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Show If Extraordinary Display of Scientific Knowledge Made at a Recent " lg if fefet Medical Convention by the Youngster Who Does Not ppl - - Think He Was Brought by the - j The future scientific genius f?:ii learning to form the letters of the alphabet in the sen- flfifffl sible order in which his if father has rearranged them jj&tfff TN a conver.tion hall at Atlantic City I a few days ago three hundred physicians physi-cians and surgeons in attendance at the annual meeting of the Allied Medical Medi-cal Association were listening to a learned address on "Diagnosis and Treatment Treat-ment Through Electronic Reactions." As the speaker finished his remarks the president of the association rose and said l "Gentlemen, we are to have the privilege privi-lege of hearing this morning probably the youngest speaker who ever addressed an organization of this kind or any other. I take great pleasure in introducing introduc-ing Master Ira Lucas, who is three years old and who will lecture us for a few minutes on anatomy, physiology and the manner of his own origin." To the front of the platform stepped a small boy, n chubby-faced, soldierly, bright-eyed little fellow. He shook hands gravely with the presiding officer and allowed al-lowed that gentleman to help him climb to the top of a tabic. From this vantage point he surveyed his audience, smilingly, coolly, without a trace of embarrassment. And when the grave medical men recovered from their astonishment enough to burst into applause Master Ira acknowledged the greeting with a series of graceful little bows. As the applause subsided the boy's father, Dr. Alzamon Ira Lucas, of New York, mounted the platform and took a seat beside the table. Then began a remarkable re-markable question-and-answer dialogue in which this three-year-old boy, speaking speak-ing in a shrill childish treble that reached every corner of the auditorium, displayed dis-played a knowledge of the human body that would do credit to a first or second year medical student. Only the briefest questions were spoken by the father, and the answers were invariably in-variably complete, accurate and well phrased and given without the slightest hesitation or prompting. The physicians who heard the boy's lecture were amazed at the facility with which long scientific terms slipped from this child's lips and at the thorough mastery he showed of so many of the fundamental- of medical science. "What is that bone called?" asked Dr. Lucas, tapping his son on the shin. "The tibia," replied Ira. "And it's the very longest bone in my whole skeleton, except the femur." "And where is the femur?" "Why, daddy," protested Ira, "everybody "every-body knows where that is! It's in raj thigh, of course !" "What is 1 he longest bone in the upper part of your body?" "The humerus, and that's right here," said the 1 it-;.- 1, , -: -, jr. a chubby hand on his upper Vraa arm. "And what are the names of the two large bones below your bH elbow?" 1 "The ulna and the radius." V. "What makes the blood red?" Y "The corpuscles," V "Where does the perspiration N come from?" "From the little pores in our skin, and they are such teeny-weeny things that you can't see them, even with glasses on." In answer to other questions Ira successfully suc-cessfully identified many different parts of the body, explained the function of the heart, lungs, kidneys and other organs or-gans and gave a detailed description of the bony structure of the spine. And then Dr. Lucas said: "How did you and sister come to us? Did the stork bring you, or were you found in the cabbage patch?" "No, indeed, daddy!" cried the boy, and without any further prompting ho launched into a lengthy description of the origin of life. This was the most amazing part of his lecture and it showed that this mere baby possesses a clear understanding un-derstanding of facts which many children chil-dren unfortunately for them, Dr. Lucas believes never gain until after they reach young man or womanhood. The way the boy mingled the long scientific terms his tongue manages so deftly with occasional childish phrases brought alternate smiles and gasp.s of astonishment from his hearers. It is safe to say that none of the distinguished speakers on the convention's program was heard with quite as much interest as this mere baby. This ended the lecture and at its close Master Ira had a busy hour shaking hands with the grave scientists to whom he had lectured and answering questions they asked about his work and play. Before Be-fore the convention came to a close Dr. Lucas was called on to explain otter and over again the methods by which he has managed to pack his son's head so full of scientific knowledge. On one point the doctor is especially insistent that Ira is in no sense a prodigy. prod-igy. He thinks there is nothing phenomenal phenom-enal about the boy's understanding at a few months more than three years of age things the average child does not grasp before he. is fourteen or fifteen, and sometimes not even then. Other parent-can parent-can accomplish similar results writh any normal child, he says, if they will follow the same methods he and Mrs. Lucas have employed. The training in the case of little Ira and his six-year-old sister began Jong " Ira Lucas J' -'P' '-'V :' ',. v v. -j as a baby, s .K photographed ' iinnm , V with his older sister y :j and their parents, Dr. and Mrs. Alzamon J I. Lucas V y . y, " before their birth.' In fact, Dr. Lucas insists that the sex of both the children, as well as the vocation for which they should be best fitted, was determined months before they came into the world. The parents Willed that