Panorama

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Part of Panorama

Title: Panorama
Issue Date: Volume XVII (Issue No. 10) October 1965
Year: 1965
Language: English
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extracted text: Zell your friends about the Panorama, the Philippines’ most versatile, most significant magazine today. a year’s subscription — NOW! they will appreciate it. Subscription Form ...................1 year for P8.50 .................2 years for P16.00 ................. Foreign subscription: one year $6.00 U.S. Name ............................................................................................... Street ............................................................................................... City or Town ............................... Province .............................. Enclosed is a check/money order for the amount specified above. Please address all checks or money orders in favor of: COMMUNITY PUBLISHERS. INC. Inverness St, Sta. Ana, Manila, Philippines Vol. XVII MANILA, PHILIPPINES No. 10 EDUCATION FOR A HUMAN SOCIETY Our educational ideals these days are expressed in the phrase “marketable skills”. But entirely apart from the inability of the educational system to keep up with the mar ket and forecast what skills it will buy, and entirely apart from the inefficiency of vocational training in school as com pared with that on the job, the idea of producing market able skills is ignoble and degrading for an educational sys tem. It is an ideal that seduces the system into doing what it cannot and should not do and that forces it to neg lect what it can and should do. What education can and should do is help people be come human. The object of education is not manpower, but manhood. This object we are now able to attain. We can now make the transition from a working to a learning society. . . The man who is truly educated, rather than narrowly trained, is ready for anything. He has developed his human powers and is able to use them and his under standing of the world to meet any new problem he has to face. He is prepared by his education to go on learning. ... The democratic society is the learning society par ex cellence. . . The law, the professions, the voluntary asso ciations to which we belong, the political campaigns through which we suffer — all the institutions in our society should be regarded as teachers. Through them, as well as through the educational system, we can learn how to become human and how to organize a human society. — By Robert M. Hutchins, Saturday Review. ■ The distinguishing mark of Filipinos abroad. FILIPINOS IN AMERICA The popular columnist of the Manila Bulletin, Rex D. Drilon, published a diary of a student which runs as fol lows: “A group of prominent Filipinos arrived today in New York City (date omit ted) and the first thing they whispered was, ‘Where can we get women around here? Evidently they came without their wives, and this question was quite standard for gov ernment and non-government people. Everybody was do ing it, and every Filipino oldtimer was helping. The mot to seemed to be ‘Women first before duty’. “We were in a class of 50 taking a course on Plato’s Republic. The American students were very articulate, and one of us four Filipinos did not like to be outshone. He began to be so irrepres sible that he talked and ges ticulated every day, almost monopolizing the discussion. Three of us Filipinos squirm ed in our seats because every American student was look ing at us politely quizzically. The American professor was very kind and every time the Filipino star talked and rent the air with his two arms, the teacher would nod and say. ‘Yes, yes; I see; of course, yes; yes, indeed . . .’ It went on for a month — this drama of the Filipino talking and the professor accommodating. At last the professor said to one of us three Filipinos, ‘Mr. So-and-So, I would like to see you after class’. When the students had filed out of the room, the kindly professor asked, ‘What was your coun tryman trying to say all this time?’ From that time on we never opened our mouth be cause while we thought we were speaking English, no one, especially the professor, real ly understood the way we im part the king’s language. 2 Panorama “At the International House in New York City, we were asked to see a program of international cultures. Every nation contributed a number, and the applause was great except for ours. The Filipino group contri buted ‘Tinikling’ with the usual barefeet and rolled-up pants. A Negro from Ghana exclaimed in glee, ‘This is exactly one kind of dance we have in Africa’. We disap peared presto from the crowd and muttered. ‘So, we are no better than the Africans!’ “In places on the U.S. west coast where Orientals congre gate in great numbers, the Americans have a hard time distinguishing the Chinese from the Japanese, and these from the Filipinos. At last they (Americans) hit upon one unerring behavior among these Orientals that guided them. The formula: ‘If you bump against an Oriental and he stops and bows and slinks away, he is a Chinese. If you bump against an Oriental and he stops and bows low and says ‘I am sor ry’, he is a Japanese. But if you bump against an Oriental and he looks at you fiercely and hits you in the jaw, that is unmistakably a Filipino!” THE BARBER Close shave: A corporal back from furlough told about visiting his local barber shop, only to find a new barber had taken over. There was also a pretty manicurist whom he had never seen before. So he asked for a manicure. During the course of the clipping he suggested a dinner and a show to the manicurist. “I don’t think I ought to,” she said demurely. “I’m married, you see.” “Ask your husband,” the corporal suggested, “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.” "Ask him yourself,” returned the manicurist. “He’s shaving you.” — Broadcaster. October 1965 3 A THIRD POLITICAL PARTY IN THE PHILIPPINES A student, during a college examination for creative thinking, wrote that he pre ferred that the Third Force start fielding their candidates for “maybe next elections.” But if they start now — as they have already done — and they fail, this “would certainly be a good lesson for the coming generation that 'haste is waste’ ” and teach us that “the big things always begin small.” This answer is part of an analysis made to answer an examination question. The problem allowed a choice of agreement or disagreement with the Third Force’s deci sion to join the presidential race and for the rest of the elective posts. If the student agreed, he was asked to sug gest ways to improve winning chances; if he disagreed to suggest what role or activities the Third Force should un dertake for better govern ment. Eighteen students approv ed of the Third Force’s elec tion bid, and thirteen disap proved. Most of the 31 stu dents, however, whether they approved or not of the Third Force’s election plans, warn ed against “campaign dirt” — nam^-calling, empty words, destructive criticism, unsup ported charges, impossible or false promises, and so on, in cluding attacks on either the Nacionalista party or the Li beral party. Three students expressed distaste over pub licity and wrote that the Third Force members should avoid being in the limelight. Those who supported the Third Force bid generally agreed on more publicity and on a program of promoting “economic prosperity, social values, increased food pro duction.” For the campaign several suggested listing pro blems and evaluating what has been done about them, starting projects that will 4 Panorama "impress,” and living among the rural folk to attend to farmers’ problems. To ac complish these, according to the students, the following must be done: 1. Organize a club among the poor and needy. 2. Introduce ways of earn ing a living like home in dustries. 3. Undertake projects like establishing more public libraries, and more toilets; improving the railway system, and providing ade quate water supply. 4. Create a committee to "check up on the work of government officials.” 5. Become ideal leaders in their own families and communities. Do not to lerate show7off sons. Pre sent public statement of assets. Participate in anti-smuggling campaign. Among those who disap proved, the general opinion is that the Third Force has a “very slim chance” of win ning, and that “it’s a waste of time.” They also feel that the Third Force has to prove itself and its motives. This is very significant as it re flects now the thought be hind the many quips that the PPP has drawn. We may recall that the PPP conven tion has been called a U.P.Ateneo alumni homecoming, an oratorical contest, and a launching pad for the pres idential ambitions of Senators Manahan and Manglapus . So what would our students have the Third Force do? Analyzing its membership, one student wrote that with the Third Force’s "brains, financial resources, and so cial prominence,” it can work toward "economic and indus trial stability — help by sug gesting ways and financing.” Another wrote that if its acti vities are directed toward ci vic, cultural, and economic projects, “we can imagine how much work they can do.” Two students suggested that the Third Force could be the “medium for the voice of the people to be heard.” However, someone approved of at least having candidates for the minor posts to start off being "in.” Afterward, as another student put it, "they may reap the crop for the next harvest — that is during the next elections.” The civic, cultural, and October 1965 5 economic projects suggested include the following: 1. Promotion of peaceful and orderly elections. Creation of a 12-man com mittee to assist the Com mission on Elections. 2. Charity work. 3. Cleanliness and beautifi cation campaign. 4. Development of patriot ism. 5. Exchange of opinions with people. 6. Encouragement for the use of the “mind to in vent.” Item “5” could be a warn ing bell to the Third Force. A party that to speak for the people should avoid indul gence in oratory and slogan eering. The other suggestions reveal much of the temper of the young: they want action — drab and unglamorous and hard but concrete. It may be an anonymous and thank less job, but as one student suggested, the Third Force may join the “party of lesser evil” and “reform the party from within.” That takes some doing, indeed, than run ning for president. From both sides we may infer that our young are look ing for new leadership which can direct a shift in the prac tice of political craftsman ship. They are looking for a positive outlook where co operation takes the place of the current trend to down grade in order to rise to top government positions. The students do not go with the idea that government can be improved by running for election. The impression has now probably grown among these students that the Third Force is nothing more than a group out to perpetrate the image of the Outstanding Young Man out to Revolt Against Tradition by becoming pres ident or vice president. What hopes therefore could we hold out for that muchvaunted deviation from the NP and the LP? - Perla S. Dee. 6 Panorama ■ The Philippines and the Filipinos need to observe some national discipline. BANKRUPTCY IN THE COUNTRY Sigus are galore of bank ruptcy in the Philippines. Whether it is a moral bank ruptcy, a political one, a so cial one, an economic or otherwise, it is bankruptcy just the same. Many respect able elements of our people seem to be jumping on the bandwagon for merry time. Let us mention known cases of levity and decadence. Smuggling is rampant and uncontrolled; dishonesty or cheating in bar and other government examinations; payment by applicants to po lice recruitment office for qualifying as majors or patrolmfen; textiles unloaded and deposited at the wharf or goods and merchandise consigned to importers disap pear at the Custom House; technical smuggling by gross ly undervaluing imports; warrant of arrest for harass ment; hush money or grease money from Chinese Immi gration Quota; blackmarket ing of donated foods and drugs from abroad; hickbacks in government con tracts for building materials or in reparation materials; bribery at City Hall; the short-lived or "ningas cogon” enthusiasm that spelled the doom of such worthwhile projects of tilapia and mush room culture projects — these are but concrete examples of our moral bankruptcy and decadence. One of the weaknesses of our people — a great many of our leaders — is the ap parent inability to distin guish our needs from our greeds. There is the chal lenge to re-orient or re-direct our educational system — the national leaders included — to the end that a new set of values be evolved. There is something wrong with our moral fiber. We are build ing unless arrested early enough a new fetish and cult, a cult of materialism and material gain at the ex pense of decency and bonos October 1965 7 mores. A name is no longer cared, and honor is no longer protected. What has become of the national backbone that has produced a galaxy of Filipino heroes of the ca liber and stature of Rizal, Mabini, del Pilar, the Lunas, Bonifacio, Quezon and Osmena? If leaders we look up to with pride and honor could not be exemplary in conduct and demeanor, by what tokens could not ex pect the rank and file to sur pass them (leaders). The common saying, "the river could not rise higher than its source" is applicable. It is time that we take stock of ourselvess. While everything is not lost al though things as they are, are depressing, the situation is not hopeless. It is about high time to initiate a program of indi vidual and national disci pline. As people we compare with other races in ability. But truth to admit, we lag behind in assessment of mo ral values. Here is where our schools and school sys tem could initiate definite and aggressive steps for im provements of our national character by starting anew and aright with the children in their fold and tutelage. — Antonio F. Ascaho. EVALUATING STUDENT COMPETENCE Colleges, like industrial enterprises, should con tinually evaluate their product — their seniors. To do so they must use techniques similar to what in dustry calls quality control. The qualities to be measured should grow, in part, directly out of the material each college has to work with, its own ob jectives and its resources for learning. Each insti tution, and the schools and departments within it, should stand educationally for more than a speci fied accumulation of course credits and the pious platitudes found in the catalogue and the speeches of the president and deans. — by John A. Perkins, Saturday Review, 9/65. 