The Family Peacemaker—Do You Use It?

Our Marvelous Eyes

Is Yoga Something for Christians?

From Cotton to Clothing

MARCH 22, 1963

THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL

News sources that ore able to keep you owake to the vital Issues of our times must be unfettered by censorship and selfish interests. “Awake!” has no fetters. It recognizes facts, faces facts, is free to publish facts. It is not bound by political ambitions or obligations; it is unhampered by advertisers whose taes must nat be trodden on; it is unprejudiced by traditional creeds. This journal keeps itself free that it may speak freely to yau. But it doe5..riot abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity ta truth.

“Awake!” uses the regular news channels, but is not dependent on them, its own correspondents are an all continents, in scores of nations. From the four corners of the earth their uncensored, on^the-scenes reports come to you through these columns. This journal’s viewpoint is nat narrow, but is international. It is read in many nations, in many languages, by persons of all ages. Through its pages many fields of knowledge pass in review—government, commerce, religion, history, geography, science, social conditions, natural wonders—why, its coverage is as broad as the earth and as high as the heavens.

“Awake!" pledges itself to righteous principles, to exposing hidden foe^ and subtle dangers, to championing freedom far all, to comforting mourners and strengthening those disheartened by the failures of a delinquent world, reflecting sure hope for the establishment of a righteous New World.

Get acquainted with “Awake!" Keep awake by reading “Awake!"

Published Semimonthly by

WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. INC. 117 Adams Street                              Brooklyn 1, N.Y._t U.S.A.

N. H, Knorr, President                         Grant Suiter, Secretary

Printing this issue: 3,700,000                                      Five cents a copy

Th* Bible translation used Io *'Awake!” 1$ th# New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, 1961 odtflbn Whet) Other translations are used the fa’lowina synbels will appear behind the citations:

■ ^—** Mi      ■ —i i          k                  ■ u

CONTENTS

Lovers of Pleasure

The Family Peacemaker—Do You Use It? 5

Greatly Confused

Our Marvelous Eyes—Evidence of Divine

Wisdom

South of Buenos Aires

Is Yoga Something for Christians ?

Trees for the Use of Man

Dangers of Hypnosis

From Cotton to Clothing

“Your Word Is Truth”

A Sea of Reeds or the Red Sea ?

Watching the World

IMAGINE how dull your life would be if you had no pleasures to bring you sparkling moments of enjoyment! Every day would be drab and uninteresting. Time would seem to drag. But when there are pleasurable activities to anticipate, each day can be interesting and satisfying. The tedium of doing the same things day after day is broken. But as people differ in their interests so they differ in what they consider as pleasures.

What you may find pleasure in is not necessarily what someone else considers to be enjoyable. Sports, for example, might be a source of keen enjoyment for you, but for another person they are no source of pleasure whatsoever. There are other things that he regards as far more enjoyable. Some persons are so keenly interested in their daily work that they find pleasure in their jobs, but others dislike their jobs and anxiously look forward to quitting time, when they can enjoy the pleasures they plan for the evening or weekend. Whatever may be a person’s interests, the pleasures he enjoys add much to his life.

Enjoyment of pleasure is normal and not to be regarded with disdain. The abnormal view of pleasures taken by reli-

gious ascetics is out of harmony with the Word of God. The Scriptures do not teach that asceticism is meritorious in the sight of God or that it

person to a higher spiritual state, it stresses faith and good works as being pleasing to God. Wholesome pleasures are not condemned by it. Rather than condemn all pleasures, it associates ascetic views with men who fall away from the faith and who follow the practice of “forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be partaken of with thanksgiving by those who have faith and accurately know the truth.” (1 Tim. 4:3) When God created man he purposed that man should find enjoyment in life, otherwise he would not have given man the ability to feel pleasure. There is a limit, however, to how much you ought to pursue pleasure.

While avoiding the ascetic extreme of self-denial of wholesome pleasures, you should not go to the other extreme of giving them a place of priority in your life. This has become a common practice in the world. People foolishly place their love for pleasure ahead of everything else, even ahead of love for God. Foretelling this, the Bible said that people would be “lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God.” (2 Tim. 3:4) Are you certain that you have not gone to that extreme?

How does the amount of time you give to the pursuit of pleasure compare with what you give to God? In the course of a week do you give as much time to studying the Word of God, to worshiping him and to serving him as you do to watching television? When you are encouraged to study God’s Word and to attend Bible talks, do you claim to be too busy, although you are able to spend time for entertainment? Are you unwilling to take some time away from such pleasures and devote it to learning what is in God’s Word? Would not such unwillingness be evidence of greater love for pleasure than for God?

There is much fine counsel in the Scriptures about eating, drinking and moral behavior. These are fleshly pleasures that can easily get out of hand, with more importance being given to them than they are worthy of receiving. The person who disregards God’s counsel about them has made a god of his physical senses. Persons like him are “animalistic men, not having spirituality.” (Jude 19) “Their finish is destruction, and their god is their belly, and their glory consists in their shame, and they have their minds upon things on the earth.” (Phil. 3:19) Their minds are not on the heavenly Father and his good counsel for man but entirely on earthly things. Senselessly they have made sensual gratification their chief love. A people who were notorious for this were the ancient Romans.

Roman nobles set a bad example for the people in being excessive lovers of pleasures. Regarding them the historian John Lord states: “Their distinguishing vices were meanness and servility, the pursuit of money by every artifice, the absence of honor, and unblushing sensuality.”¹ A similar description is provided by the¹ apostle Paul, who lived in the days Of those sensual people. He said: “Having come to be past all moral sens a- they gave themselves over to loose cond_v to work uncleanness of every sort with greediness.” (Eph. 4: 19) The shamefully degraded life of those people well illustrates the degenerating effect excessive love for pleasure has upon mind, body and spirit.

Christians of the first century succeeded in shielding themselves from the pernicious influence of the Roman world by maintaining strong love for God. Because of that love they obeyed his wholesome moral laws and kept their minds on him and on his upbuilding Word. They found the greatest pleasure in doing the will of God.

Although the world today is following the pleasure-mad course taken by the Romans, you can be like the early Christians and govern your course by strong love for God and his Word. Realize that fleshly pleasures are fleeting, bringing only temporary enjoyment, but love of God brings lasting benefits. Because the world lacks that love, trials can be expected to come upon you for exercising it, but by enduring them you prove your love for God and win his approval. “Happy is the man that keeps on enduring trial, because on becoming approved he will receive the crown of life, which Jehovah promised to those who continue loving him.”—Jas. 1:12.

Wisely avoid the world’s folly of loving pleasure more than God. Do not put the enjoyment of fleshly desires ahead of obedience to his righteous commandments. Do not permit such pleasures to make such demands on your time that you have little or nothing left to give to the even more pleasurable and lastingly beneficial service of God and to the study of his written Word. Follow Jesus’ counsel: “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness. -Matt. 6:33.

USBANDS, if you come home from work tired and hungry, and there is no meal ready for you, how do you handle

the situation? Will it bring peace to the family? Wives, after you have worked hard all day cleaning the house, what is your reaction if your husband walks across your clean floor in his dirty boots? Will peace continue in the family? Instead, you may have an evening of words and ill-feelings, perhaps even tears. From little troubles like these spring bigger problems, causing heartaches, divided homes, delinquent children, and often divorce. It is obvious that a family peacemaker is needed to avoid such calamity.

Yes, there is at least one in every Christian home, and at times in homes not claiming to be Christian. The family peacemaker is the Bible. 'Oh! That old-fashioned book? That’s out of date to solve the problems of this twentieth century/ someone will say. But consult it for¹ a moment with an unprejudiced mind.

First, it informs us that marriage originated with Jehovah, the God of the Bible. He performed the first marriage when he brought Eve to Adam. He blessed them and gave them everything they neede^ materially and spiritually, to live togethe. in peace. But when this marriage faced a test, woman failed her husband, man failed his wife, and both of them failed their heavenly Father. God, though, had not failed them; they were the ones that failed to follow his counsel. But God has preserved his counsel for us in his Word, the family peacemaker. Can it really help in maintaining peace in the family in these days? Turn to the Bible and see.

"Let wives be in subjection to their husbands as to the Lord, because a husband is head of his wife as the Christ also is head of the congregation, he being a savior of this body. In fact, as the congregation is in subjection to the Christ, so let wives also be to their husbands in everything.” 'Oh!’ say the wives, 'why pick on us? Don’t the men have their weaknesses too?’ Listen to Paul’s further words: "Husbands, continue loving your wives, just .as the Christ also loved the congregation and delivered up himself for it ... In this way husbands ought to be loving their wives as their own bodtes. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no man ever hated his own flesh/’—Eph. 5:22-33.

The family peacemaker comes right to the heart of the matter and points out the outstanding weakness of each; for wives, being in subjection to their husbands, keeping their place in the home; for husbands, continuing to love their wives, not taking them for granted. How could this help in the problems mentioned above? Let us see.

Bow It Works

A husband coming home at regular times has the right to expect his wife to have his meals ready for him, and the wife has the duty to see they are ready on time. But there are days when things seem to go wrong all day, so the meal may not be ready, and often due to no fault of the wife. What will the husband do? If he loves his wife as much as his own body, will he shout at her or beat her? No! Appreciating the fact that his wife is probably disheartened about the situation herself, the loving husband will encourage her, and be patient and wait. This action on the husband's part draws them closer together rather than dividing them. It brings peace to the home, when so easily there could have been trouble. The family peacemaker is not out of date.

Would the family peacemaker work if the husband’s meals were often late? Yes, for it says: “Husbands, continue loving your wives/’ You won her love, so she became your wife. When you were courting you would have done anything for her, even patiently teaching her things she wanted to learn, to win her affection. It worked then. Will it not also work now? Sit down together and teach her how to plan and schedule her housework, washing, shopping and other jobs, if she is having difficulty getting everything done. Take an interest in what she does in the home. When she does well, commend her in a kind and loving way, remembering that she is one flesh with you.

