College News, 1943-10-14, Vol. 30, No. 03

              9
The college News
VOL. XL, NO. 3
ARDMORE and BRYN MAWR, PA., THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1943
Copyright, Trusted of
Bryn M�wr ColUg-. 1943
PRICE 10 CENTS
Chan to Discuss
The Human Spirit
In Art of Orient
Lectures on Chinese Cul-
ture are First in Gift
Series of Class of '97
Mr. Wing-Tsit Chan, Professor
of Chinese Culture at Dartmouth
College, will open a series of lec-
tures on oriental civilization with
five lectures on the theme of "The
Spirit of Man in Chinese Culture."
^'Rhythmic Vitality �in Chinese
Art" will be the subject of the
first talk to be given in Goodhart
Hall on October 16 at 8.30.
An Oriental scholar and philos-
opher, Mr. Chan took his bachel-
or's degree at Lingnan University
and his master's degree and doc-
torate in philosophy at Harvard.
In 1929 Mr. Chan returned to
Lingnan where he became Dean of
the Faculty and was Professor of
Philosophy until 1936. He has held
other positions in Chinese Univer-
sities as Lecturer of Philos-
ophy at National Sun Yat Sen Un-
iversity and Lecturer in Aesthe-
tics at the Institute of Drama in
Canton. He was also a professor
of Chinese Philosophy and Insti-
tutions, University of Hawaii. Mr.
Chan has been at Dartmouth Col-
lege  since 1942.
Chinese Delegate
As the Chinese delegate to many
educational conferences, he at-
tended the World Federation of
Educational Associations Confer-
ence in Geneva and the Far Eas-
tern Higher Educational Confer-
ence in Manila. He was also a
delegate to the Institute of Pacific
Relations Conference and is a
member of the China-Philippines
Committee.
Mr. Chan's lectures at Bryn
Mawr will be the first in a series
which is the gift of the class of
1897 given to the college last
spring. Lectures on Russia and
Japan are planned for a later
date.
Language Technique
Approved by Gilman
Common    Room,    October    12.
Stressing the importance of a
purely oral approach to a lan-
guage and the use of a native
speaker combined with a trained
linguist, Miss Gilman discussed
the new "intensive method" of
teaching languages. Her lecture
was based on the trip she took to
the University of Wisconsin this
summer to study the technique as
it was practiced in the training
of an Army Language and Area
group.
The important features of this
method, she said, are first, that it
is essential to learn to speak a
language before writing it. To do
this, a larger portion of the stud-
ent's time, eight hours a week in-
stead of three, must be devoted to
the task. The third aspect is the
use of a native "informant" com-
bined with an experienced teacher
to analyze the sentences of the in-
formant.
Miss Gilman's interest in the
method is its practicability to civ-
ilian teaching. Some of the prin-
ciples have already been applied
to the elementary course in French
here at Bryn Mawr. The most
important factor, she feels, is the
oral approach to the language. The
number of hours to be devoted to
the course should be a compromise
between    three    and    eight.
Wing-Tsit Chan
'43 Makes its Mark;
Wares Predominate
In Service Branches
Delving into the whereabouts of
the class of 1943 reveals that they
have not been idle. According to
current tabulation there are seven
WAVES and one WAC, a Wash-
ington group, and concentrated
areas of Bryn Mawr in Philadel-
phia and New York. Geographi-
cally they range from Mexico near-
ly to Algiers.
The official Class Baby is Alis-
oun Kuhn,  born on July 9th, the
daughter of Sally   Jacobs   Kuhn.
Other  members of the class who
Continued on Page  i
First College Counci
Considers Red Qross
Topics of Assemblies
The Deanery, October 6:
The possibility of a Red Cross
room on campus and suggestions
for War Alliance assemblies were
the main topics of discussion at
the first College Council meeting
of the year.
With the assistance of Shipley,
Baldwin, and Harcum, a Red Cross
room would be established in Good-
hart for rolling bandages. Objec-
tions raised to such a plan were
the relative usefulness of such
work and whether the enrollment
would be sufficient to warrant the
necessary arrangements. It was
decided to see how many students
would be interested in bandage
rolling before continuing specific
plans.