8 Panorama THAT MAN IN SINGAPORE One day in September, 1965, the Prime Minister of Singapore — a brash, brilliant young man who has been, in spite of the separation, the thorn in the Tunku’s side — called reporters to his makedo office in Singapore’s City Hall. Singapore is the tiny is land-city-state south of the peninsula of Malaya. About the size of Basilan, it’s small, compact, and prosperous. Singapore’s Prime Minister is Lee Kuan Yew, 42. His credentials are: a double first in Cambridge (“Something bettier than a summa cum laude,” admirer gushed), a way with words and a cutting wit, a revolutionary back ground (he once worked hand in glove with the communists), and a commitment to demo cratic socialism. If Lee Kuan Yew has been the thorn in the Tunku’s side, he was now going to be, for a number of days, the thorn in Uncle Sam’s flesh. Lee Kuan Yew had been on rhe front pages of just about every newspaper in the world as a result of his disclosures on the CIA of U.S.A. In the course of a press conference, at the mo ment, on the huge British base in now-independent Singapore, Lee had said: “Now, I want to be quite frank with you here. If the British withdraw I am pre pared to go on with the Australians and the New Zealanders. But, I am not prepared to go on with the Americans.” I shall quote from the transcript: Creighton Bums, of The Melbourne Age: Why not, Mr.. Prime Minister? Why do you think the Ameri cans. . . Prime Minister: Can I put it this way: I think they are a highly intelligent, often well-meaning, people, and some of their leaders like Mr. Kennedy, the late Pres9 idem, had signs of growing greatness, depth. But, by and large, the administration lacks depth and judgment or wisdom which comes out of an accumulation of know ledge of human beings and human situations over a long period of time. That is lacking, and it is not their fault. What have they got? Three, four hundred years of history, and they have be come a nation just recently. I will tell you this. I have had three experiences, only three experiences, with the Americans. And, they did not intend any harm in each one of them. But, the tra gedy was, they did real harm. First — this is old stuff now — we caught an American CIA agent trying to subvert our Intelligence Special Branch Officer, bribe him, so that the Special Branch officer will feed the CIA be cause the CIA wants to know what is happening. Subvert ing a Singapore officer! The man might have succeeded. But I am proud the officer, offered a large sum of money and continuing sums of mo ney . . . this was in 1960 . . . refused and reported the mat ter to his chief who reported it to me. Questioner: Well, don’t you think ... Prime Minister: No, no. Let me explain. The British have 400 years of Empire, and I will come to that. This is crucial to the whole of my thinking on this. Four hun dred years of Empire, and they know this place, and they know human beings. If it had been the Americans in charge, I think today I would not be here, and you would not be interviewing me. Because, they lack what one calls wisdom, i.e. a com puter fed with data, judg ment which comes out of long experience. I will tell you this. Trying to do that! I told my officers, “Lay a trap: microphones, every thing.” The man was caught, arrested, enough evidence to send him to gaol for any thing up to 12 years. We had got them by the throat. The American Consul-Gen eral, shaking at his knees, knew nothing about it. And, I really believe he knew no thing about it because this man flew in from Bangkok. And, the ignominy of it! He 10 PANORAMA was not really trying. The man was looking for a place of assignation to seek com fort. Do you get confidence in an outfit like that? That is how the Bay of Pigs takes place, that sort of an operation. The man was caught, locked up, and it was on a razor’s edge whether we would charge him in open court or not. Now, let me explain this. And, I told the American government, "We keep quiet, you take this man away, $100 million to the Singapore government for economic development.” Questioner: Now . . . Prime Minister: No, no. You listen to me. I never spoke to the Americans di rect because they lack the finesse. They may say, “Yes, give, it tq you. • Why to the Singapore government? Give it to you-” to me, which would have ruined me. But through a n intermediary they offered me and my Party $10 million. The in sult! I told them, "You can keep it.” But I will say this for President Kennedy: that he said no, his government would give me, if I wanted, publicly, but not because I got him by the throat. No, no. I will say this for Ken nedy — I don’t know if they have got other Kennedys coming; even Kennedy didn’t have the full maturity. In the end, I decided to release the man because if I charged him, the damage it would have done with our relations with Kuala Lumpur then — we wanted merger, Malaysia, we fought for it — and Am ericans would have worked on Kuala Lumpur and we would have been so antago nistic, merger and Malaysia would have broken. They probably never knew why we released the man. We just said, “O.K., get out,” And the Consul-General, who was a Rhodes scholar, I have for gotten his name now — they sent a Rhodes scholar. They thought, a bit of the English polish on him, and he can get on. Well, he resigned — or, he left, anyway. They sent a new man. That is when Mr. Gillstrap came. That is experience No. 1. Now, let me explain this to you. It is fundamental. If the British bases go, there will be no American bases in Singapore. This is a mat October 1965 11 ter of the utmost importance for Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and for America to understand that. Second traumatic expe rience: etc. etc. The U.S. government had, as expected, denied the exis tence of such an incident. Lee Kuan Yew now was calling in the reporters to make public a letter of apo logy from Dean Rusk, the U.S. secretary of state — a document confirming that there had, indeed, been such a scandal. “I have never lied in my public life,” Lee Kuan Yew said. "If the Americans stu pidly go on denying the un deniable, I shall play the tape on Radio Singapore. Before him on a table lay red lined yellow folder mark ed "Top Secret” — "the com plete file,” wrote Jackie Sam of the Straits Times, "on the CIA agent who came from Bangkok in 1960, and tried to buy over a Singapore Spe cial Branch officer to keep him supplied with informa tion, for which he was pre pared to keep on paying.” There was no doubt of it, 12 Lee Kuan Yew had got the poor chaps by the throat. Excitement over this inci dent has died down, but while it simmered, newspa permen had managed to re vive stories about CIA intri gue in Cambodia, Laos, In donesia, Vietnam, and, sup posedly, in the precipitation of the Indian-Pakistan war. Lee Yew, meanwhile, was being projected as the man to watch in Asia, as the new emerging voice in the AfroAsian block. Sure enough, Kuan Yew was back in the limelight in a few days with a suggestion to form a re gional multilateral defense system to replace Western military influence in Asia. It embarrasses Lee Kuan Yew to be reminded that "blonde men with guns are defend ing Asia.” “What to do?” Lee Kuan says. “I have just go to grin and bear it for a while.” The British in Singapore? "I do not think it is just love and affection for Singa pore and sentimental reasons. “She has got a role to play — to counterbalance with the Americans in Europe. If they play a role here then Panorama they have got more voice about the disposition of af fairs in Europe.” Now a member of the UN — one of the tiniest nations to make the club — Singar pore makes no bones about its foreign policy. “You might say it’s one of non-alignment.” S. Rajarat nam, minister of external affairs, explained, as we sat down in the small ante room of his City Hall office. Suddenly independent as a result of the so-called “break away,” Singapore’s national offices have had to be housed in city government buildings, which were now being remo delled and repainted to make room for the new set of na tional officials. "The less we get involved, avoiding entanglements on issues of no direct concern to us, the better. The poli tics of small nations need not be based on the assumption that your friends are my friends, or your enemies, our enemies . . . Now in cases of mutual interest* that would be different. We mo dify the basic line.” — Jose Luna Castro in the Manila Times, Oct. 12, 1965. THE LETTER OF APOLOGY FROM DEAN RUSK, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE Dear'Mr. Prime Minister: I am deeply distressed to learn that certain of ficials of the United States Government have been engaged in improper activities in Singapore. I want you to know that I regret very much that this un fortunate incident has occurred to mar the friendly relations that exist between our Governments. The new Administration takes a very serious view of this matter and intends to review the activities of these officials for disciplinary action. Sincerely yours, Dean Rusk October 1965 13 EYES THAT NEVER TIRE In a factory just outside Pittsburg stands a giant press which towers 35 feet in the air. It has massive jaws be tween which heavy steel plates crinkle as if they were made of tissue paper. Vicious as this mechanical monster looked to me as I watched it at work, the men who operated it did so in perfect safety, for at various parts of the press narrow beams of light traced out the danger line. The instant a man’s hand might cross this beam of light, the press would stop dead in its tracks, thanks to the magic of un tiring “electric eyes” or pho totubes. It was almost im possible for an operator to get hurt around this machine. This practical application of the phototube or “electric eye” is an example of one of the many thousands of amaz ing services rendered by this mechanical servant of man. In our industrial plants alone, tiny, gadget-like elec trical eyes are credited with preventing numerous acci dents each year. No doubt most persons have encountered some of the modem phototube at one time or another. For example, the entrances to many modern office build ings are equipped with elec tric-eye operated doors which open with uncanny precision as one approaches them. Phototubes are the magic “elevator men” behind the scenes in self-operated ele vators frequently used in hos pitals. Without them the express elevators in skyscra pers would never hit the floor level “on the button” each time. Without them the colors in the rotogravure supplements of the Sunday newspapers would not come out even. And if you have ever bent over a water foun tain for a drink and the wa ter jumped up at you like a miniature geyser without warning, it was because in 14 Panorama the act of bending you start ed an electric eye into action. Perhaps the most remark able thing about the “elec tric eye” is its versatility. It is being used to sort out all kinds of items — defective beans, oranges, apples, but tons, cigars, or what have you, at a phenomenal rate. If you have noticed that you no longer land on solid "rock” occasionally while munching on a peanut bar, it is because the peanuts used in making candy bars are now scanned by phototubes to catch any stray bits of stone or other impurity which may get by a visual inspection of the peanuts. One manufacturer of small gears, bolts, and nuts by means of the new molding processes of power metallurgy uses' the phototubes to count out more than 50,000 mold ed parts per minute. Pro ducers of small unit items like cigarettes, matches or jelly beans can count their day’s production accurately and automatically with the aid of electronic counters. Working as they do with the speed of light, photo tubes can match fabrics or false teeth according to shade, fill gingerale or milk bottles to an exact level, count the number of persons going in and out of the New York Public Library, or any other public building, or take a tally of the traffic through the Holland tunnel or over the Golden Gate Bridge. Fruit growers have found that electric eyes are tireless inspectors. They have used them to sort fruit into nearly uniform sizes, as well to sift out the occasional “bad” apple, lemon, orange or grapefruit. Scientists use phototubes day in and day out to deter mine the vitamin contents of certain foods in a jiffy. Using an instrument called a photoelectric colorimeter, a research chemist is able to determine how much iron is present in spinach or how much sulfur in an egg yolk in a matter of a few minutes. An instrument, known by the alarming name spectrophoto meter, uses electric eyes which are capable of picking out and grading two million different shades of color! The very best the sharpesteyed human being can do is October 1965 15 to detect about ten thousand different shades. Electric eyes are the most sensitive instruments known to man. Recently, I saw them at work in a steel mill rolling 15-ton ingots of red hot steel back and forth be tween huge rollers as casual ly as I used to roll my own cigarettes. In another sheet metal plant I saw phototubes acting as master eye-detectives, finding minute holes in a continuous tin sheet rolling machine. Not only would they pick out the holes in the thin me tal sheeting, the kind your favorite canned foods come in, but they would also ope rate mechanisms to mark the spot of the defect! Thou sands of dollars are saved in this way each year by elimi nating food spoilage in what would otherwise be defective tin cans. In textile mills fabrics are shuttled out with the indis pensable assistance of photo tubes. If a thread breaks, the weaving or knitting machine is stopped in a flash. Television and the trans mission of pictures by wire are made possible by means of electric eye devices. The pictures carried to a televi sion screen come in mil lions of pieces, pieces which are put together by electric eyes in a systematic manner. Probably one of the most interesting future uses for phototubes which I have run across is the recent predic tion by Dr. Irving Langmuir, the famous General Electric, Nobel Prize winner. Accord ing to Dr. Langmuir, it is possible that some day a ma chine will be constructed which will be a super-Goldberg contraption. Using a battery of phototubes, this instrument will be able to scan a fruit tree and direct mechanical pickers to apples, oranges, or pears, which are of the desired degree of ripe ness. The mechanical pick ers could pick fruit of a pre determined size and color, and drop it gently into wait ing containers! In Philadelphia bakery electric eyes control the high speed saws which slice the bread, and also the automa tic wax paper wrapping ma chines. In Boston similar devices insure uniform strop ping of safety razor blades. One of the most effective 16 PANORAMA anti-burglary set-ups ever in vented is on the job in many New York banks. Here elec tric eyes are so set up as to help a hidden camera take a snapshot of a burglar as he prowls about a safe. At some of our smaller airports, elec tric eyes will turn on flood lights automatically should a plane be forced to make an emergency landing in the dark of night. One of the