Often little things do the most to make her happy. For example, when did you last bring her flowers, or some other small present, something she really likes? Never stop courting her. That is how you won her, and it is a good way to keep her love. In this way you will make it easier for her to conquer the weakness of womankind, which is failure to be in subjection to their husband and head.

Womanly Subjection—

What Does It Mean?

Does this mean a wife is the slave of her husband? No, how could she be if they are one flesh? Then how is she in subjection to her husband? If a human body had two heads and each one wanted to control it, would that body have a peaceful existence? Likewise, when a man and woman marry and become one flesh, there can be only one head if there is to be peace. The Creator himself puts, that responsibility on man, as is shown at 1 Corinthians 11:3: “The head of every man is the Christ; in turn the head of a woman is the man.”

Does this mean that when some problem arises in the family the wife is not allowed to express her opinion on the matter? No, she has the right to express herself, and her husband would do well to listen to her. Her thoughts can help him make a wise decision, to the peace and benefit of the entire family. But it is the husband’s responsibility to make the decision, and the wife shows her subjection by accepting and carrying it out. Love on the part of the wife will make it easier for her to show such submissiveness. The family peacemaker says: “Love never fails.” So “clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.” (1 Cor. 13:8; Col. 3:14) Let your love of each other grow stronger as the years go by, and there will be peace in your family.

Husbandly Love—How Can It Be Shown?

As head of the house husbands must be careful how they exercise their headship.

It is not done by walking across the clean floor in dirty boots. That will not win your wife’s respect. You cannot expect peace in your family when you do things that do not encourage peace. Why not change your boots as you come into the house? This builds peace in the family, as is stated in the “golden rule” of the family peacemaker. “All things, therefore, that you want men to do to you, you also must likewise do to them.” (Matt. 7:12) Wives, on the other hand, do not become so houseproud that your husband cannot be comfortable in the home, that he goes out every night. Order things in your home so that they contribute to the peace of the family rather than taking it away.

Remember, husbands, your wife married you because she loved you and wanted your companionship. Now that she is your wife, give her the love and companionship for which she married you. Make her feel she needs you and life could not be the same without you. When she needs you to help her with some little job in the home, be willing to do it, however small it may be in your eyes. Learn to see things from her viewpoint. This is important, because you as the head have to make decisions for both. Your wife will be more willing in accepting and carrying out those decisions if she knows you have considered them from her point of view as well as your own. Wise words in the family peacemaker counsel: “Let each one keep seeking, not his own advantage, but that of the other person.” (1 Cor. 10:24) Many would be the peaceful, happy families if all would consider these simple words.

You, both strangers once, desired to live together as one unit because a wonderful love grew up between you. The love that drew you together can also help to keep you together as one peaceful, happy unit. The family peacemaker shows how, “Love is long-suffering and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, does not get puffed up, does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, does not become provoked. It does not keep account of the injury. It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Cor. 13:4-8) What a happy home is the one where love is shownI

Such love, the kind that is a perfect bond of union, the kind that never fails, draws its strength from God, who is the Source of love. (1 John 4:8) Enduring love for one’s marriage mate, and for others in the family, is dependent on deep-seated love for God. Lasting peace in the household comes after one has come to be at peace with God. So those who seek stability and contentment in their homes must first seek God, studying his Word, praying for his guidance, applying his counsel and associating with others who do the same. Doing so, they will be able to meet the problems of family life with success. The husband will show abiding love for his wife and win her respect by godly conduct. The wife will manifest endearing submissive-ncss to her husband. Together they will avoid the pitfalls to happiness—because they follow the counsel of the family peacemaker, God’s Word the Bible.

YES, marvelous is the word to use in describing our eyes. Truly they give reason for wonder and astonishment and present powerful evidence of divine wisdom. By means of them we are able to take in a continual flow of visual impressions, of light and shadow, of colors, of movement, and even of distance.

More than that, our eyes automatically accommodate themselves to varying degrees of light, in fact, are able to perceive a range as wide as represented by the numbers from one to ten billion. They can also accommodate to differences in space, from a few inches to infinity. Nor would we overlook the ability of our eyes to express a great variety of emotions. And the marvel of marvels is how all this is perceived by the mind and recorded on the brain!

Only divine wisdom can account for these things, even as it alone can account for the ability of the human embryo to produce in only ter of month living cameras out of a little salt, protein, fat, sugar and water. And what cameras!

Two beautifully formed, tiny spherelike motion-picture cameras that are perfectly coordinated and that can take color pictures in three dimensions. And what an advantage it is that we have two eyes! Thereby we have not only a margin of safety and a wide range of vision but also depth of vision. Although having two eyes, we do not see double; no, we have what is termed * ‘single binocular vision.”

Three Coats or Walls

These wonderful eyes of ours are not quite perfect spheres, being slightly longer from front to back than from side to side. In adults the average eye is about one inch in diameter. Aside from the fact that the eye of a woman is 2 percent smaller than the eye of a man, eyes of people generally are the same size regardless of the size of their bodies. Eyes that seem rather large most likely are either more exposed by the eyelids or protrude farther from their protecting orbit.

The eyeball is a sphere, the walls of which consist of three distinct layers or coats and the contents of which are about 95 percent liquid. Of its three coats, the outer one gives the eye its shape and furnishes protection, the intermediate coat serves chiefly to provide nutrition, and the inmost coat, or layer, contains the all-important sight cells.

The eye’s outer coat is termed the sclera, meaning “hard,” part of which we see as the white of the eye. It is well named, for it consists of bundles of tissue of extreme density, being among the toughest tissues in the human body, serving well both to protect the eye and to give it its shape. It is so ruggedly built that it might be likened to a concrete pillbox with a heavy plate-glass window in front that has steel shutters to protect the window and a Venetian blind inside to control the amount of light entering.

The “plate-glass window” of our illustration is the cornea, meaning “horny.” It is a circular transparent area about a half inch in diameter in the front center of the eyeball and accounting for one-sixth of the outer coat, the sclera accounting for the rest The cornea permits light to enter the eye, and through it we can see the colorful iris and the pupil. The cornea is slightly raised above the surrounding sclera as the glass of a watch is raised above the surrounding watchcase. The curvature of the cornea is of the greatest importance in the ability of the eye to focus. While rarely perfect, only when the cornea is seriously lacking in symmetry does it become one of the two causes of astigmatism, the other being a faulty lens.

The tiny blood vessels in the surrounding sclera stop short when they come to the cornea. Surely this is evidence of divine wisdom, as otherwise the cornea would not be perfectly transparent. Incidentally, this explains why it is possible to transplant the cornea from one person’s eyes to another’s. Due to the unique structure of the cornea, especially its main, hard, hornlike layer, the age or health of the donor is not important, nor even the condition of his own sight, so long as the cornea itself is clear and healthy.

The Second Coat

The second coat consists of three distinct parts: iris, ciliary bodies and choroid. As noted previously, the iris can be seen through the cornea or window of the eye, and it is well named, as iris means “rainbow,” and it is the only part of the eye that gives it color and variety. The iris abounds in blood vessels and has an opening in the center, the pupil. Yes, the pupil is simply a hole in the iris that looks black because the inside of the eye is dark.

For changing the size of the pupil the iris has two sets of muscles that react automatically to light. One of these is a circular or sphincter-like set of muscles for decreasing the size of the pupil, and the other is a radiating set of muscles, like the spokes of a wagon wheel, for increasing the pupil’s size.

Joined to the iris on each side is a ciliary body. Each has a muscle that adjusts the lens for near or distant focusing, and it also has some seventy folds. Then, joined to the ciliary bodies on each side is the choroid, meaning skinlike. It completes the second coat, accounts for two-thirds of it and abounds in blood vessels.

The Retina

The third or inmost coat of the eye is the retina, the “net,” semitransparent and of a purplish hue. It is by all odds the most marvelous part of our marvelous eyes, giving a most striking evidence of divine wisdom. Though of a maximum thickness of but a sixty-fourth of an inch, .4 mm., it consists of ten distinct layers.

In one of these layers are found 137 million light-sensitive cells. Yes, there are 137 million of these in the retina, which, according to one authority, “is about the size of a postage stamp and not much thicker”! Where these arc the thickest, from ¹ ^0,000 to 160,000 of them are found in a . are millimeter, or in an area about this size:^D. In fact, it has been estimated that if these cells were as large as a dot of the letter “i” or a period, they would cover an area of ninety square feet!

Each of these receptor cells consists of (Ive parts, including an outer layer, an inner layer and a nucleus. Tiny nerve lines lead from these and condense to form upward of a million lines. These, in turn, unite to make up the optic nerve that connects the eye with the brain. Where these nerve lines leave the eye is the eye’s “blindspot,” the lines themselves being insensitive to sight, even as a telephone wire of itself cannot pick up sound. Near this blindspot is the eye’s visual center, where sight is most acute, which spot is not even as large as the head of a pin!

Of the 137 million cells seven million are cone cells and the rest rod cells, the two having distinctive shapes and serving distinctive purposes. The cone cells are receptors for bright light and colors; the rods, for diminished light and peripheral vision, it being with them that we catch sight of things out of the corner of our eyes. Barnyard fowls have only or practically only cone cells and so must go to roost when it gets dark, while owls, which have only or practically only rod cells, avoid the bright daytime and venture forth only when it gets dark. The human eye, with its great number of both cells, has the widest range of vision. The fact that the rod cells are not sensitive to colors

III II 11 no doubt accounts for 1 l| j the fact that in the • I II f f twilight color distinc-iaye/of¹ htiSa ^{tions seem}- ^to disap. pear.

The visual mechanism appears to work something like this: Light strikes a chemical in the receptor cells, which, in turn, creates another chemical, “deep purple,” and which, although lasting but a millionth of a second, triggers a nerve impulse that is sent to the brain. According to Dr. George Wold of Harvard University’s biological laboratories, “none of the mechanisms of excitation, whether of nerves, muscles or sense organs, [are] really understood.”

The Eye's Refractive Bodies

A refractive body is something transparent that offers resistance to light, slowing it down. A vacuum offers no resistance, air offers very little, water more (33 percent), glass 50 percent or more depending upon its nature Sind thickness, A   and diamonds

' m o s t o f a 11.

