XIV 



SCIENCE— SUPPLEMENT 



"It is often quite impossible for a driver to 

 determine when a pedestrian is going to start 

 across the street, -svhen he is going to retreat, or 

 whait direction he is going to take," Dr. Dodge 

 said, and suggested that it would be a great help 

 to drivers if pedestrians were required to indicate 

 their intentions in some such way as the chauffeur 

 is required to do in making turns. 



' ' A simple scheme for the most desirable start- 

 ing time and duration of signals can be worked 

 out by any psychologist who knows the limitations 

 of attention and reaction-time and will f amiliajize 

 himself with 'the (traffic situation. 



" It is possible tJiat there also ought to be testis 

 for pedestrians as well as drivers, with distin- 

 guishing marks for incompeteints. It would be 

 some help if the driver could know thait the man 

 trying to cross the street was partially paralyzed, 

 partially blind or deaf, had a wooden leg, or some 

 other disability which made it difficult to take 

 care of What he had left. As it is now, youth 

 and old age are the only elearlj' marked incom- 

 petents. 



Much has already been done to diminish the 

 sources of confusion, such as the introduction of 

 traffic signals and the establishment of zones or 

 islands of safety where pedestrians can take their 

 problems in smaller doses. But, if I am correctly 

 informed, a systematic analysis of confusion of 

 pedestrians or drivers lias yet to be made. Such 

 a study would involve the practical limits of 

 attention and the facts of human variability. The 

 sudden appearance of an unheralded vehicle com- 

 ing around the corner, the convergence of vehicles 

 on a pedestrian and even the blatant automobile 

 horns tliemselves are worth considering as sources 

 of confusion. 



"Advantages would be derived from one-way 

 traffic. Confusion would be diminished by uni- 

 formity of traffi-C rules, and signals, by better 

 lighting of ears, and a better system of street 

 lighting. Most street lighting involves decrease 

 of the visual acuity by glare. Pedestrians should 

 also have training in time and space estimation. 

 In addition to the possible services of psychol- 

 ogy in the regulation of the highAvay, there is un- 

 doubtedly need for the services of expert educa- 

 tionalists, " Dr. Dodge said. "The pedestrian 

 must be trained as well as the driver of motor 

 vehicles and the proper place for that training is 

 in the school. It seems reasonable to suppose 

 that one of the most important school functions 

 in fitting the child for his environment is the 

 ability to take care of himself on the highway. 

 This task can be undertaken only when the regu- 



lations of the highways have reached a point 

 where it is uniform in all tie states and uni- 

 formity should only be aimed at when we are 

 sure that from the standpoint of space and time 

 as well as from the stiandpoiuit oif the human 

 mind the proposed regulations have been thor- 

 oughly scrutinized and revised. ' ' 



' ' Newspaper and movie campaigns by ear- 

 toons, advice and stories, ' ' Dr. Dodge added, 

 "should be continuous and not limited to one 

 week in the year. ' ' 



SCIENCE ITEMS 



Science Service 

 Scientists, government officials, fruit growers 

 and nuiserymen met in Washington on November 

 20 to discuss means of checking the latest Japan- 

 ese invasion to gain a foothold in this country. 

 The camphor scale, a newly discovered crop in- 

 sect pest, is spreading rapidly among camphor, 

 satsuma orange, olive, privet, Jap^anese persim- 

 mon, fig, plum and pecan trees in Louisiana and 

 Alabama, Drastic measures to prevent the spread 

 into other states were suggested as the experts 

 gathered. The insect has been traced to an im- 

 portation of satsuma orange trees direct fi-om 

 Japan just before the plant quarantine barriers 

 were put up in 1911-12. This scale has been 

 classed as a menace with the Japanese beetle, 

 the European corn-borer and the pink boll worm, 

 which gained a footing about the same time. A 

 federal quarantine on the two states invaded to 

 protect the ether citrus-growing regions of the 

 country from attack by pi-ohibiting the movement 

 of nursery stock and other articles likely to carry 

 the pest is being considered. 



One dollar from each of the Knights of 

 Pythias, $1,000,000 in all, has been donated by 

 the Supreme Lodge of that order for benefit work 

 among the lepers of Culion Island and to carry 

 on the search for an absolute cure for that dread 

 disease. Part of this fund will be used in the 

 erection of a fully equipped experimental labora- 

 tory. 



Pasteue, great French bacteriologist, whose 

 centennial is to be celebrated in December, spent 

 five years studying the diseases of the silkworm 

 for the Department of Agriculture of France. 



More than seventy per cent, of the world's pro- 

 duction of crude rubber is consumed by American 

 rubber manufacturers. 



Algerian sheep are comparatively immune to 

 anthrax, while all other sheep seem extremely 

 susceptible to it. 



