M
L~ 15, 1945
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
ii
Latest Campus Mystery Is Solved
'Who Turned the Clock aclour?
By JANE LUDLUM
All the best mysteries happen in
the dead of night. And one happened
on the Michigan campus last Satur-
<lay-hidden in cloaks of darkness.
(Romantic, isn't it?) Oh, it wasn't a
murder, and nobody robbed Presi-
dent Ruthven's home. But it was a
mystery.
The big question in everybody's
mind, including my own, was the tra-
ditional "Who Done It?" "It", of
course, being the procedure of chan-
ging the hands on the Carillon Tower
to Central War Time. Being an in-
quisitive soul, strictly on the green
Basement Shop
Makes Testm
Gadgets for U'
Psychology's Doo-Dads
Measure 'Guinea Pigs'
By ANITA FRANZ
The words "Psychology Shop"
painted on the door of Room 1129
Natural Science Building give no hint
of the phantasmagoria of tools, la-
thes, screws, metal strips and wooden
shavings that are to be seen behind
the portals.
Occupying two rooms in the base-
ment of the building, the ;psychology
Shop is the place where most of the
apparatus for student laboratories
and department research is construct-
ed, according to Gillette Whitney,
one of the two mechanics in the
Shop.
Making all sorts of equipment from
rat mazes to tachistoscopes, the two
mechanics consider their, working
grounds an ordinary machine shop,
said Whitney.
Some Equipment is Simple
Some of the equipment made is
very simple, such as the manual dex-
terity board. Designed to test a per-
son's mechanical aptitude, a wooden
slate with two rows of holes down
the middle is placed in front of the
subject who attempts to put as many
metal pegs as possible in the holes
in an allotted time.
Some of the apparatus such as the
rat maze, is very complicated. Vari-
eties of mazes range in size and
form from one looking like a "dot"
game board to a specimen resembling
a map of a city's street layout. One
type of maze is so constructed as to
allow the adjustment of the path-
ways.
The purpose of these mazes is to
test learning ability of rats. Allow-
ing a rat to determine the proper
channels through which exit from
the maze is possible, the pathways
are altered, and the rat's new diffi-
culty in finding his way out of the
maze is observed.
Remove Rat's Brain
By removing a part of the rat's
brain and letting him run
through the maze, the effects of the
brain sections on learning can be
examined.
A comparatively simple apparatus
is the discrimination box which has
a door that opens toward the subject.
Inside the box are two designs from
which, the subject chooses one by
pushing a button above it. Choosing
the "wrong" design causes a red light
to-flash, and by the trial and error
method the subject learns the pat-
terns which the "right" designs fol-
low.
Faculty Invents Apparatus
Many faculty members have de-
vised their own apparatus to be used
in their personal experiments. Dr.
Carl R. Brown has invented a device
to take continuous blood pressure re-
cordings. This mechanism is along
the same lines as a lie detector.
Not very often thought of by the
students and "guinea pigs" who util-
ize the apparatus, the Psychology
Shop is a vital part of the psycholo-
gy department.'
side, I ventured to solve the mystery.
Did the hands on the clock know
about the time change and swing
back an hour by themselves, did they
whizz back after some unknown hu-.
man had pushed a magic button, or
did they simply stop for an hour's
rest and then start up again?
These questions pounded through
my brain, playing havoc with the
little gray matter, until I could
stand it no longer. The most fan-
tastic thing I could picture was a
man sitfng way up there on a
sign-painter's pulley, tugging at
the hands with his own super-
human strength.
The only way to get to the bot-
tom of this mystery, I decided, was
to persuade somebody who knew
something ab3out the clock to take
me up there and show me the
works. Someone did, and it was
only more confusing than ever.
After puffing up for nine floors,
we arrived at a little room wherein
the answer was hidden. I was excit-
ed-not knowing what great force
would be revealed. The University
engineer opened the door-and all we
could see were a few smple ma-
chines!
Behind a glass door there were two
round discs, looking like clocks. They
constantly revolved, and tiny pin-
shaped clips clicked off every second.
When you want to change the time,
the engineer said, all you have tosdo
is to change the clips. A heavy disc
calendar drum is used to silence the
bells during the night, he said, and
the calendar shifts every six hours.
He pointed out several other ma-
chines which run according to the
clock disc, but since none of these
objects had any names, I was more
confused than ever.
Just then the hour struck. Ev-
erything started to whirl and my
head with it. The time wheel went
around, which started another
wheel going around, which clicked
the notches, which banged a series
of musical bongs, which set off
something else, and another wheel
clicked some bigger notches, which
yanked a bunch of wires up and
down through the ceiling, which
made the clock strike!
The procedure was very clear to
the engineer but my dismal mind
was in a hubbub. He tried patiently
to explain it in one syllable words to
no avail. Two master clocks are
located in Randall Lab., he said,
which operate three time circuits
covering the southern part of the
campus, the northern part, and the
dorm section. About 500 clocks are
governed by these timepieces, includ-
ing the bell tower. University time
recording machines are run accord-
ing to the master clocks, too, he said.
The campus lighting system goes on
and off with the master clocks.
In other words, I gathered that
everything is run by the master
clocks. So when the master clocks1
strike, the wheels start rolling to
set off the bongs in the bell tower,
ih University High School, in the
Hospital, in the East Engineering
Building, and in the Laundry.
Finally I asked the quivering ques-
tion-"Then what happened last
Saturday night when the time chan-
ged on the campus?"
The master clocks, and all the mil-
lions of University clocks, went on an
hour's vacation. From what the en-
gineer said there were a few techni-
calities involved, but he said that
we'd let it go at that!
In Geology 12 lecture class last
week a girl fainted. A sailor and an-
other girl helped her out of the Nat.
