THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, FEBRUARY 2, I90S.
. SIjlIIIE&
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BY JOHN" EU'RETH TV" ATKINS.
rHiN the, hands are clasped to-
Vl gether there is usually a per-
feet constancy as to which
thumb is uppermost; but some people al
ways put the right uppermost, others the
lefti I hope to find out if this character
is inherited juid, if so, what laws are fol
lowed, " says F. a Lutz, of the Carnegie
Inntltution's laboratory of experimental
evolution. A similar character he finds
in the hind wing coverings of crickets,
the right usually overlapping the left In
males, although in some of the latter
the reverse is the case. The inheritance
of this position is now being tested by
Mr. LaUz, who, with insects as material,
is studying the problems of heredity,
lie has mated 123 pairs of crickets for
tills season's work, and on his pedi
greed stock he lias bred a new form,
having underdeveloped wings, wing cover
ings and oclpo.sitora, or egg planters,
Learning to Control Heredity.
To learn how heredity ' can be con
trolled la the primary function of this
now laboratory, toward whose support
$'.,004 of the iron master s millions is be
ing annually appropriated. "The most
important definite question to answer is:
How may the course of the stream of
germ plasm that has come down to us
from remote ages be controlled in its on
ward course?" says Dr. C. B. Davenport,
director of the laboratory. Presuming
that heredity is governed by the same
laws in man and beast. Dr. Davenport is
studying the lower animals first, because
naturally they are more easily handled
and more amenable to discipline. He has
started the breeding of numbers of
strains of different species, with the' in
tention of controlling their onward pro
gress by regulating all matings and en
vironmental conditions. For this year's
experiments he has H of these controlled
strains in mammals, 60 in poultry, 16 In
age birds, B In crickets, some two dozens
in other Insects and 400 in flowering
plants. In some of his Insects he has al
ready controlled the heredity for 20 gen
erations, which, in experiments. with man,
would require about -.500 years.' But he
finds that nature is in no hurry even with
the smaller animals. In the most of which
a year is required for a single onward
step.
Controlled transmission of abnormali
ties forms an Interesting part of his new
work. Thus by rating the transmission
of wlnglessnessv talllessneBS, etc., in
poultry, he learns certain laws of he
redity. The same is accomplished by rat
ing the transmission of color patterns in
beetles, the coat pattern in guinea pigs,
etc. By inbreeding, outbreeding . and
crossbreeding his different strains he
Alms to learn how creatures may best be
mated to produce, to order, newslocks.
Mysteries of Instinct.
The mysteries of "instinct" are being
inquired 'Into in the course of another
Feries of investigations lately commenced
hy the institution. The ability, of the
icwly hatched turtle to rim directly to
ward .the sea, without losing tlmfc grop
ing In a landward direction, haa been
one of the phenomena of Instinct long a
puzzle .to science. At ' the institution's
new laboratory of marine biology at
Tortugas, Florida, this problem has been
lately attacked by Davenport Hooker, of
the laboratory staff. After expertment
1nff with loEfferhead turtles ha rinds that
they are born with an Instinct to go down
illl and In the direction of the greater"
light. Either leads the little animals to
the sea. as the shores on which they are
liatched always slope down toward the
ocean and as the reflected light from the
water Is always greator than that from
the land. Neither the sound of the surf
,nnr the smell of the sea guides them.
This has been proved by eliminating the
direct rays of the sun, after which the
little turtles, if upon a level surface,
move In all directions with equal readl
ncs, although but 20 feet from the water
and where both the smell and sound of
the sea are distinct.
Worked Way to Newts Through Maze
The nesting instinct of birds is being
studied at the station by Professor John
B. Watson. "Sooty terns" and "nod
dles" carried from Tortugas all the way
to Cape Hatteras, 8c0 miles northward,
and there liberated, have found their
way back to their nests. A labyrinth of
"problem boxes" had also been arranged
no that terns had to puzzle their way
through them to reach their nests. After
successive trials, they have succeeded in
overcoming all such difficulties and
have reached their nests without giving
up. Others have as successfully worked
their way to' their nest -through a' spe
cially designed "maze." '
The web-fortning instincts of spiders
are being Investigated by Dr. James P.
