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Do You Understand What the Great Scientist Is Driving at When He Talks About His Theory of Relativity?

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If Not-Read This Article

By STANTON A. COBLENTZ

ALKING with Dr. Albert Einstein, one would scarcely realize that he is a scientist. This is not because appearances argue against that fact, for there is a breadth to his forehead, a keenness to his eye, an intellectual alertness about his face that indicate the man of thought and vision. But to judge by his kindly countenance, his genial manner, or his long graying hair, one would be inclined to think of him more as a poet or a musician than a genius in mathematics or physics.

Yet this mild-mannered German professor, so engaging to speak to, so artistic in appearance, has made one of the most profound scientific discoveries in an

age of unparalleled scientific progress-has reasoned his way into a previously unimagined realm of thought that is revolutionizing our conceptions of the physical universohas accomplished what some acclaim as the most stupendous scientific feat since Newton.

But just what are the achievements of Einstein? What is the theory of relativity, which has occasioned such a world-wide sensation? What are the conclusions it has reached? What are their importance? What changes have they made in previous conceptions? What is likely to be their effect in future? What is the reason for all the excitement Einstein has aroused?

The average man, perhaps, is too inclined to regard the theory of relativity as utterly beyond his ken. He knows it has

created a sensation, but the reason for that sensation is as mysterious to him as the differential calculus or the social customs on Mars. He reads that there are not over a dozen scientists who actually understand relativity, and he concludes that he cannot expect to be the thirteenth; and so, perhaps with a sigh of regret, he dismisses the matter from his mind. Yet he has no reason to do so. It may be true that few have the mathematical equipment to follow in detail the reasoning by which Einstein arrived at the theory of relativity, and, therefore, to pass judgment on the theoretical validity of that theory; that does not mean that the

Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.

ALBERT EINSTEIN
Who defies the theories of Euclid and
Newton. "Time and Space," he says,
"must be treated as essentially equal."

average person of education and intelligence cannot comprehend the conclusions Einstein has reached.

A person who wishes to know when an eclipse of the sun is to occur does not have to verify the mathematical details by which astronomers have foretold the event; the conclusion is all that concerns him, and he can learn that from an almanac regardless of whether he understands how that theory has been derived. In the same way, one may follow an easy short-cut if what he desires is merely an acquaintance with the results of Einstein's investigations.

What, then, are the theories of Einstein? In the first place, since they attain new results, it must be apparent that they follow new methods. Those methods consist,

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first of all, in the abandonment of the geometry of Euclid, with which most of us gain a casual and often unpleasant acquaintance in our High School days, and which we come to regard as final and absolute truth.

Einstein does not consider Euclid absolute truth. He does not believe, for example, that the sum of the angles of a triangle need be two right angles. He maintains that the axioms of Euclid are not necessary truths, but mere empirical laws-laws arrived at by assumptions that may or may not be correct. And, at this point, Einstein makes a further departure from previously accepted beliefs. In the application of his geometry he makes a distinction between space where matter is present and space where matter is absent. If space be far enough removed from matter, he concedes, the principles of Euclid apply; but, otherwise, space refuses to regulate itself according to classical geometrical theories and the more matter there be, the more widely space disobeys Euclid.

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HESE considerations lead to an utterly new conception of the universe. According to all previous theories, space was infinite. One might travel at the rate of a million miles a second for a million million years, and yet be no nearer the end of the universe than when he started. It is known that light, moving at a speed of over 186,000 miles a second, takes many years-perhaps thousands of years-to reach us from some of the stars. This opened up to our imagination a universe of such prodigious size that it was easy to suppose that one might journey on and on forever, and never come to the end; that one might attain a point compared with which the furthest star seemed as near as the lamp in one's sitting room, and yet not even be approaching the boundary of

space.

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But Einstein has changed all this. The universe, in his conception, is not infinite, but finite. In fact, he can measure it and tell you how many millions of millions of gallons of space it actually contains. If you follow Einstein, you will know the exact carrying capacity of the universe, just as you will know the contents of your own quart measure. And Einstein has arrived at the result by a somewhat similar process of measurement. In abandoning the geometry of Euclid, he abandons the belief that the ends of a straight line never meet. Moreover, he ceases to suppose that such a thing as a straight line exists at all, but rather holds that straight lines are arcs of enormous circles, so that by following a straight line far enough one would return to his starting place. In other

words, go far enough east in the universe, and you will find yourself in the West.

