College News, 1942-05-13, Vol. 28, No. 25

              "1
College News
Z-611
VOL. XXVIII, No. 25
BRYN MAWR and WAYNE, PA., MAY 13, 1942
Copyrlflht,   Truiteei  of        PRICE    10   CENTS
Bryn   Mawr   College,   1942     rR*^c    LV   ^mlJ
Bondfield Notes
Desire in Britain
For Coordination
Outlines Change Effected,
Status of Labor Party
In the War
Deanery, May 10.�"There is a
desire to coordinate throughout the
whole country," stated the Right
Honorable Margaret Bondfield in
her speech on The British Labor
Party in the War. After giving a
briff outline of the history of the
party, she discussed its present
status in the government and the
structural changes in the regula-
tion of industry which have been
brought about by the war.
Under the Ministry of Labor,
the organization first in importance
for the controlling of industry is
the Council of Industry. The mem-
bership is composed of fifty per
cent of the organized employers
and fifty per cent labor unionists
who are appointed by the Labor
Conference. They have to deal
with the problems of the exchange
of employees, the system of draft-
ing labor, and the training of j
women. Another organization is
the Advisory Committee on pro-
duction, which investigates all in-
dustries for more opportunities of
economy and speed.
The best example of this desire
to cooperate is shown in the coal
industry, long decentralized. The
first recognition of national control
has been in the institution of a
national board consisting of repre-
sentatives of owners, of the gov-
ernment and of the trade union.
An agreement between workers
and owners that non-union miners
do not get increase bonuses has
Continued on Page Five
�Patience' Leads
Skillfully Played
In Performance
Joint    Production    Proves
Disappointing in Lack
Of   Enthusiasm
Women's Engineering
Courses Are Offered
Stevens Institute of Technology
in Hoboken, New Jersey, is offer-
ing three to six months' full time
college level courses in engineer-
ing in order to train college women
for work in War Industries. These
courses are part of the govern-
ment sponsored program of Engi-
neering Science and Management
Defense TFaining.
Continued on Page Five
Princeton   and   Beer
Add  Gaiety  to  First
Bryn Mawr Horseshow
Specially Contributed by
Virginia Ray, '43
Sunday, May 10.�Radnor Ride
was the scene today of the first
Bryn Mawr College Horseshow.
The consensus is that it was a
great success. Good horsemanship
was demonstrated, and the gallery
was swelled by the presence of a
number of Princeton men.
Ice cream and soft drinks were
sold for the benefit of the Bryn
Mawr College Scholarship Fund,
and many members of the gallery
participated in a beer picnic, which
added to the friendly informality
of the afternoon. The beer was
kept in the spring house to cool.
The show was judged by Mr.
Albert Sullivan, a pupil of Colonel
Boswell.    The results were:
Intermediate   Equitation
Choate   ...........................First
Platt    ..........................Second
Hutzler    .........................Third
Bloomfleld   .....................Fourth
Hamilton
Advanced Equitation and
Figure Eight
Estabrook    .......................First
�Cecil     ..........................Second
Dunklee    ........................Third
Dent     ..........................Fourth
Hersey,   Scribner,  Glossbrenner,   Wal-
ker,   Nicholson.   Miles
Outaide Jumping   (Hunt Style)
Glossbrenner    ....................First
Estabrook   .....................Second
Dent   ............................Third
Continued on Page Three
Tree Planting Secret
Even to the Senfors
Who Can Only Guess
Senior Tree Planting took place
in the conventional required sec-
recy on Monday night, promptly at
11 P. M. Nothing was spoiled by
the fact that none of the Seniors
apparently know what the tree is.
"A great tall tree, with leaves that
look like an aspen but really
aren't."
The whole affair is tinged with
deception. Whatever variety this
tree may be, it has been before the
Deanery for at least two months.
