock those patrioteers who have branded the Civil Liberties Union an adjunct of Soviet Russia, but it will do more than anything else which happened during the recent commencement season to restore confidence in the intellectual independence of American higher learning. A Challenge to Moralists There is great solicitude regarding the morals of women in New York. Vice squads of the police and societies to suppress vice have abounded. Prostitution Is outlawed. Yet the state department of labor reveals figures which are more alarming to the rational moralist than the report of the committee of fourteen or any other comparable society. These indicate a shocking drop in women’s wages in the state since 1929. Women are particularly helpless due to the relative lack of organization among women workers. Women's wages in New York state have decreased 40 to 50 per cent since 1929, according to official reports of the state department of labor. The report cays that bookkeepers who drew $25 to S3O in 1929 ere now working for as low as sls a week. "Wages for typists dropped from sls to $22 a week to sl2s2l, with the sl2 offer far more usual,” said the report. “Stenographers’ wages dropped from sls for beginners and $35 for an expert to $9 and S2O, respectively.” Machine operators in offices are getting about sl2 a week and the piece rate on hand addressing has been cut from $3 to $2.50 a thousand. Even in the higher paid brackets women workers are affected. Women specialists who formerly drew $2,000 and more a year are now getting $1,500 to #sl,Boo. Department store clerks’ income H(U been reduced as much as SO per cent. The biggest tjrop,

The Indianapolis Times (A SCRIPPB-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) Owned end published dally (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Cos.. 214-220 West Maryland Street. Indianapolis. Ind. Price in Marion County, 2 cents a copy; elsewhere. 3 cents—dcllTcred by carrier, 12 cents a week. BOYD GURLEY. ROY W. HOWARD. FRANK O. MORRISON Editor President Business Manager ’ PHONE—Riley SSSI FRIDAY. JULY 17. 1&31. Member of United Prese, Scrlpps-Howsrd Newspaper Alliance. Newspaper Enterprise Association. Newspaper Information Berriee and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”

however, the bureau says, came in domestic service. Girls working in private homes are being paid as low as sls a month, and the average is S4O. "Wages of women factory workers have‘also been reduced,” says the report, "but the reductions are harder to trace due to the fact that piece work is increasingly replacing a flat weekly wage for unskilled factory operations. There is nothing more likely to promote morality and self-respect among women workers than a living wage. There is nothing which null more surely drive them into devious ways than a starvation salary. Tale of Two Cities Americans, concerned over the steady increase in crime in this country, will look enviously toward Great Britain, where the tendency is in the other direction. The average prison population of England and Wales, according to the 1929 report of the prison commissioners, has declined from 18,156 in 1913 to 10,861. In seven years there has been a decrease of 15 per cent in the imprisonment of men and 41 per cent for women. Imprisonment for "indictable offenses” fell from 23,869 in 1913 to 14,807 in 1929. From 1910 to 1914 the average annual number of cases of “drunkenness” was 193,354, compared with 57,938 in 1929. The picture here is in sharp contrast. The daily federal prison population in 1905 was 1,617, in 1915 it was 2,265, and now it has grown to 13,500. There are probably 10,000 additional federal prisoners confined in state and county jails. Convictions for federal offenses has grown from 13,477 in 1915 to 69,262 in 1928. State prisons housed another 120,000, and other thousands were confined in city and county jails. All told, it is estimated that 400,000 persons are behind the bars in various jails and prisons. The rate of state imprisonment per 100,000 of population grew from 66 in 1923 to 84 in 1927, and is higher now. While the number of local jails in Great Britain has declined, our own jails and prisons contain roughly twice as many persons as they were built to house. Attempts to enforce the prohibition law are chiefly responsible for America’s prison growth. Nearly threefourths of all federal sentences imposed are in that category. “It is clear,” say Britain’s prison commissioners, “that an improvement In social conditions and Social behavior -is one of the causes of the decline of the prison population.” And that improvement has been accomplished without trying to make men good by law, as we have attempted to do. ■ - Wage Cuts Are Costly That wage ruts are poor economy is shown strikingly by the report of an efficiency expert in the current issue of the Magazine of Wall Street. After the cut was put into effect, he says, "I found that the unit productivity of the plant was considerably less than before. In other words, the wage cut had increased the cost of its output per unit, because the workers deliberately were loafing on the job.” We believe that the efficiency engineer was telling the truth, but disagree with his interpretation of the reason for the decline in the workers’ pep and energy. When one is worried about the rent and the grocery bills and the Insurance has had to lag because there was no money for the last premium, is it any wonder that the morale drops? Pink grapefruit is being grown in California to attract more buyers. It seems the ordinary kind had a way of getting in the public eye. The young astronomer who helped discover the planet Pluto plans to enter college. He’s one who believes in hitching his wagon to a star. Then there’s the gangster who opened up a roadhouse in a rival’s territory and called it “Muscle Inn.” Those college men searching for mastodon remains in Texas are probably the only students who can roll bones publicly and get away with it. It’s safe to intrust a secret to a Scotchman; it’s instinctive that he should keep it to himself.