Accordingly, Einstein's universe is finite, and yet one can never come to the end, for the reason that there is no end. Imagine a person who could travel anywhere in space and at any speed he desired! Imagine him, furthermore, believing with Einstein that the universe is limited and seeking to find the limits. At best, he would be like a dog chasing its own tail. Round and round he would go, and never reach what he was trying to reach, since it would be always beyond his reach!

From one point of view, it is a disappointing thing—this universe in which one cannot travel infinitely without turning back on one's self. Yet there is really no cause for despair. The septillion or so of cubic centimeters, which Einstein allows us, is said to be quite adequate for ordinary purposes; and there is no reason to suppose that some cosmic Malthusian law will operate to make us find that there is too little room in even such a limited universe.

The above, of course, represents only one phase of the teachings of Einstein. In their tendency to unify and explain the universe, these doctrines are similar to their author's other theories, which incline generally toward showing a connection between various forces and entities generally thought of as dissimilar and not previously known to be in any way connected.

THE

HE theory of relativity, for example, discredits the idea that there can be such things as absolute time or space, and makes both space and time relative to the objects that move. Matter and energy are conceived of as being at root the same thing; and motion is thought of as not absolute, but relative. To use Einstein's own illustration, suppose that one were riding in a rapidly moving railroad car, and threw a stone from the window. The stone would dart forward at the speed of the train, plus the speed with which it was propelled by the thrower; and to the watcher in the train it would seem to fall in a parabolic curve, in the same way that a stone flung from a stationary point would fall.

Yet to one who observed it from outside the car, the stone would seem to fly in approximately a straight line. Neither or both of these movements are correct, according to Einstein. Neither, because there is nothing absolute in the movement of the stone: both, because to one observer the motion is in a straight line, while to the other it is in a curve. And in the same way, all motion, all energy, all space, all

time, is, to Einstein, a relative thing.

By way of estab

lishing the unity of things in general, Einstein traces a connection between

WE

E cannot ourselves find happiness until we have taught others the way.

gravitation and other forces. According to Newton, gravitation stood as an isolated phenomenon; there was nothing to show that it had any connection with any other force in the universe; and there was nothing to explain why it should stand thus apart from every other known law, acting with a singular independence and aloofness, as though it scorned any close connection with other natural proc

esses.

But Einstein has explained the apparently inexplicable behavior of gravitation; he has calculated its operation with results which he finds to be approximately although not exactly those of Newton; and his theories lead to the assumption that there is no physical or chemical phenomenon which does not feel the effect of gravitation. Previous to Einstein, for example, it was believed that light might be deflected to some extent by the effect of gravitation; but Einstein calculated that the deflection was twice as much as was conceded.

The experiment occurred during an eclipse of the sun, when measurements were taken of the light of a star visible near the sun's disc. This light was found to be diverted from a staight course almost exactly to the extent to which Einstein predicted a remarkable triumph for the relativity theory. The conclusion is that the light which reaches us from the stars does not reach us along straight lines, but along the arcs of gigantic circles, a result which corresponds perfectly with Einstein's theory of a limited universe.

Other experimental evidence for the validity of Einstein's theories was found in the case of the planet, Mercury. Astronomers had long observed slight irregularities in the movements of this planet, but nothing in Newton s theory or any other known law could account for these disturbances. The enigma was unsolved-apparently it was insoluble-when Einstein appeared with his theory of relativity, which explains the peculiar behavior of Mercury as no other

conception has ever done.

For a second time relativity scored! But there is a third way in which the theory should be verified experimentally.

In that respect, it has yet to prove its claims. This test is concerned with the lines of the spectrum, which under certain conditions should shift toward the red; but as yet, the spectrum has failed to support Einstein.

How this failure can be accounted for is difficult to say, in view of the extraordinary success with which the theory has been verified in other respects. The results thus far attained make it practically certain that Einstein is aiming in the right direction, and has actually discovered new truths concerning the universe.

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vastly important universal laws which he has not even suspected; perhaps he has seen part of the truth, while the rest of it is still hovering beyond his view, and beyond the view of all men. His theories, for example, lead us toward belief in a fourth dimension. But it may be, as some writer has remarked, that there is a fifth dimension-and a sixth, and a seventh-and so on endlessly, so that, after all, the universe is not finite, but infinite, although its infinity is on an even more complex and inconceivable scale than had been supposed before Professor Einstein.

