Bridgewater State University - Alpha Yearbook (Bridgewater, MA)

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l93l NORMAL OFFERING of this galaxy. If the plane of the galaxy is drawn within a yards length, the solar system becomes invisible to the sight through any microscope available. VVhat does our galaxy include? The Milky Way system is composed of the solar system, star clusters, comets, star dust, gases, and meteoric clouds all of which move about in a systematized manner through this disc-shaped body which is about 150,000 light years through the plane and 15,000 light years from pole to pole. Is there anything outside this galaxy? The Milky VVay system is a vast cosmic unit Whose space contains much cosmic energy. The so-called spiral nebulae are now known to be other galaxies or Hisland universes like our own Milky VVay system, the nearest of which -Androneda-is 1,000,000 light years away. There are hundreds and thousands of these spiral nebulae: therefore there are at least that many galaxies. The existence of other worlds detracts nothing from this one nor reduces the complexity of the problems of the human race. The enormous extent of the universe, and the success astronomers have had in exploring it, increase our respect for the power and dignity of the human mind and should inspire high hopes for its future development. ERNEST H. COTE ON LETTER-WRITING Ever since Cain scratched to Abel, on the convenient flat surface of a boulder, the first message of war the world has ever known, this universe has been letter-conscious. Letters have become by process of elimination and evolution, not mere expressions of emotion, but instruments of destiny, whose portent is only fully realized by their proud receiver. One has but to recall two out of many such instances in history to be convinced of the truth of the above statement. Mark Antony wrote memorable epistles to the Roman Tribunal, whose intrinsic work- manship was merely enhanced by the alternation of war correspondence, and news of Cleo- patra, the alluring. These possibly may not have aided the Roman campaign in Egypt, but they did make possible the dissemination of timely beauty hints, and notices. Lord Chesterfield perpetuated his own memory and evaded the criticisms of his con- temporaries, by producing a series of letters to his son, the contents of which have stirred young men to better things for several royal lifetimes. We discover a wide range of use in this field of letterwriting. Letters of amorous pur- port were highly in vogue a few decades ago. So replete were they with saccharine allusions to nature and to all heavenly creatures, that they fully deserved the lavendar ribbon in which their careers were lovingly ended. At present much that is classic has been brought into the mercantile world, and modern self-respecting tradesmen send cheerful reminders to their favored clients at the beginning of each new month. The over advertised Mr. Average Man feels keenly his responsibility to this heritage of the ages and exercises a doubtful ability on all possible occasions. It may be only in mid-summer when his better half is away and he elaborates on the respective conditions of the cat and the canary, but the opportunity exists and is seized. The youth of the nation away at camp or college is soon initiated into the complex mys- teries of exaggerating pleasures and underestimating disadvantages while composing a so- 146

