| Show HARD TO LOOSEN ERRORS ERROR'S GRIP ON POPULAR BELIEFS Two eminent scientists at nt Atlantic City taking stock of ot the state Mate of k knowledge IIII catalogued right eight popular lan lar r beliefs belief's that Hint are not true thus A child Is Ij by what It iti 11 mother sees fees es or thinks think before the child Ii Is born horn birth marks are caused by 11 j what hot a mother aces or touches touch's before her chIld Is II born In former times the Hie lie a average length of human life was wes much longer than now how fut tat people ople always are good u mental disorders are cou caused 1 by children of first COUll- COUll thought though of tool Rood parentage are likely to be feeble minded heavy growth of hair on a persons person's limbs and chest Indicates great grat physical strength the theory of evolution Im urn- Implies plies lIlies that men arts descended from IIpP S pea This list ot of beliefs unbilled In fact Is particularly Interesting because cacti rach of Its tta Items Is a venerable cum- cum berer of the tho human mind None of these thelle widely accepted errors Is of recent re re- cent origin none hone of them arises from tram I the tue he life of today even ell the youngest of If them that concerning the theory of evolution la Is of Dt a considerable age and arid all of them have been contradicted contra contra- dieted b by authority time and again Yet they persist In vl vigor or apparently unimpaired and there Is no nil sign sigil that any liny of them Is giving ground under underlie the lie Impact of denial A belief once once accepted by the population pop pop- at nt large has ball more wore lives than ft I litter of kittens The earnest Inculcator cator of sound doctrine who attempts to It undertakes an almost hopeless task tank for ar does daes this mean that truth Is mocked The Tue untruth i Is simply often picturesquely dressed tile the lie exceptional circumstances that seem to ta support It are vividly related and Ind remain In the memory memary while the growth of ot truth Is likely to be a drab garment stitched with Us its and buts New Mew York Sun SUII |
