Awake!, March 8, 1971

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Awake! — March 8, 1971

Source: jw.org

Contents

The Deadliest Killer of All Time

Others Noticed Their Faith

You Can Make a Go of It with Less

Nagging Wives and Heart Disease

Man’s Uniqueness—Due to Evolution or Creation?

I Was a Guerrilla Fighter

The Spleen—an Amazing Organ

What Your Voice Reflects

Snakes—Friends or Foes?

Largest and Smallest

The Soothing Twilight

A New Bible Translation—No Easy Matter

Should You Stifle That Yawn?

What Is Death?

Watching the World

“Did Man Get Here by Evolution or by Creation?”

What Do You Know About The Apostle Paul?

The Deadliest Killer of All Time

THE flu of 1918 and 1919 was the greatest influenza epidemic to hit the earth in recorded history. This ghastly pestilence spread to people almost everywhere. In a relatively few weeks it killed more people than perished in World War I.

Most of the deaths took place in a few months of a single year! Said one authority: ‘Had the epidemic continued its mathematical rate of acceleration, civilization would easily have disappeared from the earth within a matter of a few more weeks.’

Its Start and Spread

The flu first struck in the spring of 1918. It was relatively mild, a case lasting about three days. But in the fall of that year the deadly variety showed up. It was noted that those who earlier had the “three-day flu” generally seemed to be immune to the “killer germs.”

Some said the flu epidemic got started in Spain, thus the name “Spanish influenza.” Madrid, Spain, was hard hit by the flu in May of 1918. However, the flu had been seen in China and in the United States in March of 1918. Actually, no one seems to know precisely where it got started or how.

Boston is viewed as the starting point of the deadly flu in the United States. In a few days it spread rapidly down the east coast. Almost simultaneously, the flu struck army camps throughout the country. Camp Grant, at Rockford, Illinois, was hard pressed with ten thousand abed. In twenty-four hours, 115 soldiers had died. The figure approximated the highest day’s average of Americans killed in battle.

Pennsylvania was the hardest hit state, with more than one third of a million cases and 10,000 deaths in less than two weeks. In Philadelphia, two hundred bodies were stuffed into a morgue built for thirty-six. The dead were piled three and four deep in the corridors and rooms. Most were unembalmed, so the stench ran high in the unchilled rooms. When there was a sudden shortage of coffins in the city, a street railway repair shop was converted into a coffin factory.

Throughout all the earth it spread. In one remote Central African region a British colonial officer reported finding villages of 300 to 500 families wiped out by the flu. Jungle growth was taking over again. Reports from northern Persia stated that in village after village there were no survivors. Many Eskimo villages in Alaska were wiped out to the last man and child. To the islands of the Pacific it went. In Tahiti, where 4,500 persons died in fifteen days, bodies were piled upon constantly burning pyres.

It is believed that only two places in the world escaped the worldwide epidemic: St. Helena, an island of less than fifty square miles in the South Atlantic, and Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean.

The Meaning of It

But of what significance to us is a pestilence of some fifty years ago? Well, relatively few persons today realize that that flu epidemic of 1918-1919 was a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Jesus Christ foretold that the “sign” of the “last days,” which would precede the grand blessings of his Kingdom rule, would be marked by unmistakable events. Among these would be widespread food shortages, earthquakes and “in one place after another pestilences.” (Luke 21:7, 10, 11) Further, Jesus explained: “All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress.” (Matt. 24:8) So that flu epidemic in 1918-1919 was only a beginning. Despite modern medical technology, cancer, heart disease—yes, and the flu—still ravage the earth.

Never before has the world seen “deadly plague” along with the other prophesied happenings on such a global scale as it has since 1914. (Rev. 6:3-8) The “pangs of distress” have been with us for well over fifty years now and we need to remember that Jesus said: “When you see these things occurring, know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away until all things occur.” (Luke 21:31, 32) So, the meaning for our day is that only a short time is left before the end of this wicked system of things.

Recollections of the Pestilence

Of course, many persons reading this were not alive at the time of that epidemic of 1918-1919. They may find it difficult to grasp the magnitude of what occurred. Yet there are people alive today who lived then, and it is interesting to know what their recollections are. One survivor said: “Everywhere the pattern appeared the same. The flu began with a high fever and aching bones. The fever lasted up to five days. If there were no complications, recovery generally was quick, although some persons complained of being terribly weak afterward. Others said it affected their heart, or injured their kidneys or lungs. Great numbers of persons, after four days of the flu, developed pneumonia, and this caused their death.”

Many survivors of the pestilence report a most unusual aspect about it—the highest death rate was among previously healthy young adults, particularly males. This is in contrast to the usual flu epidemic, when the old and feeble ones are the main victims. “There was this heavyset, healthy-looking fellow,” recalled a farmer from Minnesota. “He got over his mild case of the flu in three days, but went moving around before he should have and the next thing we knew, they were burying him.”

Many were the physically strong men in military service who succumbed. Dr. Ralph C. Williams, a former assistant United States surgeon general, has vivid recollections of those fearsome days: “We were swamped with soldiers, sailors, marines and coastguardsmen. They would just collapse in the streets downtown and were brought out to us. . . . There was a Marine sergeant. He was brought in unconscious and in three hours that man was dead. Just like that. It was common knowledge that between 400 and 500 people were dying (in Chicago) each day. More people were dying than could be buried. It was a fearsome thing.”

The suddenness with which the flu struck took people by surprise. A Brooklyn man said: “Its approach was subtle, and yet so painful. The people did not sense its magnitude; they were not aware of its being so widespread. When they finally awoke to that fact, there was great fear. People were perplexed. They did not know what to make of it.”

So many were the deaths in Australia that a newspaperman said it was impossible to dig individual graves fast enough. The dead were simply lifted out of their houses and deposited in one great pit.

The number of funeral processions seemed endless. An atmosphere of fear, sorrow and depression spread over the earth. “We would see sorrowful persons going to a funeral of a relative or a friend,” said one survivor, “and the next thing we heard was that they, too, had died. It was dreadful.” Another survivor summed it up this way: “Every moment grief seemed to be crashing in on one.”

