Old concepts seldom die. But each week's news is full of new evidence unearthed by probing scientists and curious journalists to cast doubt on some long-honored theories.

FOR generations, mothers have been ordering their children to clean up that plate; now medical scientists say that Mother's motto might well be "Eat less." See MEDICINE, The Fat of the Land.

PLAYWRITING is assumed to be an art requiring an idea, imagination and knowledge of life, but in current U.S. practice, all the dramatist needs is someone else's book. See SHOW BUSINESS, The Unoriginals.

MOST people think rabbits are gentle, lovable little creatures, when in fact scientific research shows them to be as mean and beastly as they can be. See SCIENCE, Rabbitry.

MOONSHINERS are generally thought of as backwoods hillbillies who salt their product with lye, manure and dead skunks, but Georgia's biggest moonshiner is a respectable (and licensed) businessman. See BUSINESS, Shine On, Georgia Moon.

EMPERORS are popularly thought to dwell in gilded palaces, but one of the world's few surviving emperors has lived for the past 15 years in a concrete air-raid shelter. See FOREIGN NEWS, Emperor's Year.

POLITICAL victory is usually expected to be accompanied by spoils. But a landslide triumph in New York spoiled everything for the state's Democratic bosses. See NATIONAL AFFAIRS, Kicking the Tiger's Teeth.

BELLY dancing is often considered one of the lower art forms, but many practitioners of Shifte Telli and Karshilama, now enjoying a major revival in the U.S., got their first training in church. See SHOW BUSINESS, The Cooch Terpers.

* From The Complete Home Encyclopedia of Domestic Life and Affairs.

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