*    When a ray of

lig'lit strikes such a body at any I              J other than a right an-

gle the light ray is bent. Put a stick partway in the water and view it obliquely and it will seem to be bent where it strikes the water, due to the water bending the light rays. To the extent that light rays strike the eye at an angle they have to be bent to be focused on the visual center of the eye.

The chief refractive body of the eye is the lens² which is suspended toward the front of the eyeball or sphere of the eye and is about the size of an aspirin tablet It is biconvex, that is, convex on both sides, and has the ability to bend, which greatly increases its focusing power, as also does the fact that its cells are more dense at its center than at its edges—two characteristics no man-made lens could possibly have. According to one theory, when we strain to see, the ciliary muscles automatically bend the lens, but as soon as we relax our efforts the lens has an elastic covering or capsule that automatically returns the lens to normal. Any opacity or cloudiness of the lens is termed a cataract.

In the space between the eye’s window, the cornea, and the lens, about an eighth of an inch, is found the iris, as we have seen, and a saltwater solution, termed the aqueous body, which bathes the lens. It is continually renewed, and there is a means for drawing off its surplus. When this drawing off is interfered with, pressure within the eye mounts, resulting in painful glaucoma, a major cause of blindness.

The space between the lens and the retina at the back of the eyeball is filled with a gelatinous mass considerably thicker in consistency than the aqueous body. It accounts for four-fifths of the mass of the eyeball and is encased In a special transparent membrane. One of its chief purposes may be said to be to keep the eyeball from collapsing. Though when submerged in water it cannot be seen, it contains an extremely delicate meshwork. Moving spots that are occasionally seen floating before one’s eyes are “ghost” blood cells floating around in this mass known as the vitreous humor. When, due to malnutrition or undue eyestrain caused by poor illumination or reading fine print, the eyeball becomes elongated, nearsightedness results, according to the generally accepted opinion. When there is a shortening of the eyeball, farsightedness. Farsightedness also results when the lens, because of age, has lost some of its ability to bend.

Normal vision is termed 20/20 vision." This does not mean that one has good eyesight if he has this but merely that his sight is that of the average person, being able to see at twenty feet what the average person is able to see at twenty feet. A 20/40 vision means that one can see at twehty feet only what the average person can at forty feet; this, however, is not 50 percent vision but actually 83 percent of normal. Having 20/200 vision Is considered being legally blind.

The Eyes' Appendages or Auxiliaries

For its proper functioning the eye is dependent upon a number of other organs or structures. For one thing, the eyeball is sealed in by a membrane known as the conjunctiva (conjunc.ti'va). It covers the exposed part of the eye and folds back to form the inner surface of the upper and lower eyelids. It contains many tiny nerves that make themselves felt when a speck gets in one of our eyes. Where the conjunctiva lines the eyelids, it is opaque and filled with blood vessels. Where it lines the white of our eyes, it is much thinner and transparent and has few blood vessels; and it contains no blood vessels where it lines the cornea—again evidence of divine wisdom. Injury or disease may cause it to give the eye a bloodshot appearance. Inflammation of it is termed conjunctivitis, which in a serious form is known as trachoma.

The eyeball is cushioned in very soft fat in a cone-shaped orbit and is placed in it in such a way as to give it at once maximum protection and maximum range of vision. In each orbit are seven muscles: the “elevator” muscle for the upper eyelid that enables us to wink, and three pairs of muscles fastened to the eyeball and the orbit that enable the eye to move sideways, up and down, obliquely and in a circular fashion. These pairs of muscles work in various combinations, and the two sets, for the two eyes, are perfectly coordinated, which is one of the reasons why single binocular vision is possible.

Our,.eyelids with their eyelashes are a great help also. They protect our eyes against harm from too much light, too much heat, dirt and bad weather. Their inner surfaces abound in tiny glands that emit a waxlike substance that serves to

MARCH 22, 1963

lubricate the eye and keep the lids from sticking to it. And logically, since the upper eyelid moves so much more than the lower, the upper has more of these tiny glands.

The eyelids also help distribute the tears that lubricate, nourish and keep moist the outer surface of the eye and that also have somewhat of a germ-killing power. They are supplied by tiny glands located at the upper outside part of each eye and are drained off at the lower nasal side of the eye. Helping also to protect the eyes are the eyebrows.

Many and various kinds of nerves serve the eyes for sensation, for voluntary and for involuntary movements. It is said that eight of the twelve cratiial or head nerves arc involved in some way or another in our seeing, the second of these, the optic nerve, actually a twin, being given entirely to sight. The optic nerves lead to the rear halves of the brain, to the subdivisions known as the occipital lobes. The left half of the optic nerve of each eye leads to the left lobe and the right half of the optic nerve of each eye leads to the right lobe. This crossing over of one half of the optic nerve of each eye to the other side is believed to have some relationship with the coordination of the images of the two eyes. Further, this serves as a safeguard, for neither eye is dependent upon just one lobe nor is either lobe dependent upon just one eye.

In common with all the rest of the body, the eyes and their appendages have their share of the various blood vessels; those of the eyes being especially remarkable for their delicate walls, their loose connection to surrounding tissue and the way they bend. Within the eye arc visible internal blood vessels, this being the only part of the body where this is so. This is at times of great help in diagnosing a patient.

Evidence of Divine Wisdom

Truly the eyes are a marvel of marvels and produce a wealth of evidence of divine wisdom. They simply cannot be accounted for by the senseless ones who say in their hearts, ⁴‘There is no Jehovah.” The more acquainted we become with them, the more evidence we see of the wisdom of the Creator: in their structure, their coordination, in their automatic accommodations and adjustments and in their reception of light and impressions of space, color and movement.—Ps. 14:1.

The greatest of all marvels is the sense of vision in our brains. The eye is like a camera, amazingly so. (Man in inventing the camera unconsciously imitated the eye, human wisdom discovering the principles that guided divine wisdom in creating the eye.) The eye takes motion pictures. What we see in our minds is not the outside objects we are looking at but the picture that is being taken by the receptor cells and sent to the brain—a continuous picture automatically and instantaneously developed. Yes, that picture is actually in our brain, and that is so regardless of its size! More than that, it is all being recorded for future reference!

No question about it, a wise king of long ago knew whereof he spoke when he said, ‘The seeing eye—Jehovah himself has made it?—Prov. 20:12.

THE South American continent is associated in the minds of the majority with a tropical climate, extensive green plateaus and dense jungles, where fauna of every kind thrive in a climate that is ideal for them. Perhaps to some, South America summons a vision of the steaming Equator or the Amazon jungle, abounding with fruits that are the tropical delight of its inhabitants. That is a true picture—at least for the part of South America that fits the description—but not for all of South America, nor for all the countries that go to form this huge triangle-shaped continent.

Let us not forget that "South” does not only mean south of the frozen wastes of the North Pole, escaping, as it were, from the regions that inherit their cold winters from the North Pole, “South” also means getting closer to the South Pole, a place in the world that boasts its own frozen deserts and exports its own cold winters to its neighbors.

Argentina is one of its close neighbors.

Argentina is situated in the part of the hemisphere that has the greatest climatic changes and, as a consequence, does not present the totally tropical picture that is so often associated with South America. It is true that in the 1,072,700 square miles that make up the nation’s territory there are places that are hot and tropical; in fact, Argentina has the hottest point recorded on the continent, in the Santiago del Estero Province situated in the north of Argentina. And yet, this same country, whose 20,956,000 inhabitants are scattered from the northern frontier touching Bolivia to the very doors of the South Pole, has the coldest spot recorded on. the continent. While speaking of superlatives in topography and climate, we might say that Argentina has the highest mountain on the continent and in the hemisphere, Mount

Aconcagua, which towers 22,834 feet above sea level. And for good measure, let us mention the lowest place on the continent, Salinas Grandes, in the Valdes Peninsula in Argentine territory, which is 131 feet below sea level.                    '

View of the Capital

The city of Buenos

Aires, capital of the nation, has a summer climate much like that of New York, hot and humid. But, despite the sometimes oppressive humidity, more than one third of the inhabitants of the country have chosen to live in Buenos Aires and greater Buenos Aires. The city proper has 3,703,000 inhabitants, but there are close to 8,000,000 people in all of greater Buenos Aires. We are happy to say that in this populous area there are many zealous, active witnesses of Jehovah organized into seventy congregations.

A curious characteristic of the city is that its dwellers have not formed national or racial groups such as observed in many big cities of the world that have many nationalities represented. This highly commercial city, whose port handles boats from all over the world, has no solidly Italian or Spanish districts or other districts comprised exclusively of other nationalities. In a short time after coming to this country to live the people become Argentines.

One of the things that accelerates the integration process is the local custom of eating abundantly and well. No matter from what country you may have come or what eating habits you may have had, you soon 'do as the Romans.’ You find yourself just as lost as your neighbors if your meal does not include some cut of beef. You find yourself consuming the big delicious steaks with the same frequency and zest as they do, and it could be added that you will find yourself just as concerned as they are when the price of meat goes up, as it has been doing steadily. Another eating attraction in Buenos Aires is pizza, an Italian tomato pie with cheese topping. There are many, many pizzerias in the city where it is sold- On Saturday night there is generally a line waiting for tables in these places because the city comes out in force to consume tons of it! At home the favorite food is asada, which means choice beef cuts roasted over an open fire. The present financial situation, however, has cut down some on the quantity that families can afford, but by no means has it wiped out the custom. That is fortunate, because it is so easy to get used to eating steaks and asado.

There are many nationalities represented in the country, Italian and Spanish dominating. The people are amiable and express their thoughts very openly, be it over politics, football or the horse races.

Region of “Big Feet”

But to the south of Buenos Aires, where the climate becomes colder, there extends a vast territory that is not totally known to the majority of the inhabitants of the country. This region has features that are completely different from the tropical regions in appearance and activity.