Worse still, it was not even paid
for by the class but by the Grounds
Committee. The Seniors hasten to
add that this is not because th%
treasury is bankrupt. To support
this, they point out that to the best
of anyone's knowledge no pennies
have yet been stolen.
Mathematics Relate
Symmetry Concepts
To Different Fields
First Aid Classes Prepared for Amateur
Hangings; Dirty Dish Water is Anticipated
By Ruth Alice Davis, '44
And then there was the Bryn
Mawr girl who prescribed artificial
respiration for the victim who was
having trouble breathing and also
had the minor affliction of a broken
rib. . .
The Standard First Aid Exams
revealed any number of just such
budding genii, ready, willing, and
we wonder how able to administer
"First Aid in divers crises." It
appears that they intend to make
the patient do her own work�for
treatment of a broken back, it was
prescribed that "the victim should
lie on his stomach, and very care-
fully put on a stretcher." Another
proposed, in explaining how to
treat a broken arm, ". . . and next,
I would split the fractured fore-
arm." Consider also those bril-
liants who came to the conclusion
that a "break in the spine" indi-
cated a broken back." Another de-
cided that "if the victim has been
in a bad automobile accident, and
is bleeding in the leg, head injuries
should be looked for. . ."
There were those whose forte
was snakebite, who recognized the
marks of "phangs" as a prominent
symptom, or else a "two-point
bite." Some morbid souls hit their
high on poisons in general�like
the individual who stressed giving
dirty dish water to the victim who
had taken poison by the mouth. We
wonder just what this jolly First
Aider would do at a time like this
if no dishes had been washed re-
cently. One prospective Ellery
Queen, when asked to give various
cases for artificial respiration, re-
plied dramatically' amateur hang-
ing." The question still remains,
just where is the fine line between
amateur and professional in such
a pursuit?
Perhaps the best answer in a
number of cases would have been
that given in an informative tome
entitled "The Weekend Book in
Two Volumes." Referring to
brandy as a remedy for shock, it
Continued on Fage Six
Players Club to Ghe
Writing Club Works
The class in play writing, taught
by Mr. John Gassner, will present
a program of two monologues and
three one-act plays on Saturday in
the Theater Work Shop. It prom-
ises to be an interesting and ex-
citing performance as it is the
culmination of the first year's
work in this new course.
Emphasis has been placed on
writing and criticism rather than
on staging. The program has been
divided into three groups�folk and
domestic drama and that having
universal appeal.
The first group begins with a
monologue of an Irish drunk by
Edgar Emery. It is followed by
a psychological tragedy about the
isolated life of fishermen and is
titled, "Child of the Wind," written
by Isabel' Martin. Lynn Hadyn has
directed it and Doris Benn plays
the leading role.
"Tea for Ten," a monologue
written and presented by Dorcas
Dunklee, begins the second group.
The attempts of two children to
apply their meager knowledge of
psychology to their cook's marital
problems make the following play,
"Psychology Did It" by Sylvia
Maynard a light and provocative
comedy.'
The third play is called "Death
At Fredricksburg" and was writ-
ten and directed by Edgar Emery.
It is the powerful and moving
tragedy of a deserter.
These efforts are entirely experi-
mental and there has been no at-
tempt at the professional.
Dalton, May 6.�The mathemati-
cal concept of symmetry has many
applications to physics, philosophy,
biology and art, said Dr. Weyl in
his lecture on Symmetry. Every-
one, he stated, is familiar with
ordinary bilateral symmetry which
is stressed especially in any ar-
chaic art.
Confining attention to the plane
with a fixed center, he said that
the symmetry of a figure can be de-
scribed by the group of transforma-
tions which leave it invariant.
These consist of rotations and their
combinations with reflections, as
was discovered by Leonardo da
Vinci. In Architecture, this sym-
metry is fourfold; the great Gothic
cathedrals are the most splendid
examples of this kind of symmetry.
In organic structures five is the
prevalent number, although
strangely enough, this number is
not found in inorganic nature.