Porter, of Clark College, who has a
grant from' the institution.' It Is found
.that of the species under investigation
the young of a given species all start
to build a similar, kind of web, whose
design is uniformly altered as they grow
older. Thus, the zigzag, or "winding
stair," of the webs of . the young is
curved about the center, but as they
grow older they reduce this design to a
single sigzag." The side screens of the
webs show characteristic j-hanges with
age. v 1 .
A study of the mysteries of "protec-.
Tragedy Involved In the Thaw Murder' Case
Heroism Was Shown; Also the Depth of Villany, . But What About the Punishment."
, BY J. B. ZIEGLER.
The Insanity feature Is about the only
thlnr about the preaent Thaw trial that
i different from Us prcdei-esaor. Nothing
that has yet developed off am any good
ron why Stanford White was not en
titled to a kllllBB. hut It la yet to be dem
cnetrnted that Thaw aa lustined In be
comlnr an alleged inatruinent of the law.
BUT what would demonstrate It? At
whose hands; would the killing have
been justified? At those of the law?
Tou admit that White had earned his
death. Has New York or any other state
a law or a practice by which such crimi
nals can be punished to a'n extent at all
approximating the gravity of the offense?
.Would such a law be practical? In the
(Southern States certain offenses are ade
quately punished independently of the
courts; but there Is a public sentiment
to sustain the execution. In New York
there " is no such sentiment to punish
criminals of White's class, though there
appears to be a sufficient one to uphold
a barbarous District Attorney In spend
ing an enormous sum of the state's
money in harrasslng to death an afflicted
family. In defense, of this class of vice.
Here is a fight to the death involving
'the Innocent as well as the guilty.
Nothing is spared. Public decency,
the state's money, the great Thaw for
tune, the sacredness of. marriage, of
the family, of the inmost personality
of guilty and . Innocent, are all disre
garded In this battle. ., No quarter is
asked; none given.. No cost Is to be
spared, no human nerve, to be shielded,
no Innocent person or public policy to
be regarded.
It is bard to take the careless, cyni
cal view that this is merely (using
Jerome's terms) "a case of a tenderloin
murder," given significance only by the
rapacious attacks of lawyers upon a
great fortune. It Is difficult to believe
that the public Interest Is only another
exhibition of a salacious taste for the
details of vice. The desperation of the
BtrufcTgle, the character of the pleading
- r v
Interesting Phases of Scientific Work
Undertaken by the Carnegie Institute in Various
Parta of the World
New Studies in Evolution of
Worlds and Suns. Puzzle of "Protective" Color
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22STS2I21T
tJve coloring" in insects has been com
menced at the Tortugas Station by Pro
fessor Charles R. Stockard. He has be
gun with that ungainly creature, the
"walking stick," which nature has not
only colored, but formed to deceive Its
enemies, for, when hidden in foliage, it
looks like a slender twig with branches.
Professor Stockard says that it feeds
and breeds by night and by day remains
motionless in a . protective attitude
among the stems of its food plant, from
which It is difficult to distinguish its
form. Both the stems and the Insect
vary considerably in color, but the lat
ter generally falls to select branches
matching its own shade. . When dis
turbed, it usually drops bodily to a
branch below or to the ground, where it
feigns death. In a new series of ex.