most practical applications of phototubes was demonstrated to me re cently at a Chicago electro nics exhibit. There I saw a new electronic "seeing-eye” being offered as an amazing substitute for the seeing-eye dog. This new instrument proffers to do for the blind what electronic hearing aids do for the deaf. Although the electric eye got its start as a gadget more than 50 years ago, it has since proven its worth, and its fu ture today is more promising than ever before. Here, indeed, is an invention which men have put to good use. This mysterious electronic tool alleviates routine bur dens and substitutes safety where once only danger and death lurked. That there is no end in sight for its use fulness as an untiring servant of man is demonstrated by the opinion of one electronics engineer who told me, "It has been estimated that elec tric eyes have at least 100,000 uses. Fifty years from now I predict they will have 200,000 uses.” — By O. A. Bat tista, from American Mer cury. LEADERSHIP Leadership in a democratic society does not mean the exercise of control and direction of a group of followers or of a section of the country. It is re cognition of consensus and stimulating that consen sus into a final and concrete objective. October 1965 17 CHRISTIAN STRENGTH Giovanni Boccacio (13131375) ranks among the great names in Italian literature. One of the world’s great books is his Decameron, a collection of prose tales which greatly enriched the literature and language. In The Conversion in Rome, he tells about a rich merchant, Jeannot de Sevigny, who lived in Paris in close friend ship with a Jew, a respectable merchant whose name was Abraham. Impressed by the integrity and honesty of this Jew and concerned with the salvation of Abraham’s soul, Jeannot tried to convert him to the Christian truth. Over come by Jeannot’s persistence, Abraham decided to go to Rome to see the one who “represents God on Earth” and to learn about the way of life of the cardinals. From all that Abraham saw, he soon learned about the corruption reigning in Rome — the addiction to sensual pleasure. There was not piety, no devotion, no thing praiseworthy. Jeannot had no hope that his friend would become a Christian. To his great surprise, Abra ham upon his return home declared that, although he found in Rome only evil, nothing in the world would keep him from adopting the Christian religion. He gave this reason for his conver sion: “As it appears to me, your Lord Bishop and consequent ly all others, too, are trying hard to disgrace the Christian religion and blot it out from this world; whereas they should be its foundation and pillars. But since they are not succeeding in their aspi ration, for your religion gains more ground daily, and shines ever so bright and pure, my conclusion, which I believe to be right, is that the Holy Ghost Himself must be the basis and support of this religion and that it sur passes all others in truth and holiness.” — Andrew R. Cecil. IS PANORAMA ■ The scientific method of investigation. DESCARTES AND HIS DISCOURSE Rene Descartes, the French thinker, has been called the founder of modern philoso phy. Descartes had given the world a whole new system of reasoning, clearing away many of the accumulated prejudices of centuries. He was born in 1596, of a pros perous Breton middle-class family. Although he always had a private income, which helped leave him free for his philosophies and scientific studies, he often complained of inadequate means. It was feeling this pinch that set him to writing. But first he studied law and medicine at the University of Poitiers, spent some years in travel about Europe, and even served a term as a volunteer soldier. When he finally de cided to take up writing as a profession, he spent nine years in study before he pro duced his first published work, the "Discourse on Method." In his day, learned works were nearly always com posed in Latin. Descar tes broke with tradition by writing the “Discourse” in French. He intended it not merely for scholars, but for the average educated person of his day. The book’s un affected, colloquial style and narrative form make it still easy to read, and it has a warm, personal touch. Because of this deceptive easiness of style and the fact that the methods of reason ing Descartes recommends are accepted in the main without question today, it is some times difficult to keep in mind that in his time he was a startingly original thinker. For he dared to suggest that an intelligent man should begin his mental processes by doubting everything he has been taught on the sub ject he wishes to examine. In Part I of the "Dis course,” Descartes makes the October 1965 19 famous statement: "It is not enough to have a good mind; the principal requirement is that we should apply it in the right way.” He him self, he adds modestly, has only an average mind, but has had the good fortune in early-youth to form a method of thinking which has in creased his knowledge step by step and raised it gradual ly to its highest possible point. Disillusioned with book learning, Descartes tells how he then turned entirely to practical matters, traveling widely and serving terms in courts and armies, to learn from "the great book of the world.” Finally, he decided to study his own nature. This decision was the result of a kind of revelation, or flash of spiritual insight. Descartes went about his mental reformation with the precision of a bom mathe matician. He drew up a set of four rules to steer him by: 1. “The first rule was to accept as true nothing that I did not know to be evident ly so; that is to say, to avoid, carefully, precipitancy and prejudice and to apply my judgment to nothing but that which showed itself so clear ly and distinctly to my mind that I should never have oc casion to doubt it. 2. “The second was to di vide each difficulty, I should examine into as many parts as possible, and as would be required the better to solve it. 3. “The third was to con duct my thoughts in an or derly fashion, starting with what was simplest and easiest to know, and rising little by little to the knowledge of the most complex, even suppos ing an order where there is no natural precedence among the objects of knowledge. 4. “The last rule was to make so complete an enume ration of the links in an ar gument, and to pass them all so thoroughly under review, that. I could be sure I had missed nothing.” In these four rules Des cartes produced a blueprint for the modern scientific ap proach to investigation of all kinds. Next, Descartes tells how he applied his method to both geometry and algebra, in order to “correct the de 20 Panorama fects of the one by the other.” The result, known as analy tical geometry, is one of Des cartes’ great contributions to the science of mathematics. In Part III of the “Dis course” Descartes tells how, in case he should fall into moral error during this time when he was clearing his mind of preconceptions, he formulated a “provisional morality” for himself, based on a few simple maxims. He resolved that he should obey the laws and customs of his country and adhere to the re ligion he had held since childhood (he was a devout Roman Catholic). He would be firm and resolute in his actions and, once he had made up his mind on a sub ject, he would adhere to his views strongly. Finally, he would accept the belief that “there is nothing that lies wholly within our power save our thoughts.” During the period of nine years when Descartes was emptying his mind, then re filling it with ideas which he had, by using his own method of analysis, decided were true, he lived in Holland. He deli berately exiled himself so that he could live the soli tary life of a man wholly devoted to mental exercises. In Section IV of the “Dis course” he reveals the foun dation on which he built all his new philosophical rea soning — the “Cogito ergo sum.” “As I strove to think of everything as false,” he says, “I realized that, in the very act of thinking everything false, I was aware of myself as something real; and ob serving that the truth: ‘I think, therefore I am,’ was so firm and so assured that the most extravagant arguments of the sceptics were incapable of shaking it, I concluded that I might have no scruple in taking it as that first prin ciple of philosophy for which I was looking ... I conclud ed that I was a substance whose whole essence or na ture consists in thinking.” The next step was to examine why he should have doubts; why, in other words, his thinking was not always perfect and, consequently, his nature was not perfect. He came to the conclusion that his sense of doubt and imperfection sprang basically from the fact that somehow he knew, in his innermost October 1965 21 being, what perfection should be — and therefore how far he fell short of it. This idea of perfection could come to him only from some outside source more perfect than he, Descartes reasoned. Therefore it must come from God. In this fas hion, by analysis back to first causes, he proved entirely to his own satisfaction (if not to that of later thinkers) that God does indeed exist, and is the source of all per fection and truth. Because Descartes was pre occupied with mathematics, and because so many mathe matical propositions stood up to the tests of logic he had evolved — and so could be proved to be "true” — it is not surprising that he ap pears to have thought of God in one s^nse as the ultimate and sublime mathematician, and that he looked for a mathematical order under lying all creation. This sense of the orderly one-ness of the universe is one of Descartes’ significant contribution to Western thought. He began to write a long treatise to illustrate his me chanistic views, and this he describes briefly in Part V of the “Discourse.” He tells how he discussed the motions of the heavenly bodies and the nature of inanimate bo dies and plants. Using the English physician William Harvey’s recent discoveries on the circulation of the blood, Descartes deduces that the heart is a type of ma chine. Indeed, all living bo dies are machines, he says, motivated b y mechanical laws. The important differ ence between man and the rest of the animal kingdom, however, is that man also has an immortal soul, which has an independent existence. In proposing this dualism between body and mind or soul in man. Descartes launched an argument which has continued among Europ ean philosophers ever since. So far, in a few brief pages, Descartes has proposed seve ral new concepts. But now comes the bombshell. In the final, Part VI of the "Dis course” he tells how he has given up all idea of publish ing the treatise he has des cribed. It might give offense to certain persons to whose authority he defers, he says. — T. Van Sommers, from Va riety. 22 Panorama ■ What good do meetings achieve or what evils? DOWN WITH MEETINGS Among its definitions of "meet,” my Oxford Univer sity Dictionary gives "to en counter or oppose in battle,” again “to oppose, cope or grapple with (something im personal).” Even meeting someone’s eye involves the cocky willingness "to submit oneself to his look without turning away,” and meeting (n.) sometimes is a euphe mism for a duel. In other words, the very etymology of this device for rational dis cussion and intellectual reso lution of problems involves, belligerency. Certainly the spate of “emergency” and “protest”'meetings which are routinely called today, of “rallies” and “crusades” launched for this cause or against that one, proves the point. Yet, despite such an over heated mental climax, not to mention the creature discom forts, The Meeting theoreti cally composes deep-seated dif ferences, works out complex solutions of delicate pro blems and achieves lasting results by "democratic pro cesses.” I submit that this is manifestly impossible on the face of it. Those who profess to be lieve that large outpourings of confused citizenry some how represent democracy in its finest workings often cite as precedent the New England Town Meeting of yesteryear. I, too, feel a proud, nostalgic identifica tion with this Yankee heri tage, but let’s face it. Like the village green which has become a parking lot, the immemorial elms which have succumbed to blight, the Town Meeting is archaic, and it betrays that ultimate Yankee heritage — common sense — to pretend otherwise. Perhaps, though I have some reservations, small groups of neighbors meeting to discuss small and mutual October 1965 23 ly understood problems such as road work in lieu of taxes could efficiently co-transact business. But that is alto gether different from large gatherings of comparative strangers of widely different backgrounds who pass offthe-cuff on technical reports drafted by experts. In this latter instance, The Meeting is far more dangerous than democratic because those with axes to grind can mis lead public ignorance and cloak the strange result in a large vote of endorsement. In some organizations, it is routine parliamentary tac tics for rival groups to race to get the first resolution on the floor, the theory being that the first one presented is the first one voted. Among Communist cadres, this trick is worked in reverse. I have seen them filibuster meetings till every normal man has left in disgust for bar or bed, whereupon they whip through the party-line resolu tions. When I read that some ringing protest has been adopted “in the name of” of this-or-that organization and its presumably outraged membership, I ask myself two or three questions. How many stayed with it to the vote? How many really knew what they were voting about? How many lacked the moral courage to vote No? Perhaps I am just a cyni cal old sinner, but from what I have seen of meetings and the ill temper they engender, the number of "unanimous” votes reported passeth under standing. As an example, I cite a Town Meeting not so long ago in my native Con necticut where this has been a way of government for some 300 years. First, the town clerk forgot her minutes of the previous meeting and delayed everything while she went home for them. Then proponents of zoning were shouted down as they tried to speak, and as always, some body challenged the very le gality of the meeting. A cler gyman lost his temper and stalked out, a woman fainted, and a reporter noted wonderingly: “There wasn’t a word said in a temperature tone.” This parliamentary fiasco confirms my own youthful newspaper experiences cover ing Town Meetings around Fairfield, Weston and West 24 Panorama port where the rich New Yorkers can now outvote the clammers and farmers. Once, I remember, practically the only Democrat in town (at that time) kept 1,000 voters — and me — in session till 1 a.m. by demanding that each individually prove his franchise and submit a writ ten ballot rather than an oral aye or nay. It was, of course, what we used to call pure swamp-Yankee cussed ness, but none of the thought ful element, including