The region that is worthy of special mention is that which extends to the south of the thirty-eighth parallel, generally called the Patagonia. This vast territory that stretches down to the very doors of the South Pole is sparsely populated, and a description of its terrain and climate helps one to appreciate why the people of this country would rather go “north” from this place. The general impression of the land is one of desolation, to such a degree that when the well-known English naturalist Darwin visited it more than a century ago he called it la tierra maldita_i which means cursed earth. Since then the climate remains the same, of course, but much progress has been made that has given new life to its pioneer-spirited dwellers. The mineral discoveries, especially petroleum, have been responsible for the material betterment of the region and of the country. The oil wells in Comodoro Rivadavia on the eastern coast of the Patagonia have made the country virtually independent as far as fuel needs are concerned.

The name Patagonia was given to this place by the Portuguese navigator Hernando de Magellan. He called it Patagonia for the inhabitants of the region who had big feet, or at least appeared to have big feet. In Spanish, patagones means big feet. What happened was that the natives wrapped their feet in crude sandals made of animal skins in such a way that they left huge foot impressions in the earth— hence the name. Of course, the part that Magellan saw was the southernmost extreme of the region and its inhabitants. But there are parts of the Patagonia that are more attractive.

The western border of the Patagonia is mountainous, with the Andean mountain range dominating the whole panorama. Majestic peaks, ice deposits and glacial formations deck the terrain. Without really being very high, this mountain range is savage. Abundant rains that are brought by western winds have given birth to numerous rivers and snow-capped peaks. In the Andean Patagonia there are spectacular glaciers, among which is the Moreno Glacier, a huge mass of ice that is "^T 'Mit twenty-eight miles long, with points re fling some two hundred feet high.

Some Cheerful Features

But not all is wasteland in this region. Coming from the Andes toward the center of the Patagonia, still fairly well north, one finds the Province of Rio Negro. In its beautiful valleys lies the richest fruitgrowing region of the country. There are no tropical fruits, as we have left them behind miles ago; but there is an abundance of apples, pears and grapes, much of which fruit goes toward being one of Argentina’s major exports.

Another cheerful feature of the Patagonia is what many call the ‘Switzerland of South America,’ Bariloche. The numerous lakes and forests that bless this winter ski resort form a chorus of beauty that make its scenery comparable to the Swiss Alps; in fact, many Swiss and Germans have chosen this place as their home. In travel agencies in the city of Buenos Aires it would be easy to confuse travel posters of Bariloche with those of Switzerland.

But aside from these and a few other cheerful features, found mostly in the northern part of the region, the Patagonia is a barren inhospitable desert. Those who visit it remember mainly the cold winds that constantly chastise the earth and the few men who dwell on it. Among the few representatives of the vegetable kingdom found in this part of South America are the clumps of tough grass that spot the area. There are few cows in the whole region. ‘Well, what do people eat?' might ask a beef-loving Buenos Aires resident They eat mutton, because the type of grass found here can support sheep. So the Buenos Aires people who visit this region usually return telling about the cold, the inhospitable winds, the lack of vegetation, but they always tell how tired they are of eating mutton. They miss their steaks.

To complete the account of the colder side of South America, or, rather, the colder end, let us replace your vision of the noisy parrots of the hot northern jungles with their more sedate counterpart, the “well-dressed” penguins. Non-fliers but excellent swimmers, they consume enormous quantities of fish. These inhabitants of the southernmost tip of South America, flocked together in their “formal” dress, add a final wintry touch to this long continent. Here in this famous Tierra del Fuego that Magellan saw, things are as different from the northern extreme of South America as they are far from it. We are 4,750 long miles from the tropics. There is a world of difference in climate, topography and customs. So if you want to visit all of South America you will need to bring your overcoat.

4GQtudy Yoga, Chris-0 tians Told,” was the heading to an article in the London Daily Express, reporting on the 1961 meeting in New Delhi of the World Council of Churches. “Christians should take up oriental meditation, the system of Yoga and the ‘disciplined will' of Eastern teachers, said U Ba

Hmyin, a Baptist leader preaching at the opening

World Council of Churches.”¹ Moreover, a Roman Catholic monk suggests yoga as an approach to Christian prayer.² Besides such clerical urgings to take up yoga, there is now a flood of books on the theme of yoga for ‘health and dynamic psychological powers.’

These books not only urge Christians to take up yoga but they make such emphatic declarations as: “The true Christian way of life is Yoga. . . . Yoga does not conflict with Christian teachings.”³ Since such claims are being made, it is timely to ask, Is yoga something for Christians? It will be well to examine yoga and its objectives and look at them in the light of God’s Word, the Holy Bible.

Yoga’s origins go so far back into antiquity that they are said to have been lost in the passing centuries. The word first appears in the later Hindu Upanishads

Objectives and Methods

The words often used to describe the aim of are “self-realization” and “selfknowledge.” For achieving such a goal, there are about ten different types of yoga. One of them, Hatha Yoga, is widely taught throughout Christendom. It is the yoga promoted for health benefits and is described as "a system of mental and physical training with prescribed postures, breathing exercises, meditation and relaxation.”³

The effect of this popular yoga is frankly admitted to be many-sided, health being just one aspect: “Hatha Yoga is really the preparation of mind and body, through health and vitality, for a higher form of Yoga, Raja Yoga, which is the reason it has been called ‘the ladder to Raja Yoga.’³ It is said that the only reason the bodybuilding and mind-disciplining yoga is taught is for the sake of knowing a higher yoga. Thus Webster’s dictionary defines yoga as “the suppression through progressive discipline (as raja-yoga) of all activity of body, mind, and individual will in order that the self may realize its distinction from them and attain liberation from all pain and suffering.”

Though the yoga health books say yoga ’ is not a religion, it is usually admitted that it leads to religion. The motive of the true yogi (one who practices yoga), says Sir John Woodroffe in The Serpent Power, is not merely to obtain dynamic powers but “is essentially a religious one, based on a firm belief in Brahman and inspired by a desire for union with It which is liberation.” One yogi says: “I myself consider Kriya [Yoga] the most effective device of salvation through self-effort ever to be evolved.”⁴ A yogi who initiated some 100,-000 Westerners³ into a higher yoga says: "Master of his body and mind, the Kr\ Yogi ultimately achieves victory over the 'last enemy/ Death. ... In contrast to the slow, uncertain 'bullock cart’ theological path to God, Kriya Yoga may justly be called the 'airplane’ route.”⁴

It should also be borne in mind that "the cultivation of suprasensory perception is one of the aims of yoga.”³

Posture and Breathing Exercises

How are extrasensory perception and other yoga objectives attained? First, there is a series of semi-acrobatic postures, many of which are extremely difficult. One yoga-for-health book says about a certain headstanding posture: "This is the posture for those who wish to develop suprasensory powers like telepathic communication and clairvoyance.”³ Another book admits that the yoga health exercises are related to developing ESP: "The awakening of the chakras from their latent condition to consciousness is also the purpose of Hatha Yoga exercises/'⁵ The chakras are said to be related to the gradual development of ESP by means of the Kundalini power. Kundalini, meaning "coiled one/’ is said to be the goddess of nature and is represented by the symbol of a serpent.

Yoga teaching is that the serpent power, Kundalini, lies at the base of the spine and, when aroused, is made to travel up the spine through six stations, plexuses or chakras, to the residence of the deity Vishnu in the brain. When this serpent power reaches each new chakra or plexus, the yogi is said to experience new kinds of psychic powers, until finally he may arrive, after years of effort, at the "union of Kundalini with Vishnu,” the goal of samadhi, the state of superconsciousness or complete illumination.

Yoga books stress the fact that with yoga one can attain psychic powers without the decline in health experienced by many spirit mediums. The health-building type of yoga is said to offer a "scientific method” of gaining such powers as ESP:

"The advantage of achieving psychic de velopment by the graded scientific method of Raja and Hatha Yoga is that the same experiences [of the spirit mediums] will appear in: their proper sequence under full control of the operator guided and protected by his guru [teacher], and will not be accompanied by physical derangement or loss of health. . . . One by one all the occult centres of the body . . . are awakened, all hidden powers unveiled, all superphysical planes conquered, and man while still man becomes divine."⁰

Whether for obtaining health or occult powers, breathing exercises go with the postures. The yogis are said to have worked out the most elaborate system of breathing that has ever existed under the sun. It starts with deep breathing and ends up with a complicated type of breathing. One better-health-with-yoga book emphasizes the importance of the breathing exercises by saying: "Its significance has been acknowledged even by the well-known [spirit] medium Eileen Garrett. , . . 'Control of breathing/ she says, 'plays an important part in all my supernormal work.’ ”^T

Another reason for the complicated breathing is the yoga teaching that each person has been allotted a definite number of breaths to his life. If he uses these up rapidly by quick breathing, he is said to die sooner. So the yogi tries to slow his breathing down even to the extent of stopping it for long periods.

Concentration and Meditation

Breathing and postures are not all: concentration comes next. The student is taught to concentrate on the extremity of his nose or on the tip of a burning candle. The eyes are half closed as he looks at the burning candle and the gaze is fixed on the flame till tears come into the eyes. Then, with eyes closed, one holds the image as long as possible. This may be followed by gazing at the tip of the nose. The objective is to get the mind a total blank.

The next step is meditation by fixation on one idea for long periods. Such exercises lead to a trance or form of hypnosis. Thus K. T. Behanan, in Yoga, A Scientific Evaluation, says:

'There is one feature which is strikingly common to both hypnosis and yoga. It is well known that hypnosis can be induced by staring steadily at an object or by thinking exclusively of one idea. This monoideism has its parallel in yoga during the meditative period when the yogi aims to eliminate from the mind everything but the thought of the minute object of concentration.”