One of Jehovah’s witnesses vividly recalls those days in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. “We were completely shocked,” she said. “As we went from door to door in the Kingdom ministry, we could see caskets in almost every home. Many persons wouldn’t listen when we tried to comfort them with the message of God’s kingdom. They were too stricken with grief.”

Treatment

Usually the best advice doctors had to offer their patients was to tell them to rest in bed, keep warm and drink plenty of liquids.

In treating their patients some doctors used novel methods. In Chicago one doctor treated some 600 patients with a grapefruit concoction, which appeared to work. Reportedly, he lost only one patient—his son who left his sickbed to look after his flourishing undertaking business.

“My father and mother and I were all sick in one night,” said a man from Cincinnati, where some 40,000 cases of flu were reported. “My mother had pneumonia and was not expected to live. But a young doctor advised that we fry a big pan of onions and place a real hot poultice on her chest. This my aunt Clara did all night. It sort of pulled my mother out of it. The next morning we knew that she would live.”

In many cities it was impossible to get medical help. In Philadelphia, for example, more than one third of the city’s physicians were themselves in bed.

Precautions

Almost every precaution imaginable was taken to avoid getting the flu. “Wear fresh pajamas” became the exhortation in some communities. Others were told: “Don’t shake hands.” “Take castor oil.” “Don’t ride the subways.”

In many localities people wore a face mask. At Ann Arbor, University of Michigan students were ordered to wear masks at all times under penalty of suspension. In San Francisco, the mayor published a city-wide ordinance saying everyone should wear a face mask, or be fined $100 or sent to jail for ten days’ isolation. No passengers were allowed to board a Seattle streetcar without wearing a mask.

The New York Public Library stopped circulating books. Many cities forbade barbers to shave their customers, because of the close contact involved. Streets in Dublin were washed down with disinfectants. In Boston, churches closed on Sundays; in many cities, public meetings were banned. Schools, movie houses and saloons were locked up.

In New York “open-faced sneezers” were subject to fines and jail sentences. In Chicago, police were told to “arrest thousands, if necessary, to stop sneezing in public.” The many warnings against sneezing in public no doubt helped in preventing the pestilence from spreading even more. According to medical researchers in Britain, just one sneeze can distribute more than 85,000,000 bacteria. And United States researchers have discovered that a sneeze can hurl up to 4,600 particles into the air at a “muzzle velocity” of 152 feet a second. Often particles are hurled a distance of twelve feet. The particles, which remain suspended in the air for more than a half hour after the sneeze, are not mere harmless droplets of water. One particle or droplet was found to create 19,000 colonies of bacteria. No wonder Canada’s Toronto Telegram reported that it is now known “that the excessive amount of sneezing involved in the flu epidemic of 1918 helped make it the horror it was.”

The Toll

The pestilence left behind a staggering death toll estimated at between 20,000,000 and 27,000,000. Dr. Edwin Oakes Jordan, a noted American bacteriologist, in his Epiddemic Influenza, published in 1927, cites total deaths due to the influenza as being 21,642,283. Of these nearly 16,000,000 were in Asia, more than 2,000,000 in Europe, more than 1,300,000 in Africa and more than 1,000,000 in North America. South America’s deaths were listed as 327,000. Australia and Oceania together suffered over 1,000,000 deaths.

The flu sent some 500,000,000 persons to bed. The pestilence was particularly dangerous to pregnant women. Thus, in millions of homes, there was double tragedy.

The deadly flu germs disappeared almost as quickly as they came. Where they went remains a medical mystery to this very day. Since the Spanish flu virus was never seen under a microscope of that time, scientists today do not know whether that deadly virus differs in appearance from the Asian flu virus of recent times.

Public health men of that time admitted that all human effort seemed to do nothing to stop the plague and that the most skilled doctors in the world had not been able to limit the epidemic’s duration.

For many persons living then, it may have seemed that the complete end of this system of things foretold by Jesus Christ was immediately at hand. But the events of those days were only “a beginning of pangs of distress.” Yet, as Jesus explained: “This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur.” That generation of people who were alive during and immediately after World War I is now nearing its close. This fact, coupled with other events of our day, is a strong indication that this system of things is very near its complete end. But what will be your standing when that time arrives? It depends on what you do now to gain a right standing with God.—Matt. 24:3, 8, 34.

Others Noticed Their Faith

MANIFESTING full faith in Jehovah God when one is under a trialsome situation may move sincere observers to investigate the Bible’s message. An example of this involves a couple in Kansas who were prominent members of the Methodist church there.

The wife had studied five different religions quite thoroughly before settling down to be a Methodist. She was very active in church affairs and taught Sunday school for a number of years. Her husband, however, had no interest in religion. He merely went along to please her and helped in the church by passing the collection plate each Sunday. He never had enough interest in religion or God even to open the Bible to read it.

Not too long ago, this couple’s relatives who are Jehovah’s witnesses lost a young daughter in death. So they kindly invited the Witness parents of the deceased girl to stay in their home while the funeral arrangements were being made. The faith and strength that this Witness couple manifested deeply impressed the Methodist man and his wife. They noticed that the Witnesses did not grieve excessively as people often do at such times. 1 Thess. 4:13.

This Methodist couple also attended the funeral service conducted by one of the Witnesses. The clear explanation of why man dies and the hope of the resurrection impressed them. (Rom. 5:12; John 5:28, 29) So they began studying the Bible with Jehovah’s witnesses. For the first time, the husband opened the Bible with keen interest in its message of truth.

After just two Bible study sessions, this couple requested that their names be removed from the church’s membership roll. During their third study, they were invited to attend the Sunday meetings at the local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. They expressed surprise that they could attend the meetings so soon after having started their Bible study. The following Sunday they went to the Hall with the lesson in their copies of the Watchtower magazine studied.