A definite hour for the assem-
blies has not been decided. Under
the present system no opportunity
for discussion is afforded. In dis-
cussing topics, Mrs. Manning stat-
ed that some faculty felt that the
subjects of the lectures should
deal more with national problems.
In current event talks the Alli-
ance this year-plans to have under-
graduate and graduate speakers
as well as faculty. Miss Lenore
Blum, graduate representative,
suggested that the graduate dis-
cussion groups merge with the
undergraduate this year.
Bertrand Russell Reviews Principles
Of Interference in Logic of Induction
Bertrand  Russell
Spontaneous Wyndhamite Bucket Brigade
Puts Out Own Soap Barrel Conflagration
By Virginia Belle Reed, '44
Every year there is a fire on
campus, and lest you should have
some uneasy moments about this,
we wish to tell you that this year's
fire is over; Wyndham had it. We
shall tell you the strange tale of
its appearance and the almost
equally mysterious circumstances
of its disappearance last Wednes-
day night.
The first sign of this notorious
conflagration occurred in the sit-
ting room of the French House.
People were gathered around the
couch poking the pillows experi-
mentally and sniffing the air for
smoke. Franny Parrish announc-
ed that one corner was definitely
wanner than the other, but that
was to be suspected�she'd been
sitting on it for some time. Mean-
while the sniffing increased and an
undeniable evidence of fire (i. e.
smoke) led others out to the hall.
There on a soap-powder barrel
looking exceedingly dramatic and
very, very dangerous, sat a large
pile of briskly burning papers.
Hilly Dunn peered at it with near-
sighted interest and announced
authoritatively, "This 3oesn't look
quite natural."
The hubbub increased, the walls
were being blackened by the blaz-
ing papers, and maids who slept
nearby appeared in various stages
of deshabile to investigate the fur-
or.    It was then 11.30.
A bucket brigade poured great
quantities   of   water   from   every
Tryouts
The restrictions against
Freshmen working on the News
have been lifted, and tryouts
for all Freshmen interested are
being held this Thursday at
1:30 in the News room in Good-
hart.
Purpose of Poetry
Explained by Auden
By April Oursler, '46
"The brutal  truth about teach-
ing is that the most effective way
to show someone  something is to
refuse to show them," said W. H.
Auden as he attempted to explain
the purpose   of   his   new   course
here and the purpose of poetry in
general.    "I don't know what you
are going to get out of the course
�that's up to you," he went on to
say. "I'm here to   find  out   some
more about art for myself."
He certainly does  not mean to
conceivable   vessel   in   Wyndham, turn   out   a   clag8   of   pro8pective
and  somebody  must have phoned poets,  and anyone  who  asks  him
whether they should write or not
the fire department, but it seemed
that this magnificent event was
slated to go unnoticed, doomed to
cruel obscurity . . . nothing hap-
pened.
The telephone rang. It was
Miss Howe, who was promptly
asked if she were calling about the
fire. She affirmed this wild guess
with "Yes, yes, yes," and asked if
Mme. Dony had everything under
control. They informed her that oh
yes, indeed she had, and went to
waken her.
Much later the sirens rang. The
inmates  of Wyndham smiled with
pleased    glee;    this     was     about
THEIR FIRE.    But poor Denbigh
Continued on Page  i
Wright Gives Details
Of Chemistry Career
By Ruth Alice Davis, *44
"I'm a chemical meeting fan,"
she said, "that is, I like to go and
meet all the chemists!" Miss
Mary Elizabeth Wright, the new-
ly appointed lecturer in Organic
Chemistry, was far more eager to
tell us all about the loot of sam-
ples and gifts she carried away
from chemical meetings than to
give us the details of her life his-
tory. Along with other graduate
students from Bryn Mawr, Miss
Wright acted as an assistant at a
chemical society meeting in At-
lantic   City,   hi
"They gave us nylon stockings,
perfume, and even a five-dollar
box of vitamin pills," she said.