REASON

ONE of the most impressive funerals held in this country since the end of the World war occurred in Logansport, Ind., last Tuesday afternoon, when Leonard Brenner, who served in the German army during that war, was buried with all the honors of war by the American Legion. 0 0 0 The Legion honored itself by giving to one of its former foes the same consideration it would have extended to one of its own members. Such thoroughbred action on the part of ex-service men will do more to cover* old wounds than all the polished overtures of diplomats. 000 The only redeeming feature of war is that after the guns are silent the participants shake hands and forget it. Had our statesmen always shown the same breadth of mind that has characterized those who did the fighting much of the confusion of the world would have been avoided. 000 THIS fine spirit long has been manifest between those who fought on opposite sides during our Civil war. Last Memorial day we were informed that an ex-Confederate soldier, living at Brook, Ind., always had participated in the exercises with his old antagonist. 0 0 0 Most ot the trouble which followed Appomattox was due to impetuous politicians, north and south, little of it being due to the surviving passions of those who had worn the blue and the gray. In fact, the late President McKinley once said that all the postwar quarrels had been between those who never saw a battle. 000 The spirit of comradeship manifests itself between armies even while the war is on. It was a common occurrence for Yank and Johnnies to carry on a merchandising business on the side, trading food for tobacco. , 000 WE remember a story once told by the late Gen. John B. Gordon of Georgia. It was when Grant and Lee were at grips in Virginia and the armies were close together. One night the Union army sang one of its war songs and the Confederates listened and replied by singing one of their war songs. 000 This continued back and forth for some time. Then from the northern army arose the song, “Home Sweet Home,” and almost instantly the confederates took it up and both armies joined ip singing the song which expressed their common abhorrence of the bloody business which separated mem from their families. \

BY FREDERICK LANDIS

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. Tracy SAYS:

Condemning the Writer of an Obscene Book, W r e Glorify the Scientist Who Produces a Poison Gas. NEW YORK, July 17.—Did you hear the submarine broadcast Thursday evening, with voices com- ; ing from the mother ship Falcon, ! the S-4 lying at th“ bottom in sixty I feet of water and the Rescue Chamber as it went up and down. Thirty minutes from start to finish, and not a slip. The performance was carefully staged, of course, with a summer sea to help, but even so it was marvelous. More marvelous still is the fact that we could sit in our homes and hear it described by those actually participating. sun Dangerous Toys WHEN all is said and done, however, this broadcast centered around dangerous toys which we grown-up children employ in a dangerous game. Without submarines and the tragedies to which they have led, there would be little excuse for such a drama. Without war, there would be little excuse for submarines. , In the end, we may learn something of value from all the men that have stifled, or drowned, and from the devices by which we are trying to prevent others from suffering a similar fate, a a * Inventive Genius THE fabled inventor who contrived anew kind of folding bed, got caught in it and died trying to contrive a way to get out, typifies one phase of mechanical progress. A contraption is not necessarily worth while because it is new or ingenious. Much talent has been squandered on devices of death and destruction. It’s strange that we can see no moral delinquency in this. Condemning the author who writes an obscene book, we glorify the scientist who produces a poison gas and yell for the government to buy his patent rights. BUB Cheating the Public _ Morality, as we call it, is“a curious thing. There is one kind of literature for science and another kind for politics. Men who wouldn’t think of cheating a friend, or a business associte, cheat the public without compunction. Hush money, fee-slitting and even bribery have come to play a large part in our official life. The saddest feature of it is that many of the men who are caught look: on it as “just a case of hard luck.” 0 0 0 More Than Tolerance ONE would like to believe that our disrepect for law goes no farther than a tolerant attitude toward bootlegging, or indifference to traffic rules, but too much is happening in too many places. Look at the New York investigations and what they are unearthing, or at Chicago and the mess "Big Bill” Thompson left behind, or at Pittsburgh, with the mayor under fire, or at Seattle, where a mayor has just been recalled, not to mention innumerable smaller communities where graft and corruption have been disclosed. Prohibition has played a major role in this breakdown of morale, and the outlawed liquor traffic has furnished most of the cash. But that doesn’t complete the story by any means. B B B Keeping Mum WE have become liberal toward other things than dress and marriage. The various rackets about which we hear so much would not represent the problem they do without a certain arr\ount of popular backing. Thousands upon thousands of people must be paying tribute to them, and not only paying tribute, but keeping quiet about it. These people are afraid, no doubt, now that they find themselves enmeshed in the system, but some of them began by laughing at it, or by imagining it was a fine way to beat this, or that regulation. Common Honesty IT may sound like sermonizing, but before we get out of this mess, whether as represented by the Mooney-Billings case in California, or the Seabury probe in New York, we are going back to a more or less primitive conception of common honesty. If our inventive genius has produced some rather useless and dangerous devices in the field of mechanics, it has done likewise in the field of politics and law. It all goes back to a belief in ideas, rather than ideals. Courts are technical, stunts are common, wisecracking becomes universal and taxes go up. No matter how dark the prospect, or complicated the problem, someone is alway ready with a bill for the other fellow to buy and take. What is the Indian word for the cradle in which the papoose is carried on the backs of mothers? The name varies according to the tribe. Some names are: Gaasosa (Iroquois), Timigan (Chippewa) and Urhasta (Tuscarara). What is Connie Mack’s real name? Cornelius McGillicuddv. What percentage of the salary of a government employe is deducted for the retirement fund? Three and one-half per cent of the basic salary or compensation. Is ten hundred thousand the same as one thousand thousand? Yes. Is Nicaragua an American possession? It is an independent republic. WTiat is the plural of fish? Either fish or fishes. For what book did Sinclair Lewis receive the Noble prize for literature? The prize was awarded for his literary work in general not for any particular book. fWeral of his works were mentioi^gßE^^^ard.