Soon after this they made a special trip to California to tell their son about their new-found faith and the Bible truths that were now bringing them so much joy. The son expressed a favorable attitude toward what they told him and has since made an effort to get in touch with the Witnesses in his vicinity.

When the couple returned home, the time had come for the International Assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses to be held in Kansas City. They were invited to attend. Would they do so right after having returned home from a long trip and after having studied but a few weeks? Yes, they made the necessary arrangements to attend the assembly, and were there for most of the sessions. To top everything off, they met some of their relatives at this assembly whom they had not seen in years and who are now serving Jehovah.

There was no stopping them now. They began attending all the meetings at the Kingdom Hall and preparing for them in advance. Soon the wife began to help one of her Roman Catholic friends to learn the Bible. Neighbors began sitting in on this study; as many as five showed real interest in God’s truth. The Catholic friend has continued to progress and now desires to attend the meetings too.

Next, this couple joined the Theocratic Ministry School. Both have experienced the joy of giving their first talks. When they were in the Methodist church, holidays had played a very important part in their lives. But as they learned Jehovah’s viewpoint on these matters, things changed rapidly. A year ago Christmas was spent around a tree with their fleshly family. This time it was spent with their spiritual family of Witnesses sharing in the house-to-house ministry for the first time.

As a result of this couple’s learning God’s truth, many more persons have been reached by it. Their daughter and her family are now studying the Bible with the Witnesses and attending the meetings. Who could have known that the faith and hope manifested by the Witness couple whose daughter had died would bring such results? But happy results they were, because others noticed their faith.

You Can Make a Go of It with Less

“HOW can we make a go of it?” That is the concern of many as they see the purchasing power of their dollar, franc, mark or peso shrinking. It is also the concern of the many who are faced with employment problems due to the economic recessions taking place in various parts of the world. Some have had to content themselves with lower-paying jobs. Others are having temporary periods of unemployment. With others their workweek has been curtailed. Many others are wholly unemployed.

As a result ever so many people have had to make a go of it with less. The greatest help in this matter may well be to get the right mental attitude toward your changed circumstances. The Bible’s advice is most fitting: ‘It is a means of great gain, this godly devotion along with contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, and neither can we carry anything out. So, having food and covering, we shall be content with these things.’—1 Tim. 6:6-8.

Helpful also to making a go of it with less is for you not to be unduly concerned with what your neighbors think. True, neighbors may notice your adopting a more modest way of life, but the sooner you get free from this form of bondage (worry over what your neighbors think), the better it will be for you. Neighbors will have their opinions, but they will not help you to pay your bills. Getting rid of that fear will also help you to be more readily reconciled to getting along with less. As the Bible warns, the fear of what people think is actually a snare.—Prov. 29:25.

Another great aid is learning to be ever more practical. Vanity and sentimentality often influence people against their better judgment. But when you need to get along with less you cannot afford to let such luxuries as sentimentality or vanity make you imprudent. Nor can you let impulse or whims dictate your purchases. Take a hardheaded business approach when spending your money.

There Is the Matter of Food

Since with most people having modest incomes the single biggest cost item is food, it would be well worth while for them to learn to make a go of it with less in this respect. Bear in mind that we eat to live; we should not live to eat.

Nutritionists by and large agree that most people in Western lands eat too much. Moderation in eating would certainly affect a family’s economy. It is also good economy to eat all leftovers instead of throwing them away. Another aid is getting used to plain foods. These will help you not to overeat, will cost less and are better for you. For example, baked potatoes are among the best foods you can eat and they excel over French fried potatoes on all three points—you are less likely to overeat, they are more wholesome and they are also more economical.

There is also the wisdom of contenting oneself with foods when they are in season or when they are specially priced low. Thus bananas are at times priced at a fraction of their regular cost. Early in the season asparagus costs two to three times as much as it does later on. Why not wait until the price comes down?

Two costly items are butter and meat. According to some authorities, margarine made wholly of unsaturated fats, such as corn oil, is far better for you than butter, and it costs far less. What about meat? You can benefit both your health and your pocketbook by letting dairy dishes, eggs, legumes and fish replace, at least in part, meat on your table. Milk in the big cities continues to rise in cost. Why not learn to use powdered milk? This can effect a considerable saving.

As for the starches and sugars—here also you can benefit your financial and your physical condition. Make frequent use of unpolished rice, barley (in soups) and old-fashioned oatmeal. And do you really need to have desserts every day? Cutting down on them can be good for your pocketbook and oftentimes also for your health and figure!

Saving on Clothing

There is also the matter of saving on clothing. It is not economical to try to keep up closely with the styles. The purpose of the style makers is to keep people buying clothes all the time. A time-honored rule is: “Do not be the first to adopt the new nor the last to drop the old.”

Here again one’s mental attitude will have a great deal to do with how well one makes a go of it with less. Pertinent is the counsel of Jesus Christ that we be not unduly anxious about our clothing.—Matt. 6:28-30.

The cost of clothing can be reduced if the housewife knows how, or learns how, to make her own clothes as well as those of her children, and if she trains her daughters to acquire the same skills. Some wives even make their husbands’ suits!

Very practical from an economic standpoint is the advice given by the apostle Paul as to clothing. He counsels that women should dress modestly. And to the same effect the apostle Peter says that wives should be more concerned with “the incorruptible apparel of the quiet and mild spirit” than with stylish clothes, striking jewelry and fancy hairdos or wigs. In fact, it might be said that the more attention you pay to the inward adornment, the less important the outer adornment will seem to be.—1 Tim. 2:9, 10; 1 Pet. 3:2-6.

Other Ways to Cut Down on Expenses

One of the greatest aids in making a go of it with less is to keep a record of your expenses. Often it is the careless spending of many small amounts that plays havoc with your efforts to live within your reduced income. It may prove to be a real challenge, but if you or your family really try to record all purchases for a month, it may well prove to be both revealing and very helpful in cutting down on unnecessary expenses.