periments with these uncanny Insects,
Dr. Stockard blackens th,eir ej?es and re
moves their feelers, after which he sub
jects them to various noises and col
ored lights "to test the modification of
their behavior." He will announce his re
and. testimony, evinces much more. It
argues rather a great human problem,
demanding solution. The racial con
science throbbing upon the human
brain demanding relief; the grave; se
vere, patient Interest of the trial
Judges; the Impersonal '.manner xt the
relation of Evelyn Thaw's, pathetic and
terrible story; the absorbed attention
of the public,' all indicate this case to
be recognized by the public as one
of tragic dimensions and broad mean
ing. Had Thaw been a poor man, he
doubtless would have been at once
crushed by the prosecution of so for
mally conservative a state as New
York, aided by the powerful influence
of White's friends and those who felt
themselves attacked by such an action
as that of Thaw. Had- he been a poor
man, and by some miracle aided by the
same defense he had In the first trial,
he would have been acquitted. It is a
very narrow view of this case thatonly
because he Is wealthy he is escaping
punishment. Mr. Jerome derives his
chief moral support In his extraordi
nary conduct of the case from this
source. " ,
Perhaps it is fortunate that Thaw
Is wealthy, as well as weak-minded,
that he- may compensate the public for
the shock given it by the recital of his
wife's story, by the immolation of him
self and hie family and his fortune
upon the altar of justice, to the end
that the hideous Impurity exposed may
be in some way remedied.
The trial Interests because it represents
a great human tragedy, perhaps not
Shakespearean in structures since, the
chivalrously heroic of the olden time Is
absent. But the chivalrous ags is past.
Its daring heroes have gone with It.
They would be abnormal and out of place
now. Their tasks are now performed
with less picturesque glory, but perhaps
as adequately, by the less showy qualities
of patience, sagacity, perseverance In
dustry and the application of money. No
ing in Animals
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sults later. He has also sot upon wire
legs dummy 0 figures made up of parts
of the bodies of dead "walking sticks''
and has studied the behavior of live
specimens toward them,
A fleet of two boats is now employed
by the Tortugas Station, whose director
is Dr. Alfred G. Mayer. One of these
vessels lately carried a party of orni
thologists to the Bahamas, where the
habits of the man-o'-war bird and
"booby" were studied. These vessels are'
also being employed In an investigation
or the marine life of the tropical- gulf
stream, . ".
The blind fishes of the caves of' Cuba
are being studied, under a. grant by the
institution to Professor C. H. .Eigen
mann, of the Indiana University, who
finds that some of the young of these
strange species are born with eyes that
are well formed and which can be
moved, but which rapidly degenerate.
Men Shut Up a Week Without Food.
A .''nutrition laboratory" to be built by
quality of Shakespearean heroism appears
in this tragedy, except perhaps that of
the aged Mrs. Thaw, forcing her worn
frame to Its terrible task Ibf endurance
while she lays bare the Innermost secrets
of her suffering soul in defense of her
son. r
Of a like heroism also is that of Evelyn
Thaw, marshaling all the powers she
has of self effacenlent, . of honesty, of
fidelity, of truth, of alertness, of femi
nine wisdom; delving in hideous memories
and doing all she may in defense of her
poor mate, who however unhorolc, yet,
she feels deserves any sacrifice she can
make.
Thaw himself has not failed to present
some features of heroism. His deter
mined, attitude in the first trial, rejecting
all proposals from attorneys and friend
and the pleadings of his. mother to de
fend himself with the plea of Insanity,
but preferring the more risky one of
justification. " As one of the more re
motely interested public. I can say, I
think it would have been much better and
more heroic to have resolutely stood by
this position. It would also have been
much more chivalrous . had he placed a
pistol in his adversary's hand and warned
him to Uefend himself.' Perhaps, he re
flected that White when he lured his
victim with a falsehood to his specially
constructed million-dollar den. after
having bought her possession from her
mother, showed no quality deserving the
recognition of the rules of chivalry.
As the villain of the tragedy, Evelyn's
mother Is an unqualified success.
Shakespeare never discovered a charac
ter of such deep villainy as this woman,
selling her daughter to vice and then In
revenge for her escape from her clutches,
and her defection from her plana and
the loss of her villainous income, stand
ing in shallow behind Attorney Jerome,
prompting that terrible cross-examination.
