Evening Star Newspaper, May 17, 1940, Page 5

Early Americans i A Race of Einsfeins, Scientists Told Mayan Culture Was 1,200 Years Ahead of Europe’s, Is Claim By THOMAS R. HENRY. A new “time scale” for human occupancy of the New World and evidence that the ancient inhabi- tants of Yucatan and Guatemala were a race of Einsteins and Newtons was presented before the Eighth American Science Congress here yesterday by Dr. H. J. Spinden of the Brooklyn Museum. In the midst of discussion of evi- dence that man first came to North America as much as 20,000 years ago when the mammoth and the giant eloth still were the dominant ani- mals of the country, Dr. Spinden declared that human beings had been on the continent not more than 4,000 years at the utmost. The fact that spear points have been found closely associated with mam- moth and sloth bones, he said, only means that these animals survived to a relatively late period. The early Americans, he stressed, had a culture from the first cor- responding to that of the new stone age of Europe. This, he said, orig- inated in the old world not more than 10,000 years ago. The develop- ment in the Western Hemisphere was extremely rapid, he stressed, finally flowering in a civilization in some ways far superior to anything produced in Europe or Asia. 1,250 Years Ahead of Europe. ‘Thus, he said, the Maya astron- omers had a knowledge of the move- ments of the planets, celestial me- chanics and astronomy in general which was more than 1250 years ahead of that of European astron- omers and mathematicians. In 500 AD., Dr. Spinden stated, the Mayans had reached better mathematical values for the periods of the revolutions of the planets and other astronomical constants than had been determined by European astronomers in the year 1750 A.D. “For example,” Dr. Spinden stated, “it has been found that on March 7,481 AD,, the Mayans counted for- ward 34,100 tropical years, giving the number of days in each year with an accuracy much greater than our Gregorian calendar. For the same period we have to correct our cal- endar by seven days. This correc- tion, of course, would be much greater for the Julian calendar. “The Mayan astronomers also calculated the period of the revolu- tions of the five visible planets with much greater accuracy than the European astronomers in the year 1750.” Isaac Newton died in 1727. Used Empirical Methods. “The Mayans,” Dr. Spinden stated, “had a superior technique for get- ting at the facts. They employed the modern empirical methods of * science that European scientists did not arrive at until after Galileo and Newton.” The earliest Maya date, Dr. Spin- den said, is 752 B.C. This was recently authenticated by Dr. Ar- nost Dittrich of Prague. We can thus, he said, “sink a shaft of evidence” for civilization in North America to 2,692 years from 1940. All the other evidence, Dr. Spin- den declared, points to the arrival of man in America from Asia some 4,000 years ago, or about 2000 to 2500 B.C. The skulls in the region around Lake Baikal, in Siberia, according to Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, are identical with those of the | lif present-day Indians. The earliest artifacts found in America cor- respond with those that were used in the Baltic regions in Northern Europe in the Neolithic Age, some 6000 B.C.. and reached Siberia in | the late neolithic, about 2000 B.C. Once man arrived in America, Dr. Spinden said, he created his own agriculture with new plants and crops in his original method, and fashioned his tools through his own inventive methods. We find in the Mayas a recapitulation of civilization on entirely original principles. The evidence, according to Dr. Bpinden, is not compatible with the claims of the proponents of the so- called Folsom Man of New Mexico, maintaining that man came to America as early as 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. Dr. Parran Speaks. Surg. Gen. Thomas Parran of the Public Health Service told the con- gress that the message of Presi- dent Roosevelt urging that the Na- tion be “physically tough and mor- ally strong” means that public health preparedness must become & vital part of the general national defense program. Dr. Parran, who is chairman of the Public Health and Medicine BSection of the Scientific Congress, complimented the Resolution Com- mittee of the congress for the con- sideration it had given to the im- mediate and urgent problems of health preparedness in the American Republics. Three Canadian Flyers Killed in Plane Crash By the Associated Press. OTTAWA, Ontario, May 17— ‘Three unidentified men of the Royal Canadian Air Force were killed early today by the crash of & plane in a swamp near Cobourg, Ontario. The bodies were recovered. “There possibly may have been a fourth fatality or one crew mem- ber may have escaped by para- chute,” said an air force spokesman. H "THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, FRIDAY, MAY 17, 1940, |Young Driver Is On Seven Traffic Charges Miss Alice Hepner of this ‘city, a junior at Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio, on June 1 will be crowned Alma Mater queen of the institu- tion. It is the highest honor within the gift of the co-eds, and carries with it indorse- ment of faculty for high scholarship, purposefulness and leadership. She is a graduate of Roosevelt High School. Immunizafion Offered Against Spotted Fever The District Health Department will offer to the public this year for the first time immunization against the danger of Rocky Moun- tain spotted fever, which has taken a relatively high toll of deaths each year since it has invaded this area. The immunization to be offered the public has been made possible, it was explained, through