P HEVHOW ABOUT /r THIS A J ?

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE Exposure Cause of Kidney Ailment

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN, Editor Journal cf the American Medical Association and of Hygeia, the Health Magazine. r |"'HE term “albuminuria” does not describe a disease but a symptom. Whenever the kidneys fail to function properly so far as relates to the elimination of protein substances, some protein passes out of the blood through the kidneys and the excreted fluids. Under normal conditions protein does not appear, only water, salts and various other waste products being found in the fluid. There are, of course, conditions in which the body tissues in the urinary tract itself are damaged and the by-prod-ucts of these tissues which might appear in the fluid are also responsible for the appearance of “albumin.” Jn some cases exceedingly hard muscular work, exposure to severe coid, or overeating of meats may temporarily result in the appearance of some albumin, but these

IT SEEMS TO ME

“nnHE D. A. R. and other fervent A self-appointed guardians of the public safety are interesting examples of the convenient device of making clamor take the place of thought.” The quotation is from a sermon delivered by the Rev. Dr. W. Russell Bowie, rector of Grace Episcopal church. And I wish I had said it. In that one, short, succinct sentence Dr. Bowie has diagnosed a most serious malady. 000 Limitations THE D. A. R. has outlived its usefulness, if it ever had any. The organization was conceived, I believe, to keep alive that spirit of liberty and freedom for all x for which its fathers fought. But it is obvious that to the Daughters liberty means only freedom from English tyranny. We have that. But liberty, in its broadest sense, we have not yet achieved. And if the D. A. R. has anything to do with it we never shall achieve it. I mean the liberty of any individual or group of individuals to criticise and suggest remedies for those phases of our government which do not seem to them good enough for a liberated nation. Revolution is the act of revolting against an existing condition, against oppression. As long as the world survives there will be revolutions of one kind or another—not necessarily bloody—to free the masses from the tyranny of the few. The D. A. R. seems to feel that, since we have won the right of selfgovernment, there is nothing more to be desired. They are sublimely oblivious to the plight of millions of people who are without work or food or shelter. 000 All’s Not Right THEY do not recognize the fact that corruption is rampant within our major political organizations; that our fate is in the hands of men many of whom would have been considered traitors by those early Americans whose memdry they seek to keep alive. Their motto would seem to be similar to thaf of the three little monkeys: “Hear no evil; see no evil; speak no evil. Just wave the Stars and Stripes and everything will be all right.” What would have happened to this country in 1776 if there had been no courageous souls to protest against the injustices of the mother country? We’d still be paying taxes on our tea and rising in salute for “God Save the King!” “It is possible,” says Dr. Bowie, “that the man who dissents from the prevailing policies of the worldruling forces of his time may be the courageous and prophetic thinker whose voice must be listened to if we are to be governed not by inertia, but by intelligence.” 000 And More Martyrs IT is more than possible. It is a notorious fact that most of our progress has come about through the work and sacrifice of far-seeing individuals who were considered odd creatures, the victims of a mild form of dementia praecox. They were tolerated, but not en-