their second child shonlrl he n hnv. and that he should become be-come a great medical jfc scientist. The first- born they willed to be a girl, and ordained for her a musical career. ca-reer. And Marguerite Vivicnne, as she is called, is already showing as marked talent for vocal and v instrumental niusic SBSn as her small brother ': :j does for anatomy, physiology and kindred kin-dred subjects. This pre-natal influence which Dr. and Mrs. Lucas believe they exerted over their two children is similar to that which Mrs. Cynthia Leonard claimed to have exerted ex-erted over her famous daughter, the late Lillian Russell. "Before my daughter was born," said Mrs. Leonard, after the young woman had begun her brilliant success on the stage, "I determined that she should be very beautiful and have a fine voice, and I kept my mind on that all the time until she was born. Now look at her and listen to her and see how well I succeeded." r" " :;. ' With all the learning that w fills his head Ira " ? is still a real boy and X' enjoys playing with his toys when his studies are over Dr. Lucas thinks the widespread custom cus-tom of telling children fairy tales about the manner of their origin antiquated and barbaric and one that is responsible for a prodigious amount of harm. Both Ira and Marguerite were told the plain facts of the matter about the time tney began learning the alphabet. "Isn't it far fetter." asks Dr. Lucas, "for a child to learn the mysteries of lifo from its parents than to pick up unclean fabrications about them from vicious playmates?" In spite of all the knowledge he has f been able to assimilate a' this early age little Ira is HgSg a real bo . When his daily les-sons les-sons are over he enjoys playing with his toys just as other children do Special attention is given to teaching the Lucas children to drink, breathe and eat properly. Their father is almost a crank on the subject of proper drinking. There's an art in drinking a glaf?s of water, Dr. Lucas believes, that few persons per-sons realize. Most children breathe like "sick chickens," he thinks. He declares all of us need to '.'get in tune" with the water we drink. v "1 teach Marguerite and Ira to drink water slowly," says the doctor. "They must never gulp it down Its temperature is most important. Iced water is most injurious, in-jurious, and even cold water' is harmful. I have taught my children to hold the water in the mouth -and warm it to blbq I temperature before swallowing." I lttle Ira will be denied the company of any playmate other than hi . si ter until he is seven years old. Neither of the children will go to school outside the home until ten or eleven years of age. "By the time our children enter school," says Dr. Lucas, "they will have been taught all the fundamentals, and they will know them scientifically That's the better way." Ira is being taught by the "direct" method Marguerite, on the other hand iB being instructed "indirectly." For instance, should Dr. Lucas desire his son to bring him a glass of water he would say: "Son, bring daddy a drink." But supposing he wanted Marguerite to bring the water, he would never directly di-rectly command her. Instead he would phrase his request something like this- "Mother, won't you please bring daddy a drink?" Whereupon, he says, Marguerite will invariably respond in order to save her' 'aether. This Dr. Lucas calls the "m-dlrect "m-dlrect method of instruction, and he ! Little Ira looked j j when addressing the recent convention h ' of the Allied Medical ' - uld be Uufbt in this way em periods have boo &''jSBK&fK& mapped out for I "aS the Lucas chQ- ilren. First comu j the specific training train-ing at !om' whick - ,:v MarguiTue and Ira are now nv " ceiving; next, tk J5$T . . A general, in pubUt ' ''JUS SCn00' 0r ' .a ademy; and Iwt the specific a?w j college trainini along vocatioBil lines. Parents shuuM give more attention to what their children cat, Dr. Lucas b-licves. b-licves. For breakfast the Lucas kiddiw Usually haw cti rr an orange or IS ' apple nothing more Milk is their prifr cipal liquid diet (Jn.-e in a great while they ar..' treated t" a .mall cup of hot chocolate, but never coffee or tea. Tbey do not eat meat, but fish and fowl ire often '-Mind cm 1 1 ii menu Of fruiti and vegetables they got liberal quantities Chocolate drops of fancy flavors ire unknown to these children. Even the popular lollypop is denied them. No-inr No-inr is eaten between meals. Popcorel and peanuts -,re taho.j for Ira and ha , : t r." Twice a week a small portion stick candy nir.de from fruit juice H. given them to eat for their dessert Dr. Lucas has taught his childrea their A C. ' U . n-e.el -stem of W own According to this, the first letter j of the' alphabet is I, instead of A. Tail j is because the letter with one straight line is the easiest for children to grsfp- 5 Ira and Marguerite have learned alphabet in this order: I, X, V, L, T.Nij I Z. M, W, A, II, K, Y, F, E, 0, Q. u f I. C. I', H, K, S. The letters ttit are easiest for a child to form pro the more difficult ones. v Daily history lessons are taught t I Lucas children ), and Mrs take turn-, reading to them about fan k( American-; or relating in story k some important incident in their l"! : They believe- that nature is one of t best teachers and frequent excursion into the country are taken, so that M children may study things at first hit- Dr. Lucas is a 'native of Provided R I. For a number of years he livejaj5 the West and received the degree of D' tor of Psyi holherapy from Oregon SU Uc Colle;:e. At one nine he was Chief t aminerpf Delii,.p.j. nts and Feeble MiW- there He is a Baptist minister, hi been ordained in Los Angeles in j |