Since this kind of meditation leads to self-induced hypnosis, the most common posture in yoga is the lotus posture, which is the sitting posture in which the lower limbs are locked together, to guard "against the danger of falling backward or forward during the trance state.”⁴

During the meditative stage a yoga theory regarding the relationship between health and colors may play a part. One health-by-yoga teacher says:

"Yellow is necessary for the sacrococcygeal plexus [chakra] which is Situated between the anus and the generative organs. It stores this color whenever there is a surplus, . . . White is stored in the prostatic plexus. . . . Red is stored in the solar plexus. . . . Green , . , is stored in the cardiac plexus. . . . Blue , , . is stored in the laryngeal plexus and controls the power of hearing. . , . With the help of these colors in meditation and food, I have seen my students achieve tremendous [health] benefits. These various colors may be ingested into the body by concentrating on the different nerve plexuses where they are stored. . . . Concentration on these plexuses sometimes awakens latent powers and opens the nerve centers for the ascent of the kundalini [serpent] power.”³

In harmony with Yoga theories is the practice of healing by colors and radiations. In fact, one yoga book tells about a radionic-type device manufactured in England: “De la Warr has devised a treatment instrument called the Coloroscope, which actually radiates curative waveforms at the patient. . . . The wave-forms are projected at the patient by using a coloured ray of light as a carrier.”” This same manufacturer, says the yoga book, makes a camera, called the radionic camera, that photographs diseases of patients many miles distant, the only link with the patients being a spot of blood on the instrument. The manufacturer has also published reproductions of "thoughtphotographs,” those taken by telepathy.⁴

Yoga healing, that is, diagnosing and curing by psychic powers, is often discussed in yoga literature;! and many examples are given by Yogananda in his autobiography/

Many are the other manifestations of the serpent power, so many that only a few can be mentioned. The Yoga Dictionary lists a few of them:

"Knowledge of past and future. . . . Understanding of the significance of sounds made by animals. . . . Knowledge of others’ minds . . . The belief that a great yogi can become invisible at will ... is general in India. . . . Knowledge of the time of death. . . . Various kinds of strength. . . . Knowledge of minutely small, concealed and distant things . . . clairvoyance, . . . psychometry, that is, knowledge of other things connected with the object. . . . There may also be powers as well as vision, such as, for example, control of hunger and thirst by mind-poise on the pit of the throat. . . . Levitation. . . . Clairaudience. . . . Astral travelling,"’¹

The powers obtained by yoga are thus basically the same as those possessed by Christendom’s spirit mediums, spiritualists and extrasensory perceivers. By awakening the “serpent power” through yoga one is said to attain “the kingdom of heaven that is only to be found within.”"

Yoga in the Light of the Holy Bible

From the foregoing it is evident to students of the Bible that yoga and its practices are in direct conflict with God’s Word. For one thing, yoga teaches that all religions lead to the kingdom of heaven which is within oneself. But Jesus Christ did not agree that all religions lead to the same goal. Many lead to destruction. (Matt. 7:13, 14) Moreover, the Bible teaches that the kingdom is a real heavenly government, one that will destroy all the nations of this world. (Dan. 2:44) When Jesus said to the unbelieving Pharisees, “The kingdom of God is in your midst,” he meant that the foremost representative of that kingdom, the King himself, Jesus Christ, was in their midst.—Luke 17:21.

Yoga stresses salvation through selfefforts and self-knowledge, but the Bible stresses salvation by means of Jesus Christ and God’s kingdom. Instead of selfknowledge, the Bible counsels the need to take in knowledge of Jehovah God and Jesus Christ, the only kind of knowledge that leads to everlasting life.—John 17:3.

Yoga leads to a blank mind, empty of contents—the very condition that Jesus Christ warns against, since it makes one easy prey for the demons. (Luke 11:24-26) The Christian must keep his mind full of Bible truths so he can resist the wicked spirit forces misleading the world. (Eph. 6:12, 13) Christian meditation is not a tranceinducing fixation of thought on one idea or object, nor is it a lazy rambling state in which the mind is receptive to any idea that comes along, since ideas can be injected by demons. As one demon told a / who used the ouija-board way to automatic writing:

"A good way to begin is to try silent thought about the superconscious as the subject of meditation. You must be able to subdue your mind, quiet it. . . . Allow your mind to wander or just to blank out. . . . Mistakes can be avoided by listening carefully each day at meditation for the inner voice . . . and the help from higher planes.”™

To guard against demon snares, Christian meditation must be guided by the Bible. As you read, pause and add mentally to what has been read. Think about the full meaning of a scripture; how does it apply to your life? Bible meditation is purposeful and safeguards the Christian.

Moreover, the Bible exposes the “serpent power” to be spiritism and to derive from none other than “the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth.” (Rev. 12:9) To guard against being deceived by the Devil and his demons, let the Christian who feels the need for exercise not use yoga as his guide. There are many other exercises, walking being one of the best. Be moderate, realizing that “bodily training is beneficial for a little.”—1 Tim. 4:8.

Yoga is a scientific, methodical way to the practice of spiritism. Despite clerical urgings, it is not for Christians, who must resist the Devil and stick close to Jehovah. —Rev. 22:15.

REFERENCES

i Issue of November 20, 1961.

2 Time, July 11, I960, pp. 69, 70.

* Yosra axd Long Life, by Yogi Gupta, pp, 15, 17, 20, 22, 26, 99, 141-143,

4 Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda, pp. 40. 166, 249.

b Yoga and Health, by Selvarajan Yesudlan and Elisabeth Hatch, p. 96.

e The Yoga of Health, Youth and / _wy Sir Paul Dukes, pp, 29, 41, 42, 51.

r Forever Young Forever Healthy, by Indra Devi, p. 37,

a The Study and Practice of Yoga, by Harvey Day, p. 95.

9 Y'ocXf Dictionary, by Ernest Wood, pp. 110-121.

io Beyond Doubt, .4 Record of Psychic, Experience, by Mary Le Beau, pseudonym of a woman teacher and psychologist, pp. 144-147,

LOOK around you. How many things can you see right now that are made of wood? No doubt you are able to name a number of things, for in our modern age wood is one of the most widely used raw materials.

Products of the forest appear in man’s life not only in their original

state but in other forms made possible through chemical processes. When identifying items made of wood did you include the telephone receiver in your home, fountain pens and certain automobile accessories, among others? Yes, many such items are made of plastic; however, much of this plastic is a byproduct of wood. Photogr aphic film, cellophane in packaging, rayon cord in tires are not as commonly recognized products of the tree.

Numerous industries engaged in the manufacture of forest products have developed because of the enormous demand for wood. But the use of the tree by man is not limited to wood products alone. Trees provide many eatable products. They play an important role in soil conservation. Trees influence the climate and provide beauty. These are only a few of the diversified uses of the tree by man.

Briefly reflect on some of the benefits received from the tree by man.

Maple Syrup

Crispy waffles covered with butter and maple syrup. How delectable and mellow to the taste buds! Perhaps you have enjoyed mornings with such a meal. Maple syrup made from the sap of a maple tree has a domestic importance all its own.

You will be interested in the process involved in producing this maple syrup. Interestingly, the maple tree does most of the work in its own “sugar factory.”

As you know, a green plant takes carbon dioxide from the air and combines it with water in the presence of light to manufacture simple sugars* This chemical reaction takes place in the chlorophyllcontaining bodies called chloroplasts, which might well be called the machines of the “sugar factory.”

Early spring is “sugaring off” time. The trees are tapped by boring small holes in the sapwood. A spout is inserted in each hole and a bucket hung beneath it to catch the sap that drips out. The collected sap is carried to a nearby sugar house, where it is boiled down to remove the water. After the proper consistency is met, the amber residue, filtered and bottled or canned, provides the product we know as maple syrup. Further boiling reduces the syrup to maple sugar. A 31.5-gallon barrel of sap boils down to a single gallon of syrup or about eight pounds of sugar.

Yes, it’s true, when we enjoy buttered waffles covered with maple syrup, or crunchy nut and maple-sugar cookies with a dish of maple-nut ice cream, it is because there are trees.

Soil Conservation

The importance of soil preservation is not always fully appreciated. However, soil conservation is essential, for every calorie of food stems from the most basic resource —the soil. Soil conservation is just as important to the town and city dweller as it is to the farmer, who often is forced off his land due to soil erosion.

Trees play a big part in the preservation of soil To illustrate this the pamphlet

Our Natural Resources—and Their Conservation remarked: “Hydrographic studies have shown that, where 75 per cent of Western range land was covered with trees and plants, water runoff was 2 per cent of the amount of rain falling each hour; soil loss under these conditions amounted to only about 5 per cent of a ton on one acre in an hour. But where a mere 10 per cent of the land supported trees and shrubs, 75 per cent of the rain ran off each hour, and more than five tons of soil were washed away on every acre during each hour.”

To see the importance of trees in soil conservation a person needs only to look a bare place on a hillside where there are no trees or plants to catch the rainfall. No doubt, ditches and gullies are what you will discover. By comparison, a wooded hillside is usually free from these gullies and ditches, due to the fact that the roots of the trees have worked their way down into the ground, holding soil particles together so that they will not wash or blow away. Tree roots also make the soil porous, enabling it to absorb water, thereby preventing soil erosion. Sadly, countless hills have been stripped of trees, leaving precious topsoil exposed to erosion by wind and water. Once lost, the soil takes years to be replaced.

It is evident that trees strategically located afford a great asset in the conservation of soil.

Wood Products

Wood is the foundation of an important phase of the economy. It has been remarked that each American uses an annual average of 438 pounds of paper and 204 board feet of lumber. This vast consumption of wood, paper and forest products in the United States is valued at $23 billion per year. As a result, methods have been developed to use almost all of the tree. Sawmill wastes can be turned into wood pulp, fiberboards, particle boards and chemicals. Even the tree bark can furnish fertilizers. Virtually the entire tree is useful to man.

There was a time when one could recognize all products made of wood. This is not always the case now. For example, one may never have thought that “silk” thread and a giant beam could come from the same tree. Yes, “silk” thread can be made from a hemlock log. The process involved is quite fascinating.

First, the hemlock pulp must be alkalin-ized to the stage of viscose (a viscous orange solution made by treating cellulose with caustic alkali solution and carbon disulfide) about the consistency of axle grease. Second, pressure is applied, forcing the solution through minute apertures corresponding to the spinnerets of the silkworm. Third, the fine threads, or filaments, coming through these openings are coagulated either in a fixing bath or by process of evaporation, and several of them formed at the same time are twisted into the strand for spinning. The result is “silk” thread, a product widely used by man.

