Wednesday, May 17, 1950

THE COLLEGE NEWS

Page Three

 

Penn State Astro-Physicist Considers
Possible Physical Basis of Bird Navigation

Continued from Page 1

denly dip to avoid it. I wondered
how, developing as quickly as
they did, without training and
presumably without much intelli-
gence, they could navigate so
skillfully.”

Mr. Yeagley eventually acquired
and then sold again those same
pigeons—at a price each time be-
fitting their advanced age and re-
duced number. His transactions
were continually confused by the
fact that the pigeons kept coming
back to their old home. The most
impressive of these returns was
the last.and tragic one—a flight of
ninety miles. home. from. a gun
range in, Philadelphia.. Mr, Yeag-
ley’s interest. in homing... pigeons
then waned; for a. time his,-atten-
tion was absorbed exclusively (as
he said) .by pole. vaulting and
dates.

“Years later “when I had become
a physicist”, Mr.. Yeagley ~came
across an article in the National
Geographic, which explained that
bats can fly blind because their
ears have a peculiar sensitivity to
high frequency sound waves.
“Here was the solution, within the
boundaries of physics, of one of
the puzzles that I had noticed
from the door of the blacksmith’s
shop. I began to read up on the
other puzzle, bird navigation. I
happened on the suggestion that
birds are aware of influences in
flying through the earth’s mag-
netic field. I began to look for an-
other physical factor as a guiding
influence in bird navigation.

“One evening I took down Web-
ster’s Dynamics of a Particle (I’m
not awfully good at math, but it’s
always fascinated me) and just
happened to open to an explana-
tion of coriolis effect. Coriolis ef-
fect. is caused by the rotation of
the earth, and is a function of lat-
itude. If.a bird flies.over the earth
directly parallel to the equator, it
experieces no coriolis effect. But
if it flies north of the equator, it
is being accelerated to the rignt
to a greater or less degree, de-

pending on “its distance’ from ‘the.

equator, because of the rotation of
the earth beneath it. Thus if a
bird flew’ in a perfectly straight
line, meaning to reach an object at
gome distance, it would find itself
to the left of that object. In the
course of thousand's of years, birds
have presumably learned to adjust
themselves to the coriolis effect.
Latitude lines are lines of equal
coriolis effect. Magnetic effect can
be considered as: existing on lines
radiating from a spot near the
north pole. These line cross each
other in such a way that identical
combinations of magnetic and co-
riolis conditions can exist in two
Places on the earth. It is Mr.
Yeagley’s theory. that pigeons are
guided in flight by lines of coriolis
effect and by lines of magnetic ef-
fect, and that they regard as

 

 

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NANCY BROWN

Bryn Mawr Avenue

 

 

 

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either of the two places
where exists that combination of
magnetic and coriolis effect to
which they. have become accustom-
ed.

(Mr.
pieces of evidence to support his
Some he has found
pigeon journals. The pigeon jour-
nal is the periodical of pigeon
racers, who race their pigeons in
speed of home-coming. “The pig-
eon is the poor man’s racehorse” :
said Mr. Yeagley.

Mr. Yeagley has experimented
with, the effects of the earth’s
magnetic field on the flight of pig-j
eons. He attached copper discs
to the wing of one set of pigeons,
and magnetic discs to the wings
of another and then released, both
sets of birds at the same moment,
at the same distance from home.
He found that the magnets retard-
ed and confused the home flight of
the birds. With the help of others
interested, Mr. Yeagley hag train-
ed pigeons to fly home to the area
around State College; he has then
taken them to the so-called conju-
gate point in Nebraska, where the
same magnetic and coriolis lines
meet and has tested their flight
home.

Enough birds have been found
and reported on the direct route
home to State College to indicate
support for this theory. Another
man interested in Mr. Yeagley’s
theory has trained birds in Nebras-
ka and released them in the East.
Mr. Yeagiley also explained that |
the atmospheric conditions and the
landscape of the two conjugate '
points are very dissimilar; it seems
a further indication of the influ-
ence of magnetic and coriolis ef- |
facts, that in spite of this dissim.
ilarity the birds seek to fly from
one conjugate point to the other:

Mr. Yeagley concluded with an
account of some of the proud ex-
ploits of his pigeons. He is at
preesnt training wild ducks for
further experience in electro-mag-
netic effects,

“What I like about this prob-
Jem,” said Mr. Yeagley, “is that
there’s no profit in it. It’s of no
earthly use to any big industry.”
One susjects that another reason
is that he has become very fond of
his ducks and his homing pigeons.

“home”

Yeagley has found various

theory. in

 

There will be a square dance
held in the Haverford gym Fri-
day night at nine~o’clock, im-
mediately following a Charlie
Chaplin movie. Bryn Mawr fac-
ulty and students are invited.
Admission 25 cents.

 

 

 

 

 

Murder
In the Mosque

by Helen Katz, ’53

The Mohammedan, with the blue
eyes showing out from slits’ in his
yellow face, wrapped the cloak
tighter about him and stepped out
of the alley. He hurried into the
mosque and crept up the aisle.

He stopped behind a bowed man |

facing Mecca; slowly he withdrew
a glimmering blade from his robe.
He prayed aloud, his voice in uni-
son with that of the man in front
of him, and then, rising slowly,
plunged the -knife into his back.
* * 6

The = salugi
chief - inspector - of - the - Bag -

dad - police - and - fire - depart-
| attention to his. notices, to what

ments - combined) stood sneaker-
deep in blood. Outside Mohamme-
dans could be heard wailing at
the top of their voices.

