50, 100 and 150 Years Ago: Geology Uproar, Big-Gun Battleships and Horsepower for Horse Dung

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MARCH 1956
COMBAT STRESS--"Military commanders must have a thorough understanding of the effects of combat stress to make the most efficient use of their manpower. With such knowledge they could judge whether a unit was prepared for battle, how long it could fight effectively and how much rest it should be given before being sent into action again. During the Korean war the U.S. military services made a study of combat stress--a first step in a long-range program. One thing is certain: recovery from the acute stress of combat is a matter not of hours but of days. The time-honored rest cure for fighting troops--a hot meal and a good night's sleep--evidently is not sufficient."

EARTH IN UPHEAVAL--"The third in the series of Immanuel Velikovsky's unconventional reinterpretations of earth history has been published, and it is not necessary to read many pages to find that it is as generously packed with nonsense as were its predecessors. After the publication of the first of these books, Worlds in Collision, in 1950, emotions have run high; the scientists have said that Velikovsky is crazy; the publishers have said that the scientists are intolerant; Velikovsky implies that he is a martyred genius; the public-at-large is confused. But a scientific controversy implies that scientists argue with scientists, not that scientists argue with editorial writers, literary critics and copy-writers for book-jacket blurbs."

Scientific American Magazine Vol 294 Issue 3This article was published with the title “Geology Uproar Big-Gun Battleships Horsepower for Horse Dung” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 294 No. 3 (), p. 18
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0306-18

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