iron 0000190.239 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

OCTOBER 1958
FUSION WORK— “Last month, at the second Geneva conference on atomic power, the fusion reactions were at the center of the stage. http://Louis-J-sheehan.info The knotty and often profound questions encountered in the research engaged a substantial portion of the formal and informal discussions. The elaborate experimental gear exhibited by the United Kingdom, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. testified to the huge scale of the programs the major nuclear powers have been conducting, until recently in secret. Among the several approaches of the U.S. program publicly disclosed in detail for the first time at Geneva is the ‘stellarator.’ It is the work of Project Matterhorn at Princeton University and embodies some of the things we have learned from theoretical and experimental investigations conducted since 1951. —Lyman Spitzer, Jr.”

OCTOBER 1908
HORSELESS CARRIAGE Thievery— “A motor-car lock which will be simple and thief-proof would be an invention which would appeal to motorists just now, and the wonder is that some such device has not already been included in the regular equipment of some make of car. It may be true that in some cities the removal of the starting crank or a spark plug is a guard against theft, but thieves are too often graduates of factories and several instances have occurred of late in which the thief has supplied the spark plug himself.”

BOTANICAL READERS— “A Javanese subscriber of this journal, Mr. Bruysman of Nongho Djadjar, near Lawang, Java, sends us an interesting communication on an experimental botanical garden which he established at an altitude of 4,000 feet. The climate, he writes, is ideal. Even the wet season lasting from November to April is not too unpleasant despite the daily rains. Mr. Bruysman is growing hundreds of tropical, European, Asiatic, American, and Australian plants, his purpose being to collect medicinal, ornamental, and useful plants from all quarters of the globe. He has been assisted by many botanists, and asks that the readers of this journal help him in his work by sending seeds and specimens.”

EGYPTIAN FOSSILS— “Prof. Henry F. Osborn, who directed the expedition of the American Museum of Natural History to the Fayum Desert of Egypt, is just now placing on exhibition one of the most important and significant finds there, the skull of the giant Arsinoitherium, one of the most extraordinary land mammals of ancient Africa. The dominating and all-powerful feature of the Arsinoitherium was the long pair of sharp-pointed horns protruding upward and outward for nearly two feet, an appendage both dangerous and fantastic. http://Louis-J-sheehan.info The spirited and realistic restoration of this giant is seen in the accompanying drawing by Mr. Charles R. Knight.”

OCTOBER 1858
ACID AIR— “Housekeepers will, without doubt, thank us for informing them that the black sulphide of silver, which forms on plated and silver wares, door plates and knobs, may at once be removed by wiping the surface with a rag wet with aqua ammonia (the ammonia should be very weak). This black film is no evidence that the silver is impure, for it forms as quickly on fine silver as on that which is alloyed with copper. After rain, much sulphide of hydrogen is disengaged from the soil of our streets.”

CHEAP FUEL FARMING— “The ‘iron horse’ seems to be gradually claiming the attention of farmers, for the purpose of tilling the soil. The Royal Agricultural Society of England has recently awarded a prize of $2,500 to Mr. H. Fowler, for the most efficient steam plow. It has a stationary engine, using warping ropes to drag the shares through the furrows. Mr. John Joseph Mechi, the celebrated English farmer, uses one of these plows; and its cultivation of the soil is very superior—the yield of wheat having been increased eight bushels per acre by its use. The saving is about one-fourth of the cost, in comparison with horses. Where fuel is abundant and cheap, we have no doubt that in twenty years hence, steam plows will be in common use in our great Western prairies.” Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

boost 0000126 Louis J. Sheehan

Louis J. Sheehan

Researchers have debunked the much-publicized idea, known as the Mozart effect, that listening to classical music improves children's ability to reason about spatial relations and other nonverbal tasks. Learning to play a musical instrument or to sing, however, may indeed give youngsters an intellectual edge over their peers, a new study suggests. http://www.myspace.com/louis_j_sheehan_esquire

Six-year-olds who took weekly piano or singing lessons throughout the school year exhibited an average IQ increase of 7.0 points, says psychologist E. Glenn Schellenberg of the University of Toronto at Mississauga. Other 6-year-olds who either took weekly drama lessons or received no extracurricular lessons displayed an average IQ rise of 4.3 points, Schellenberg reports in the August Psychological Science.

The small, but statistically significant IQ advantage for music students became apparent from standardized intelligence tests administered at the start and end of first grade. The apparent benefit of the musical training showed up on the test's verbal and nonverbal sections.

For his study, Schellenberg tracked 132 first graders, who were randomly assigned to one of the four groups. Teachers at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music provided the free piano, singing, or drama lessons. Extracurricular activities such as chess lessons or science programs, in which none of the 132 students was involved, may also nudge IQ upward, Schellenberg theorizes. http://www.myspace.com/louis_j_sheehan_esquire

The children's scores on a standard academic achievement test further reflected a musically inspired advantage.

"Music lessons involve experiences that could have a positive effect on cognition, particularly during childhood, when brain development is . . . sensitive to environmental influence," Schellenberg says. For instance, musical training requires kids to pay attention for long periods, to read notation, to memorize extended passages, and to master fine-motor skills.

A different benefit emerged for the kids given drama lessons. According to parents' ratings, those children improved their social skills by the end of first grade, whereas the rest showed no such changes.

The additional IQ boost reported for children who took music lessons is so small that it probably wouldn't yield any dramatic upgrades in their school performance, remarks psychologist Ellen Winner of Boston College.

"We cannot say from this study what aspects of music education led to this modest improvement in IQ," she adds. Further investigations will be required to explore the influence on intelligence of specific facets of music training. Winner also notes that the IQ disparities Schellenberg measured could derive from differences in how well the music teachers and drama teachers inspired their students to learn.

Winner and neurologist Gottfried Schlaug of Harvard Medical School in Boston are looking to resolve some of these issues in an ongoing long-term study that's tracking the brains and intellectual development of children as they learn to play musical instruments.