How so? In that it will give you an idea of just where your money is going and just where savings could best be effected. You might like to compare your budget with that reported by the United States government agency regarding low-income people, namely, 35 percent for food, 25 percent for housing, 15 percent for clothing and the remaining 25 percent for transportation, health, recreation, charity and religion.

Furniture is still another field in which you can make a go of it with less. Use care to keep what you have in good repair and looking fine. For example, you can cover scratches in various ways, such as rubbing them with walnut meats. And when you need furniture, used furniture often will do just as well or even better than something new. Bargains can sometimes be found in the classified columns of the newspaper. New York city has two weeklies, Buy-Lines and The Selling Post, that consist of nothing but classified advertising of things individuals want to sell, such as furniture, autos, TVs or musical instruments.

Another way to economize is to watch your telephone bills. Especially do teenagers like to do a lot of visiting by phone. It all adds up fast! Long-distance calls are also a luxury that you might indulge in rather infrequently so as to economize. There seems to be no reason why a family with an average income should have monthly telephone bills nearing or exceeding the $100 mark; yet some do.

Doing without until you are able to pay cash for things is still another important way to save. This not only saves interest charges but may gain you a reduction in price because you pay cash instead of asking for credit.

Credit cards and charge accounts can be a real threat to your economy. It is a well-known fact that people spend more by means of these conveniences than when they pay cash. Where either husband or wife is prone to do impulsive or sentimental purchasing, it is well before leaving to shop to make out a carefully thought-out list, and not to take along more money than is actually needed. In some homes the husband and wife may even decide to go shopping together, since two heads are better than one when making purchases.

There is also the matter of using common sense when you begin to feel ill. Often merely getting more rest and cutting down on one’s food will tide one over. But the person who runs to the doctor with every minor ill keeps both his body and his pocketbook weak.

Are there still other ways to make a go of it with less? Yes, when it comes to entertainment and vacations. There are many kinds of entertainment, relaxation or recreation that cost comparatively little, if anything, such as a visit to the park, zoo or museum. In times past, families used to enjoy evenings together playing games, singing songs, playing musical instruments. How much better to be participants in wholesome recreation than merely spectators!

Approaching this problem of economy need not be viewed with sadness or grimness. Rather, meet it with a sense of humor. View it as a game, a challenge that is rewarding in more ways than one. Cutting down on the frivolous, the trite, the nonessential leaks in the money bag will leave you with more to spend on the essential things, on those that bring real benefits to your household.

Nagging Wives and Heart Disease

● Heart specialist Dr. Frank G. Nolan once expressed his belief that nagging wives may be responsible for a good many of the heart ailments afflicting men. “I wonder,” said the doctor, “if nagging wives are not to blame for much of the heart disease among men? After all, many more men than women die of coronary heart disease. This is something to think about seriously.”

The doctor said that he did not believe that all women caused tensions in their husbands, but he did point out “that the majority of heart ailments are caused by tension and aggravation. A nagging wife is going to cause additional tension and aggravation. I know a lot of big executives suffer from heart ailments but are these ailments due to their jobs strictly? What do we know about the home life of these men? I think wives who have husbands under pressure should give some thought to this.”

How true is the Bible’s observation on nagging wives: “Better is it to dwell in a wilderness land than with a contentious wife along with vexation”!—Prov. 21:19.

Man’s Uniqueness—Due to Evolution or Creation?

“EVERYTHING in evolution is very, very speculative.” That is indeed a candid statement for a leading evolutionist to make. Yet S. L. Washburn, Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, did make that very statement. And what is still more remarkable, he made it in a lecture entitled “The Evolution of Human Behavior,” delivered at a Nobel Conference on the subject “The Uniqueness of Man.”

The speakers at this conference, held at an American midwestern university, pointed out many of the ways in which man is unique when compared with animals. Yet these men kept referring to evolution as though it were a proven fact. Among the points the various speakers made as to the uniqueness of man were the following, now published in the book The Uniqueness of Man, edited by J. D. Roslansky:

“No known human group does, however, simply throw out its dead without any ritual or ceremony. In stark contrast, no animal practices burial of dead individuals of its own species.” “Man is the only living being who has a developed self-awareness and death-awareness.”—Theodosius Dobzhansky, Russian-born scientist.

Why this striking singularity or uniqueness in man if he evolved from the animals? Should there not at least be some small degree of self-awareness and death-awareness in those that are claimed to be the ancestors of man? Evolution cannot account for this uniqueness but God’s Word can. The Bible explains that man alone was created in God’s image. He alone was endowed with reason, with imagination, with a moral sense.—Gen. 1:26-28.

As regards man’s ability to use a language, in contrast to other communication systems used among animals, Dr. Ernan McMullin, who is on the faculty of the University of Notre Dame, said the following:

“In recent times, much has been made of the ‘languages’ of honey-bees, ants, dolphins and other highly-organized animals. But several features of these ‘languages’ mark them off sharply from the languages of man. First, they are species-specific, inherited not learnt. Their use is instinctive, not reflective. Honey-bees of one species will not be able to ‘follow’ the language of another species, nor can they learn it. Genetic differences can even arise within species due to geographic separation; an Italian honey-bee cannot follow the cues given by a hive of German cousins. Once an Italian honey-bee, always an Italian honey-bee! The individual can in no way modify or unlearn its ‘language’ because of its being (so far as we can tell) entirely genetically determined, entirely instinctive in origin. Second, all the signs used are signals, strictly speaking, that is, they elicit immediate action. There is no reason to attribute to them a propositional character. They are not being used to make statements about the sugar-source, but rather to serve as stimulus for an instinctive response on the part of other bees that will send them to the right place. Third, these languages are entirely limited to a single type of situation, one that is of biological significance to the species, food-gathering, for example, or courtship.”

Yes, the problem of language presents an enigma to the evolutionists. Philologists have come up with many theories but none of them have been so reasonable or compelling as to win general acceptance. A small bird, the parrot, can talk, although not intelligently; but an ape, with many physical characteristics similar to that of man—teeth, lips, tongue, vocal cords, and far more intelligence than a parrot—cannot. Why not? Because, as Wooten shows in his Up from the Ape, the ape lacks the needed intelligence.

