Notes

New Zealand Tablet, 4 November 1915, Page 35

Notes

Politics and Perspective The, power which the revelations of science are calculated to exert over an individual or a community steeped in the petty conflicts of ordinary life is admirably illustrated in the following incident, narrated by Professor Schuster, president of the British Association, in his presidential address at the Association’s meeting at Manchester the other day;—‘ An American friend who possessed a powerful telescope one night received the visit of •an ardent politician. It was the time of a Presidential election, Bryan and Taft being the opposing candidates, and feeling ran high. After looking at clusters of stars and other celestial objects, and having received answers to his various questions, the visitor turned to my friend And all these stars I see,” he asked, “ what space in the heavens do they occupy?” “About the area of the moon.” “And you tell me that every one of them is a sun like our own? Yes.” “And that each of them may have a number of planets circulating round it like our sun?” “Yes.” “And that there may be life on each of these planets?” “We cannot tell that, but it is quite possible that there may be life on many of them.” And after pondering for some time the politician rose and said: “It does not matter, after all, whether Taft or Bryan gets in.” ’

An Anchored Car No one has ever heard of an editor—least of all, of a Catholic editor—owning a motor car, so that our interest in the invention of an anchored car is of a purely academic and impersonal kind. Many of our readers, however, are more fortunately circumstanced, and they may be glad to learn that they need not hesitate to invest in a car from a fear that they could not master the art of driving. ‘ You can learn to drive without trouble or danger by use of the anchored car,’ says Scottish Country Life. ‘ It is like learning the art of swimming without going near the water. Only it is better. As a rule, the people who learn swimming on shore forget what they have learned the moment they enter the water. Not so an automobilist who learns the gentle art of driving in an anchored ca*. ; , * ‘ Like other great inventions, the anchored car was the result of necessity. Its inventor realised that the giving of road lessons to beginners was both a poor and a dangerous method of teaching the driving of a motor. Not only was the old method inadequate, but there were many people entirely too timid to take their first lesson on the road. The anchored car is an American invention. Recently, the president of a well-known corporation told an automobile agent that his wife wanted a car, but he felt that she could never

learn to drive. That set the automobile agent thinking. He knew that the majority of. accidents were the result of inexperience on the part of drivers. After mature consideration he hit upon the idea of teaching automobile driving in an anchored car. Once the idea was formed it was not difficult to carry out. A suitable car was jacked on small wooden horses. Only the rear wheels were taken off the ground, being raised just enough to prevent the car from moving. Sitting in the machine, it was impossible to tell that the automobile was anchored. To make matters simpler for the novice, the car was mounted in the plate-glass windows of the showroom. Sitting in the driver’s seat, the novice could watch the wheels go round, and see just what happened whenever , the various levers and pedals and. buttons were touched. It was all so simple and interesting that it was astonishing no one had ever before thought of the idea. She saw just what happened to the wheels as she watched their reflection in the plate-glass windows. Her ability was so' astonishing that the expert realised that his anchored car was a huge success. More is likely to be heard of it before long in this country.’