Sci. auditorium. Two others left
to see if they could be of aid. Soon
one person came in, picked up his
books, and left. Another did the
same. Prof. Hussey managed to con-
tinue with his lecture despite the in-
uerruption until the sailor and girl
reentered-and stayed! "For this
noble act I will give you both an "A"
he cracked.
University
Cemetery
Plan Fails
Only Broken-shaft
Ce otaph Remains
By PAT CAMERON
A cemetery, complete with monu-
ments and tombstones, would occupy
the space where the Pharmacology-
Economics Building now stands if a
Regents resolution of 1845, reserving
a plot of land 150 feet square, had
been carried out.
The broken-shaft cenotaph, locat-
ed in the triangle formed by the
driveways east of the General Li-
brary, is the only remaining vestige
of the Regents' plans to establish a
University cemetery, according to a
Michigan history by Dr. Frank E.
Robbins, Assistant to President
Ruthven.
The Regents, at their meeting, had
picked out one professor who would
have the distinction of being the first
to be buried in the cemetery. Prof.
Joseph Whiting, one of the earliest
members of the University faculty,
had died the previous July, and the
Regents passed a resolution to place
him in the campus burying ground
if his family approved.
Professors' Monument
They also voted to have a monu-
ment made in his memory. The plan
for this cenotaph developed into
what is known as the Professors'
Monument, bearing inscriptions to
Professors Whiting, Douglas Hough-
ton, Charles Fox, and Samuel Den-
ton.
Fox was the first and only profes-
sor of agriculture that the University
has ever had. He was to serve as a
nucleus for an agricultural depart-
ment, but the establishment of the
School of Agriculture in East Lan-
sing cancelled the need for such a
4department here.
Michigan's First Geologist
Houghton was termed "Michigan's
first geologist". Dr. Denton was a
professor of the theory and practice
of medicine from 1850 to 1860 and
was a member of the first Board of
Regents.
The cenotaph has been moved five
times. In 1856 it was shifted about
ten rods north to get it out of the
way of the original chemistry labora-
tory, which, changed and practically
rebuilt, is the Pharmacology Build-
ing. In 1869 the shaft was moved
across the walk from what is now
the northwest corner of the West
Medical Building. From 1884 to 1890
it was located at the intersection of
the campus walks in front of the
library. Its next position was the
south side of the library, and in 1918
it was moved to its present site.
'Yellow and the Blue' Written
By Former'U'Latin Professor
SITE OF CAMPUS MYSTERY-Seen through the trees is the Carillon
Tower, which hourly announces the termination of classes. This past
week the great campus brains have been pondering the question of
how the Tower lost an hour when University clocks were set back.
PLAY PRODUCTION:
Hard Work by Speech Classes
Results in Polished Drama
By MARJORY JACKSON
The glamour and polish of a play
is the result of a lot of hard work,
time and effort, as any member of
the Play Production or Stagecraft
classes of the speech department will
verify.
The job of producing a play be-
gins about four weeks before the
opening night. A play is selected by
Prof. Valentine Windt and Herbert
Philippi of the speech department
after considering the facility with
which it can be produced, if it can
be handled effectively by students,
and if it is the right type of play for
University production.
Tryouts are held for the students
of Play Production and the cast is
selected according to their talents,
type of portrayal, and ability to take
direction. In recent years, due to
the man shortage, naval V-12 train-
ees, civilians in other colleges, and
boys from the local high schools have
participated in the plays.
Students Build Sets
Mr. Philippi designs the sets and
members of the Stagecraft and Play,
Production classes build them. An
average of a hundred hours a week is
spent by both classes in the shop of
the Lab Theatre in building the sets.
Properties are obtained from all
sources. Townspeople and local
stores contribute to the scenes. Many
of the Ann Arbor restaurants loaned
old beer mugs for the tavern sceneE
in "Uncle Harry." The Union and
League often contribute furniture,
and some is obtained from the large
stock which the Lab Theatre has ac-
cumulated from past productions.
The costumes used in the play are
either rented or made by the costume
crew. The costumes for "Uncle Har-
ry" were rented from a New York
agency, which also supplied the cos-
tumes for the original production.
During the three weeks that the
sets are being built, the cast holds
rehearsals every week-night, and aft-
ernoon rehearsals on Saturday and
Sunday. This is a tedious and pains-
taking job, the rewzrd depending on
success of each individual perform-
ance.
The Saturday before the play opens,
the sets are transported from the
Lab Theatre to the Lydia Mendels-
sohn Theatre. They are erected and
the first dress rehearsal takes place
on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday
are also dress rehearsal nights with
the play opening on Wednesday and
running through Saturday.
Cast Helps Move Sets
The stage crew composed of mem-
bers of the Stagecraft and Play Pro-
duction classes starts work on Sun-
day night of the first dress rehearsal
and works every night until the last
night of the play. The male mem-
bers of the cast are often called
upon to move the heavier parts of
the sets because of the shortage of
men.
Ticket and ushering committees are
also taken care of by the Speech de-
'partment.
" WHEN: Saturday, April 21, 9-12
* WHERE: League Ballroom
" HOW MUCH: $1 in War Stamps per
couple
* FOR WHOM: All students and Service-
men
HILIYI
Music by BOB COOCH
"Start Saving Now for the Mighty 7th"
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BETTER EDUCATION TRAINS
YOUTHFUL MINDS and BODIES
for BETTER SERVICE
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REMEMBER
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She will appreciate
yowr thoughtfurlrness!
e collection of Mothers'
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AMERICA'S YOUTH is being reared in a world-war
chaos . . . their stability in later life . . . their careers . .
the destiny of our nation depends upon their keenness of
mind and body! They must preserve a hard-won peace ...
III. . ', '... .I I .r
Day GREETING CARDS! Our stock is corn-
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