The Kinsey Retort
Sir:
In your Dec. 15 Personality sketch of Dr. Alfred Kinsey, you say: "Kinsey traveled 80,000 miles collecting gall wasps, and he measured, catalogued and preserved 3,500,000 specimens to demonstrate their individual variations." Assuming that it would require at least ten minutes to catch, make 28 measurements, and catalogue a single gall wasp, I calculate it would require Dr. Kinsey approximately 13 1/2 years to complete the job on the basis of a 12-hour day. This allows no days off, no time for lunch, and no time to salve the stings (assuming gall wasps sting). Furthermore, if 3,500,000 gall wasps are so stupid as to fall into the hands of a man like Dr. Kinsey--well, they just don't deserve to have any secrets left . . .
ROBERT E. SWANEY
Toledo, Ohio
P: Dr. Kinsey's study of the secret life of the gall wasp (they don't sting) took some 25 years. He had help from a research staff of graduate students, other scientists and, occasionally, his own family.--ED.
"One Must Be So Careful These Days"
Sir:
With characteristic dogmatism (one can hear the empty church re-echoing), TIME Dec. 22 announced that T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets is "the only major poem the 20th century has produced ..." I doubt if Mr. Eliot, who is a Christian and practices a certain humility, would concur in the dizzy valuation placed on his poem. He certainly would not abuse the work of Yeats, Stevens, Rilke and others equally significant, with the term minor poetry . . .
HARVEY GROSS
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Sir:
. . . With one stroke of his would-be Olympian pen, your reviewer ruled out the best of Hardy, Frost, Yeats, Auden, Millay, E. A. Robinson and many others writing in many languages . . .
LYNN SURLES
Milwaukee
Sir:
... I virtually reeled with esthetic shock when I came upon your statement . . . Such vigorous works as Robinson Jeffers' Roan Stallion and Tamar, or Conrad Aiken's Punch: The Immortal Liar, make Eliot's poetic vintage seem about as heady as a watered-down glass of school-picnic cider.
DENNY LARKE
Detroit
Female of the Species
Sir:
Re Mr. Ben Fairless' explanation of why a blast furnace is always known as a lady [TIME, Dec. 22] blast furnaces, engines, planes and almost all complicated mechanisms are referred to as "she" for two additional reasons--it takes more than one man to manage them, and those who get to know them come to love them.
W. ROBERT HOLMES
Wheaton, Ill.
Quizzing Junior
Sir:
It is fairly easy to understand why the pupils in our schools are lagging in writing [TIME, Dec. 22]. One reason is the lack of necessity to write. Every year hundreds of tests and examinations are given in the "True or False" method. The pupil is given a paper on which the questions are printed with a space after each question marked "True or False?" . . . All that is required of the pupil is to put a check mark in one or the other of open spaces! ... In the old days, at least we profited to a certain extent in learning to express ourselves in writing . . .
GLADYS BROOKS
Marshall, Mich.
A Legion for Korea
Sir:
There have been many plans suggested to end the war in Korea . . . My plan would entail the formation of a Foreign Legion comprised of Japanese men from the ages of 19 to 25 years. This age limit would be necessitated to eliminate any men who might have fought against the Allies in World War II. The strength of this force would be 150,000 men. Enlistment would naturally be voluntary, with the stipulation that after five years of service, these men would be mustered out, allowing a given percentage to come to the U.S. and become citizens. Others could settle in other member nations of the U.N. or in South Pacific islands of comparatively small population. Of course, to direct this army, U.S. officers would have to be employed with the aid of Japanese noncoms. This army could be injected into trouble spots that may arise throughout the world, but at present, the ending of the Korean war would be their main objective . .
JAMES P. O'BRIEN
Milwaukee
Incapacitated, etc.
Sir:
Re "Yankee Renaissance"--TIME, Dec. 8: Nothing so upsets a technical man as abuse of the fundamental parts of his trade by the press. At the risk of seeming supercilious, and at the risk that somebody had suddenly redefined one of the three basic parts of all electrical circuits, I protest your use of the word "capacitators" [instead of "capacitors"*] . . . This is a small matter (like the dead fly in your bowl of soup some time), but I can't let it go by ...
D. F. ALEXANDER
Dayton
Sir:
Can it be that my TV set will not function because the "capacitators" are incapacitated?
ALBERT J. SCHMIDT
Whiting, Ind.
Sir:
. . . TIME's editator must have nodded.
ESTILL I. GREEN
Short Hills, NJ.
P: A researchitator was also dozing.--ED.
The Legion & Hollywood
Sir:
A word should be said about Walter Kerr's analysis of the Legion of Decency [TIME, Dec. 22]. Because Mr. Kerr failed to keep one very important factor in mind, his otherwise thoughtful criticism of the Legion was not to the point. Whatever may be the artistic similarities of books, stage productions and motion pictures, they have entirely different distribution problems. The picture industry has successfully secured almost every possible outlet for films. This includes Saturday matinees, neighborhood theaters, double bills, family shows, foreign markets and audiences with various degrees of maturity. A product destined by company policy for almost indiscriminate booking has broader social obligations than a book or play prepared for a limited group . . .
(THE REV.) JOHN T. FOUDY
Assistant Superintendent of Catholic Schools
San Francisco
Back in Fashion
Sir:
Concerning the story about the lady who asked how many times a year they pelt the mink [TIME, Dec. 29]. For gosh sakes, how naive can you get? Surely 25 years ago I heard it. The rancher's reply then was: "Just once a year, lady. We used to skin 'em more often, but it makes 'em awful noivous."
CHAPMAN F. GOODWYN
Bristol, Va.
* A storehouse for electric energy which will block the flow of direct current while offering less resistance to the passage of alternating current.
This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.