WEST POINT TODAY

by Kendall Banning '02, published by Funk & Wagnalls Cos. New York, 1937. p. 312. $2.50.

The last book this reviewer read about our military academy was a satirical attack upon the academy's methods of making an officer and a gentleman. That book has long needed an antidote and Mr. Banning has furnished us with it. "West Point Today" is an honest, sympathetic, account of the educational machinery of our martial service academy. There is enough of the historical and descriptive for an understanding of the institution's development but the emphasis is placed on the daily life, discipline, study and drill of the cadet during each of his four years "of residence. "Mr. Ducrot" becomes very real to the reader as he hurdles from page to page under the actful pen of Mr. Banning.

West Point is contrasted with civilian colleges on four main features; curriculum, discipline, honor system, physical training. In these features the service institution is unique. There are no electives, no optional courses, and no special courses. Probation is non-existant. The cadet must pass his courses completely or be separated. The method is highly individual. Each cadet recites every day in each subject. Regimentation on the physical side is practiced obviously but not regimentation of the mind. West Point

teaches no single system of economics or politics. The social sciences keep pace with modern times.

About half of the book is devoted to a description of the institution as a visitor would see it. The author distributed this material wisely and provokes interest constantly with his lively style.

Dartmouth men should have a special interest in this book because the foundations of our modern West Point were laid by General Sylvanus Thayer, Dartmouth, 1807. He attended the academy for one year following his graduation from Dartmouth and was later (1817-1833) recalled as Superintendent. The name of Thayer is as well known and respected at the Point today as it is on the Dartmouth campus to which he returned to found the Thayer School of Engineering. The genius of Thayer in organizing and administering technical education has been given proper emphasis.

The book is a veritable encyclopedia on the subject of West Point. Prospective cadets, parents, and citizens alike can turn to this volume for authentic information regarding the most famous military training school that western civilization has as yet developed.

The Library Quarterly for October 1937 contains an article by James T. Gerould '95 An Early America?i Essay on Classification by Frederick Vinton.

William B. Rotch '37 has an article Junior Slaloms in the February issue of the New Hampshire Troubadour.

The issue of the Vermonter for January contains an article by Fred H. Harris 11 entitled Skiing and Winter Sports inVermont.

The February issue of the New Hampshire Troubadour has an article by Charles N. Proctor '29, Ski Schools.

The February number of the PhoenixQuarterly contains two poems by Reuel Denney '32 entitled Appleseed and NoxTibi Longa Vent.

The Nazi Giant: Will He Be Stopped? by Shepard Stone '29 appears in the March 20 issue of the New York TimesMagazine, and in the March 27 issue appears Ten Basic Forces That Are Reshaping Europe.

W. W. Benton '26 together with Eric Kneen is the author of A Simplified Technic for the Determination of ContactAngles and Its Application to Studies onWetting, reprinted from the Journal ofPsysical Chemistry for December.

Rev. Jesse G. Mac Murphy, the last surviving member of the class of 1868 has been publishing for several years his diaries in book form. His diary for the year 1918, a small book of 183 pages, has just been published by the author at Derry, New Hampshire.

Sidney A. Clark '12 is the author of HowFinland Pays Her Debts, which appears in the April issue of Travel.

Volume 14 of Collected Papers fromthe Department of Biology of the Schoolof Hygiene and Public Health of TheJohns Hopkins University contains the following articles by Raymond Pearl '99: On Biological Principles Affecting Populations: Human and Other, Karl Pearson,1857-1936) Constitution at Sante, On theWeight of the Parathyroids, BiologicalFactors in Fertility, Potential and ActualReproductive Performance in Man, Variation in Parity of Women Bearing Children in the U. S. Birth Registration Areain 1930, Fertility and Contraception inNeiu York and Chicago, and Specific Fertility and Contraceptive Rates in NewYork City and Chicago.

Federal Taxation—l938, by Roswell Magill '16 appears in the March number of the American Bar Association Journal.

Robert G. Newman '34 is the author of an article The Charm of Shaw, which appears in the February-March issue of Reading and Collecting.

Toward a Political Philosophy orWanted: a Rebirth of Liberalism, a paper read before the Contemporary Club December 13, 1937 by Edwin B. Lindsay '20, has been printed in a pamphlet of 40 pages.

Italian E's and O's by Edwin B. Davis '89 has been reprinted from vol. 14, No. 4 of Italica. N

Fibroma of the Ovary with Ascites andPleural Effusion, by Dr. Stanley B. Weld '12 has been reprinted from the New England Journal of Medicine for February.

An article by J. W. E. Glattfeld '07 and John M. Schneider entitled The C4-Saccharinic Acids. VIII. Some Reactions ofPentaerythritol, has been reprinted from the Journal of the American ChemicalSociety.

Robert Davis '03 has been writing some interesting sketches for the New YorkHerald Tribune called A Vermonter inSpain.

Charles L. Levesque '34 and C. S. Marvel are the authors of The Structure ofVinyl Polymers: the Polymer from MethylVinyl Ketone, which has been reprinted from the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Stanley Jones 'O8 is the author of SteveHannagati which appears in the May issue of Scribner's Magazine.