Getting Nowhere Rapidly!

conditions ate rare and not permanent. The presence of albumin is detected by a simple chemical test. The simplest test is to allow the fluid to come into contact with concentrated nitric acid. Under these circumstances a white ring forms between the fluid and the acid in case any albumin is present. There are occasions, particularly in cold weather, when the excreted fluids seem cloudy, under which circumstances the suspicion may arise that albumin is present. In such cases the warming of the fluid or the addition of a little acetic acid will cause the development of a clear appearance. This clearness does not occur if the cloudiness is due to the presence of albumin. The presence of albumin in the urine, or so-called albuminuria, is usually due to an inflammation of the kidney. This inflammation of the kidneys is called nephritis. It may be present in an acute

couraged by their saner contemporaries. But they went right on dreaming and working. For the most part they died ingloriously, without having seen the fruition of their hopes and dreams. Are we forever to remain a nation deaf and blind to new ideas? Mechanical progress can mean nothing without spiritual accompaniment. Christ was executed because he protested against the political and social corruption of his day. His exhortations w'ere aimed at those who would keep his people bound in the fetters of lies and superstitions. If it w'ere possible for Him to walk on this earth today he would find a similar situation extant. And if He attempted to correct it He would perhaps be branded as a Red by the D. A. R. and other organizations of similar ilk. And no doubt He would be crucified all over again. 000 Stop-Look-Listen! CLAMOR still takes the place of thought in our modem civilization. We still are too prone to cry Fanatic! Rebel! Heretic! when someone has the temerity to rise up and disagree with our established customs. In our rush to become the most powerful nation in the world we I may be passing up something inde-

Questions and Answers

What is the significance of the j phrase “Gone where the woodbine twineth?” It means ‘‘gone into retirement,” “giving up active life.” The woodbine in Europe is the honeysuckle. The vine grows to great thickness and successfully covers up the house or garden around which it grows. Between what years did Confucius live? Between 551 or 550, and 478 B. C.; about 72 years. Was the saying, “all is not gold that glitters,” original with Shakespeare? The first record of the quotation is in a Latin book by Alamus de Insulis, who died 1294 A. D. It. appears in Chaucer’s “H. Fame,” about 1384; in Lydgate’s “Fall of Princes,” about 1440; in Greene’s “Mamillla,” in Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice,” Act 2, Scene 2, and Scene 4 (1595). After that time its use is frequent. What is the record altitude attained by airplanes in formation? A formation of nineteen United States army planes attained an altitude of 28,000 feet which is believed to be the record. Individual planes have attained 31,000 feet altitude. What relation is my father’s uncle to me? He is your great-uncle. Has liquid helium been produced in the United States? It was produced for the first time at the Bureau of Standards Laboratory at Washington, r C., April 3, 1931.

form, due to the action of some poison or through by-products of fever or to the toxins of bacteria. It may also be present due to a gradual breaking down of the kidney, in which case it is called chronic nephritis, as it is commonly known, Bright’s disease. The disease was named for Bright, an English physician, who first classified it and described its symptoms. In the case of acute inflammation of the kidney, the control of the fever, the stoppling of the drugs, the elimination of the poisons of the bacteria that caused the irritation will tyring about healing, provided too much damage has not already been done to the kidney. If, however, the damage has been too great, if the kidney has lost in its functions, thereafter the person suffers from chronic kidney disease. Under such circumstances, great care is necessary in the diet, in exercise, in the control of life generally in order to prevent further damage and in order not to overtax the weakened tissues.

BV HEYWOOD BROUN

flnably precious. There is much to be learned, it seems to me, from those men and women who have stopped to think it over. If the D. A. R. would give heed to those whom they now class indiscriminately as Reds, it is possible that they might find another Wash-i-Hgton, another Lincoln, or even another Messiah.

king changes name July 17

ON July 17, 1917, King George of England, at a meeting of the privy council at St. James’ palace announced that the name of hii royal house and family had been changed from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to “the House of Windsor.” He also abolished the titles of the princes of his family that bore German names and substituted British surnames. Among those present at the historic occasion included Premier Lloyd George, Foreign Secretary Balfour, the archbishop of Canterbury and ex-Premier Asquith. The privy council unanimously indorsed King George’s announcement, and the proclamation putting it into effect was published. “We out of our royal will and authority do hereby declare and announce that as from the date of our royal proclamation our house and family shall be styled and known as the house and family of Windsor, and that all descendants in the male line of our grandmother, Queen Victoria, who are subjects of these realms, other than the female descendants, who may marry or who may have married, shall bear the said name of Windsor.”

