On Fri, 3 Feb 1995, Britt Raphling wrote:
 
> Recently, I read a book by Stephen Jay Gould (Harvard paleontologist and
> prolific popular science writer) called "The Mismeasure of Man."  Written
> in the early '80s, it's about the scientific rationalization of racist and
> (im)moral political stances through certain conceptions of what comprises
> human intelligence.  (An anti-The Bell Curve. . .).  Its not-so-subtle
> subtext is that even when we try to be objective and well-intentioned, our
> biases creep in and affect our perception of exactly what conclusions a
> given set of data/information/evidence point to.  As a museum professional
> who deals with issues of interpretation and communication to visitors, I
> found the book to be an interesting wake-up call with general application
> to the field.
 
     BR, you want to be careful when reading Stephen Jay Gould.
Notwithstanding his quarter-century of teaching biology at Harvard, he
thinks (and has said in writing) that if a boy and girl carve their
initials on a tree trunk, if they come back to their trysting spot after
many years, their initials will have grown out of reach. This howler
appeared in a book published by the Smithsonian(!) in connection with an
exhibition at the National Museum of American Art. Apparently neither
Gould nor any of the curators and editors involved knows that trees grow
from the top, and that a mark made on the trunk will stay at the same
level so long as the tree stands. I find this sort of nonsense in
Smithsonian exhibitions all the time, which should help explain why the
Institution's reputation has suffered so badly in recent years.
 
+ + + + +
 
Hank Burchard * Weekend Section * The Washington Post
1150 15th Street NW * Washington DC USA 20071-0001
VoiceMail (202) 334-7243 * Email: [log in to unmask]