at least one millionaire, could think of any way of outwit ting him. So, if the Yankees themselves, after 300 years, can’t control their own in vention, the fault must lie in the inherent unworkability of The Meeting. There ,is, in all meetings, a basically insoluble problem which must be frustrating to the organization leaders, though none of them seems to have thought it through. A small meeting at which issues could be rationally discussed and quickly voted might accomplish something, but it is generally consider ed a waste of everybody’s time, a rebuff to the leader ship and an economic extra vagance because of the cus todial overhead. Success is gauged by “turnout” — and that brings us full circle to the large meeting and all its intellectual frivolity. Exasperating as the govern mental and protest-type meet ings are, with all their bick erings, those other meetings which theoretically promote such admirable, if elusive, goals as good fellowship, un derstanding and peace on earth can be equally trying. In fact, I think that if the Good Fairy were to grant me lifelong immunity from any particular type of meeting, I would choose the men’s luncheon clubs. Some of my friends are Rotarians, others follow the Kiwanis persua sion, and a few, I think, are Lions. Individually, they are fine fellows: but the stre nuous jollity and aggressive good humor which are the hallmarks of their meetings I find insupportable. If I may be forgiven an other reminiscence of my sensitive journalistic youth, I once patrolled the hotel beat which included, in addi tion to interviews with dig October 1965 25 nitaries p a s si n g through town, daily coverage of the luncheon clubs. So dismal was this chore that the op position reporter and I made a deal, though in those days scoops and mutual suspicions still enlivened newspaper work. I covered for both Mondays and Wednesdays, he grimly attended Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we flip ped a coin to see who got stuck Fridays. Both of us just couldn’t stand five days running of fellowship, and it was so restful to sit down stairs in the hotel lobby and not have to listen! For some reason, and the only one I can think of is that this country has a national inferiority complex, the in corrigibly gregarious, the ma ritally maladjusted who don’t dare spend a night home alone with their wives and the other sincere meeting lovers refuse to meet just for the hell of it. Always, they attach some unassailable good cause or overwhelming crisis to the call, thus playing on my guilt feelings to force my attendance. Nor will they settle for my money or my signature on a petition; some thing that smacks of sadism also demands my personal inconvenience. Lots of other Americans — the vast majority, I suspect — must feel at least some what as I do; and with cou rage and firmness, we could do something about The Meeting. I do not delude myself that such an ingrain ed bad habit will be quickly cured, but we can individual ly launch a tapering- off pro cess by our own stubborn non-attendance. We can try to persuade the various meet ing-happy organizations to which we belong to restrain themselves to quarterly, semi annual or even better, annual sessions. Meantime, the officers and committees, who hold the power and responsibility any how, can meet as often as they please. If they must talk, let them talk to each other. For serious membership wide affairs, they can submit written reports by mail and let us vote by postcard ballot. The effort of putting thought on paper will force them to make a more logical presen tation, and my vote, in the undistracted privacy of my 26 Panorama home, will be a more thought ful vote. Even when the posts from Virginia to Mas sachusetts were notably bad, it seems to me, the Found ing Fathers accomplished more in those long, cool cor respondences they carried on from their quiet studies than in their face-to-face wranglings in New York and Phi ladelphia. In essence, The Meeting is an archaic, time-wasting, temper-straining, inefficient device; a problem to the po lice, fire and sanitation de partments; a threat to sim ple family life. I move we adjourn! — Hen ry Lee, from Mercury. SOUNDS BETTER WITH MUSIC There was one point on which Mark Twain and his wife were at odds, and that was Mark’s pro fanity. Knowing how his use of the strong word afflicted her, he used to indulge himself when she was out of earshot. •One Sunday morning while he was agonizing through the shaving and dressing hour, with lan guage suited only to the privacy of the bathroom, he discovered that his shirt was shy a button. It was too much! Mark swore in his best manner. His oaths continued with magnificent virtuosity. Then he heard a gentle cough. The bathroom door was open, and there stood his wife! With a withering look she repeated his last irreverent blast. “Oh, Livy,” he said, “did it sound like that?” “It certainly did,” she answered. “Only worse.” Said Mark sorrowfully: “It would pain me to think that when I swear it sounds like that. You get the words right, Livy, but you don’t know the tune!” — Tyler Mason. October 1965 27 MISTAKES THAT PAID DIVIDENDS Some of the world’s great est discoveries that permit, you to get more pleasure and value out of modern life — were really mistakes or acci dents. They were made by men who realized that while they had failed to attain a sought-for goal, they had nevertheless produced some thing worthwhile. Scientists give the name “serendipity” to such mis takes. The word dates back to fairy-tale days when the Three Wise Princes of Serendip “always made discoveries, by accident or sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.” In an eighteen-year-old boy in 1856 had not failed in his ambitious task of making synthetic quinine and had not analyzed the black crys tals which formed in his test tube, the coal-tar dye indus try would not have been born. But William Henry Perkin was curious. He found that the crystals, dissolved in boiling water, produced a beautiful purple liquid. He dipped strips of silk into his purple liquid and they sop ped it up. When the color did not wash out and did not bleach when exposed to sun, Perkin knew he had produced the world’s first aniline dye, forerunner of the colors that make our clothes beautiful today. While printing and photo graphy owe much to the re search of a French painter and physicist, Louis Daguer re, they owe considerably more to his carelessness. In the 19th century, there was no photography as we know it today: plates had to be exposed for hours in order to secure a picture. One day Daguerre stored an under exposed plate in a closet where he had absent-minded ly left an uncovered saucer of mercury. The mercury vaporized becoming a re agent. It brought out the image on the discarded plate. 28 Panorama Daguerre’s accidental disco very resulted in the first com mercially successful form of photography. Today it is known as the Daguerreotype. Similarly we owe the color ed advertising plates in our magazines to the accidental observance one day by a Swe dish apothecary Karl Scheele, of the action of light on sil ver chloride. Charles Goodyear conduct ed rubber experiments for years, yet not until he acci dentally spilled a rubber and sulphur mixture onto a hot stove did he get the result he was seeking. While the inside of this patch of rub ber was seared by too much heat, the outer edges were firm, soft and pliable. Further tests showed that Goddyear’s process, which he called “vulcanizing” in honor of Vulcan, Roman god of fire, produced sheet rubber which had lost its stickiness. As a result, the sap of the hevia rubber tree today yields overshoes, raincoats, h o twater bottles, tires, insula tion materials and thousands of other useful articles which do not crack in winter or melt in summer. The Discovery — or rather the rediscovery — of blotting paper was also an accident. While blotting paper was known as early as 1460, it was virtually unused until the early 19th century when an Englishman in a Berkshire mill forgot to add sizing ma terials to a vat of paper. The entire run was unsalable. The frugal mill proprietor tried to salvage some of the soft paper for his own use, but the ink from his pen spread so rapidly through the fibers that he gave up trying to write. As he surveyed the messy sheets, it flashed through his mind that this paper would absorb ink, thus replacing the dry sand then in use. He advertised his discovery as “blotting paper,” and not only sold the entire lot but continued to receive orders for more. Although the beautiful colors of marble seen in mo dern buildings are natural, more than six hundred dif ferent hues are permanently imparted to the stone by dyes. The idea of coloring marble was accidentally dis covered in an experiment to October 1965 29 make barrel staves imper vious to petroleum. The ex perimenter used a piece of marble to hold in place the barrel he was working on. When through, he pulled out the marble wedge and, al though he noticed it was stained a beautiful color, he threw it in scrap heap. A month later he picked up the wedge again. Upon breaking it into pieces he found that the color had pe netrated. That accident was the beginning of experiments which have given us the beautifully tinted stones we know today. In our own time there is the wonder of shatterproof glass, discovered accidentally when a French scientist, Edouard Benedictus, dropped a bottle on the floor. The glass broke into fragments, but did not scatter. M. Be nedictus wondered why. He found that the bottle had contained collodion, which when evaporating had left on the inside a thin skin strong enough to hold the broken pieces together. From this accident he conceived the idea of making a “sand wich” of two pieces of glass with a sheet of nitro-cellu lose between. Our American planes owe much of their superiority to another accident. George W. Lee of Binghamton, New York, a collar-button manu facturer, decided to make aluminum snap buttons. In adjusting his machinery to the new device Lee made the punch longer than he had intended. To his sur prise his machine produced a long aluminum tube in stead of a flat button, for the soft! metal -was forced by pressure through the narrow opening between the punch and the die. By accident, Lee thus invented the pro cess of fashioning seamless tubes from thin metal, one of the greatest discoveries in metal working. When Lee could find no immediate practical applica tion for his invention, he sold it to a bicycle manufacturer, Leslie Hooker, who used it to make such things as guards for women’s hat pins, cases for physicians’ thermometers, and automatic pencils. Then one day he was asked to make a radiator with a maxi mum of cooling surface and 30 Panorama a minimum of air resistance for a racing car. Hooker borrowed an idea from the bees. He laid hun dreds of small seamless cop per tubes horizontally into brass shell. The tubes had six sided ends so that they fitted together closely and could be soldered into a sin gle unit. The open ends of the tubes faced the onrush ing air. In contrast to the ordinary radiator, the water did not flow through the tubes but around them, and Hooker’s invention made automobile history. Penicillin was discovered by accident. So were many of our new lightweight metals and our plastics. Hundreds of similar mistakes are con tributing to greater safety and comfort in our lives. Industry, realizing the va lue of such accidental disco veries, is spending 200 mil lion dollars annually to un earth more of them. Che mists and research workers are not given a definite pro blem: instead they are told to find out everything they can about a particular ma terial. Usually when they have finished they have found new uses for the basic product. That is why American in dustry is "serendipity"-minded today, searching constant ly for the secret of making bigger and better things at a price low enough to put them within reach of mil lions. — by Josephine M. Opsahl, from Coronet. KNIVES AND FORKS An American missionary who had spent some time in Borneo and vicinity was asked whether he had been able to get the natives to give up canniba lism. “No,” he admitted, “I did not quite succeed in that, but I did persuade them to start using knives and forks.” — Carol Long. October 1965 31 REFLECTIONS ON KITTENS When Prince Potemkin wanted to send a gift to Ca therine the Great that would distinguish him from all other suitors, he passed over such obvious possibilities as jewels, perfumes or rich fa brics, and presented her with a kitten. The success of his gift is reflected in history, but it is only one instance of the everlasting appeal of kit tens and cats through the ages. Ben Jonson’s favorite ex cursions were to the fish monger’s to get oysters for his fastidious pet; Sir Walter Scott took delight in encour aging his pet’s domination of a bloodhound; Lord Ches terfield left his cat a pension; Victor Hugo, Matthew Ar nold, Henry James, the Bron tes, Mahomet, Petrarch, Wal pole, Gregory the Great and Cardinal Wolsey were other devoted slaves of kittens and cats. Cardinal Richelieu depend ed on kittens for relaxation and entertainment. The me lancholy that threatened to weigh upon him in an hour of inactivity was always dis pelled by the appearance of a basket of frolicsome, tum bling, mischievous kittens. But Richelieu banished his feline jesters as they* ap proached maturity and re placed them with a younger, gayer generation. Perhaps the most innocent ly happy moment of Louis XV’s reign was provided by a kitten. The young king, only eight, had been presid ing wanly over a tedious, in comprehensible meeting of state when a kitten jumped upon the royal lap and then onto the council table where it rolled and romped amongst papers of national impor tance. The Renaissance was the Golden Age for cats; eccle siastical and royal approval was bestowed upon them, and 32 PANORAMA anyone who amounted to anything x in society had at least one of the animals for a pet. One royal lady, an accomplished harpist, insist ed her kitten had more than ornamental value; if she played well, the feline pur red; if she played badly the animal snubbed her. While cats may no longer enjoy the stamp of govern mental approval, affection for them has not waned. Not too many years ago, this ad vertisement appeared in a German newspaper: “Want ed by a lady of rank, for ade quate remuneration, a few well-behaved and respectablydressed children to amuse a cat, in delicate health, two or three hours a day.” Even those who profess to dislike cats weaken at the sight of a kitten. They ex cuse their weaknesss with such remarks as “Kittens aren’t cold and unfriendly,” or “But kittens don’t catch birds,” seeming to forget that the animals won their owners’ affections as kittens but re tained them as they grew up to become cats. — Warren Brown, from an American Magazine. A