About This Depression That's a question everybody asks anchor which there is no positive answer. How long do business depressions last on the average? How often do they occur? How many times has the United States had a depression? Are they all alike? In what do they differ? What are their causes? What remedies have been applied? How does the present depression differ from others? These are questions to which there are more or less complete answers, and they and many other similar questions are answered in our Washington bureau’s latest bulletin—HlSTOßY OF INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSIONS. This bulletin contains interesting and informative material of an authoritative kind on business cycles, crises, panics and industrial depressions in the United States. You will want to read it and keep it for reference purposes. Fill out the coupon below and send for it. CLIP COUPON HERE Dept. 134, Washington Bureau, The Indianapolis Times, 1322 New York avenue, Washington, D. C. I want a copy of the bulletin HISTORY OF INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSIONS, and enclose herewith five cents in coin, or loose, uncancelled, United States postage stamps, to cover return postage and handling costs: Name ....... Street and Number City State I am a reader of The- Indianapolis Times.

Ideals and opinions expressed In this column are those of on® of America’s most interests* writers and are preMmted without regard to their agreement or disarreement with the editorial attitude of this paper.—The Editor.

.JULY 17,1931

SCIENCE BY DAVID DIETZ—

In Astronomy Mankind First Discovered E x is t e nee of of Natural Laws and Realized Their Importance. NABURIANNU and Kidinnu. Mysterious sounding names. They look like candidates for crossword puzzles or the closely-guarded passwords of some secret order. They are in reality, however, names to which all of civilization owes a debt. The present day is an age of science. The oldest of all the sciences is astronomy. It was in astronomy that mankind first discovered the existence of natural laws and realized that events happen according to them. Many authorities feel that the other sciences would have been delayed for centuries if it had not been for the realization of the existence of natural law which came from astronomy. We owe a debt therefore to astronomy for all our applied sciences, medicine, for example, and the various branches of engineering. We owe a particular debt to the pioneers of astronomy, the great minds who laid the foundations of the study of the heavens. And that is why civilization owes a great debt to Naburiannu and Kidinnu. For they are the oldest astronomers of whom we have any record. They lived in ancient Chaldea. While it has always been known that the Chaldeans made some astronomical observations, the general feeling has been that astronomy as a serious subject got its start in Greece. This view is now known to be wrong. There were serious and important astronomers in Chaldea and Babylonia. 00 Antiquity ONE of the most interesting results of modem historical research is the proof of how much older the arts and sciences are than was originally suspected. Even the caveman has turned out to be an artist of the first rank, decorating the walls of his caves with excellent and life-like drawings of animals. The work of the Greeks in astronomy has been known to scientists for many years. Thales of Miletus, who lived from 640 tp 546 B. C., and who is usually referred to as the father of Greek astronomy, taught that the stars shone by their own light, but that the moon shone by reflected sunlight. He also taught that the earth was a sphere. Excellent astronomers among his successors included Anaximander, Anaxagoras, Democritus, Pythagoras, Meton and Eudoxus. Meton developed a method of predicting eclipses. Eudoxus made the first attempts to explain the motions of the planets with the aid of geometry. Pythagoras, who lived from about 580 to 497 B. C., enjoys the distinction of having been the first to suggest that the earth revolved around the sun. Scientists, knowing of these Greeks, felt that they established astronomy as a science. They felt that the earlier cultures, the Chaldean and Babylonian, were interested only in astrology, the attempt to predict the future course of events from the stars. Despite the fact that it was known that the Chaldeans had the ability to predict eclipses, scientists did not feel that they had made any great progress in the science of astronomy. BBS Chaldean Expert The publication within recent years, however, of a number of hitherto unknown Babylonian and Greek texts makes it necessary to revise this opinion of the Chaldeans The world is indebted chiefly to the industry of a number of German Jesuit fathers, Epping, Strassmaier and Kugler by name, for a knowledge of these texts. They reveal that the Chaldeans were excellent astronomers, having kept careful records of the motions of the sun and moon for long periods. These texts also introduce us to Naburiannu and Kidinnu the Greek texts call them Naburianos and Cidenas. These two, according to Dr. J. K. Fotheringham, reader in ancient astronomy and chronology at the University of Oxford, are “entitled to a place among the greatest of astronomers.” The two computed systems by which the position of the sun or moon at any future date could be predicted. These systems of course also made possible the prediction of eclipses. In one instance, Kidinnut, according to Dr. Fotheringham, even excelled our modem astronomers, obtaining a better figure for one of the components entering into the calculation of eclipses than that used by present-day scientists.

Daily Thought

It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.—Psalms 18:32. So let it be in God’s own might we gird us for the coming flight.— Whittier.