Philosophers

In a Philadelphia ale house in 1727, Benjamin Franklin and most of his "ingenious acquaintance" met to query one another on Morals, Politics or Natural Philosophy. Franklin, at that time 21, gave to his informal club the provocative name of Junto. Later, with the wisdom of age, it became the American Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge.

Last week its direct descendant, the American Philosophical Society, bigger and perhaps wiser, celebrated its 200th anniversary at Philadelphia with the reading of learned papers--many of which might well have shocked Philosopher Franklin.

No Intervention. Evolutionary theories according to Darwin and Lamarck explain results, but not origins. There seems to be a general belief that some pre-determined "design" started evolution on its course. This is erroneous. There never was, as regards living matter, any "special intervention of the Deity."--Dr. Francis X. Dercum of Jefferson Medical College, who was elected President of the American Philosophical Society.

Ape Descent, No. About 16,000,000 years ago, the family of man sprang from a stock which was neither human nor apelike. Scientists should search diligently for this form in Central Asia, should banish "the myth and bogie of ape-man ancestry."--Dr. Henry F. Osborn of Columbia, President of the American Museum of Natural History.

Ape Descent, Yes. "Our direct ape ancestors . . . first turned our backbone from the horizontal position to a vertical position and they helped to eliminate our monkey tails. ... To our friendly and jolly ape ancestors we owe more than the rudiments of our live-and-let-live policy, the basis of our sense of humor and some of the best features of our family life. Our venerable ape ancestors are bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh. Perhaps some of our descendants will be wise enough to organize a nation-wide society of the sons and daughters of dryopithecus."-- Dr. William K. Gregory of Columbia, colleague and onetime pupil of Dr. Osborn.

Mars and Venus. "It is estimated that the midnight temperature of equatorial Mars is minus 40DEG centrigrade. The night temperature would seem to exclude from Mars the higher types of life, but might permit certain archaic types to exist.

"On the other hand, the temperature of the planet Venus is approximately that of pur tropics and is suitable for luxuriant vegetation. Venus, however, is surrounded by a heavy blanket of clouds and it is impossible for us to determine through the use of the spectroscope whether conditions are such that life might exist there."--Dr. Charles G. Abbott of the Smithsonian Institution.

Bad Reading. "I have read Macaulay's essay on Bacon some dozen times, because it is the source of more plausible errors in contemporary opinion than any other writing known to me except Spencer on education and Wells's history." --Dr. Paul Shorey, Professor of Greek at the University of Chicago.

Menace. Higher education is now gravely menaced because it is almost impossible to recruit men of first-rate intellectual ability for college faculties.--Dr. James Rowland Angell, President of Yale University.

New Members. Fifteen scholars, few of them philosophers, were elected to the American Philosophical Society. Among them were: Dr. Roy Chapman Andrews, famed discoverer of dinosaur eggs in Mongolia (TIME, Oct. 29, 1923); Dr. William Lyon Phelps of Yale, optimistic critic of literature; Dr. Irving Fisher of Yale, economist-Prohibitionist; Dr. Max L. Margolis of Dropsie College, philologist and Jewish historian.