BOOKS

BEYOND THE FLYLEAF Science Is α Sacred Ccw. ANTHONY

STANDEN. 221 pages. E. P. Dutton & Co.. Inc.. New York, Ν. Y. 1950. S2.75. Reviewed by Richard L. Kenyon, CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING NEWS.

AMERICA is the land of spectator sports and the baiting of "sacred çows" is a favorite. Anthony Standen battles with gusto; he puts on a first-rate show and does an interesting job of what he sets out to do, but occasionally, in the heat of the battle, he substitutes his own hand-made annual for the original.

Mr. Standen says his aim is to expose one of the greatest sophistries of the world, "the over-extension of the scien­tific method into realms where it does not belong." To be as accurate as he de­mands of hi , scientists, he should have said, "the over-extension of what is called the scientific method by its users into realms where the real thing doesn't be­long." The crusade is laudable and Standen pursues it with zeal—so much so that sometimes he is hoist with his own petard, making absolute and all-inclusive statements while criticizing scientists for just that: "No one ever doubts what is said by a scientist" or science "is always taught by scientists who are so busy keep­

ing up with science that they can never look at it from the outside." But then he is allowed to exaggerate for effect. . In places Standen's aprproach seems to

be as unfair as a book review; he hand-picks the most useful examples to prove his contentions, while allowing an infer­ence of generality. He quotes voluble "scientists" whose noises arouse doubt that the scientific fraternity is proud of them. He says, ". . . if a given person becomes subject to 'bias' through power­ful and subtle corrupting influences, he ceases to be a scientist although he may hold Ph.D. degrees from a half-dozen universities." Broadly, this can be applied to most of those he quotes. He suggests that Dr. Kinsey's book "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" should be "The Sexual Behavior of 5,300 Men Who Were Willing to Talk About It." In the same light, Standen's book might be subtitled "Some 'Scientists' Are Pompous Wind­bags." But it isn't fair to declare the author out of bounds with these examples, for he is chiding their bowing before a "sacred cow"—and they are doing it.

Attacking not scientific knowledge but overblown praise for the benefits of a little scientific study, Standen says: "The

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more of this information everybody has the better, but it is only those who dish it out who are fooled into thinking that it has anything to do with moral values and patient sacrificial inquiry."

He laughs at much that passes for scientific research but which amounts merely to gathering data and correlating them. About 90% of the scientific papers, he estimates, require no more than atten­tion to detail and the use of some rather complicated mathematics developed by in­telligent men but which almost anyone can be trained to use. But "correlation" is one of the idols.

Scientific evangelists, particularly edu­cators, are attacked forthrightly. But even the best scientists, whom he con­siders humble, are condemned for making no effort to control the "ridiculous ex­cesses of these hucksters." He takes a whack at the "dreadful cocksureness that is characteristic of scientists in bulk" and their delight in making statements that science has "proved" or that "authori­ties have shown" and their idea that the Scientific Method is the cure-all for man­kind. Scientists reserve great praise for their own objectivity, he says, but they take their objectivity the easy way, prac­ticing it on objects, where it is not in the least difficult.

The largest portion of the book is de­voted to rating and berating the indi­vidual sciences. Physics is the best of the lot and chemistry is not far behind, with other physical sciences acceptable. He respects these when properly handled as they develop hypotheses and substantiate them by experiment—Standen's criterion of science. But all are plagued with pom­pous and careless talkers of the omnipo­tence of their fields. Mathematics is the one true science and is really worth while, but the reasons, he declares, are obscured in our modern scientific climate of opinion. And it has been abused by a lot of people who don't understand it.

Standen jeers at the sciences dealing with things that are alive. Biology: "There is practically nothing there but descrip­tive facts, and facts alone do not make a science." "Biology is not accurate think­ing, but accurate observation and imagi­native thinking with great sweeping gen­eralizations." On psychology: "Psycholo­gists pay lip service to the scientific method and use it wherever it is conven­ient; but when it isn't they make wild leaps of their uncontrolled fancy and still suppose themselves grounded firmly on objective fact."

Worst of all are the social studies, where he can see only traces of the scien­tific method. They study nothing that is fixed or constant and reduce the "hypothe­sis" to "such a miserably feeble thing that all the highly tooted virtues of the scientific method are squeezed out of it."

The last chapter warns "Watch Those Scientists." For, says Standen, "the pros­pect of what science may do to men is horrible." He mentions atomic bombs and biological warfare only in passing. Scientists, pretending they know nothing

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about wha t we should aim for, h e de­clares, have simple and very bad ways of deciding. A grim picture is painted of the control of brain waves, hormones, and other human factors, bringing all to "that glorious ideal, t he average/ ' The most alarming are the "social scientists." Their typical tool, in Mr. Standen's picture, is the straw poll. This new "science" lends itself admirably to organized snooping under the impressive names of "social engineering" or "biotechnology." "There is a real and dreadful prospect that the social scientists will find well-heeled spon­sors for -work on the 'problems of em­ployees / They will make every employee not exactly happy, b u t happy in his job. H e will b e permit ted to stay happy as long as h e stays in his job, but woe be­t ide him if he betrays a trace of that old-fashioned feeling, a longing for inde­pendence ."