WORM The late King Edward VII was an indulgent grandparent, but he did not allow the children to interrupt him. At luncheon one day a small grand daughter, allowed as a special privilege to sit next to the king, suddenly started to say something to him just as the salad course was being served. He cut her short and continued with what he had been saying. The child watched him anxiously and present ly tried again to speak, but was again silenced. When the king was quite through with his remarks, he turned to the little girl and asked, “Now, my dear, what was it you wished to say to me?” "It’s too late now,” said the little princess. “I was trying to tell you there was a worm on your lettuce.” — Louise Lamprey. October 1965 33 RISING STATUS OF WOMEN The countries of the Mid dle East have made amazing progress in modernization since they began functioning independently. This pro gress is evident in Lebanon, where independence was gained in 1943; Jordan, in dependent since 1946; Syria and Egypt — all referred to as Arab countries. The same is true of Israel, recognized as an independent country in 1948. The most profound changes in culture patterns in the Middle East are the results of the emancipation of Women through education and their growing freedom to move outside the home. Although it is early to dis cuss equalization between the sexes, there is much evidence that women are moving in that direction. For example, in a study to determine priority given by men and women in planning new housing in the suburbs of Khartoum, five features were listed as important: (1) a wall between houses which would give women seclusion in the yard, (2) a bathroom, (3) a store room, (4) a ve randa, (5) a shelter for earth enware water jugs. The men gave highest priority p the dividing wall but women gave it the lowest. In the same study only 57 per cent of the women, about the same as men, mentioned marriage as one of their greatest of three wishes. When the same question was asked of a group of women four years later, this figure had declined to 41 per cent, 7 per cent lower than for American college women who mentioned mar riage in exactly the same type of study. The enrollment of girls in primary schools in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and 34 PANORAMA Syria increased by 703,996 from 1931 to 1954; and the proportion of girls enrolled in secondary schools in the same countries in 1954 rang ed from 25 per cent to 41 per cent, with the highest percentage in Lebanon. These figures give evidence that compulsory elementary education is reaching an in creasing proportion of child ren, and higher education has also grown rapidly. The increase in technical educa tion has not been as great. In addition to the increased enrollment in public schools in the Middle East, edu cational opportunities through the press have been expanding with an increase in circulation of newspapers. There has been a gain in book production, also. The nurhber of radio receivers has more than doubled in less than a decade. Atten dance at cinemas has like wise risen for both European and American films. Lebanon, although the smallest of the countries named, is the most up to date. It is half the area of Israel to its south, and 6 per cent of the area of Syria. It has one and one-half million inhabitants and more than one-fourth of these live in Beirut. According to a survey in 1943, the population of Le banon was slightly more than 50 per cent Christian and the rest were of the Moslem faith. The Moslems are divided into two groups and the Christians into at least six. By general agree ment the government recog nizes these differences. The President is a Christian and the Prime Minister is a Mos lem. The parties have thus established an equilibrium. They have freedom of reli gion, of the press, and of speech. The country receives no foreign aid now. Most of the revenue comes from custom taxes. They have no vast oil reserves like some of the other Arab countries. The people are described as hard working, paying their own way, and very hospitable. There is 85 per cent lite racy, with good schools. Be cause of its emphasis upon training people to think for themselves, the American October 1965 35 University of Beirut, started years ago as a missionary en terprise, has had great in fluence upon the country. Jordan, which started out as a poverty stricken little kingdom held up entirely by outside aid, in which the United States had a major part, has made phenomenal progress. We rode over a magnificent new highway from Amman, the capital city of Jordan with a popu lation of more than 200,000, to Jerusalem. The guides proudly told us the highway was built with American money, part of the Point IV program. Syria, formerly a part of the United Arab Republic, organized to work for Arab unity, is now under the rule of the Ba’ath Party. This party opposes the dreams of President Nasser, of Egypt, for organic union. There have been flare-ups and counter-revolutions since the Ba’ath Party took over the government of Syria in 1963. Immediately after our visit to Damascus and return the same day, a riot broke out and the border between Sy ria and Lebanon was closed for several weeks. Much has been written about the miraculous dev elopments in Israel. One writer refers to the frantic activity of the Israeli as “making up for lost time.” In the first three years after the country became a repub lic, the population doubled; in ten years it had trebled; and in fifteen years it had soared to 2,300,000, of whom over two million are Jews born outside Israel. Irrigation has turned a de sert or semi-desert into a gar den with citrus and banana groves, sugar beets and other crops, and $70,000,000 worth of agricultural products be ing exported annually. New developments include, in ad dition to water traveling immense distances to revive parched soil, strawberries growing by the shores of the Dead Sea, roses growing in the desert, crops growing in gravel, salt water being de salted, refrigerators driven by sun-power, straggling ri vers straightened out, new forests where only naked crags existed, fens turned in 36 PANORAMA to farms, and maps becom ing outdated. There are three big cities in this little country of less than a thousand square miles, about the size of Mas sachusetts. Haifa, situated on the Mediterranean, down under Mt. Carmel, has a po pulation of 300,000. This city has the first underground electric train in Israel, in cludes Haifa Harbour, and is known for its cleanliness and attractiveness. Tel Aviv, the newest and largest of the cities, has a po pulation of 400,000. This city includes theaters, fashion shops, concert halls, luxury hotels, modern offices, and other important buildings. New Jerusalem, the capital, has a population of 175,000. In contrast to Tel Aviv and Haifa, Jerusalem has no places of amusement but has synagogues and semina ries, cathedrals, colleges, mu se u m s, and government buildings. The oldest part of the city, called Mea Shea rin, is populated with ultra conservative Jews. Life re volves around the old Jewish Law with its 613 command ments. Mea Shearin guards the Faith that has guided the Jewish people for thousands of years. Another town which re flects the older traditions of the Jewish people is Naza reth, where there has been little change in the past two thousand years. New and modern buildings are now being erected in the sur rounding area, however, and new industries are being opened. There is as much contrast in the clothing worn in dif ferent parts of Israel as there is in the type of buildings and activities. Western dress is worn much in cities like Haifa and Tel Aviv, but in Mea Shearin the dress of the orthodox Jews reflects the traditions being fostered by that group. Men wear heavy frock coats and big broad brimmed hats of plush, while women, demurely kerchiefed, appear in long-sleeved and high-necked dresses. The lit tle children have glossy braids, wear white woolen stockings and side curls. Men and boys wear side burns. One of the first acts of the October 1965 37 new state was to make ele mentary schooling compul sory and free for all children between ages five and four teen, with responsibility placed upon the central and local governments. Two types of schools are maintained, state schools and state reli gious schools. The main difference is that in the state religious schools there is more emphasis on religious studies, including the Bible, the Talmud, prayer, and the Sabbath, but not to the ex clusion of other educational studies. The state schools also include Jewish studies and a thorough knowledge of the Bible. The Hebrew language is spoken and taught in all schools. Edu cation is practical and most schools have well-equipped laboratories, workshops, and even small farms. Two very important insti tutions of higher learning are the Hebrew University, in Jerusalem, and Technicion, the Israel Institute of Tech nology, located in Haifa. The enrollment in the He brew University multiplied eight times, from one thou sand to eight thousand, be tween 1945-47 and 1962-63. Students, who come from all parts of the world, take their work seriously and study hard. All students must learn Hebrew but 90 per cent of the books are written in English. The big problem in the Middle East is the so-called Palestine Question. Encour aged by the Balfour Declarar tion in 1917, the Jewish peo ple flocked back to Israel. The Zionist party, partly religious and partly political, felt that Palestine was their own land, quoting Scripture to prove that God had given it to Abraham and his descendants forever. On the other hand, the Arabs, who had lived there for a thousand years, felt that the land belonged to them. Feeling is intense and bitter on both sides. Someone stated that the pro blem is anchored in the emo tions of two peoples. There is no communication between Israel and the Arab countries. Only at one point, the Mendelbaum Gate in Jerusalem, is there passage from one country to another, and it is strictly one-way travel from Jordan to Israel. 38 PANORAMA The number of Palestinian refugees in the Arab coun tries exceeds one million, over half of them seventeen years of age or younger, who deserve an opportunity to be come members of society. The majority of these re fugees are in Jordan, but the Gaza strip; a narrow coastal plain twenty miles long and five miles wide next to Egypt, is crowded with 350,000 peo ple — 250,000 of them re fugees — where 80,000 used to live. For several years the re fugees were crowded into mi serable huts but most of them are in better housing today. The United Nations is feeding them, with an average of 1,500 calories a day. Their ration stamps in clude flour, rice, sugar, cook ing fat, and a bean-like sub stance. The United Nations also provides some hospital care and schools for voca tional training including ele ven teacher-training schools. Although conditions are bet ter, the refugees are still a burden and a problem to their host countries; and they increase at the rate of thirty thousand a year. The most encouraging fact is that the number of young people who start to school and remain in school is increasing rapid ly. These young people are developing skills and getting enough training to move out into other places as five thou sand of them did in 1962. It is evident that the pat terns of culture in the Mid dle East are changing, and the changes are becoming more rapid. The rising sta tus of women through edu cation and their emergence into the world of affairs has greatly influenced the chang ing patterns. Changes ap pear to be more rapid in places where Western culture has had greatest influence. Improvement in the quality of education will, no doubt, mean continued change for better living. — E. Reed Wat ters, condensed from Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin. October 1965 GLAND THAT MAKES THE MAN A number of years ago, Henry L. Mencken ranked the respectability of body organs. Heart and lungs, he found, were quite discuss able, kidneys barely men tionable, the liver beyond the pale of polite conversa tion. There has been a decline in prudery since Mencken wrote his piece. Today, we accept one body organ as being quite as res pectable as the next — with one exception. The excep tion, of course, is the gland that plays the largest role in shaping any man’s life — the testicle. This remarkable gland possesses quite as much dig nity as any other body organ. It is far more complex than the heart, which is the sim plest of muscular pumps; more interesting than the component parts of the di gestive tract. It is indeed, more directly associated with a man’s well-being than any other organ. No one is quite sure at what period during life this gland begins to play a major role. But activity of ’ the testes is at minimum levels until the age of puberty. Then the twin glands spring to action. The effect is im mediate. The boy’s voice deepens, a beard appears, there are other changes. The sexually neutral individual develops characteristics that are unmistakably male. In late mid-life, activity of the testes begins to taper off. By the age of 60 activity is at about the level of the pre puberty period. The gland serves a dual function. It is a chemical manufacturing plant, pro ducing an incredibly potent hormone which it empties into the blood stream. Se cond, it produces the sperm cells upon which the creation of all new life depends. These cells are the most re markable cells produced by the human body. 40 PANORAMA Earliest man knew that re moval of the gland changed the fiery bull into the docile ox, the wild stallion into the mild gelding, the predatory male into the placid harem guard. But most knowledge about it has been gained only in recent years. And even now, there are wide gaps in the research. First, look at the structure of this gland. It is ovoid in shape, about two inches long and one-and-a-quarter inches at its greatest diameter. Ear ly anatomists cut through it and saw what looked like strands from a tangled ball of yarn. The organ was largely composed of an intri cate system of tiny tubules. Centuries passed before the confusing skein of tubes was untangled. Then working under water, with the finest dissection instruments, a re search man at the University of Michigan separated the gossamer strands. Each testis was found to contain nearly 1,000 tubes, each the size of fine sewing silk. The tubes are one to two feet long. In total length they would stretch nearly half a mile. It is in these tubes that sperm cells are manufactur ed. The cells are passed along to a large collecting tube, the epididymis. This duct, attached to the upper part of the testis, is about 20 feet long. It bends and twists in tight coils. As sperm cells move slowly through the epididymis, they gradually mature. The grow ing-up process is completed in the vas deferens, or sper matic