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'-' bribed or by other means inveigled into reading the Fifteen chapters we have completedl that the novel in not an autobiography or, possibly, a confession. True, we have been a waitress, but that does not mean, because the plot of our novel is based upon a college-girl waitress falling in love with a cook, that we have ever been in love with a cook. Most un- kind of all are the lifted eye-brows we observe when our reader arrives at the love scenes. How little faith they have in the power of a keen imagination! It is necessary, too, in order to avoid being considered insufferably conceited about our own skill, to assure everyone that we are writing the novel just for the fun of it and that it is not, of course, intended for print. That is, we must be outwardly modest. Inwardly we must feel utter satisfaction with our own cleverness and talent, for when we compared our amateur attempts with 'fThe Qld Wives' Tale or The White Swan , we would otherwise be in grave danger of being consumed with a sense of our own inferiority. Beside all these discouraging elements there are the technical obstacles to be met, and these are no longer few. So there you have us- -the novelist in our bed of roses. In reality, as innocent and sim- ple as a country school girl, in our friends' eyes a gay old rake with a wild and shady past. In the eyes of the world as unassuming an individual as Uriah Heep, in our own heart sub- limely self-confident. VVe struggle on the one hand with the people who read our story, and on the other with those who are acting in it. Take back your envy-you who do not write! MARX? G. CHILDS OUR PLACE IN SPACE Space is measured by the distance light travels in one year. The orbit of the Earth about its sun is only one ten-thousandth of a light year or 600,000,000 miles. The Earth is about 91,500,000 miles distant from the sun in the north latitude winter and 94,500,000 miles distant in the summer. Therefore the diameter of the orbit is about one-thirty-two- thousandth of a light year. To gain a better conception of the Earth's position in the solar system, imagine a circular field and two and a half miles in diameter, place a library globe two feet in diameter in the very centerg eighty-two feet away put a mustard seed. The globe will represent the sun and the mustard seed Mercury. At a distance of 142 feet place a pea, and another at 215 feet. These will represent Venus and the Earth, both as to size and distance. A rather large pinhead at a distance of 327 feet will speak for Mars, and a fair sized tangerine a quarter of a mile distant will stand for jupiter. A small lemon 2f5 of a mile away will play the roll of Saturn, a large cherry 3X4 of a mile distant will answer for Uranus, and a fair sized plum at the very edge of the field will be Neptune. A new planet, approximately 3,768,000,000 miles from the sun, was discovered March 13, 1930 by Prof. Lowell and later named Pluto. This is the most important discovery in the twentieth century and has added 950,600,000 miles to the radius of the solar system. Nearly as important are the explorations of the Milky Way system or galaxy. This galaxy is composed of millions and billions of suns similar to our own sun. These fiery bodies assume a mass which is somewhat similar to a pair of saucers the edges of whose concave sides are joined. Gur own solar system is located slightly to one side of the center 145 .

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PROSE called letter. There is also the use of the facility of letter-writing in making dulcet requests for the coin of the realm. After considering nothing of the art of receiving correspondence, we now shall divulge the sad truth that the writer is contemplating the creation of a model letter guaranteed to insure satisfaction to everyone and an immediate increase in the annual amount of mail handled by the postoffice in any college town. MARCELLA MORAN Division 3 THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD The world today hardly needs to be reminded of the amazing progress that has been made in every branch of science during the past three centuries. The purpose of this essay is not to review the 'fwhat of that progress, but to attempt to describe the how of it. Since the time of Galileo, science has had a new method of working, popularly known as the scientific method . This method has proved itself most invaluable to its users-the scien- tists. May there not be many elements involved in it that would be of practical value to the rest of us? Let us see if we can discover any. In the first place, there is an important fundamental axiom of the scientific method which may be stated thus: that everything that occurs in nature is natural and has an explanation in natural laws, whether we know what that explanation is or not. This tosses hob goblins, witches, demons, and other supernatural beings out the back door. How much better off we would be without superstition! The scientific method can not be handed out as a formula. It has a few common ele- ments. These are: an extensive and accurate knowledge of phenomena based on actual experiences, an open and questioning mind, rigorous thinking, and the habit of checking the conclusions reached through logical processes by experiment. In other words, observation, description, comparison, classification, experimentation, and inference are the methods of science. How can we use these in our own lives? Let me suggest the following applications. First, keep an open mind. The truth is never Hxed, never stationary. Is there any reason, then, for allowing your opinions to remain constantly in a state of inertia? Be original, and do a little thinking. Our very superiority over the rest of the animal kingdom is due wholly to our ability to think. Should thinking become a lost art with us. that superiority would soon be lost. Last, make an effort to increase the skill with which you are able to distinguish between facts and what you happen to think about these facts. The facts concerning science are always determined by observation and trial. They can not be determined by any other method. Of course, it is perfectly permissible to accept the word of reliable witnesses, but basically, the facts were first discovered by observation and trial-nothing else. A little of this method applied to other things would do a great deal to stamp out the prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness found on Main Street. Let us make this a real Scientific Age. ALBERT NAJARIAN 147 '