Mr. Standen has used the worst of science and scientists to do the whole a n injustice in the publ ic respect—or perhaps he has only thrown the light on something which is happening. He will have done some good if the scientists read t he book with broad thought on their place in society.

T h e breezy bu t not flippant style in easily readable and effective. T h e writ­ing seems at first simply the venting of the feelings of an irritated man. But thoughtful reading shows a man laugh­ing, as h e recommends, a t the sophists who are cluttering the field in their scramble to impress themselves and others through sloppy, wordy attempts to as­sume a glowing mantle of science. H e argues convincingly that the sacred cow cult had better be laughed out of the picture.

Engineer's Dictionary: Spanish-English and English-Spanish. Louis A. ROBB. 2nd ed . 664 pages. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. , 440 Fourth Ave., New York 6, N. Y. 1949. Reviewed by F . A. Raven of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

T H I S glossary contains roughly 40,000 entries in each of its two parts, devoted to "covering electrical and mechanical engineering . . . thoroughly." This objective has been accomplished by in­cluding radio and television terminology not appearing in t he first edition ( 1949 ), by bringing "all branches of civil engi­neering u p to da t e , " by paying "special attention to the photogrammetry, soil me­chanics, and airport construction" and b y inclusion of "important terms peculiar to mining, shipbuilding, logging, sugar mill­ing, and oilfield operations." This desk volume undeniably fulfills these objectives s ta ted by the compiler and is therefore t he most comprehensive, up-to-date, and accurate of its size this reviewer has yet examined. For example, on page 53 a p ­pears the entry cabalgadura, "pack ani­m a l " and immediately following, t he word cabalgar, "to lap over." Now, ordinarily t h e latter means "to ride horseback," bu t in engineering usage this idea of " to

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straddle" or "to fork" a horse has under­gone a logical semantic change. Note that only the engineering use is included. Moreover, the foregoing is characteristic, and also, equivalents are distinguished ac­cording to specialized fields.

It should be mentioned that this ex­cellent and much needed contribution to Anglo-Hispanic technological literature is not so much technically a dictionary as the title suggests, but ra ther a glossary, for it contains preponderantly equivalents and not definitions, and an explanation of this appears in the preface.

With respect to a criticism of "bad Spanish," leveled against the compiler and mentioned also in the preface, I should like to state unequivocally that this rebuke is even more pedant ic than my own mild criticism of the title. In all active fields of human endeavor a con­tinuous jargon, or "Schenectady Greek" is being forged necessarily, to meet the exigencies of describing cultural recom­binations. These critics should remember that the "bad" usage of today has the embarrassing property of becoming sanc­tified, i.e., accepted b y the self-styled arbiters of good usage, and results in the good usage of tomorrow. Fortunately for the development of language, perhaps, engineers must complete their projects at a higher rate of speed than usual in the acceptance of linguistic change.

NEW BOOKS A.S.T.M. Standards on Gaseous Fuels. 98

pages. American Society for Testing Materials, 1916 Race St., Philadelphia 3, Pa. $1.15.

Bacteriological Technique; A Guide for Medical Laboratory Technicians. W. W . W . M C E W E N . 301 pages. Chemical Publishing Co., 26 Court St., Brooklvn 2, Ν. Υ. $4.50.

Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lighting. IT. A. M I L L E R . 138 pages. Chemical Pub­lishing Co., 26 Court St., Brooklyn 2, Ν. Υ. $3.75.

Course in General Chemistry; Semi-Micro Alternate Form. 3rd éd. W. C. BRAY et al 230 pages. Macmillan Co., 60 Fifth Ave., New York 11, Ν. Υ. $3.00.

Design and Production. Colin Carrnichael, editor, xii -f- 1660 pages. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. , 440 Four th Ave., New York 16, Ν. Υ. $8.50.

Frictional Phenomena. A N D R E W G E M A N T . 508 pages. Chemical Publishing Co., 26 Court St., Brooklyn 2 , Ν. Υ. $12.00

Hormones; Physiology, Chemistry, and Applications. Vol. I I . Gregory Pincus and K. V. Thimann, editors, ix -+- 782 pages. Academic Press, Inc. , 125 East 23rd St., N e w York, Ν. Υ. $12.50.

Kent's Mechanical Engineers ' Handbook. 12th ed. Power. K. J. Salisbury, editor, xii 4- 1459.

Molecules in Motion. T. G. COWLING. 183 pages. Longmans, Green and Co., 55 Fifth Ave., New York 3 , Ν . Υ. $1.60.

Nuclear Physics; A Textbook. FRANCIS BITTER. 208 pages. Addison-Wesley Press, 308 Kendall Sq. Bldg., Cam­bridge 42, Mass. $5.50.

Specialty Papers ; Their Properties and Applications. R. H. Mosher, editor. 537 pages. Remsen Press, Brooklvn, Ν. Υ. $10.

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