Cork, the outer bark of a type of oak tree that grows in the countries around the Mediterranean Sea, particularly Spain, Portugal and North Africa, is another product of the tree that has many uses by man. One of the more familiar uses of cork is the bottle stopper. Bottle caps used for soft drinks and other beverages, plastic screw caps and other types of closures also make use of cork. Corkboard is widely used for insulating walls, floors and air conditioners because of its strength and efficiency.

Perhaps the shoes you are wearing contain cork. Cork parts make shoes flexible, provide cushioning, and help insulate the feet. There are countless other articles made from natural cork that play a part in our everyday life. The tree, in providing man with cork, is indeed a priceless blessing.

Paper, one of the well-known products of the tree, is used today in over 14,000 commercial products. Books, magazines and newspapers are obvious uses of paper. Horseshoes are also made of paper, in layers impregnated with waterproofing oil and laminated with powerful cement. Gas pipes and electrical conduits are made of heavy paper laps, dipped in melted asphal-tures and wound and laminated over wooden cores. Items that one might never think of associating with wood are being produced by man for the commercial market.

Certain trees that grow in the tropics produce natural rubber, but there is synthetic rubber as well. Buna, or synthetic rubber, is made by chemical methods from alcohol; and since alcohol can be made from wood, synthetic rubber can be made from wood also.

Even the fuel burned in a car can be mixed with wood alcohol. In countries where supplies of petroleum are inadequate, alcohol is used to a larger extent for this purpose.

It is truly remarkable the numerous products that the Creator has made available to man by causing the trees to grow.

Influence upon Climate

While forests probably have little effect on the overall climate of a region, they do materially affect the climate of the immediate locality that they occupy. Since it is climate that often determines whether a locality will be scenic, fertile and productive, we can see why it is important for man to know the influence that trees have on the climate.

The elements of climate that are most affected by the forest are solar radiation, temperature, wind and water.

Lands guarded with trees will remain cool and comfortable, for the heat that might be absorbed by the bare land surface will be taken care of by the trees. Concerning this the book Our Friends the Trees says: “Each year the forest trees of North America absorb and store solar heat which is equivalent to the energy-heat stored in a billion and a half tons of coal. Cut down those trees, and that blistering heat will burn the land surface into a nonproductive condition/' Wise location of trees provides a shelter for the land.

Since the forest canopy may reduce the solar radiation, it is logical that daytime temperatures, where part of the sun’s radiant energy is intercepted by the trees, will be lower than open areas that are unprotected. Therefore, if agreeable temperatures are desired during the summer heat, plant trees around the yard. Trees have the capacity to moderate the temperature.

Wind can also be greatly reduced by the trees. It has been discovered that it is beneficial to plant one or more rows of trees and shrubs in such a way as to form a living barrier against the wind. For example, in an open area where wind velocity is 35 m.p.h. a dense windbreak correctly located will effectively reduce wind velocity to

10 m.p.h. approximately 100 feet away from the windbreak.

Even though there is much yet to be learned about the influence trees have upon rainfall, it is generally accepted that forests increase local precipitation over the areas they occupy and enrich the air with moisture. Studies have shown the excess of precipitation in some cases to be more than 25 percent over forested areas as compared with that over adjoining unforested areas. Air currents that pass over forests in broad continental valleys are enriched with moisture, enabling larger quantifier moisture to penetrate into the interior the continent. When forests are destroyed, the climate of the drier regions into which the air currents flow is affected.

But this is not all, for the Creator has endowed the trees with variety of form and beauty that is a delight to behold. Who has not marveled at the superb grace and majesty of a towering tree? Who has not been fascinated by the formation of a leaf? And what an awe-inspiring sight the woods are in autumn in those parts of the earth where the leaves provide a dazzling pageantry of color!

What a marvelous gift are those trees! They are given to us to use; they are ours to enjoy. They are a gift from God.

• Regarding the dangers associated with hypnosis that many persons are prone to minimize, the professional journal GP_t of July 1961, had the following to report:

“Subjects for hypnosis should be carefully screened. On advice of a physician, a 49-year-old woman successfully underwent hypnosis for relief of persistent back pains. But she developed delusions people were following her, trying to hypnotize and harm her. Diagnosed as a paranoid psychotic, she had to undergo electro-shock treatments and psychotherapy. Later, the Industrial Accident Commission of California ruled that her hypnosis treatments were ‘one of a series of major contributing factors in precipitating the patient’s paranoid schizophrenic reaction.’ This established a legal precedent for linking hypnosis as a factor in later mental breakdown.”

to promote the use of cotton. Quite an affair for this relative of the common hollyhock. The royalty for the occasion are a King and Queen as well as a Maid of Cotton. The Maid, wearing a handsome wardrobe, takes the cotton story to many American cities and several European countries during her year’s reign.

ing. So much of what we wear is made from cotton. The story of cotton is that of a natural fiber providing more cloth for mankind than all the other fibers combined. The cotton fiber has attained world success as a VIP (very important product). It not only clothes whole nations but has virtually established the economy of others. It has played such a vital part in the economy of the southern United States that it has come to be called “King Cotton.”

The states comprising the Cotton Belt have a warm climate suited to the raising of this plant that provides your clothing. One million cotton farmers plant the seed that one day becomes a part of your cotton wardrobe to keep you warm or cool or .perhaps just looking very neat.

In the early spring the cotton seeds, which will grow on a wide variety of soils, are planted in the rich southern earth. From the planting of the seed two inches below ground to the growth of the plant two or more feet above ground cotton needs about two hundred frost-free days.

Just after the green stalks appear out of the earth thousands of people gather to celebrate the coming cotton crop. The famous Cotton Carnival, held in Memphis, Tennessee, early in May each year, is a five-day festival in honor of “King Cotton.” It is really a party with a purpose, that is,

While the Maid is on her tour, the cotton crop, whether rain-grown or irrigated, is progressing to maturity. First, the lovely cotton flower appears in its creamy whiteness. After a day the bloom changes to red, then the petals fall off, leaving a green pod. This is the cotton boll. It looks like a giant raindrop. The boll has three or five compartments, each with seven to ten seeds. Each seed will yield about ten thousand fibers. The boll matures in forty-five to sixty days. When ripe it bursts, exposing the cotton fiber like a powder puff.

The cotton harvest begins in early July and lasts three or four months. Plenty of sunshine is needed now. On flat lands and large acreage mechanical pickers or strippers harvest the crop. But the best cotton is handpicked from the open bolls.

Ginning to Weaving

Can you picture it now? Cotton to clothing, a tuft of this fluffy cotton transformed into a gay-colored dress or a fancy sport shirt. Before this royal fiber goes on its way to cloth or clothing it must be separated from the seed. This is called ginning. Until the invention of the cotton gin it was a day's work to remove a pound of fiber. The gin’s hook-tooth saws tear the fibers from the seeds. The moisture, trash and dust go too. The free fibers, called lint, are sucked away to a press box, and the seeds are saved for next year’s crop or go into products such as cooking oil, insulation and fertilizer. The cotton fiber is pressed into oblong-shaped bales, wrapped and strapped with steel bands. The bales weigh 478 pounds net, 500 gross. Off they go to the mills where cotton is made into cloth.

To appreciate how cotton lends itself to clothmaking, you will want to examine a fiber first. The physical qualities arc so minute that they are visible only under a microscope. The seed hair is much finer than a human hair and looks something like an uncompleted spring. When growing, the hairs were tiny tubes filled with oil. At the maturity of the ripening fiber the oil retreats and the tube collapses, causing it to take spiral convolutions. This spirality distinguishes the cotton fiber from all others, and the single flattened tube has a twist that helps fibers interlock when spun into threads. These 90-percent pure cellulose fibers range from a fraction of an inch to two inches long.

Probably you will never examine your cotton goods so closely. However, you are able to see the threads in your clothing. These come from yarn. Now the question is how to change a bale of the fiber into yam. It is not an easy task. It takes a series of operations. When the bales get to the mills, an opener loosens and fluffs the fiber. A picking machine cleans it. Carding machines straighten out the tangled fibers into a thin web and then they are drawn through a funnel and molded into a soft, twisted ropelike strand. For high-quality yarn it is combed to remove short fibers. The drawing frame draws out several strands and combines them into a single one. A roving frame slightly twists and further draws out the cotton into thinner strands. These go into the spinning machine, which will repeatedly draw out and twist them into yarns of the desired size and wind them onto bobbins. The strength of the yarn depends on the number of twists, the length of the fiber and the number of fibers. Now we have machine-made spun cotton yarn to be used for weaving or knitting.

V” a difference between the spinning done . ow and that done on the spinning wheel seen today as an antique! The early American housewife found the imported British cottdh goods expensive, so she solved her clothing problem by making her own yarn and cloth.

For many centuries the converting of cotton to clothing was a humble craft. It was done in India, Persia, Egypt and Peru. Spain was weaving it in the thirteenth century. Then Europe and finally England got into the textile business. The Arabic people used the fiber, calling it qutun, from which we get our word cotton.

England made great strides in cotton textile manufacturing. Then the making of cloth by machine spread across the Atlantic to America in the late 1700's. With the American invention of the cotton gin in 1793, King Cotton really got on the march. This flexible fiber was lending itself quite admirably to mechanical production. Factories for making cloth sprang up along New England streams with their waterfalls of free power. Hungry textile machines soon needed more and more cotton. Southern planters found it was a more profitable crop than rice or tobacco. So went the story of cotton in the early history of the United States; it was the history of a great fiber in the making of clothing.

By the middle of the nineteenth century the United States became the leader in the world's cotton industry. Many mills moved south, leaving their traditional home in New England to be where the raw mate* rial was grown. In 1961 the cotton crop amounted to 14,30.4,000 bales, most of it the Upland variety. Presently, nearly all of the fifty states have textile mills to convert cotton to clothing.