"We took the pills to use during
our exams in the fall�maybe
that's why we passed,"
Miss Wright was graduated
from Barnard College in 1939, and
received her M. A. and Ph.D. at
Bryn Mawr, in '40 and '43 respec-
Continutd from Page i
will receive an unconditional "No"
for an answer. If you are going
to write, he said, you won't have
to ask someone else's advice be-
fore starting. Literature courses
are the worst possible preparation
for a writer, who, though he
should be fully familiar with all
great literary works, should con-
centrate more in college on ob-
taining a working knowledge of
all available fields.
As for the value of writing
poetry, Auden feels that the most
important thing is the fun the poet
himself gets out of it. "History
has shown that art hasn't made
the world a better place," he ex-
plained. It can merely reflect the
world to the reader, and Auden
does not feel that poetry can force
the reader to make a decision, and
change the state of affairs. He
Continued on  Ptge 4
Inferiority of Deduction
Stated by Well-Known
Philosopher
Goodhart, October 8. The prin-
ciples of inference involved in in-
ductive and probability logic were
examined by Mr. Bertrand Russell,
eminent philosopher and logician,
in his lecture last Friday. Mr. Rus-
sell contrasted the logic of deduc-
tion, which he said consists of little
more than tautologies, with the
logic of induction which argues
from experience. He demonstrat-
ed the inferiority of deduction by
defining it as logic where the
premise is true, the inference is
valid, but the conclusion is only
probable. This lecture on "The
Limitations of Deductive Logic" is
the first of a series of five which
Mr. Russell will give here on the
"Postulates of  Scientific Method."
Inductive Inference
The modern mind wants gener-
alizations from experience, stated
Mr. Russell. Inductive logic,
which revolves around the essen-
tial principle that a multitude of
like instances approach certainty,
formulates its generalities from
particular knowledge. For scien-
tific knowledge or even for daily
existence to continue, he said, the
premises made by inductive logic
about such a multitude of instan-
ces must be accepted even though
they can never be completely prov-
ed. Thus, from experience, one
may justifiably predict that the
sun will rise tomorrow.
Probability  Judgments
Mr. Russell objected to the prin-
ciple of inference used in proba-
bility judgments, and as an exam-
ple, pointed out the limitations of
a calculation of probability in a
case of chance. The chance that
a tossed penny will land "heads-
up" is supposedly fifty-fifty but
Mr. Russell refuted Reichenbach's
claim that after a certain point
the limits of chance continued un-
varied and maintained that the
probability could be accurately
stated after calculations from an
infinite succession of tosses.
Doubtful  Judgments
Such a case of probability,
stressed Mr. Russell, must be kept
distinct from one of doubtful judg-
ment, arising from distrust of
either report or fact or individual
impression. Thus, when Reichen-
Continued on Ptge 4
Escapes from War-torn Areas of World
Described by Members of Freshman Class
By April Oursler, '46
Escape from war-torn countries
is a commonplace in the lives of
several Freshmen this year, who
describe their own departures
from Europe and China~with a_
vividness and clarity tha^ajnpha-
sizes what one of them termed
"the general attitude of ignorance
and lack of interest in current his-
fche~ffci:   ~ 39*2^^3^on t),e part 0f the American
student."
Susan Durgin, daughter of the
assistant naval attache to the
American embassy in Berlin, had
been in Germany for two years
when Hitler marched into Poland
in the fall of 1939. The final or-
der from Washington that all
American women and children
were to evacuate within twenty-
four hours came on the day that
England and France declared war
on Germany. In the rush that fol-
lowed, Susan and her mother
caught the last train leaving for
Denmark. The train, patrolled
constantly by soldiers, was crowd-
ed with the aged and sick, and the
women and children were forced to
carry all their luggage. The
"Kungsholm" carried the Ameri-
cans from Denmark to New York,
detouring past Sweden to Iceland
in  order to avoid submarines.
Ruth Heinsheimer and Eva
Krafft, both of whom also escaped
from German-held territory, tell
much the same story. Eva, who
lived in the Sudetanland, fifteen
minutes' walk from Germany, de-
scribed the gradual strengthening
of Hitler's power among the Sude-
ContinueJ on Pag* 4