Whatever may be the world's ultimate verdict on the theories of Einstein, it seems certain that he has brought us forward by enormous strides in our conception of the universe. It may or may not be true that his is the greatest scientific achievement since Newton; but it does seem likely that his theories will take their place among the enduring monuments of human thought. There may be nothing ultimate about them.

It may be for some Newton of the future, to fully explain and adequately supplement them; but, at least, Einstein appears to have established his place as a guide and a pathfinder in the age-long search for truth.

T is in every man to be first-class in something, if he will.

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Only himself can

hold him back. There is no excuse for incompetence in this age of opportunity and efficiency; no excuse for being second-class when it is possible to be first-class, and when first-class is in demand everywhere.

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HE Yellow Dog," by Mr. Dodge, was admittedly the win-the-war story. Within three days after its publication in the Saturday Evening Post, an Anti-Yellow Dog Club had been formed in Portland, Oregon, to fight sedition. Thousands of small clubs, based on this story, were organized throughout the country and did most effective work in upholding the hands of the government during the war. Every young man who read the story immediately became a detective for Uncle Sam.

Mr. Dodge's "Sam Hodge, American," rings throughout with modern Americanism. The hero, Sam Hodge, is a redblooded fighter. He is four-square and always faces the flag. He is on the job with both feet at this particular time when America needs just such men.

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HENRY IRVING DODGE

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"Sam Hodge, American" Begins in THE NEW SUCCESS for JULY (Published June 20)

How the Mind Has Banished It

HY

By H. ADDINGTON BRUCE

Author of "The Riddle of Personality," "Scientific Mental Healing," "Woman in
the Making of America," "Sleep and Sleeplessness," and other volumes

-EDITORS' NOTE

YSTERIA! That is what Mr. H. Addington Bruce calls the strangest of all diseases. It is primarily a disease of lost memories-one of the most peculiar afflictions that comes to the human being-and the effectiveness of its treatment by mental means, the only means that ever are successful in handling it, usually depends on the skill with which these memories are recovered by the physician, so that he may know exactly what it is that he must suggest away. Mr. Bruce cites some remarkable cases in his article the result of long research. Aside from being informing and valuable to the layman as well as the physican, it is unusually entertaining.

S

NOME months ago there was taken to the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, a little girl suffering from a hip trouble so severe that it had crippled her. It had come upon her gradually, and under conditions warranting the belief that it was a tubercular affection. Several doctors, indeed, had made the diagnosis of tubercular hip, and she had been sent to the hospital to undergo an operation that it was hoped might be the means of saving her life.

On the advice of one of the hospital's visiting physicians, however, she was kept in bed for some days for purposes of observation. This physician, a specialist in nervous and mental diseases, had noticed one or two things about her that led him to suspect that the previous diagnosis might be wrong. He visited her every day, chatted with her, and watched her closely. One morning he said to her abruptly:

"Look here, what nonsense it is for a fine, strong girl like you to be lying in bed all day? Why don't you get up?"

She stared at him in amazement, while he went on:

"You are quite well now, there really is nothing the matter. You can walk as well as I can. Let's see you do it."

"But-" she began. "Don't say you can't," he interrupted. "I know you can, and I want you to do so at once. So get out of bed and walk across the room."

And, in fact, to her evident astonishment, she

discovered that she could walk, without assistance and without pain. A few hours later, rejoicing in a perfect cure, she was sent home to her parents.

SIM

IMILARLY, a middle-aged woman, a dressmaker named Sandford, while working hard to complete some orders in a busy season, was attacked with paralysis down her right side. For a week or more, she lay speechless, then gradually became able to talk again. But her right arm and right leg remained totally paralyzed, together with the muscles of the right side of her face. Moreover, the entire right side of her body became anesthetic-that is to say, lost all power of sensation. Once she accidentally ran a needle through the index finger of her right hand, but felt no pain whatever. The physicians who were called to treat her declared that her condition was incurable.

For nearly nine years the unfortunate woman was a helpless paralytic. One day she asked a girl who was staying with her to take down a bottle that had been standing for a long time on a shelf. The girl, obeying, found a dead mouse in the bottle, and forthwith brought it to show to Mrs. Sandford, who, as it happened, had more than the usual feminine fear of mice. At sight of the little animal, which she believed to be alive, she uttered piercing shrieks of terror, continuing until assured that the mouse was dead.

DON'T be afraid of thinking

too highly of yourself, for if the Creator made you, you must have inherited divine, omnipotent possibilities, you must partake of His qualities.

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