Whatever the outcome of the trial, it
should certainly teach New York to be a
little more discriminating in its defini
Z42ZZZ6ZZ2
the institution In Vila street, Boston, will
be of great practical value to the public
at large. . Here the exact effects of
various foods upon man will be carefully
studied under the direction of F. G. Bene
dict. The laboratory will be equipped with
air-tight chambers In which human sub
jects will be confined for various periods.
An artificial climate will be supplied them
and their food will be handed into them
through air valves. Delicate apparatus
will measure the carbonic acid gas, water
vapor and heat given off by subjects put
on special diets and required to do cer
tain mental or muscular work. The
amount of oxgyen which each consumes
will also be measured. All food, air and
water supplied to a subject will be
measured and analyzed and Just how his
body utilizes each ounce of It will be
L learned. "With such aparatua Mr. Bene
dict, under a grant from the Institution,
has lately studied several fasting men
confined In the chamber without food, for
periods of from two to seven days.
To determine what economic plans can
tion of the crime of murder. Stanford
White, as Is admitted, deserved death.
Perhaps no law can be passed encom
passing the proper punishment of such a
crime, or Its prevention. There' Is no
machinery of the law or aid of any kind
that a man may invoke or punish those
committing such offenses against his
womankind. He la tacitly expected to do
It himself. Society refuses, very
sensibly, to take up such burdens,
for none but those immediately con
cerned nan ever get at the merits of the
case. The state refuses to assume this
burden. Harry Thaw tried that out as
many others have done. And as the
state recognizes . In .this way such things
as a personal war, in which It cannot
act, and yet when In all Nature a con
dition exists, which can only be termi
nated by punishment proportionate the
the offense, then the state should on the
development of the erlBtav in the unavoid
able course of events weigh with liberal
Impartiality all the causes of the crime
In extenuation, and if it is found that
the person killed met his death In pur
suance of some crime or in revenge of
some crime which the law cannot reach,
there certainly should be some relaxing
of the rigor of the law, -some latitude
given the Jury, and some limit put to the
expense to which the state must go In
its- effort to avenge the 'death of one
who in Justice was not "entitled to live.''
A Calm Witness. ;
A lawyer was cross-examining a wit
ness with a view to getting him mud
dled In his testimony. The following
questions and answers occurred:
"Did you see the plaintiff faint a
short time ago?" .
"Yes, sir." '
"People turn pale when they faint,
don't they?" -
"No, sir; not always."
"What! Do you mean to tell me that
a person can faint and not turn pale?
Did yo'u ever hear of such a case?"
"Yes, sir."
"Did you ever see such a case?"
"I did. air."
"When?" " '
"About a year ago, sir."
"Who was it?"
'"Twas a negro, sir."
The lawyer excused the witness.
'w.'ifc,?
be made to flourish in the great deserts
of our arid southwest, the desert botani
cal laboratory which the institution has
built at Tucson, Ariz., ia doing Interesting
work undfT the guidance of D. T. Mac
Dougal, director of the department of
botanical research. A boat lately built
for this. laboratory is now circumnavigat
ing the great .fnlani -"Salton sea" of Cali
fornia, which has an area of 500 square
miles. Mr. MacDougal estimates that the
greater- part of this lake will probably
disappear in ten years and this expedition
is tracing movements of vegetation along
Its shores. He Is also directing explora
tions of the Pattie basin in California,
one of the most arid regions of North
America. Near his new laboratory he-is
studying the jiosslbilitles of plant intro
duction in experimental gardens at
various altitudes up to 8000 feet. A new
Item of the station's equipment Is an
automatic rain meter which will keep a
continuous record of rainfall for months
at a time.
L.uthcr Burbank. the wizard of Santa
The Breaking of a Yoke of Wild Steers
Strenuous Experience That City Bojs Do Not Knowrcrplexlng; Puzzle of Turning the Yoke.
lr KAMAS of the ox yoke variety
II are not so popular now in New
York as they were a few years
ago,"-said a man who came down from
the hills when the Western Union Bulld
inging was on the skyline of lower New
York from every point of view, to a New
York reporter. "In those days any drama
of country life that introduced a yoke of
steers was a go.
