Cleopatra Selene

Herewith are excerpts from letters come to the desks of the editors during the past week. They are selected primarily for the information they contain either supplementary to, or corrective of, news previously published in TIME.

Pure Food TIME Woodhaven, N. Y.,

New York, N. Y.

Apr. 8, 1925.

Gentlemen:

In TIME of Apr. 6, Page 15, under "Carnivora," is said: "King Darius Mede fed up his lions on Christian men."

This king lived 500 years before Christ, how did he get the Christians?

It seems he deceived the lions by false pretensions on the bill of fare and at this time there was no pure food law. MORRIS SCHAYE.

Subscriber Schaye appears to be in all respects correct. The lines TIME quoted, Darius the Mede was a king and a wonder, His eye was proud and his voice was thunder;

He kept bad lions in a monstrous den; He fed up the lions on Christian men, are from Vachel Lindsay's Daniel, published in his collected poems.*--ED.

Cleopatra Selene

TIME Upper Montclair, N. J.

New York, N. Y. Apr. 13, 1925.

In your issue of Apr. 13, Page 18, column 2, you ask derisively: "Who was Cleopatra's daughter?"

This noble and historic character was brought up at the Roman court ma manner befitting her royal parentage and became the wife of Juba II, King of Mauritania She appears to have been a worthy mate to th remarkable man, who was the great patron of Arts and Letters and one of the most celebrated geographers of antiquity. The classics are full of allusions to her.

WM. M. CARPENTER.

This daughter, Cleopatra Selene, was one of Cleopatra's three children by Mark Antony.--ED.

Marines

TIME Norfolk, Va., New York, N. Y.

Apr. 15, 1925.

Gentlemen:

In the Sea School at Norfolk for marines trained to serve aboard ships in the Atlantic and Caribbean, there is a reading room. On its tables are The New York Times Boston Transcript, Norfolk Virginian Pilot and last, but by no means least, TIME. Reading TIME saves time and adds to the efficiency of a marine. . . . We use the daily newspapers for local gosup, and TIME for personal information Louis ESTELL FAGAN,

Captain, U. S. M. C.

Right Side Up

TIME New York, N.Y. New York, N.Y. Apr. 13, 1925.

Gentlemen:

In your issue of Mar. 23, 1925, Page 18, was an article entitled "For Reference" relating to the shape of the earth. A young man this morning asked me: "Allowing that the suns stands still but that our Earth is revolving around every 24 hours, at night or some time during that 24 hours, why are we not ourselves upside down?" Can you in simple words answer him? H.E. SMITH.

There is no such absolute direction as "down" (or "up") in the universe at large. "Down" is the direction of pull of the Earth's gravity. The rotation of the Earth has no effect on the "up" or "down" direction of any person or object on the Earth's surface.--ED.

Rubber

General Electric Co.,

TIME Schenectady, N. Y.

New York, N. Y. Apr. 14, 1925.

Gentlemen:

I notice in your issue of Apr. 13, Pages 26-27, some very interesting data regarding the rubber plantation industry. This data gives the viewpoint of the rubber consumer....

In 1922, the British Parliament decided to limit rubber production in the Empire to save the plantation industry from ruin as, at that time, millions of British people had invested in this industry hundreds of millions of pounds sterling. Many had waited from five to seven years before receiving any return from new plantations.

In 1921 the average price obtained throughout the year by one well-known con pany was only about 18-c- per Ib. for its rubber; and, as many companies could not produce at this price, it meant that within a short time most of the plantations would again become jungle. If this had happened, tens of millions of people in this country would have been deprived of the use of automobiles. If these companies had gone into the hands of receivers, there is little doubt that the American consumers of rubber would have bought up these plantations at a cost which would have been a great sacrifice to the original investors. After considerable delay, the British Parliament decided on the restriction of rubber production to save the rubber plantation industry. The following average prices of rubber over a period of years are taken from the report of a well-known rubber plantation company, dated April, 1924:

dated April, 1924 YEAR 1919 2/3 1/2d. 1920 9 1/4d. 1921 1/4d. 1922 11 1/2d. 1923 1/2 1/4d.

Before the War, the price of 50-c- per lb. for rubber was not considered high. It is now about 44-c- per lb. I think I am correct in stating that the output of rubber from British territory is now 60% normal and not 50% as stated in your issue; also that the production at the end of this month will be increased to 70%. B. P. COULSON JR.

Home Again TIME Portsmouth, Va., New York, N. Y. Apr. 13, 1925.

Gentlemen:

In your issue of Mar 9. was published my letter calling attention to the improper spelling of the past tense of the verb "to broadcast." Just returning from abroad, I have noticed the publication of letters in TIME, Mar. 23 issue from two grammaticasters, viz: Mr. G. C. Miles of Princeton, N J, taking direct issue, and Mary Adda Reade of Oak Park, III., talking beside the point.

Authority for using "broadcast" as the past tense of the verb "to broadcast" may be found on page 279 of Webster's New International Dictionary, 1920. Also usage by 1,500 radio announcers in the U. S. and Great Britain and a dozen magazines representing the current radio art. The verb form was adapted 15 years ago by the U. S. Navy when a word was needed to denote wide dissemination of radio information to ships at sea. . .

If Mary Reade is joking, I chuckle with her. If not, she might refer to page 939 of Webster's New International Dictionary, 1920, giving one definition of the adjective "grammatical" as "of or pertaining to" grammar. Therefore to use the word "broadcasted" as the past tense of the verb "to broadcast" is properly referred to as a "grammatical" error. A. H. MILES

TIME'S use of "broadcasted" as the past tense of the verb "broadcast was called a grammatical error by scriber A. H. Miles (above) Sub scriber C. H. Miles (not related) subsequently upheld TIME on the grounds that "broadcast" was a weak verb and Subscriber Reade then chuckled: "A word may be ungrammatical, or it may be an error in English, but it can hardly be both grammatical and erroneous."--ED.