duct. This tube, an eighth of an inch in diame ter and a foot long, passes vertically upward from the gland. It is this cord-like duct which supports the glands, permitting them to hang loosely as a protection against injury. The duct comes near the surface of the skin in the groin. Tying off this canal produces a permanent sterility. The operation is frequently performed o n mental misfits. Until a short time before birth, the testes are inside the body. Then they descend to the skin sac. In a sense, it is astonishing that nature didn’t give them the protec tion of a permanent home inside the body, in the same 41 manner that it gave protec tion to a woman’s ovaries. Some animals — the elephant for example — do have this protection, with testes con tained in the abdomen-. But there is good reason for man’s glands of maleness being outside the body. The skin sac which contains them is, in a sense, an elaborate airconditioning system. Unless the testes are kept at a tem perature a degree or so cooler than the rest of the body they cannot produce sperm cells. In an occasional person, these glands fail to descend pro perly. Such people are al ways sterile until the glands are brought into their proper place by surgery or hormone treatment. To see that the glands are properly cooled, the skin sac in which they hang is equip ped with an elaborate system of sweat glands. Evapora tion of the moisture they produce maintains an even temperature. There are other controls as well. When chilled by a cold shower, the skin contracts — drawing the glands closer to the body for warmth. In a Turkish bath, it relaxes, to bring all pos sible cooling action into play. At times, this vital cooling system fails. The high fever that goes with disease often produces a temporary steril ity. In one set of experi ments, a transient sterility was produced by keeping the glands wrapped in wool for several weeks. Hot baths are generally blamed for the declining fertility of civilized people. Climate also plays a large role in determining male fertility. When the weather is too hot, the testes cannot function efficiently in pro ducing sperm cells. This ex plains why tropical people are often on the borderline of sterility, and why northern people are almost explosive ly fertile. In this respect the Swede, the French Canadian, will shame their Latin bro thers — despite all the le gends to the contrary. Physicians have been able to transplant certain tissues from one individual to an other: bone, cornea, carti lage, a few others. But the testis is apparently designed for the use of its owner only. All efforts to transplant these 42 Panorama glands from one man to an other have failed. Similarly, efforts have been made to transplant glands from ani mals to man. These, too, have failed. The sperm cells produced by the testes are the smallest of all human cells. Some thing like 100 billion could be contained in one cubic inch! These cells go through periods of youth, middle and old age. Too frequent sexual indulgence launches imma ture cells which are incapa ble of producing new life. On the other hand, if cells accumulate in the body for too long a period they grow old and die. Each cell has an oval head and a hair-like tail. The tail is the sperm cell’s means of locomotion. By kicking it, he can move himself along. The head, despite its mi croscopic size, is probably the most intricate of all tissues. All other body cells contain 48 chromosomes. But the sperm, like the egg cell from a woman, contains only 24. There is a good reason for this. When sperm and egg combine to make the initial cell of life, each contributes its complement of chromo somes to make up the nor mal 48. The sperm cell’s 24 chro mosomes contain thousands of genes, too small to be seen by any microscope. These are the factors which determine inheritance. A father does not give his child his blood, as such, but he directly passes along his genes. They combine with the genes in the mother’s egg cell to shape the life of any child. One gene or set of genes will give the child his father’s red hair, another group will give him his mo ther’s musical talent, and so on. In this connection, note that the mother has nothing to do with the sex of the child. Sex is determined solely by chromosomes in the male sperm. Half of all male cells contain the Y chromo somes which produce boy ba bies. The other half contain girl-producing X chromo somes. The woman’s egg cells, on the other hand, con tain only girl-producing X chromosomes. October 1965 43 Thus, if Y sperm from the father fertilizes the egg, a boy child results. If it is X sperm, there is a girl baby. Fertilization of the female’s egg cells calls for the inter action of a number of events, each timed to hair-line se quence. By themselves, sperm cells could never produce a new life. In order to achieve their destiny, they need a highly favorable environ ment. For example, they need nourishment once they are launched on an independent existence. Further, they need a fluid environment in which to live. This fluid nourish ment is supplied from two sources — the prostate gland and the two seminal vesicles. The fluid from these sources is slightly alkaline. This is to overcome the normal aci dity of women, which would kill the sperm. The fluid contains a small amount of sugar, to provide energy for the sperm cells. Sperm cells are launched in incredible quantities; 500 million at a time would be a good average figure. Their migration toward the egg cell of the woman is a drama of the microscopic world which has no counterpart in the scopic world. The odds against any particular sperm ever fulfilling its final des tiny, reaching and fertilizing an egg, are 500 million to one. Mountainous obstacles stand in the way of the frar gile sperm as it moves through the uterus and into the Fallopian tube where it meets the egg. A slight fold of tissue is a hurdle greater than Mt. Everest would be to a walking man. A slight flow of mucous is a torren tial Niagara. At best, the sperm, fight ing with all the meager ener gy it possesses, can travel no more than one-20th of a mil limeter per second. At this rate, an hour would be requir ed to move seven inches — which is about the d istance the sperm must travel to meet the egg. Although it has directional sense, the sperm lacks the sureness of, say, the homing pigeon. On its way, it will twist and turn, losing time and losing distance. Al though no one can Be sure Panorama about such things, most re search men guess that it takes the sperm about two hours to reach the egg. The slaughter that takes place along the way makes any battles that men have fought seem tame by compa rison. Tens of millions of spermatozoa die of exhaus tion. Other millions perish for lack of sugar to nourish them; still others are victims of an unfavorable environ ment. Yet, as time runs out, the migration continues, a few stalwarts surviving. Within four hours, exhaustion will overtake the vast horde. They will lose the ability to move, and once this is lost they will die. This, then, pretty well sunimarizes one testicular function: production of the sperm cells which are the creators of new life. The second testicular function is to produce the hormone of maleness, testosterone. Before puberty, the testes produce only meager quanti ties of the hormone. Then, at the time of puberty, the testes are triggered into ac tion by a secretion from the pituitary gland, which lies under the brain. Under this stimulus, the testes start pro ducing dozens of times the amount of hormone pro duced in pre-puberty days. Almost immediately, the boy’s voice deepens, facial hair sprouts, sexual organs enlarge. Testosterone, appa rently, is the common deno minator for m a 1 e n e s s throughout the animal world. The hormone produced by man is chemically identical with that produced by a rooster, stallion, or lion. How potent this chemical is in determining maleness of any animal can be demons trated by any one of a dozen experiments. When testos terone is injected into a chick, the chick begins to behave like a grown rooster. He emits canary-like squeeks — the best he can do in the way of crowing. When it is injected into a capon, the creature grows a comb, starts strutting. When it is given to male mice that have been castrated they be come normally belligerent, start fighting. Its effects on the human male are much the same. One castrate re OCTOBER 1965 45 ported that the magical che mical gave him courage, for the first time in his life, to talk back to a taxi driver. Testosterone has been a godsend to hundreds of sol diers desexed by land mines. It has converted listless, apathetic men into vigorous human beings, normal in all respects but one. They are sexually capable, but unable to have children, since they lack sperm cells. In sum, they are potent but sterile. Such men may be treated with daily pills. Or, a pel let of hormone may be im planted under the skin. This minor operation is perform ed under local anesthesia, takes only a few minutes. A slight incision is made in the leg, the hormone implanted, and the wound closed with a stitch or two. Gradually dis solved in the blood over a period of four to six months, the pellet is, in effect, an ar tificial gland. Production of testosterone reaches a peak in the 25-to35 age range, then tapers off gradually. By the age of 60, production is a gradual process. But in some cases there is a sharp drop. In this event, a man may suffer some of the same menopausal symptoms a woman expe riences when her ovaries cease functioning. Studies of one large group of men with such symptoms showed a common set of complaints. Eighty-five per cent were depressed, 65 per cent sleepless 50 percent suf fered periods of uncontrol lable excitement. A third of the group had frequent fits of weeping and a few either contemplated or attempted suicide. In virtually all cases, hormone treatment banished the unpleasant symptoms. You have heard a great deal about the male hormone staying the aging process — making the old young again. Take such statements with a handful of salt. Testosterone won’t prevent aging. Nor will it restore youthful vitality to older men. If they are suffering menopausal symptoms for markedly decreased produc tion of the hormone, it will restore chemical balance to their bodies. And that is just about all that it will do. • • • To sum up, the testes pro duce a dazzling chemical 46 Panorama stuff. They manufacture the miraculous sperm cells upon which all life depends. In stead of looking on these organs as being vaguely in decent we might better re gard them in their true light. They are among the most remarkable organs in the body. They are, quite possibly, the most remarkable of all body organs. — By J. D. Rat cliff from Science Digest. "AFTER YOU, MY DEAR ALPHONSE!" About forty years ago there was a popular comic strip called Alphonse and Gaston. Two extremely courteous Frenchmen were always trying to outdo each other in politeness. Many a comic impasse was reached as Gaston would insist, “After you, my dear Alphonse,” and Alphonse would reply, “No, you first, my dear Gaston!” Funny as they were, there’s no question about who should come first. The other person, of course. He should be first to order the meal, first to go through the door, first to be offered the best seat. And what does it cost you? Generally he or she responds as Alphonse.would with “After you, my dear Gaston!” He or she will try to outdo you in polite ness, as long as politeness is in the air. So you end up first at least fifty per cent of the time. But if you are to grab the opportunity, the mo ney, the edge in any kind of an activity, you auto matically give warning that the other person should start looking out for himself, too. Instead of try ing to outdo in courtesy, he may begin to outdo you in selfishness. “After you, my dear Alphonse!” Try that sim ple formula for just one day. See how many times you can give the preference to the other fellow, friend or stranger. See how much you gain, by outscoring him in politeness and courtesy. — James T. Mangan. October 1965 47 HOW TO IDENTIFY GEMS The Gemological Institute of America, owes its origin to the curiosity of its founder, Robert Shipley. In the early 20s Shipley became the pro prietor of a retail jewelry store in Wichita, Kansas, by the simple expedient of mar rying the boss’ daughter. A conscientious individual by nature, Shipley felt keenly his lack of knowledge of the jewelry business. The main source of information was the often inaccurate word of the traveling salesmen. The only textbooks dealt with gems from minerological con siderations. When circums tances compelled him to close his store, Shipley went to England where he could receive a formalized training in gemology. Late in 1929 Shipley re turned to this country to ap ply his newly acquired know ledge to the operation of a jewelry store in Los Angeles, but America was in the midst of panic. He decided to es tablish himself as a consul tant in anticipation of more propitious times. A group of jewelers prevailed upon him to give a series of lec tures at the University of Southern California. Over eighty jewelers registered, some coming from a distance of over 200 miles. Soon Shipley was mailing his lectures throughout the country and, in 1931, the Gemological Institute of America had its official beginning. Many old timers still pride themselves on their ability at sight identification. A customer returned a ring with a large purplish stone to the jewelry store where it was purchased. The ring had been dropped on the bathroom floor, and the stone had shattered. Since the jeweler had bought the stone for amethyst and under the impression that genuine stones are durable, he return 48 Panorama ed the ring to the manufac turer with an outraged let ter demanding immediate re placement. The manufac turer agreed that a stone which had so fractured could only be an imitation and as such, not the stone he had sold. The argument was re ferred to the Gemological Institute of America who confirmed that the stone was indeed amethyst which, while less fragile than glass, is highly breakable when subjected to a blow of suf ficient severity. Transparent or translucent stones may be separated into species with the use of a re fractometer, an instrument which measures the degree of bending of a light ray pass ing through a stone, in con junction , with a polariscope, an instrument for determin ing the crystal structure. Imi tations are easily detected, but synthetic stones similar to the genuine in every che mical, physical and optical property are occasionally very deceptive, particularly in the small sizes running any where from ten to fifty to the carat. Tiny gas bubbles and curved striae detectable under high magnification by a skilled technician provide the clues. Dealers who em ploy the institute consultants are sometimes rewarded