"The theaters relied, as they now do,
considerably upon the patronage of coun
try visitors In town, and It Is a queer fact
that anything somewhat resembling what
they were used to seeing every day up
country interested them greatly when
shown on the stage of a Now York the
ater. I can account for this only In one
way.
"Today I happen to be nearby when
some minor street accident occurs. I
know pretty nearly all about It; but the
most interesting' things to me in tomor
row's newspapers are what they print
concerning the accident that I know al
most all about. In the same way those
of us who came from the ox-yoke regions
were always interested in' the ox-yoka
drama, poor as it was as an. imitation
of the real thing.
"Perhaps our interest was duo to the
fact that there was enough of realism in
the play to recall to our remembrance
what we had ourselves experienced. Did
any one of you ever break a yoke of
steers?" the talker abruptly asked.
There was no affirmative nod of utter
ance. N .
"Then you have missed, one of the stren
uous experiences of "boy life on a farm,"
said the man who was doing most of the
talking. "In the Spring, when the calves
come along, the farmer's boy used to be
and still is, up among the hills permitted
to pick out two bull calves that were to
be the making of a yoke of steers.
"He knew their pedigrees and could
make a good guess as to what they were
likely to turn out to 1e, as to size and
disposition. He selected them with some
mi:
Rosa, under a grant from the institution
is developing new fruit and fodder plants,
notably many new species of berries ob
tained by crossing two plants of the
snlanum or nlght-ehade family one from
"VV'eat Africa bearing an insipid black fruit
and the other from Chile producing small,
hard, green and equally Insipid berries.
From theo nightshades Burbank has
already developed a delirious and ab
solutely new fruit, resembling the low
bush blueberry of our Kastern tates.
Floating Observatory will Tour At
lantic. That the mariner on any seas may have
a chart for the correction of his compass
the institution is making a magnetic sur
vey of the ocean areas of the world. The
Galilee, a floating magnetic observatory
equipped for this purpose, will this year
complete a survey of the Pacific Ocean,
on which it will have cruised over 50,300
miles, making measurements at 200 or 2.V)
rtle intervals. After the Pacific haa
thus been covered, the Atlantic In all
probability will be the next ocean sur
veyed. This work, as well as other
magnetic investigations on land, is
being done under Dr. I A. Bauer, di
rector of the department of terrestrial
magnetism.
Learning How Heavenly Bodies
Were Made.
The vast problem as to how the heav
enly bodies were evolved is being at
tacked by the institution's solar ob
servatory on Mount "Wilson, California,
where nebulae those mysterious forms
believed to be the raw material of
planets and suns will be observed
and photographed as never before by
the giant eight-and-a-quarter-foot tel
escope already under way. -This will
be by far the most powerful telescope
ever constructed ami will bring not
only the nebulae, but the stars nearer
to earth than they' have ever been seen
by man. Prof. George EJ. Hale, director
of the observatory, lately visited the
notion also as to appropriateness of mark
ingtwo white noses, a white star In the
forehead of each, or something like that.
"From the time of this selection they
are the boy's yoke of steers. When Win
ter comes he sees that they have extra
feed and are bedded with clean straw ev
ery night.
"He pets them and curries' them as he
would a fine colt, and In the Spring they
come out two fine yearlings. It is then
that the strenuous part of his experience
with them begins.
"He has a light cedar yoke with slen
der bows of hickory, He has decided
which of tho young steers Is to be the
smaller. That one Is to be driven on the
left side, tho nigh side to the driver
walking at the left side of the team.
"He begins the operation of breaking
with tho other steer, the larger one. He
puts the right end of the cedar yoke over
the neck of' this one. slips the bow in
from beneath and keys It. Meanwhile the
pet steer is chewing the leather straps
on the boy's cowhide boot tops and won
dering what it is all about. :
"The boy holds the other end of the
yoke, taking the place of the nigh steer,
switches the yoke steer on the back with
a small ox whip and says 'Geddap.' The
steer looks around and tries to take the
switch in his mouth. But at length the
boy manages to make the steer under
stand what the gam Is, and they mog
sedately around the barnyard a team
composed of a nigh boy and an off steer.