Noting a still further example of man’s uniqueness, Professor W. H. Thorpe, a leading English ethologist,a had the following to say:

“Man can manipulate completely abstract symbols to an extent far beyond that possible in the animal world; it’s on this ability mathematics is based. I do not believe that animals will ever be able to do mathematics. . . . Man has an abstract moral sense which can realize perfectly general moral laws—he can realize, in other words, the essential difference between what is and what ought to be and it follows from that I think, . . . that man is a philosophical, a metaphysical and a religious animal.”

Nobel Prize winner Sir John Eccles spoke at this Conference on the subject “The Experiencing Self.” Among other things he made the point that “man’s attempt to understand the world is a measure of his uniqueness.” Animals are content with creature comforts and the satisfying of their hunger and sex instincts. But man, and man alone, has a hunger for knowledge, for wanting to know, to understand, not only the world but the purpose of his existence. God’s Word, the Bible, furnishes that enlightenment.—Ps. 119:105.

And Professor Washburn, quoted at the outset, further contributed to the theme of the uniqueness of man by observing:

“Our whole notion of space is completely different from that of the nonhuman primates. Monkeys spend their entire lives in an area of two or three square miles. The gorilla spends its life in about 15 square miles . . . Here then are animals who can move much more rapidly than we can, with good locomotor systems and with special senses, very similar to ours, but they live their entire life in this exceedingly small area. . . . One would think one could drive monkeys along very easily. . . . It’s quite easy . . . until they reach the end of the area that they know. And then if one tries to drive them further, the troop will work around you and go back; they will not go beyond the space that they know. So one of the really remarkable characteristics of man is that even the most primitive men operate over hundreds of square miles rather than these small areas. . . .

“Constant practice is a characteristic of human play and it’s not a characteristic of the play of the nonhuman primates. . . .

“Our brains are vastly more in control of the rage reactions than is the case in the nonhuman primates. Certainly this is related to the ability to cooperate and to plan. These abilities also, of course, are uniquely human. . . . For the nonhuman primates to get two animals to do something for mutual benefit is about the limit of cooperation. . . .

“Sex is also remarkably different in human beings than in the nonhuman primates. . . . The loss of this . . . uncontrollable sex drive is exceedingly important and. . . is due to the human brain being far more important in sexual behavior than is. the case in nonhuman primates.”

How strikingly all the foregoing testimony bears witness to the uniqueness of man! With him a great array of unique qualities suddenly sprang into existence. Yet the various aspects named are by no means all the ways in which man is unique as compared to the animals. Not by any means!

However, on the basis of these aspects alone, is it reasonable to attribute all these facets of man’s uniqueness to evolution? Or rather, as God’s Word the Bible does, should we attribute them to the wisdom of the divine Creator? Surely reason and truth are with the latter conclusion!

[Footnotes]

a An ethologist studies the behavior of animals in their natural habitat.

I Was a Guerrilla Fighter

AS TOLD TO “AWAKE!” CORRESPONDENT IN CYPRUS

NATIONALISM was something I was taught from infancy. The Greeks gave civilization to the world, I was told, and I was not to forget that I was a Greek Cypriot. At school my teacher of history hammered into my head stories of brave heroes of the Greek rebellion against the Turks in 1821, relating them with enthusiasm.

At home, too, I was taught nationalism. It was mixed with religion, my father being a priest of the Greek Orthodox Church. ‘We are Greeks and we want our freedom,’ my father emphasized time and again.

We were then under British rule. I was taught that if we could force the British, viewed as tyrants, out of Cyprus, we would become free! I was brought up to hate the British.

On April 1, 1955, the EOKA (National Organization of Cypriot Fighters) commenced action. Its purpose was to sabotage military targets and create havoc and fear among the British by killing indiscriminately, until they left our small island. Then we would become free! Freedom!—the word sounded so melodic in my ears.

With a sense of pride I used to read in the newspapers about the achievements of EOKA men and women. I wished that I were among those brave men, those patriots—but how? One day my wish came true.

I Joined the EOKA

The EOKA organization was under the leadership of Digenis, who was a legend in Cyprus. It had a second in command and some section leaders, one for every town. There were also many group leaders. I was soon to meet a section leader.

The year was 1957. I was then twenty-five years old, married and had two children. When the EOKA section leader of my town approached me, I listened to him with great respect and attention. Yes, I wanted to be an active member of the organization. I was all for this cause, but I needed training. My training consisted of making bombs.

When I mastered the art of bomb making, I was appointed as a group leader. I had thirty-two men under me. At last I was achieving my goal!

Placing the Bombs

Our duty was to make time bombs and mines in our secret hiding place. We would then place them wherever our section leader commanded us. They would be set to explode and do their work of destruction at a specific time.

We had a big problem, though, and that was how to transfer the bombs from our hiding place to the target area without being noticed. This problem we managed to solve by making suitcases with concealed. compartments. In the bottom compartment we used to put the bomb, and after we closed that part we would put in clothing and other articles. We were careful to make sure that the clothes we put there did not belong to any of us who had the job of placing the bomb.

Thus, if the police or the army should stop us for a search and they found the bomb, we could excuse ourselves by telling them that the case was not ours, that probably we picked it up by mistake. And to prove this, we could point out that the clothes we were carrying were not ours.

One day we were commanded to place a time bomb in a hall in an army base where a British general was to speak to his officers. One of my men who was working in the army base managed to make a duplicate key to the hall. The next day some of us crept into the army base, opened the door of the hall and placed the time bomb. It went off according to plan. At least ten officers were killed and some others wounded.

When an airplane carrying army men was to leave Cyprus one day, I was commanded to sabotage it. We managed to place a time bomb in the luggage of one of the passengers. But there was a delay in the flight’s departure and before the luggage was even delivered to the plane the bomb exploded in the airport.