for their precaution. The most common failing of the layman in recognizing stones is the attempt to clas sify by color. Thus a ruby is red and a sapphire is blue, and conversely any red gem stone is thought to be a ru by and any blue to be a sap phire. The fabulous ruby which for five hundred years graced the imperial crown worn by the rulers of Eng land and described by Rus kin as “the loveliest precious stone of which I have any knowledge” has been proven under modern instrumenta tion to be a red spinel, a ma terial ordinarily less valuable than ruby, but nevertheless of great rarity since spinels so large in size are almost unknown. Since coloring is caused in most gems by foreign material and is not a part of their che mical component, stones can occur in a variety of shades. Sapphire, tourmaline and quartz have been found in every color of the spectrum. October 1965 49 Ruby and sapphire are ac tually the same material. Ruby is merely the name given to the red variety. Amethyst is a purple quartz. Emerald and aquamarine are the identical material. Eme rald is infinitely more valu able because of the dearth of fine green beryl in large crystals. Even the fabulous diamond has been found in all colors except purple, and that is not to say that the diamond does not occur in purple but merely that no natural specimen has been discovered as yet. The fa mous Hope diamond is a wonderful rich blue more re miniscent of fine Ceylon sap phire. Precious topaz, popu larly known as a brown stone, has been found in all colors with blues and pinks as the loveliest varieties. With some gem materials color changes can be induced by baking the stones in a fur nace at temperatures which duplicate the heating process in nature. In a few species such as topaz this entails a risk of cracking the stone. — W. Untermeyer, Jr. from the American Mercury. ACHIEVEMENT BY COLLABORATION It is because the earth is round that we have become human: you see, we could not get away, we Could not help but rub against each other; and this rubbing polished our minds, sent the mental temperature up; in such heat minds became flexi ble, moved with speed; became involved and con voluted and related in ten billion ways. Now, sud denly today, we are only a few hours from every man on earth, and our minds are showing a start ling leap forward toward complexity: men in small groups, collaborating, can solve problems in a few weeks or months or even days that one man, work ing alone and in isolation, could never have solved had he lived a thousand years. — Teilhard de Chardin. 50 Panorama GOSSIP AND GOOD BUSINESS “Let your people gossip and you will have contended employees”. This suggestion comes from the U.S. and is beginning to run the circuit in West German concerns. What do the experts think of the U.S. idea? Is gossip as spread out as some sociolo gists think? Coffee cups clatter. Cake forks shovel creamy pies. The rest is talk. Six office girls talk during work. They do what according to the ex perts is the normal thing to do and what costs the con cerns millions of Marks monthly. They pay homage to gossip, the original sin of all offices. Marita Grundgens, the sis ter of Hamburg’s deceased star actor, Gustav Grund gens, has thoroughly studied the role which gossip plays. Employed by a Solinger me tal concern, she came up with the following: “Everyone gossips about the other. The carrier of gossip can become quite dangerous.” At worst, he is in a position to destroy a person’s work and his future. In order to prevent as much of this happening as possible, Marita Grundgens hit on the idea of shutting up gossip with music. “Those who hear music keep their mouths shut.” It is a well meant sugges tion, but unfortunately it does not work practically. Gossip is tough to reform. The talking continues even with music. This fact caused other res ponsible people to realize that man, cannot live without gossip. Prof. H. Distel, a work psychologist from the U.S., favours gossip for easing ten sions, “Take a break and talk about your neighbour.” After that the work will go along better again. October 1965 51 American personnel chiefs immediately latched on to Distel’s ideas and began to support the Kaffeeklatch among the employees. The motive: Our people are coming closer together. The feeling of unity intensi fies. Work atmosphere gets looser. It went so far in U.S. con cerns that employes have coined such phrases as "Love goes through the coffee pot.” "Flirting only gets nice through the Kaffeeklatsch.” Many a couple, dedicate and bashful by nature, were brought together because of all the talking. “Gossip is essential,” is also the opinion of the direc tor of a West German coffee house chain which employs 30,000 persons. Naturally he does not say this because of love. "Man needs gossip as a pressure valve. Without this release, work would be gin to decline.” His is an optimistic view not shared by all personnel chiefs. Most are resigned and tolerate the news agencies without interfering. But they are aware of the fact that gossip is not only good for conversation, but that it also potentially jeopardizes the work community. "We have already gone through some trials,” com plained the director of a che mical concern in Hamburg. "It has happened that ru mors developed, that assump tions were treated as facts, and that innocent parties were persecuted.” Fortunately it is not often that one’s career is destroyed because of the colleagues’ gossip. The possibility that some gossipers will unwit tingly do good at a Kaffee klatsch is an American justi fication for letting them be. — The Chronicle. 52 PANORAMA ■ Thieves who do not .mean to steal. HOW TO DEAL WITH KLEPTOMANIAC When the police finally caught the Phantom Burg lar they could hardly believe their eyes. The man who had broken into 403 women’s bedrooms, and performed human-fly stunts to get into them, was a crippled victim of infantile paralysis. He admitted his thefts — cheap jewelry, powder puffs, filmy handkerchiefs, even love letters. He said that he knew he had done wrong, but couldn’t restrain himself — the things he stole gave him a feeling of fulfillment which he could not attain in a normal way. Because he knew the dif ference between right and wrong, as well as the nature of his act — the standard sanity test in 29 states — a plea of insanity would not have been accepted. The jury found him guilty, and the judge sent him to Sing Sing. Yet he was no ordinary thief. He was sick. He was a kleptomaniac. He needed psychiatric treatment, not punishment. By rare good luck he got it. He was put under the care of Dr. Ralph S. Banay, psychiatrist-in-charge at Sing Sing from 1940 to 1943 and now associate di rector of research on Social Deviation at Columbia Uni versity. In the course of many in terviews Dr. Banay discover ed why this man was a klep tomaniac. He had contracted infantile paralysis as a boy, and he was thus unable to compete with other boys. To make matters worse, he had an athletic sister who pro vided a constant contrast to his own inadequacy. Since his parents made no attempt to guide him into pursuits at which he might excel, he grew up nursing his griev ances. Then he found he was distasteful to girls. In a confused attempt to OCTOBE8 1965 53 assert himself, he embarked on his career of crime. His gymnastic burglarizing gave him a feeling of physical mastery. The inexpensive feminine knick-knacks he stole were substitutes for the love that had been denied him. Dr. Banay made him un derstand this connection be tween his childhood frustra tion and his adult conduct; and understanding is often half the battle for a cure. Once he realized that his frustrations had produced his craving to steal, he began looking for normal ways to fulfill those desires. Dr. Banay believes his pa tient is now entirely adjust ed to society. But he has had no chance to prove it. The Phantom Burglar is still serv ing his prison term. Not all kleptomaniacs suf fer such a fate. Five years ago a well-to-do clergyman was hauled into court as a common auto thief. His lawyer argued that any auto mobile thief who owned a car, and could well afford another if he needed it, must obviously be unbalanced. But the clergyman was legal ly sane, and therefore guilty. Fortunately, the judge sen tenced him to a mental hos pital. He was discharged a year later, fit to take his place in society. Today he is nationally known under ,a new name earns a salary in five figures, and has a tireless talent for helping unfortunates. Discovery of what caused his kleptomania was half the cure. He had unconsciously disliked his profession, but he had clung to it because his admiring congregation satisfied his yearning for ap proval, which an overly cri tical mother had exaggerated in him as a child. This yearning was later aggravat ed by a wife who constantly found fault with him as a husband. Divorce and a confession of his religious duplicity would have been the obvious way out, but he hadn’t dar ed to kick over the traces. By stealing cars he gratified a suppressed desire to be a ruthless he-man without hav ing to admit his difficulty publicly or even admit it to himsef. Once he under stood and accepted his con54 Panorama ficts, he was able to rehabi litate himself. Doctors recognize klepto mania for what it is — a sign of illness, comparable to py romania and pathological ly ing. Kleptomania is a symp tom, not a disease. Dis turbances that are known to cause kleptomania (or com pulsive stealing, as it is more properly called when used in its broadest sense) are phy siological irregularities: brain disorders like epilepsy, pa resis and feeble- mindedness; and acute mental conflict. Store detectives and court psychiatrists believe that much compulsive stealing in women occurs as a result of physiological disturbances. Women who steal during pregnancy, for example, are actually .victims of a capri cious pregnancy appetite. Some courts know this and treat thefts committed at these times with extreme le niency. Compulsive stealing among epileptics, paratics, and vic tims of other serious brain disorders is very much like sleep walking. These people literally do not know what they are doing, but most kleptomaniacs are entirely conscious of their acts. Kleptomaniacs are fre quently people whose emo tions have been thrown off balance by their parents’ failure to maintain happy family relationships. When these people are unable to overcome their childhood frustrations, compulsive steal ing may occur “The normal person,” says Dr. Sandor Lorand, interna tionally known psychiatrist, “is the one who can make social, working and family adjustments. Kleptomaniacs fail in all these.” The ways they fail are legion, but the failures usually have some relation ship to marital maladjust ments or celibacy. A hus band’s inattention has driven many a woman to theft. Girls shocked by strained relations between their parents often develop abnormal feelings of isolation, avoid wedlock, and resort to stealing. Klep tomaniac bachelors generally suffer from a feeling of in feriority. While these mental con flicts can be adjusted, the October 1965 55 success of the treatments de pends largely on the pa tient’s desire to overcome his social conduct. A wellto-do married woman who was caught recently stealing velocipedes was one patient who wanted to be cured. She was obviously not a fe lon. She stole bicycles, tri cycles or scooters, took them home, painted them, and sold them cheaply to mothers of children whose fathers were overseas. Then she gave the money to the Red Cross. She was the only sister of five older brothers, who used to tease her and call her a sissy. As a girl she tried des perately to win their admi ration with tomboy ish be havior. When she discover ed one day that she could ride her bicycle faster than one of her brothers could, she experienced a thrill she had never known before. Subsconsciously, she remembered that thrill as an adult. Her marriage was happy until her husband started to neglect her for his business. Then frustration was trans formed into a compulsion to steal, and the objects she stole were like the one which had gratified her as a child. She was arrested and sent to a psychiatrist. When she was made to understand the cause of her conflict, she turned her urge into cons tructive channels. The stealing of a thief who is not a kleptomaniac is a means to an end. The kleptomaniac’s stealing is an end in itself. For this reason kleptomaniacs seldom take anything expensive. The ob ject has symbolic rather than material value. The way to prevent klep tomania is to teach parents to understand their children and to maintain satisfactory family relationships. Since family relationships can be intricate, the parents’ job de mands conscientious atten tion. Nobody knows how preva lent kleptomania is, partly because many kleptomaniacs are not caught, and there is consequently no record of them, and partly because, those convicted appear on the records as ordinary thieves. States and cities alone arrest about one hun dred thousand thieves a year. 56 Panorama This figure does not include Federal arrests, or arrests of pickpockets and shoplifters. Typical of the kleptoma niac shoplifter was an awk ward girl who had a very pretty younger sister. She found release from her feel ing of inferiority in stealing costume jewelry. She never wore it or sold it — just hid it away at home. The psy chiatrist to whom she was sent for treatment recogniz ed that just having the jewel ry around provided her some consolation. He worked with her for about a year. Today, as a successful dress designer, she has won the ad miration of her less-gifted sister. Kleptomania has been call ed a privilege of the wealthy. The kleptomaniac who is poor is 'usually assumed on cir cumstantial evidence to be a common thief. The rich get the benefit of the doubt. Yet the Phantom Burglar was poor. So was a young music teacher treated by Dr. Lorand. This 22-year-old girl start ed teaching piano at the age of fourteen. She stole knickknacks from her pupil’s homes and, later money from her father and stepmother. The knick-knacks she hid in a bureau drawer. The money she sent to an impoverished aunt. Treatment revealed that her thefts were caused by an unconscious resentment of her father, who had aban doned his family when the girl was nine months old. The mother had slaved to make ends meet. When the mother died the child was sent to live with the aunt, who also made sacrifices in order to support her. Her father remarried. When she was nineteen he sent for her. Her hatred for him soon included her stepmother. Every time her thefts were discovered, she swore she would never steal again. But she always' did. The psychiatrist made her father understand that her thefts were an expression of defiance and insecurity. They were not committed for gain. Poor as the girl was, she ne ver profited from them. Not once did she spend the mo ney on herself. Not once did she sell her stolen goods to a “fence.” If she had not October 1965 57 had the attention of a psy chiatrist, she might have gone to jail. Since kleptomania results from personal maladjust ment, it is obviously not he reditary. Also, the klepto mania compulsion is infre quent among children — though most children do some stealing until they are taught not to. When juveniles continue to steal in spite of their train ing they usually do so be cause of a lack of affection or because of too much pa rental domination. Dr. William Healy in his book, The Individual Delin quent, describes another sort of case, in which a ten-yearold girl played with a small boy who taught her to swear and misinformed her about things. Dr. Healy convinced the mother that this experience was the cause of the child’s thefts. By devoting more time to the girl, answering her questions correctly, and keeping her busy, the mother effected a complete cure. — D. Ferguson in Coronet. POWDER The three-year-old boy had taken his mother’s powder puff and was fixing his face as he had so often seen her do, when his five-year-old sister grab bed it from him. “You mustn’t do that,” she said, “only ladies use powder. Gentlemen wash themselves.” — Stator. 