supplies of vaccine from the United States Public Health Service. The immunization, which lasts about one year, is provided by a hypodermic injection, officials ex- plained, and is effective in helping to prevent the disease. But so far no definite cure has been devised for patients who have once con- tracted it. ‘The season for this spotted fever has arrived, officials said, with the beginning of the tick season. Per- sons should be careful to remove wood ticks as soon as possible after returning from wooded areas, and should be careful not to get the blood from the tick in any wound on the body. The dangerous virus in the wood tick which causes spot- ted fever comes only when the tick regurgitates its blood. The death record for this fever shows that in the District of Co- lumbia in 1936 there were two deaths out of eight cases, in 1937 there were four deaths out of seven cases; in 1938 five deaths out of 15 cases and in 1939 four deaths out of 12 cases. Officials of the Health Depart- ment recommend that persons de- siring the immunization should get in touch with their own private physician or Dr. J. G. Cumming, chief of the division of communi- cable diseases of the Health Depart- Middleton (Continued From First Page.) phrase which covers every town with a railway station or bridge. Aircraft bearing high explosive, incendiary and delayed-action bombs have attacked these “military ob- Jectives” at a dreadful cost of human e. Last night, the sky was alight with burning towns. The town we stop- ped in shook with the explosion of heavy bombs and anti-aircraft fire. The effects of the bombing were brought close when we passed through a village which 15 minutes later was bombed by eight Heinkels. Incendiary bombs turned the placid main street into a roaring bonfire when we returned. Refugees huddled in doorways or lying under ponderous farm carts had been wounded or killed. Troops turned from their own tasks to the rescue of the wounded and the extinguishing of fires. An hour later the streets were cleared and the refugees—a 20-mile column of suffering and pain—again stumbled through the town, past charred houses and broken bodies. Safety Patrol Rewarded Safety patrol boys and girls of Kenilworth School were last night rewarded for vigilance during the school year by a dinner given by the school’s Parent-Teacher Asso- ciation. The hostess was Mrs. John Hinkel, president. Why Mounla Valley Water is recommended for ARTHRITIS—KIDNEY & BLADDER conditions ©® This natural mineral water {Irt;m go_t Springs, Arkansas, elps 1. Stimulate kidney function 2. Soothe bladder irritetion 3. Neutralize uric-acidity 4. Discharge wastes MOUNTAIN VALLEY WATER MAY HELP YOU 7O YREL IO e o Mountain Vllhy WATER FROM HOT SPRINGS, ARKANSAS 1405 K St. N.\W. Met. 1062 Today, 16sing his HEARING no longer means a man must look for a new job! Read SONOTONE'S story “THE LITTLE BLACK BUTTON THAT SENDS MEN BACK TO WORK” S0 Page 22 this week'sissve of For information on s-.u..., s advertised in LIFE, see SONOTONE WASHINGTON CO. 901 WASHINGTON BLDG. 15th St. & NEW YORK Ave. N.W. DISTRICT 0921 Warning that all reckless auto- similar The defendant—Lawrence E. Wahl, 20, of 4840 Conduit road N.W. arraigned on two charges of operat- Fined $583 ing sn automobile on a revoked per- mit, two charges of falling to stop at a stop sign and one charge each of driving without ts, failure to display a registration certificate and third-offense speed. Officials said the fine was the largest ever imposed against s de- fendant in Traffic Court. Young Wahl was arrested yester- day morning when he left his home and started to drive an automobfie - For BOND'S Annual STAG PARTY! away from the curb. The machine bore the license plates of a speeding car that had eluded a police scout car in a roaring 80-mile-an-hour chase about 1 am. the night before on Reservoir road NW. The auto ;elm when its u;hu,;m h;rned after oul e scout car, md.whuwn; In court yesterday, Policemen A. The arrest was made by Policeman 8, T. Creech of No. 7 precinct, who walted for the driver outside the house yesterday morning. At the 8. 8. Mount Vernon. The boat will leave at 8:30 pm. Emile Beauvais 18 in charge of arrangements. New York State Society Names Black President James E. Black was elected presi- dent of the New York State Soclety at & meeting at the Shoreham Ho- tel last night. Other officers named are: , 7 Mrs, Evvena Wallace, historian, and Rep- resentative John Taber, Dr. Lamar Harris, Willlam P. Richard, C. M. Little, Pascal D. Fallon and Merle Wagner, trustees. 985 two-trouser suits at a price that spells SELL OUT by Saturday 20 RECOGNIZED $34.50 QUALITY “HAPPY DAYS" for you and for 984 other quick-stepping men with a taste for expensive-looking clothes and a yen for savings. The lid is off! With the top cream of Spring woolens going at our thinnest price. Stonehaven Worsteds, Royal Scot Tweeds, Triple Twists—these big names certainly need no elaborate build-up. You've long known their standing —for upper register quality, high-hat price. We've been holding these distinguished suits, just for this event. The express company delivered them yesterday. They go on sale today. * It's going to be a dollar-clicking picnic, while it lasts. And, there's only one reason for it. It's our 32nd Birthday and we're out to throw a party you'll remember for a long time. Be prepared for eye-opening bargains— but come early! 2 wiags to “charge " Use our New Extended Charge Account and pay Y3 on June 15, V3 July 15, ¥4 August 15. OR the Budget Service which invites you to pay weekly or twice amonth, No extra charge, either way! CLOTHES 1335 F St. N.W. Listen to Arthur Gedfrey, “Sun Dial,” WISV, Every Weekday Morning, 7:30 to 7:45