From the January 16, 1932, issue
A PHARAOH’S RIGHTHAND MAN
Add the name of Ken-Amun, ambitious Egyptian politician, a Pharaoh’s righthand man, to the list of unusual personalities from ancient Egypt.
Ken-Amun’s tomb, cut into a rocky hillside in the Valley of the Kings, has been known for almost a century, but has been strangely neglected. Now, it has been thoroughly explored and studied by the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Norman de Garis Davies took charge of this part of the expedition’s work.
As a result, Ken-Amun, who in his busy lifetime rejoiced in the titles of Chief Steward of the King and Overseer of the Cows of Amun and some 80 more responsibilities and distinctions, today has been given a typical 20th-century honor. A large and impressive volume has been devoted exclusively to him and his greatest monument, his underground tomb. Judging by what is known of Ken-Amun’s character, he would heartily enjoy the limelight. He liked it when he lived in Thebes, back in the 15th century B.C.
UNITED STATES REVEALED AS MOST MURDEROUS OF COUNTRIES
“The United States is the most murderous country in the world,” Dr. Kenneth E. Barnhart, sociologist of the Birmingham-Southern College, told scientists gathered at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in New Orleans.
Approximately 12,000 murders were committed in this country during 1930. That rate was about 17 times that of England. This difference Dr. Barnhart attributes in part to the uncertainty and delay of justice in the United States and to the numerous technicalities that have grown up in American criminal law.
SCHOOLING FAILS TO REMOVE PUBLIC’S BELIEF IN MAGIC
“The school has done very little in eradicating magical beliefs from the minds of the common people,” Dr. A.O. Bowden, president of the New Mexico State Teachers College, said in a report to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Bowden found no relation to exist between the amount of schooling a person had had and the extent of his belief in magic and superstition.
A 6-year investigation made by Dr. Bowden indicates that 86 persons out of every 100 believe that beautiful pictures, fine music, and fine home surroundings will in some mysterious way make people moral and virtuous. Sixty-five percent believe fish to be a better brain food than bacon. And 92 percent believe that the great majority of the American people, by reason of an innate ability to tell right from wrong, will naturally take the right side of any big public question in the state or nation when allowed to do so.
The average belief in the fallacies used by Dr. Bowden in his test was 49 percent among the population in general. Among teachers it was 46 percent. There is evidently a difference of only 3 percent between the superstition of teachers and of those whom they have taught.