“Ahem!” he said. “Ahem!” And
then, “We have a murder on our
hands! I notice that this man has
very short. arms. I do not think
he could have reached around and
stabbed himself. Therefore, I con-
clude that someone has stabbed
him. This is murder.” he said in
his most serious tone. His face
firm and determined. He stroked
his temples and looked severe. His
mother was British.

The wailing of the Mohamme-
dans increased.

“Sir,” said the lugi (Mohamme-
dan for assistant-chief-inspector-
of - the - Baghdad - police - and -

‘fire - departments - combined) “the

people are raising:a terrible rum-
pus, — we’d better ‘find out who
murdered their leader at once.”

“We shall,” said the salugi, “and
not

you may be sure that he will be

seriously punished for his crime.’ |
The salugi looked perplexed. “Now |

then, who are our suspects. The
only people in the mosque at the
time all say they were facing
Mecca, and didn’t see. One must
be lying. Bring them all in here
at once.”

Three ugis (Mohammedan for
under - assistants - to --the - chief-
inspector -.of - the - Baghdad -
police - and - fire - departments -
combined) brought in the suspects;
there were twelve of them. Al!
were wrapped in white cloaks and
had slitted eyes peering out from
yellow faces. The dead man’s wife
arrived at that moment on the arm
of an ugi. She was wailing also.

Still facing Mecca, the salugi
questioned her. “Did your husband
have any enemies?”

“A few, you see, he went to
Princeton.”

“T see,” said the salugi, thought-
fully. “This poses a problem.” He

Continued on Page 4

 

 

Sleeping Beauty just stirred at the kiss...
What woke her up was really this:

 

Qonk sins

 

(Mohammedan for '|

‘Acting Techniques of Delsarte,

specially contributed by
Frederick Thon

Continued from Last Week

Hanmer, who recently played the
psychopathic murderer in
Man, and Sanford Meisner,
merly of the Group Theatre. Han-
mer, asked how he prepared the
role of the psychopath, told how
he developed everything as if it
were completely logical to him.
Asked eae he and the director
worked® together, he answered,
“We fought. But -we knew each
other very well and could resolve
our conflicts as they arose.” ~An
actor, he declared, should pay less

 

the critics said, than to his own
judgment of his work. Style in
acting he believed to be “a coat
put on afterward, but the rack
should be there first.” He spoke
of the Actors Studio in New York
as one of the means whereby an
actor can further his development,
although at present the waiting
list, is unfortunately several thou-
sand long and the studio must
necessarily remain small.

Mr. Meisner defined the training
of the young actor as being prim-
arily “the breaking down of what
prevents him from responsive ac-
tion.” He sketched the develop-
ment of actor training from the
early Delsarte theory based on ex-
ternal imitation of the results of
inner experience; for instance, the
hand to the heart for “in love,”

 

ete. Delsarte emphasized grace of

‘bearing and beauty of voice, the

actor imitating the emotions but
actually experiencing them.
This whole facade crumbled under

 

 

MEET AT THE GREEK’S
Tasty Sandwiches
Refreshments

LUNCHES — DINNER

 

 

 

| ing that the
Acting was discussed by Don)

The |
for- |
“did not

 

Stanislavski Discussed at Vassar

the impact of modern psychology

| and realism. Stanislavski, search-

ing for truth in acting and know-
inner aspects, the
elements of the unconscious, are
the most difficult to . develop,
formulated his theories as a means
to release the creative impulse. He
invent his system of
training any more than Freud in-
vented the unconscious.” The body
must be responsive to inner pres-
sures; actors do not need beautiful
bodies, do not need to move and
speak beautifully — but their
bodies and their voices must be
responsive, free. Only motivated
action is theatrically effective. If
the action is merely external, then
it is “merely the false eyelashes
on the cadaver.” Each action must
be “the source through which the
pipe reached into the oil,” and the
source of acting talent lies there-
fore within the unconscious.

The two concluding speakers
were Martin Manulis, of Westport,
who pointed out the threat of tele-
vision by saying Tuesday night
has repeatedly proven to have the
lowest box office because of the
Milton Berle program, and John
Wharton of the Playwrights Com-
pany who proposed the decentraliz-
ing of the theatre by encouraging
community theatres. He was cer-
tain that the theatre would sur-
vive because it serves the all-im-
portant purpose of resolving ten-
sions (catharsis).

 

 

DINAH FROST

wishes you all

HAPPY
SUMMER!

 

 

 

 

 

oe

 

Student Center
Tulane University
New Orleans, La.

 

 

  
 
 

   

Red - White - Blue In New Orleans, Louisiana, a favor-

The
Philip Harrison Store

866 Lancaster Ave.

ite gathering spot of students at
Tulane University is the Student

 

Center because it’s a cheerful place

+

 

 

 

 

 

= —full of friendly collegiate atmos-
For phere. And when the gang gathers
Graduation | around, ice-cold Coca-Cola gets the
Congratulation call. For here, as in university
FLOWERS haunts everywhere—Coke Belongs.
oat ¢ . Ask for it either way... both
p from Plus 1¢ trade-marks mean the same thing.
a State Tax

_— them in Phila. at LIT BROS. - WANAMAKER’S
" JEANNETT’S dudy Bond, Inc., Dept. C, 1375 Broadway, New York 18, N. Y.

BRYN MAWR~ slice

BOTTLED UNDER AUTHONTY OF THE COCA-COLA COMPANY BY
The Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company

© 1950, The Coca-Cola Company a