"The same instruction is given to the
other steer, excepting that the boy has
the off end of the yok and the steer the
nigh end.
"Then the steers are ready to be yoked
together and the trouble begins. The
boy has no difficulty In getting the steers,
side by side and putting the yoke over'
their necks, save that there are two
steers nibbling at hjs boot straps while
he is slipping In the bows and fasten
ing them.
"Then he steps back and looks at his
yoke of steers. At- the same time the
French glass works, where the disk for
the giant reflector (100 inches in di
amesrr) of this telescope is being made.
He says that the disk weighs four and
one-half tons. He Im having built with
the bequest of Mr. Hooker of Los An
geles, the donor of the telescope, a spe
cial "fire and earthquake proof" build
ing. In which for months the disk will
be ground and polished Into the fin
ished reflector. Ttie building will con
tain a testing hall JO0 feet long, a
modern grinding laboratory with trav
eling crane to hold lho disk; atao other
rooms for the computers and workmen.
He says that repeated trials with other
disks may be necessary before a satis
factory mirror can be made. What will
be the next largest telescope in the
world one with a five-foot reflector
i now nearing completion at the ob
servatory. The accompanying photograph of
what appears to be the frame of a gas
tank shows the circular steel building
In which the sixty-inch telescope will
be installed. The tall framework seen
in another picture Is the new "tower
telescope." al being erected at the
observatory. ThSa is a novelty In tel
escope construction, the tower being
for the purpose of elevating high
above the heated air near the ground
a mirror which is to reflect the sun's
image Into a vertical tube. The latter
is to be 60 feet long and the observer
will be stationed in an underground
chamber beneath the tower.
So numerous and so vast are the new
enterprises of this new mother hen of
science, the Carnegie Institution, that
a volume would be required to merely
outline them. Under the direction of
Its able president. Prof. Robert S.
Woodward, the institution Is opening
up important fields also In history,
economics, sociology, geology, paleon
tology, mineralogy, enthropology, arch
aeology, bibliography, chemistry, en
gineering, literature, philology, math
ematics, meteorology, phyeics, physi
ology, psychology and zoology.
steers edgo their hind quarters apart
and look at each other.
"The yoke prevents them coming fnce
to face, and they do not understand the
situation. Each seems to think the other
Is to blame, and they begin to spin
around like two tops.
"It Is then up to the boy to do some
thing. He tries to quiet them and line
them up again side by side. But they
break Into a run, going sidewlse like two
tangled crabs.
"They kick up the barnyard straw and
bang against the board fence. They fall
In a heap and roll over each other, and
when they get to their feet the yoke
is turned.
"Ever see steers turn their yoke?" the
story teller asked. "No? Well, it's like
one of these puzzles that you bother with
for an hour and can't do It, and that
suddenly comes -out all right and you
don't know how.
"When the yoke is turned the beam
is under their necks and the bows are on
top. I have, tried to figure out how they
do it. and the only way I can fetch It
is this: They get around facing each
other as nearly as the yoke will let them,
and one of them does a somersault, land
ing on his back; the other describes
something like tho spiral of Archimedes
and also lands on his back: then both
turn their necks in the bows and get up
with the yoke under their chins.
"During the Summer the boy drives
his yoke of steers to a stone boat and
draws slabs and posts down tt a small
dam in the pasture where he Is putting
up a mill to saw pumpkin vines into
cordwood. When Winter comes his
steers are so well broken that he puts
a pole in an old cutter, gets In, tucks
the blanket around his legs and drives
his team over to the postofiice for the
mall, driving them by his gee-hawing, or
by a touph of the whip.
"By the next Winter the steers are fine
big fellows with brass buttons on their
horns and can pull many times their
weight in sawlogs on a sled through the
snow."