58 PANORAMA NORMAL BREATHING UNDER WATER A wisp of synthetic mem brane, only a thousandth of an inch thick, may hold the answer to a simple system for supplying submarines with air drawn from the water around them, the purifica tion of air in space capsules or moon stations, and a means of providing cheap, reliable oxygen supplies for patients in hospitals or at home. The secret lies in a sili cone film that is thinner, and therefore more permeable than any silicone membrane ever before reported. Even though this membrane is completely free of holes, it permits the passage of liquids or gases. The method of pro ducing the membrane was discovered by Dr. Walter L. Robb of General Electric company research laboratory. Possible applications are be ing studied at the GE’s ad vanced technology laborato ries and elsewhere. Membranes have been made from a variety of ma terials, one of the most use ful is a special type of sili cone rubber in the develop ment of which GE research played a major role during World War II. The mem brane is 30 times as perme able as" the rubber in auto mobile tires would be at equal thickness and 1,000 times as permeable as the plastic films used for wrap ping foods. Since different gases pass through the membrane at different rates it is called “selective.” The ability of the membrane to “select” those gases which will pass through most easily could be applied to space capsule. An opening covering with such a membrane would al low unwanted water vapor and carbon dioxide to escape easily into the vacuum of space, while vital oxygen was held in, because the first two October 1965 59 gases pass through much more quickly than oxygen. In fact, since water vapor passes through 60 times as fast as oxygen, the mem branes might be used on earth as devices for dehumi difying air. Oxygen, on the other hand, passes through such a mem brane over twice as fast as nitrogen, which makes up 80 per cent of the air we breath. As a result, if ordinary air is brought into contact with one side of a membrane, while the other side of the membrane is maintained at a lower pressure, the gas passing through the mem brane will be rich in oxygen. If the low-pressure side of the membrane is maintained at 1/15 of atmospheric pressure, for example, the air passing through will contain appro ximately 35 per cent oxygen, instead of the usual 21 per cent. The 35 per cent figure is close to that found in hos pital oxygen tents and infant incubators. In industry, enriched air is used in a variety of pro cesses, where the membrane system could reduce costs. Helium could also be “fil tered” out of air or natural gas. In such cases, other types of polymers would be used, rather than silicone rubber, since various poly mers differ in the rate which they allow different gases to pass through. U n d erwater applications would depend upon the fact that sea water is essentially saturated with air to a depth of many hundreds of feet. A membrane with sea water flowing past on one side and with pressure below one at mosphere on the other side would extract air, while re sisting the passage of water under tremendous pressure. — Manila Bulletin. 60 Panorama WORLD CONFERENCE OF UNIVERSITIES One of the most important conferences on higher educa tion took place in Tokyo from August 30 to Septem ber 6 this year. It was the quinquennial meeting of the International Association of Universities. The meeting preceding it was held in Mexico City in 1960. About 400 universities and institutions of higher learn ing from all parts of the world participated in the Tokyo conference. Seven Philippine institutions were officially represented. They were the University of Santo Tomas, University of the East, Centro Escolar de Senoritas University, Philippine Women’s University, Nation al University and Foundation College of Dumaguete, these being full members of the IAU. The International Asso ciation of Universities is not sponsored by any government or state. So universities from all parts of the world, public and private, free communist, and neutral, sectarian and non-sectarian, are represent ed without distinction. Poli tical subjects are not includ ed in the agenda at any meet ing. The sole requirement for membership is that an institution should maintain satisfactory standard of in struction. And in this con nection, the directorate has decided that admission of new members will henceforth be stricter than in the first years of the Association’s life, some twelve or fifteen years ago. In the Tokyo conference the general subjects in the agenda which were discussed by the. representatives were three in number, namely: Access to Higher Education, University Autonomy, and Contribution to Higher EduOctober 1965 61 cation to Economic and Cul tural Development. To enable the entire con ference to consider the dif ferent points or phases of each subject, three separate working groups, which were smaller groups or commit tees of about 20 members each, were organized. The procedure followed was: first, a plenary session was held on each subject; and this was succeeded by a close door session of the working group or committee assigned to consider the points raised during the plenary session and to summarize them. An other meeting of the work ing committee was held the day following to which any member or representative of any member institution could go and take part in the dis cussion of different points brought together in the first meeting of the committee. In this session any member may question any point presented before or add any new idea pertinent to the general subject. After this the rapporteur makes a summary of the various points which received group approval. In the general and final plenary session, the 3 working committees presented their summaries. The President of the Asso ciation then submitted them to the entire conference for final approval or modifica tion. This was the conclud ing part of the program of the conference. On the last day the elec tion of the President for the following five years took place. Dr. Zurhaik, wellknown professor of history of the American University of Beirut and former univer sity rector, was unanimously elected to the post. He suc ceeds Dr. F. Cyril James, the retiring President, a for mer professor of economics of the University of Pennsyl vania and former President of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. One cannot help but ad mire the ability, dignity, and poise of Dr. Cyril James. His speeches were models of clearness in thought and in the logical presentation of pertinent ideas, without cir cumlocution nor pompous appeal to emotion. His de livery was deliberate and pleasantly measured. Every 62 PANORAMA word and phrase were dis tinctively expressed, every sentence left no doubt in the hearer’s mind about its in tended purpose. Vivid pic tures and scholarly expres sions all clothed in language of simplicity, made Dr. James addresses, which were never tedious and long, some thing which served to en lighten the minds of the re presentatives at the con ference on the significance of the role of universities in the present-day world. The delegates were largely university presidents, rectors, and vice-chancellors of insti tutions in European, British, North American, South and Central American, African, Asian, and Australian coun tries. Ancient universities, such as Paris, Oxford, Heidel berg, Cambridge, Milan, Sa lamanca, Cordova, and more modern ones, such as Harvard, Yale, Michigan, California, Moscow, Berlin, to mention but a few, were all represent ed. Meeting famous scholars, scientists, academic execu tives, all with long and rich experience in the pursuit of education and learning, is a distinct privilege for all who appreciate the intellectual life. One cannot help but notice the gulf of difference between such event, on one hand, and a.convention of po liticians, on the other, in which no more than pom pous and futuous addresses and comments fill the hall in boresome repetition. This second group attempts to believe that it could solve problems with hasty and su perficial solutions. The first realizes the difficulties of the problems it discusses and proposes no more than sug gestions for needed action which may fit certain condi tions, with full awareness of the complexity created by rapid changes taking place in the present fields of scho larship, education, technolo gy, and science. The Tokyo conference of the I AU was of special sig nificance to the emerging na tions or die less developed communities in the world to day. For in addition to the discussion of the subjects common to all institutions of higher education every where, the conference gave particular attention to the October 1965 63 role of higher education in the development of the econo mic, social, and cultural con ditions of the new nations to day. The Japanese managers of the conference deserve full praise for the orderly way the sessions were conducted, the excellent reception of the delegates, and the perfect smoothness with which the activities were carried out. Japanese hospitality was un surpassed. Finally, one could not help but notice the relatively minor attention given to the matter of the election of the succeeding officials of the Association. There were 28 posts in two administrative bodies to be chosen, but only 24 nominations were submit ted ; by the members or dele gates. Consequently, the out going executive committee on elections had to designate 4 more candidates in order to fill all the 28 posts. What a constrast this presented to what happens in Philippine elections where for one va cant post there are always ten or more candidates fighting noisily for it. The explana tion is simple: the members obviously went to the con ference chiefly to participate in the discussion of the sub jects rather than to concern themselves with the election of officers. The inexperienc ed university head who went there to get himself elected to a high post must have come out badly disillusioned. Membership in the Inter national Association of Uni versities is surely a mark of distinction and a high privi lege for the university or col lege who acquires it; and at tendance in its quinquennial conference can prove a sti mulating experience to heads and professors of institutions of learning who are able to take part in its discussions. — Foundation Time. 64 PANORAMA Republic of the Philippines Department of Public Works and Communioations BUREAU OF POSTS Manila SWORN STATEMENT (Required by Act 2580) The undersigned, LOPE ARCEGA, business manager, of PANORAMA (title of publication), published monthly (fre quency of issue), in English (language in which printed), at COMMUNITY PUBLISHERS, INC., Sta. Ana, Manila (of fice of publication), after having been duly sworn in ac cordance with law, hereby submits the following statement of ownership, management, circulation, etc., which is required by Act 2580, as amended by Commonwealth Act No. 201. Name Address Editor Arturo G. Sinco .......... Invernes St., Sta. Ana, Manila Managing Editor Arturo G. Sinco ...................... .......... Invernes St., Sta. Ana, Manila Business Manager Lope Arcega Invernes St., Sta. Ana, Manila Owner Community Pub., Inc. Invernes St., Sta. Ana, Manila Publisher Community Pub. Inc. Invernes St., Sta. Ana, Manila Printer Community Pub., Inc. Invernes St., Sta. Ana, Manila Office of Publication CPI Offices Invernes St., Sta. Ana, Manila If publication is owned by a corporation, stockholders owning one per cent or more of the total amount of stocks: Vicente G. Sinco Sofia S. Sinco Arturo G. Sinco Sylvia G. Sinco Leandro G. Sinco In case of publication other than daily, total cumber of copies printed and circulated of the last issue dated Sep tember, 1965. 1. Sent to paid subscribers ................ 500 Copies 2. Sent to others than paid subscribers 100 Copies Total ................................. 600 Copies LOPE ARCEGA Business Manager SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this 22nd day of October, 1965, at Manila, the affiant exhibiting his Resi dence Certificate No. A-0002932 issued at Manila on Oct. 19, 1965. ANASTACIO C. RAMOS Postal Inspector NOTE: This form is exempt from the payment of docu mentary stamp tax. Contents Education for a Human Society .......................................... 1 Filipinos In America ............................................................. 2 A Third Political Party In The Philippines ........................ 4 Bankruptcy In The Country ................................................ T£ That Men In Singapore ....................................................... 9 Eyes That Never Tire ......................................................... 14 Christian Strength .................................................................. 18 Descartes And His Discourse .............................................. Down With Meetings ........................................................... 23 Mistakes That Paid Dividends . . . .. ................................... 28 Reflections On Kittens ......................................................... 32 Rising Status Of Women ........... £4* Gland That Makes The Man ............................................ 40 How To Identify Gems ....................................................... 48 Gossip And Good Business .................................................. 51 How To Deal With Kleptomaniac ..................................... 53 Normal Breathing Under Water .......................................... 59 World Conference Of Universities ....................................... 61