Toxic Deluge

To the Editors:

Your cover [Sept. 22] is a pitiable sight: the industrial giant sinking in the mire of poisonous wastes from the chemicals that made it great.

Cora G. Chase Vaughn, Wash.

Perhaps the grim story of chemical poisoning will finally bring people to the realization that they are nature and not a kind of mysterious, superior essence placed in nature to make it "better."

Carole Singleton Cincinnati

In evolutionary terms, the human species is already adapting to profound changes in the earth's chemical environment. Increases in environmentally induced birth defects, infertility and adult mortality prior to reproductive success reflect natural selection at work.

Gary B. Ellis Austin

We should spend money to clean up our garbage. All of us who want the "easy life" made this mess. It is not just the companies' fault.

Steve Johnson Monroe, Wash.

The Controversial Zbig

National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski [Sept. 22] is a realist who understands Soviet motives and actions. For this reason, he is considered "controversial" and is disliked by many--in the State Department and media--who minimize and rationalize Soviet expansionism.

Jaroslaw Bilocerkowycz Seattle

Since when have pugnacity, a loose tongue and exhibitionism become a sign of "dazzling intellectual virtuosity"?

La Verne Hill Jacobus Franklin, N.C

The Christian Way

Your article on Wheaton College [Sept. 22] illustrates what Wheaton and the other members of the Christian College Consortium have so long proclaimed: Christianity does not turn the brain to mush; rather, surrender to Christ results in the freedom to develop fully one's mental, emotional and physical talents.

Christine Newman Aumiller Milwaukee

That a college can, on the one hand, require students to agree that the Bible is "verbally inspired by God and inerrant in the original writing" and, on the other, hand out degrees in anthropology is doublethink enough. What is even more incredible is that Wheaton can rank on someone's list of best colleges in the U.S.

Kenneth B. Sherman South Berlin, Mass.

Women and Evolution

Anthropologist Robin Fox's conclusions about the struggle for control of the society [Sept. 22] are basically sound, but he is wrong when he says that the aspiration among modern women to jobs in the marketplace is a foolish deviation from the norm. Evolution itself is a deviation from the norm. If men and women are not allowed to evolve and change, our society will stagnate.

Karen Lingo Aurora, Colo.

Fox says that "monogamy has never worked." Even though we may all have polygamous drives, the fact that many people do make monogamy work is proof that other things are involved. And in a world of dizzying change, the pair bond may increasingly answer needs more basic than sexual ones.

Bill Nothem Olean, N. Y.

Demystifying Cinderella

Contrary to your review of ABC'S made-for-TV movie The Women's Room [Sept. 15], it is more than an "assault on male piggery." It is an expression of the anger and frustration that many middle-class women experience once they have achieved the cherished American dream: girl meets man, gets married and lives happily ever after with 2.5 kids in the suburbs. The fulfillment of this dream does not make them happy. The Women's Room is a demystification of the contemporary Cinderella story.

Jennifer Pierce Berkeley, Calif.

Terry's Courageous Run

You mention that some Canadians "felt a little squeamish" at the sight of Cancer Victim Terry Fox's [Sept. 15] occasionally bloody stump and his face contorted in pain as he attempted his long-distance run across the country. I did not feel squeamish. My face was wet with tears because he ran for my friend, for my uncle, for my father-in-law. His run was against a universal enemy, cancer, that touches us all.

Diana Kim McMillan Calgary, Alta.

Terry Fox has done more to unite my country than anyone else has or ever will. We Canadians do not get excited easily, but his dream captured our imagination and our love. He is a genuine hero.

Rino Liberatore Toronto

Latin Tangle

In the article "Two for the Show" [Sept. 22] Columnist Russell Baker is quoted as remarking on the power of television: Televiso, ergo sum. This would mean "I watch television, therefore I am," a statement that no doubt would apply to a great many Americans.

Brian D. Stewart Stanford, Calif.

Russell Baker seems to have taken a wild swing at Descartes's Cogito, ergo sum when he came up with Televiso, ergo sum --"I am televised, therefore I am." Since "I am televised" is in the passive voice, his Latin verb, derived from video, videre, demands the same form. The correct version of his attractive thought would therefore be Televideor, ergo sum.

Hans F. Norbert Ravena, N. Y.

Charge of the Polish Cavalry

The comment by the West German foreign ministry expert that "the Polish cavalry fought German Panzers with drawn sabers during World War II" [Sept. 1] compels me to correct a myth. While it is true that the Poles had a great deal of cavalry, they never charged German tanks.

Richard Watt, in his book Bitter Glory, describes an incident that gave rise to this recurring view of the romantic Pole. On Sept. 1, 1939, "two squadrons of the Polish 18th Uhlans attacked a battalion of German infantry near Korjanty in the [Polish] Corridor. At this precise moment German tanks and armored cars appeared . . . There were a few other instances of inadvertent contact between German armor and Polish cavalry. But almost always the Polish 'charge' was simply an attempt to break out of a German encirclement."

Jerome Twarog St. Louis

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