My activity expanded, and every time we fulfilled one of our “jobs” three or four persons were killed or wounded.

Apart from the risks of being arrested and hanged or shot, I was facing other dangers too. For example, once the bomb we had planted from the previous night did not explode. And some of my men and I were working at that very place! If the time bomb exploded now, all the people, including me and my men, could be killed. An anonymous phone call to the bomb disposal squad saved the situation.

Caught with Incriminating Evidence!

Once I was caught. It was amazing that I escaped death. We were carrying in a car some four-inch iron tubes, useful for the making of bombs. Then we were stopped by the military police. When they searched our car and found the iron tubes, they suspected us and radioed the army authorities. We were arrested and put in different prison cells. The interrogation started.

We told them the same story: One of our fellow passengers was working in a firm dealing with iron. After he finished a job, he was collecting all the remaining pieces of iron, and we were just helping him to take them to his new job. The army checked out our story and found it to be plausible.

Nevertheless, what tormented my mind was not the iron tubes; it was something far more incriminating. In our car I had a letter from my EOKA section leader! It contained orders for another group leader, and in the envelope was fifteen pounds sterling. I was to deliver that letter, which mentioned that the money was in the envelope.

When the military police searched our car, one of them saw the envelope. He took it, opened it and saw the fifteen pounds. Into his pocket it went. Would he now deliver the letter to army authorities? That was my great worry. If he did, then I was lost. How could I explain its existence in the car? They would know that I was an EOKA man. Fortunately for me this man’s love of money was too strong. He kept the money, and under the circumstances he could not disclose the incriminating letter. I was saved. It cost me only three days of interrogation and imprisonment.

I Met Jehovah’s Witnesses

Being a nationalist, I was also a religious man, religion and nationalism here in Cyprus having long been very much associated together. One day I was selling lottery tickets, the proceeds of which would be used for the building of a new Greek Orthodox church. In the same establishment where I was working there was one of Jehovah’s witnesses employed too. Many times I heard him speak about Jehovah to my colleagues. He even spoke to me. I liked the man. If he were only more patriotic, I thought!

This Christian witness of Jehovah one day told me that real freedom, not just from all kinds of nationalistic suppression, but freedom from sickness and death would come through Jehovah God’s kingdom. On another occasion I approached this man and asked him to buy a lottery ticket. He sympathized with me, commending me for doing what I thought was a Christian work, but he did not want to buy one. He said he would like to help me in a different way. He suggested that he would put my name down for a year’s subscription for the Bible magazine The Watchtower. I accepted.

After a few weeks the magazine started to come to my house by mail. But since I really was not interested in reading it, I used to throw it in a corner of the house. I did not even take it out of its wrapper.

On a certain day the Witness asked my opinion about an article that a recent Watchtower contained. It was about a subject in which I was really interested, but as I was ashamed to say that I did not even open the magazine, I told him that I would give him an answer the next day. Back home, I went through the pile of magazines that I had thrown in the corner and found the article. Reading it over, I found that it interested me. After that, every time I met this witness of Jehovah he had something interesting to discuss with me.

Bible Study Leads to Real Freedom

Very shortly I accepted a Bible study. I included my family in it since I began to see that love for God and love for my fellowman were more powerful in me than nationalism. I began to learn more about God, his name and his purposes. I began to realize that happiness is not achieved by promoting any kind of nationalism, any kind of human government. I was for the government of Jesus Christ, God’s kingdom. How glad I was to be shown from the Bible that God has a purpose in allowing the nations to go to the extent they have gone, that this is the generation that is going to see the big change that true Christians have been expecting for centuries. Tears were in my eyes as I learned that Jehovah is a merciful God, ready to forgive, and how much I personally needed forgiveness!

After a few Bible studies I made up my mind. I loved and needed God and his kingdom. I symbolized my dedication to Jehovah God by being baptized in water. Afterward the first thing I did was to send the Watchtower and Awake! magazines to all the men who fought under me. Only one showed some interest in the Bible’s message.

Today I am a “group leader” again, but a different kind—the presiding minister of a peaceful congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses. I have again with me about thirty-five persons with whom I work. And oh! what a joy to go out with them in the field ministry telling the hospitable and kind people of Cyprus the good news of the approaching peace of a thousand years under the Kingdom rule of Jesus Christ. (Rev. 20:4-6) What a joy to read to my countrymen about the resurrection of the dead and the wonderful conditions that the true God Jehovah is to bring about in his fast-approaching new system of things!—Rev. 21:1-4.

I have now found the real freedom for which I was searching. How thankful I am to that witness of Jehovah who showed me the real purpose in living!

The Spleen—an Amazing Organ

BUILDERS of such structures as bridges recognize the need of providing for a margin of safety. The structure must be made strong enough not only to support the maximum loads expected but to have an extra margin of safety for unexpected strains that it might have to bear. Yet, builders of bridges are not the first to consider a safety margin. God, the Creator, provided our bodies with margin-of-safety factors.

In many respects the spleen might be said to be a safety-margin organ. Until the age of two a child may well succumb to an infection if the spleen has been removed. But after that, if the spleen is removed by surgery, other parts of the body apparently take up many of its functions.

Some 1800 years ago Galen, a leading physician of those times, said that “the spleen is an organ full of mystery.” The story is told that Rudolf Virchow, leading nineteenth-century pathologist, once asked a medical student in his class what the function of the spleen is. The student stammered and said that he had known its function but had forgotten it. “What a pity!” exclaimed Virchow. “Here at last we have a fellow who knew why we have a spleen and now he has forgotten it!” And there is still much about the spleen that is not clear, as can be seen, for example, by the difference in medical opinion as to just how the blood in the spleen passes from the arteries to the veins.

Its Characteristics

It might well be said that there is no other organ in the body just like the spleen. The organ itself is insensitive to pain, being like the brain in this respect. It appears to be a gland, yet it belongs neither to the glands having ducts, for it has none, nor to those without ducts, for it produces no hormones. It has rhythmic contractions from two to five times a minute.

