Brave Soldiers Research Articles

Laterality Factors in the Recall of Sentences Varying in Semantic Constraint

The role of the left and right ears in listening to undistorted speech was evaluated in a short-term memory task. Twenty-four normal right-handed subjects listened to sentences with the same syntactic structure but varying in semantic integration [e.g., “The brave soldier fought the cruel war” (well integrated) versus “The glad soldier owned the tiny chair” (poorly integrated)]. All sentences were presented monaurally. Listeners were required to count backwards after each sentence (to block rehearsal) and then after 5 sec to repeat back what they could remember. For both levels of semantic integration, sentences presented at the right ear were recalled faster and with fewer errors than sentences presented at the left ear. These results indicate that laterality factors related to cerebral dominance for language functions influence short-term memory for sentences heard monaurally.

Ernst Toller's Ideological Skepticism

OF ALL the successful and widely-translated German dramatists of the period between the wars Ernst Toller was probably the most misunderstood. His enemies of the left considered him a counterrevolutionary, while those of the right branded him a Communist. Some critics called him a pessimist, others saw optimism beneath the gloomy atmosphere of his plays. The main difficulty has been that his work as a whole, viewed against the changing aspects of his life and times, lacked ideological interpretation. This has been attempted in an unpublished monograph' by the writer of these lines. The following paragraphs constitute a brief summary. With two minor exceptions every play by Toller has autobiographical and ideological significance. The very first one, Die Wandlung, reflects several stages of his youth and young manhood: his break with Jewish traditions and his desire to be fully accepted as a German citizen; the intense Wilhelminian patriotism under the influence of which he became a brave soldier; his pacifistic reaction to all the physical and moral horrors incidental to modern warfare; and finally his expressionistic, ecstatic vision of a spiritually-reborn, self-redeemed humanity. Then came the world-famous Masse-Mensch, a creative condensation of those political experiences which resulted in Toller's long period of fortress imprisonment. Here began the process of brave disillusionment which steadfastly said no to temptations of weary pessimism and hopeless resignation. Critical at every step of his career, he questioned the more important tenets of Marxist doctrine, although he continued to call himself a socialist for many years. Mensch was to him a spiritual concept which the materialistic social ideology did not seem to recognize. A feeling of honesty prompted him to renounce all party allegiance but he went on writing and speaking on behalf of the socialist cause. In principle he was opposed to all forms of revolutionary violence. In the early nineteen-thirties he still wrote socialist

Soldiers as Anthropologists

IN NATURE of December 3 (p. 383) there appeared brief abstract of a paper communicated by Mr. Reginald A. Smith to the Royal Anthropological Institute on behalf of its author, Major E. R. Collins, D.S.O., now a wounded prisoner of war in Germany. The paper is not only an important contribution to our knowledge of the prehistoric stone implements of South Africa, but is evidence that a brave and capable soldier may, while helping to shape the history of his own time, give material assistance in unravelling the past history of the country through which he may be campaigning.

Portable Electric Balloon Signalling in War

Thirteen years ago, shortly after I had been privileged to supply the British Government with my Electric Signalling Balloon Apparatus, I showed upon the screen of the London Institution the same picture that is now before you. It represents the signallers of two friendly military forces shut in by high mountains. It shows how limited is the usefulness of the ordinary methods of visual signalling, which depend upon some vantage point for altitude; it shows how valuable in such a casa is the electric signalling balloon. In the picture, the signallers on this side of the mountain are filling the balloon with gas for the ascent. On the other side, the balloon has already ascended. In the next picture both balloons have ascended to a considerable elevation, and the signallers are independent of the configuration of the country. I will now ask whether this picture does not partly represent the conditions realised so often during the South African Campaign, when our brave soldiers have been imprisoned so long amidst the rugged mountains of Natal, and where failure of communication has been the cause of disaster.