In the mills the machines stretch out in aisles as long as city blocks. Two kinds of power looms are used, one for plain and the other for fancy weaving. The yarn is either warp or weft. The warp threads run lengthwise in the fabric, and since they take more strain in weaving, they are given a higher degree of twist when made. In the simple weave for plain fabrics every other warp thread is alternately raised and lowered while a shuttle drives the weft between the threads. The gray cloth is bleached, dyed and finished and sent on its way.

If you are a tailor or a dressmaker you may be interested in buying material by the yard and making your own cotton garments. But this is the modern age of textiles and the day of ready-to-wear clothing. This is where the “cutting-up trade” enters the picture. Many layers of cloth are placed on the cutting table. There power cutters, following a^pattern, cut out many pieces of cloth at one time. Cloth drills punch the buttonholes, and the cut pieces of cloth are sewn together for various garments, From the garment industry to the stores go the cottons we will wear.

Cotton Keeps Pace

With all the competition these days from the man-made fibers, how is cotton doing? Is this centuries-old fiber still in first place as the world's champion clothing fiber? Yes, cotton is keeping pace and maintaining its popularity in the clothing world quite well. There are some contributing factors, of course, so that it is not just a matter of furnishing you cotton clothing but giving you the benefit of far better fabrics than ever before.

The textile manufacturers have been on their toes with many new styles, new weaves and blends. Plain white cotton has been transformed into delightful, attractive and distinguished fabrics. New wash-and-wear cottons can be washed and drip-dried, and will dazzle again in short order. New cottons shrug off wrinkles and keep the creases that they are supposed to hold. Cotton used to be considered strictly a summer material in the northern climates. It was stored in the fall and brought out again in the spring or summer, but new cottons are specially designed for year-round wear. Much has been done in the research laboratories to help cotton hold its place.

What a fiber! Cotton is still in the running. No fiber has been found that combines its^- beauty and utility and serves such a multitude of purposes. The endless list of things the cotton fiber is used for, that is, besides clothing, is truly amazing. You undoubtedly use it in some form every day. Crisp, comfortable cotton with a pretty and a practical neatness is often your daylong companion from sunup to sundown. And to top it off, cottons still surpass the miracle fibers when it comes to cost.

With no extravagant claims, old King Cotton still holds first place, despite the miracle fibers. Of the leading fibers, cotton surpasses with a record hard to beat

A Sea of Reeds or the Red Sea?

THE Bible account of the exodus of Israel from Egypt reports numerous miracles that were performed on behalf of God’s people. A miracle in the first place attracted Moses to the burning bush where he received his commission. Then, to prove to his own people that Jehovah had indeed appeared to him, Moses was endowed to perform three miracles. And in order for proud Pharaoh to know who Jehovah is, Moses was instrumental in bringing upon that haughty ruler and his people ten miraculous plagues.—Ex. 3: 1-12:51.

The tenth plague caused Pharaoh to yield and to tell Moses and his people to get up and to get out. (Ex. 12:31, 32) In departing from Egypt, however, the Israelites did not take the most direct and logical route, but one that seemed to make them vulnerable to pursuit. This without a doubt was of Jehovah’s doing so as to lure Pharaoh to pursue them, which he did as soon as he got over the shock of losing his firstborn. He was certain that he with his military might would be able to bring them back. But Jehovah’s arm was not shortened. When Pharaoh’s hosts got dangerously close, another miracle occurred: the angel of Jehovah that had been at the head of the marching Israelites moved to the rear and caused a great cloud to come between the Israelites and the Egyptians. What is more, this cloud was one of blackness to the Egyptians but one of light to the Israelites.—Ex. 13:17-14:20.

Next, Moses was told to lift up his rod and stretch out his hand over the sea, and then, by means of another miracle, “Jehovah began making the sea go back by a strong east wind all night long and converting the sea basin into dry ground, and the waters were being split apart. At length the sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on dry land, while the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on th^*” ’eft. And the Egyptians took up the pui^ t, and all the horses of Pharaoh, his war chariots and his cavalrymen began going in after them, into the midst of the sea.” By means of still another miracle, “Jehovah began . . . throwing the camp of the Egyptians into confusion. . . . Finally Jehovah said to Moses: ‘Stretch your hand out over the sea, that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, their war chariots and their cavalrymen.’ . . . And the waters kept coming back” —another miracle. “Finally they covered the war chariots and the cavalrymen belonging to all of Pharaoh’s military forces and who had gone into the sea after them. Not so much as one among them was let remain. As for the sons of Israel, they walked on dry land in the midst of the seabed, and the waters were for them a wall on their right hand and on their left. . . . Israel also got to see the great hand that Jehovah put in action against the Egyptians; and the people began to fear Jehovah and to put faith in Jehovah and in Moses his servant.”—Ex. 14:21-31.

Nothing could be more explicit, more emphatic than this description of how Jehovah delivered the Israelites and destroyed the Egyptians. No question about there having been a miraculous deliverance. But not so, cry the translators of a new Jewish version being produced under the auspices of the Jewish Publication Society of America. According to their spokesman, modern research indicates that the Israelites did not cross the Red Sea but crossed a swampy place farther north. Since the Hebrew words for Red Sea are yam suph, literally meaning “sea” and “reeds, bulrushes,” these translators insist that the Jews crossed a sea of reeds and that the area “could not have been that bordering the Red Sea.”

But why not? The record certainly does not require that we believe that the Israelites crossed the Red Sea at its widest portion. Nor can anyone today dogmatically state just where the Israelites crossed over from Egypt to the Sinai Peninsula and just what the place was like some fifteen centuries before Christ; that is, not merely from secular history and archaeological evidence. The Red Sea could well have had the appearance of a sea of reeds because of reeds along its shores, which, if reddish, could cause it to receive the name “Red Sea.” Certain it is that the translators of the Septuagint thought so, for they translated yam suph, “Red Sea.”

Regardless of what we call it, the Scriptures leave us no choice in the matter. Do they not state that there were walls of water on both sides of the Israelites as they marched through the Red Sea? And why do we read of horses, chariots and cavalrymen drowning if it was only a sea of reeds, a marsh? And why the surging waters and the congealing of the waters ? There is no question from the way the record reads: a stupendous miracle was involved, and this is borne out by Moses’ and Miriam’s victory songs.—Ex. 15:1-21.

And what of Moses’ further reference to it in his farewell admonition on the plains of Moab? (DeuL 11:4) Rahab, too, was familiar with this miracle, for she mentioned it to the two spies as one reason why her people feared Jehovah. (Josh. 2:

10) Joshua refers to this miracle both at the beginning and the end of his leadership of his people Israel. (Josh. 4:23; 24: 6, 7) Nehemiah’s account also mentions it, at Nehemiah 9:9-11,

If the translators of the new Jewish Bible are correct, then all these were mistaken and also others, such as the psalmists who tell about it, one of whom wrote: “He rebuked the Red Sea, and it was gradually dried up; and he went walking them through”—not merely a sea of reeds but— “the surging waters as through the wilderness . . . And the waters came covering their adversaries; not one of them was left.”—Ps. 106:9-11; 78:13; 136:13-15.

Nor are we limited to references regarding this miracle in the Hebrew Scriptures. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, told his opposing listeners that Moses had done “portents and signs in Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.” Why single out the Red Sea incident of all those events if it was merely a crossing of a marsh? And then there are the words of the writer of the book of Hebrews: “By faith they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land, but on venturing out upon it the Egyptians were swallowed up.” Was the armed might of Egypt swallowed up in merely a marsh?—Acts 7:36; Heb. 11:29; see also 1 Corinthians 10:1, 2.

The attempt to explain away the miracle at the Red Sea as merely crossing over a sea of reeds fails miserably. Modernistic clergymen of all branches of the Judeo-Christian tradition are determined to prove the miracles of the Bible myths. But we cannot escape it. Either the translators of the new Jewish Bible are mistaken or else Moses, Miriam, Joshua, Nehemiah, Asaph and other psalmists, Stephen and the writer of Hebrews were all sadly mistaken. And if all these did not know what they were talking about, why bother translating the Bible?

Government Falls

<§> The Conservative government of Canadian Prime Minister John G. Diefen baker, which had been in power since 1957, fell in February on a parliamentary vote of no confidence because of failure to give “a clear statement of policy respecting Canada’s national defense.” The fall followed a dispute over whether Canada should accept nuclear warheads from the United States. The U.S. State Department criticized Canada’s defense policy. Diefenbaker called the criticism “an intrusion in Canadian affairs.” A national election is sot for April 8.

A Grim Reminder

<$> The U.S. National Safety Council reported that 41,000 people wore killed in traffic accidents last year. It was the first time highway deaths rose above 40,000 in a single year. The number injured was 1,500,-000—more than the total casualties suffered in any war in U.S. history. From 1775 to 1955, 1,130,393 Americans died in all the U.S. wars. From 1900 to 1955, 1,149,414 Americans died in U.S. highway accidents. Last year’s death toll on the highways was greater than the number of Americans killed in action in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War and the Korean war combined. The number of vehicles on U.S. roads last year was 79,000,000, up 4 percent over the preceding year. There was also a 4-percent increase in the number of miles traveled— 767,000,000,000—and a 2-percent increase in the number of drivers over last year, or 91,000,-000.

The Common Cold

<$> One thing known about the common cold is that it probably keeps more people home from work than any other illness. Almost everyone catches cold once or twice a year. Health officials are trying to come up with a remedy. But until that happens, the nasty common cold is costing the U.S. industry a whopping $6,-000,000,000 a year in lost man-hours.

The Spoken Word

<$> Kyle Haselden, managing editor of the Christian Century magazine, told some 600 clergymen that preaching is “in the doldrums.” He said that "the ebbing of great preaching is directly related to the clergy’s loss of confidence in the power of the spoken word.” He asked, “Is it a sign of health or disease when church services today experiment with film strips against symphonic backgrounds, dialog sermons, liturgical dances or speech choir?” Haselden insisted that “the power of the spoken word is not debatable. It opens chambers which the written word can’t.”