Where is our spleen located? In the upper part of the abdomen, just beneath the diaphragm separating the organs of the chest from those of the abdomen. It might be said to resemble a small curved hand. In adults it is about five inches long, about three inches wide and an inch to an inch and a half thick; on an average it weighs about seven ounces. It is of a purplish or deep red color and has a tough elastic outer covering or ‘capsule.’ The spleen is very adaptable, being able to alter its size to suit its work load, circumstances and even the temperature.

Just how much the spleen does can be seen to some extent from this very apt description of it: “It is a combination manufacturing shop, filtration unit, waste disposal and salvage plant, and reservoir.”—Today’s Health, November 1969.

A Manufacturing Shop

To begin with, the spleen is a manufacturing shop. Even before the third month of development of a fetus the spleen begins to work, producing white and red blood cells. However, after birth a baby’s spleen limits itself to the production of white cells called lymphocytes. But what a producer it is! It is said that the blood is sixty times richer in white cells when it leaves the spleen than when it enters it.

As a manufacturing shop the spleen also produces antibodies, tiny particles in the blood that serve to build up the body’s immunity. And the spleen produces a substance that helps the body in combating the effects of irradiation. Valuable indeed are the products ‘manufactured’ in this ‘shop.’

A Filtration Unit

The spleen is also a filtration unit. It shares with the liver in filtering out waste products in the blood, such as harmful organisms, worn-out red cells and platelets. It has a large artery seemingly all out of proportion to its size. But that it is very much needed is apparent from the fact that the body’s entire blood supply, some five to six quarts, passes through the spleen every ninety minutes.

This filtering is done largely by cells lining its blood channels. Their ability to do this baffles scientists. They tell us: “We don’t yet know what is that inherent ability in these cells that makes them so sensitive—it’s almost like a human observer, a factory inspector watching a product for defects.”

A Waste Disposal and Salvage Plant

Once having filtered out all such useless, harmful or at least imperfect elements from the blood there is the problem of getting rid of them, as well as salvaging what can be salvaged. These tasks the spleen also performs by means of certain of its cells. Red blood cells have an average life of 127 days. To keep the body properly supplied the red bone marrow must produce 2.5 million of these cells every second of every hour of both day and night. It follows that to keep the bloodstream from getting clogged, a like number, some 2.5 million worn-out cells, must be disposed of every second. Well has it been noted that the spleen (together with the liver) furnish us with “an excellent example of dynamic equilibrium.” For this reason the spleen has also been called “the graveyard of the red cells.” The cells that destroy the old and worn-out red blood cells, and which in the spleen are stationary, are called macrophages, meaning “large devourers.” The cells that attack harmful organisms are called phagocytes, meaning “cell devourers.” Toward the end of an attack by an infectious disease these cells are observed to be full of the organisms that caused the disease.

In disposing of the worn-out red cells the iron is salvaged. When the cells that destroy the worn-out cells have filled up on iron, they travel to the red bone marrow and deposit their salvaged iron there for it to be used over and over again. True it is that the spleen does not waste a single thing. Its cells are said to be more effective than those of the liver, but the liver gets more of this work done because of its having so many more of these cells.

A Reservoir

The spleen is also a reservoir. As small as it is when healthy, a spleen can expand to hold as much as a quart of blood. When we engage in strenuous exercise our spleen contracts to supply the muscles with extra blood. Likewise when there is a sudden loss of blood, as when there is a hemorrhaging or a wound, the spleen at once makes up for the loss to the extent that it can by squeezing practically all of its own blood into circulation. Similarly, when one who is used to living in a low altitude travels to a high altitude the spleen will at once send extra supplies of red corpuscles into the bloodstream; more being needed due to the scarcity of oxygen in the air. But after a time the red marrow and the heart adjust to take care of this increased burden.

In times past the spleen has often been associated with the emotions, as when one spoke of an angry person venting his spleen on someone. It appears that this point is well taken, for when a man or animal is gripped with fear or strong anger, the spleen at once contracts, sending extra blood into the circulation so as to strengthen the body for the emergency. Thus experiments have shown that the spleen of a dog accustomed to chasing cats contracts and empties its contents into the dog’s bloodstream upon his smelling a duster that has been in contact with cats or-upon hearing the meowing of a cat.

When Things Go Wrong

Not quite forty years ago a surgeon for the first time cut out the spleen of a patient suffering from hemolytic anemia, with apparently beneficial results. This operation resulted in a great increase in the investigation of the spleen. It also seemed to make temporarily fashionable the cutting out of spleens. Today, however, there is far less removing of spleens. For one thing, it was discovered that in such cases the fault is with the body’s production of defective red blood cells.

However, in certain diseased conditions doctors may recommend removing the spleen, especially when it becomes greatly enlarged. There is a case on record where the spleen increased from six ounces to twenty pounds, an increase of fiftyfold! It. was as if the woman was carrying a large baby in her abdomen! But this is rare. In fact, tumors so rarely affect the spleen that it has been described as anticancerous.

Today most operations for removing the spleen are due to severe accidents, such as those caused by auto crashes or skiing mishaps. If the capsule of the spleen gets ruptured, the blood will spill into the abdomen, and an operation may be necessary to keep the patient from bleeding to death. Or it may be damaged inside the capsule, causing it to fill up with blood until the capsule breaks, with similar fatal results possible. On the other hand, in shock, when the blood seems to disappear from circulation for apparently no reason and the patient becomes deathly pale and loses consciousness, it has been found that the spleen becomes distended with blood.

Truly the spleen serves valuable purposes. Although the body can adjust to its removal, it performs valuable services. It is indeed ‘a manufacturing shop, a filtration unit, a waste disposal and salvage plant, and a reservoir.’ How all this testifies to the wisdom of man’s Creator and underscores the words of the psalmist David that our bodies are indeed made ‘in a fear-inspiring and wonderful way’!—Ps. 139:14.