The regular solids played a large
part in the whole of antiquity and
dominated Plato's conception of the
universe, Dr. Weyl asserted.
Including translations the prob-
lem becomes that of a two-dimen-
sional ornament. The possible ro-
tational symmetries of a two di-
mensional pattern are those of one,
two, three, four, six. Experiments
with the symmetries of any other
Continued on  Pagr Four
By Barbara Kautfman, '43
Last Saturday night's perform-
ance of Pa ticnre by the combined
Haverford and Bryn .Mawr Glee
Clubs was disappointing. Although
the leading roles were well played,
the fresh stimulus which Haver-
ford's participation should have
afforded was not there. There was
an obvious improvement on last
year's all-Bryn Mawr performance,
but in former years Bryn Mawr
alone has done better.
It was not Have^ford's fault,
but the same lack on enthusiasm
which marked last year's Gilbert
and Sullivan performance was evi-
dent. We had hoped that the addi-
tion of new blood might give the
operetta a fresh start, but appar-
ently   something  more   is   needed.
Individual roles showed excep-
tions. Mary Rambo, as Patience,
had a part which affords the great-
est possibility for personal expres-
sion in a type of play which has
by now become highly stylized.
She made the best of the oppor-
tunity and played with delightful
freshness and gaiety. Although
her high notes were somewhat un-
certain, for the rest her technique
was relievingly effortless. Nancy
Sapp, as the faithful Lady Jane,
far outdid the others in singing
and Margot Dethier as Lady An-
gela showed perhaps the most tal-
ent in combined acting and sing-
ing. She brought personality and
life into a part which affords but
little opportunity for it.
Edgar Emery as Bunthorne and
Richard Bauer as Grosvenor were
very good as far as they went.
Although Edgar Emery sang poor-
ly at moments, the clarity of his
diction completely redeemed him.
Both he and Richard Bauer played
well, but neither brought anything
to his role. What the parts asked
of them they performed excellent-
ly, but they added nothing.
The real trouble lay, however,
in the choruses and in the diction
of practically everyone. The girls'
chorus was lifeless, too frequently
flat in more ways than one. The
dragoons sang much better and
Continued on Page Five
Collection of Curious and Ancient Herbals
To Conclude Exhibitions in Rare Book Room
Specially Contributed by
Mary Louite Terrien
The Rare Book Room Committee
has chosen herbals for its last
exhibition of the year. Since this
college has no herbals of its own,
if one excepts an Aldine Theo-
phrastus of 1497, the writer has
had to beg from our more fortu-
nate neighbors. They have re-
sponded most generously and the
room may now really be called a
treasure foom, for it holds many
noteworthy examples of books on
this sixteenth century by-product
of botany, agriculture and medi-
cine.
A great number of rare vol-
umes and prints have come from
the libraries of Mrs. Isaac La
Boiteaux, Mr. S. J. Herben, Mrs.
Alba Johnson, and the Misses
Mary and Margaret Peirce. From
his large and magnificent collec-
tion of herbals, Mr. Richard Lloyd,
of Haverford, has lent five to Bryn
Mawr. Of these, the most im-
portant is the "Grete Herball"
printed by Peter Treveris in 1529.
It is the most fam6us of the earlier
English herbals and is an trans-
lation of "Le Grant Herbier,"
which in turn was a version of the
fifteen century "Circa instans"
now in the Biblioteca Estense at
Modena. From the modern point
of view it contains much that is
decidedly odd with regard to medi-
cal subjects. The remedies, or
"vertues" as they are called, for
various ailments, strike one as
curious and drastic and would
seem to be possible only for an
abnormally robust people.
Probably   the   most   interesting
from a literary point of view is a
"baby" Fuchs  printed  in   Basel in
1545, which has been lent by Miss
Edith   Finch.     Leonarhard   Fuchs,
j like the majority of the herbalists,
'was a physician.    In  1529  he ac-
Continuea on Fag� Five