End of a Revival

<♦> Time magazine for February 1, 1963, says: “The great postwar religious revival in the U.S. is over—and many church leaders are thankfully saying ‘Amen.’ ” To many the revival “was a boom in num-^T and dollars and build-i. . ,” said Robert D. Allred of the First Presbyterian Church in Middletown, New York. The fear of war caused many to rush to church. Others came in hope of social prestige, or for other nonreligious reasons. It has been noted that those who have casually drifted into religion during the war years have casually drifted out. Ministers still feel that “a vast majority of Christians still have no sense of commitment at all.” According to Time, a Catholic priest complains: “When I look otrt into the market place, I can no longer distinguish the believer from the pagan. I can distinguish the Jehovah’s witness. . . . but not the followers of the traditional faiths.”

Japan Makes Own Weapons

Soon Japanese war weapons will be stamped “Made in Japan.” Since World War II the Japanese have been using American-made weapons. The new Japanese-designed weapons will include rifles and machine guns, rockets and missiles.

The Yawn Break

<$> The Mitsumi Electric Company in Tokyo, Japan, set about to improve working conditions and efficiency on its electronic products assembly line. Every hour the line was stopped for 90 seconds. During 1 his time the employees were told to yawn, stretch and go through certain exercises. As a result work attendance improved. There have been fewer complaints about fatigue.

Headaches

<$> Dr. Adrian M. Ostfeld of the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, has concluded that migraine headaches are hereditary and can be triggered by psychological causes. They can be recognized by the fact that they are usually on one side of the head and are accompanied by nausea and irritation of the eyes and nose. When youths complain of headaches, the pain may be in the neck rather than in the head. Doctors say: “Headache is so frequently the chief complaint of a tense and anxious adolescent that it is well from time to time to emphasize the many other factors both within and outside the central nervous system that can cause this symptom.”

Crime Fighters

The Soviet Union has set up a new “watchdog” organization to light crime. The organization is called the “Party State Control Committee of the Communist Party Central Committee and of the Council of Ministers of the U.S.S.R.” This organization is expected to reach into every factory, farm, mine, apartment, hospital and school. Its duties are defined at length by the organization. The committee’s many members “must build their work in such a manner that bureaucrats, procrastinators, parasites, thieves, black marketeers, swindlers and those who offer bribes should feel the inevitability of punishment, that they should tremble before the great force of Soviet society.” At present 3 to 5 percent of the national income is being sapped by criminals. Millions of people arc now being organized to bring this element in hand or drive them into prisons. There is fear, however, that many innocent people will be slandered and falsely accused.

Record Earnings

General Motors announced that last year the corporation earned a record $1,459,000,000. The previous earning peak was made in 1955, when the company reaped $1,200,000,000. Most of the record volume came from the worldwide sale of 5,200,000 cars and trucks.

Collision over Ankara

<$> A passenger airliner and a military plane collided head on over Ankara, Turkey. The planes plunged flaming into the crowds shopping in the city’s main square. It was the worst disaster of its kind in Turkish history. Seventy-nine died; sixty-two of these on the ground. Over a hundred were injured.

Needed: Comfort for Ministers <$> The Tiffin, Ohio, Advertiser-Tribune, January 22, 1963, carried a report from Washington that stated: “More than ten thousand of our Protestant ministers are now receiving some form of individual or hospital care.” Clergyman George C. Anderson, director of the Academy of Religion and Mental Health, who made the observation, said: “All too often church authorities, either through ignorance or fright, condemn the emotionally troubled minister to deeper suffering and perhaps to tragedy.” Anderson said some clergymen are becoming alcoholics or dope addicts and “there has been a threefold increase in the number of ministers in state hospitals. The figures are of particular interest only because clergymen are supposed to be figures of emotional strength and stability in our communities and churches.” What is most needed, Anderson said, is “a deeper sense of brotherhood among clergymen and a genuine concern among those in authority for the welfare of their colleagues.”

Parochial School Collapses

<$> While Roman Catholic prayer services were being held in the Heart of Mary College in Bi bl i an, Ecuador, the walls shook, the ceiling fell, the building crumbled. Over a hundred schoolgirls and four teachers perished in the ruins on February 1. Some 350 others who were trapped in the debris managed to free themselves.

Death Rate Up

# The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company reported that the death rate in the United States rose slightly in 1962. Flu epidemics were blamed for the rise. The fl rm estimated the death rate at 94 per 16,000 population, compared to the rate of 93 per 10,000 in 1961.

Diet and Heart Attacks

<^> Some 1,500 middle-aged American men are now being selected to see if changes in diet can help prevent heart attacks. The men will cat specially prepared food over a 12-month period. If no hitches develop in the first test, then some 100,000 men will be asked to keep to special diets for a period of five years or longer. By means of these tests doctors hope to determine whether or not diet has to do with heart disease. At present about 520 deaths occur a year per 100,000 persons in the United States. Last year more than 900,000 people died of cardiovascular diseases, three times as many as died from cancer, the second biggest killer.

Churches Blamed

# About 450 Methodist laymen and officials from central Iowa, U.S.A., were told by Methodist bishop F. Gerald Ensley of Des Moines that the world’s churches were to blame for the rise of communism. He said that Communist leader Karl Marx wrote the “bible of Communism” in England when 10-year-old boys worked 12 hours a day in rat-infested mines. The Des Moines Register, November 6, 1962, makes the following report of Ensley’s speech: He said that “most of the mines and mills were owned by churches.” He “blamed the churches of Russia for backing the Czars who sent the peasants to slaughter fighting against the Germans in World War I.” He also cited low incomes among peasants in certain Catholic lands as a cause of Communist growth and said that the church had done nothing to improve the peasant’s economic condition.

Purpoise Talk

<§> Studies have shown that porpoises appear to talk to one another. With their high squeaky voices they show remarkable skill at imitating sounds, including words spoken by men. When the tape-recorded verbal mimicry of porpoises was played back at half or quarter speed, the results were surprising. Their squeaks and squawks become clear repetition of human words. Dr. Dale W. Jenkins, chief of environmental biology, said their imitations were remarkably ^t'*-telligible. They even imih a researcher with a southern accent. Dr. John C, Lilly, Communication Research Institute in Miami, Florida, stated that porpoises, sometimes called dolphins, have a special pair of whistles that they use when they are in trouble. When the other dolphins hear the high and low whistles, they make for the distressed dolphin or porpoise. The first thing the rescuers do is push the wounded dolphin’s head to the surface for air.

Average Womun

<$> A Montana state college study in the U.S.A, revealed that the “average woman" is quite a woman. The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 12, 1963, gave the following statistics from the study: “The 'average woman’ eats 160 pounds of meat, 353 eggs and 25,000 inches of spaghetti a year. She smokes 146 packs of cigarettes and dumps 400 [pounds] of edible food in the garbage. Her TV set is on five hours a day, she spends a year of her life on the phone, and speaks 4800 words a day. She spends half again as much as her husband for clothes, but returns 13 percent of the clothes she buys,” We might' add that this no doubt is speaking of the average American woman, and, of course, many of them just are not like that at all.

Ignorance of the Bible as a book is widespread, yet few persons pause long enough to consider the causes or consequences. Have you? You need no longer be a stranger to the Bible. Learn about its background, its writers, its struggle for survival. Become acquainted with each of its sixty-six inspired books.

“Equipped for Every Good Work”         50c

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................illllilllllllllNIJ|IHII|j|iii|nd........r.....

WATCHTOWER             117 ADAMS ST.             BROOKLYN 1, N.Y.

Please send me the hardbound book of 384 rages "Equipped for Every Good Worfc.” I am enclosing 50c,

Street and Number

Name ...........................    or Route and Box ....................................................

City.......................................................................................... Znne No......... State .........................................................

This modern world is os perplexed os a 'woodpecker in a petrified forest.’ Countless thousands of humans living in the twentieth century modly flutter from one endeavor to another, only .to experience frustration ond disappointment. To such persons the future looks bleok indeed.

Some people wonder if science has the answer to a bright tomorrow. Its forecosts may make one’s head spin in amazement, but it is not material advancements that can fill one's life with the love and purpose in living that bring true happiness. You must look elsewhere— to God’s Word, the Holy Bible.

However, those who look to the Bible in hope of finding encouraging facts about the future should not be surprised to find critical times included in its forecast for the twentieth century, Wars, food shortages, earthquakes, increase in crime and a collopse in morals are oil prophesied for this generation. But, then, it also speaks of a group of people preaching about the righteous kingdom of God, a war of God against all wickedness, followed by a paradise earth without death—all to be realized in the twentieth century.

Do not be blinded by the dazzle of science in this missile-minded space oge, even though the vast majority of persons do not believe the Bible’s prophecy. Leorn for yourself the wonders that God hos prepared for man in this generation. Read

The Wnt-rhtc-

magazine regularly. It is published twice a month ta keep you informed as to God's purposes.

Send $1

WATCHTOWER       117 ADAMS ST.      BROOKLYN 1, N.Y.

Please send me The Watchtower for one year. I am enclosing $1. For mailing the coupon I am to receive free the three timely booklets World Conquest Hoon—by God’s Kingdom, Good New# of the Kingdom" and Gott’s Kingdom Rules—Is the World’s End Near?

Street and Number Name................................................................................. or Route and Box ......................................................

City________,_________________________________________ Zone No........ State...........................................................

In: AUSTRALIA address 11 Beresford Rd., Strathfield, N.S.W. ENGLAND; The Ridgeway, London N.W. 7. CANADA; 150 Bridgeland Ave.. Toronto 19, Ont. SO. AFRICA: Private Bap? 2, p. O, Klandsfontein, Transvaai.

32                                                  AWjIKEJ

¹

Beacon Lights of History, by John Lord. Vol. HI. page 361.

²

* Where the metric system prevails It Is known as 6/6 vision.

³

Yogis who leave India to teach yoga in the West often explain the reason as: inner voice, vision, spirit command, and so forth.

⁴

Clairvoyance and Photography, by T. FukerL t The better-health” yoga is considered a way to acquiring powers of psychic healing.— The Science of Psychic Healing, a Sequel to Hatha Yoga, Ramacharaka.