What Your Voice Reflects

● “The timbre of your voice is the quality which makes it distinguishable from the voices of others,” wrote Beatrice Desfossés in the book Your Voice and Your Speech. “Your voice is a reflection of your inmost self . . . At the same time your voice reacts, chameleonlike, to the people with whom you associate—your companions in work and play—and to national and sectional influences. Your voice also varies with the state of your mind and body. Someone who knows you well can detect unerringly the condition of your health and spirits when you speak to him over the telephone. Your voice is the sum of you, tempered by conditions that affect you at the moment.”

Snakes—Friends or Foes?

By “Awake!” correspondent in Panama

HERE in Panama we encounter a wide variety of snakes. There are more than 125 different types, but of these only twenty-one are poisonous. And the nonpoisonous varieties are much more populous than the poisonous ones. A number of missionaries of Jehovah’s witnesses have had interesting encounters. One of them, who lives in a town in the interior of the country, relates:

“One day we found the shed skin of a boa constrictor in our house. We were quite upset. When later we found the owner of the skin, we were even more upset. For we realized that he apparently had been in the house for some time feeding on the insects that inhabit our tile roof, without even letting us know that he was around.”

Another missionary recounts: “I noticed for several successive nights that something was in the spring of my bed. I could feel and hear soft movements during the night, but I could not see anything. Since I slept under a mosquito net, I felt quite safe from a mouse or even a rat, but imagine my horror when I decided to investigate and found a poisonous coral snake living in the spring!”

Yes, a common reaction to an encounter with a snake is that of terror. Is that your reaction? Is it a warranted one? Are snakes really dangerous foes of humans? Or do they serve useful purposes?

Snake Stories

A few types of snakes quite obviously can be dangerous. The very poisonous cobra, for example, is reportedly responsible for some 10,000 deaths a year in India alone. During the breeding season the cobra can be aggressive, and there are stories about its pursuit of humans in a life-or-death chase.

The python is another famous snake, the very mention of which arouses fear in some persons. It can be tremendous in size. An Asian python has been measured at thirty-three feet in length! The python kills by constricting or squeezing its prey until it suffocates. But there are few authenticated reports of these snakes’ attacking and devouring humans. In one instance, however, a fourteen-year-old boy in the East Indies was caught and devoured by a python. A couple of days later the large snake was captured and killed, the body of the boy being recovered.

The largest living snake is the South American anaconda, which also kills its victims by squeezing them. There have been stories from Brazil from early times about the anaconda’s great size and strength. A few years ago a photographer in Brazil distributed a picture card of a gigantic anaconda, reputedly 131 feet long. And in 1948 a newspaper account told about a snake 156 feet long that was killed by a detachment of the Brazilian army. Were the snakes really that long? The claims have not been verified. There are reliable reports, however, of thirty-seven-foot anacondas, which are big indeed! The boa constrictor, which is found in Panama, can gain a length of over fifteen feet, ranking next to the anaconda and python in size.

Degree of Danger

Since these big snakes generally prefer smaller prey, the danger to humans is minimal. Thus the greatest danger to man is from poisonous snakes. But only a small percentage, of the world’s nearly 3,000 known species of snakes are poisonous. It is estimated that only about eight out of a hundred present any danger to man.

One writer recently observed that ‘the chance of being bitten by a snake in Panama is about the same as being struck by lightning.’ He also notes, however, that ‘it is best not to play around with snakes, since it is snake handlers who most often experience snakebites.’

The most dangerous snakes in Panama are the venomous fer-de-lance, bushmaster and coral and, to a lesser degree, the palm and hog-nosed vipers. Also, the Pacific sea snake, the venom of which is considered fifty times as poisonous as any land snake, may be hazardous to bathers along the Pacific coast.

But if it attempted to do so, could a pursuing land snake catch a man? Probably not. The fastest speed that most snakes can attain is only about eight miles an hour, slower than a person can run, and few snakes can go that fast. A notable exception is the swift king cobra. However, as it travels along, it carries its head off the ground, but has to drop it horizontally to make turns. Thus a man, by dodging, may get away from it in the open. There are reports of persons escaping the king cobra by just such maneuvers!

The fact is that snakes generally are quite shy, and will get out of man’s way if given the opportunity. This preference for caution is true even of the poisonous varieties, including the cobra in most instances. Snakes, are not out looking to attack humans. So if one is careful when in the garden or around trees or shrubs, the chances of being bitten are small. It is also good in some places to be alert around the garage or home, because venomous snake invade these quarters too.

Undeserved Reputation

It appears that, for the most part, snakes have an undeserved reputation. Herpetologist (one who makes a study of reptiles) Sam Telford is among those who believe this. He says: “They have a reputation they don’t deserve; because a few are dangerous all of them have been maligned.”

Actually snakes serve useful purposes, as Telford points out. They are important in the control of rats, mice and other rodents that multiply at a rapid rate and can do great damage to crops. So, many farmers look at the snake as their friend, as a co-worker in their agricultural efforts.

But snakes serve man in quite a different way too. Willie K. Friar, writing in the Panama Canal Review, February 1970, observes: “The boa constrictor, which is referred to by some as a ‘fine hunk of meat,’ is a regular part of the menu served to students at the Air Force Tropical Survival School in the Canal Zone.”

While some snakes are dangerous and certainly should be treated with respect, the majority are useful to man. They are friends, not foes.

Largest and Smallest

● The largest of the deer family is the giant moose that lives in Alaska. It often reaches more than six feet in height at the shoulder. The smallest deer is called the pudu, or rabbit deer. It is found in Chile and is less than one foot tall.

The Soothing Twilight

WHAT if darkness came suddenly each evening, as though a light switch had been turned off? Would you miss the twilight?

For many persons twilight is a treasured part of the day. They are enchanted by the changing colors and the gradual darkening of the sky. The evening twilight has inspired many artists to express themselves beautifully.

What Causes Twilight?

If there were no atmosphere around the earth, complete darkness would set in abruptly at sunset, like switching off a light. This is what happens when the sun dips below the horizon on the atmosphereless moon.

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Awake!, March 8, 1971