Brayton Eddy: humanizing nature

              Figure

BRAYTON EDDY 
Humanizing Nature





MATAMATA TURTLE






GIANT SPIDER CRAB






ALLIGATOR AND CROCODILE






CHAMBERED NAUTILUS






BRAYTON EDDY



A
LONE ant scurrying across a rustic porch in the mountains of Colorado was the inspiration of a naturalist.  The ant clutched an alfalfa straw tightly in its jaws.  A gap in the floor boards interrupted further progress.  The burden was laid down; the intervening space was measured with a calculating eye.  Picking up the straw and lowering it into place as a drawbridge, the ant walked defiantly on to its destination.



Figure




This incident occurred when Brayton Eddy was scarcely thirteen years old.  It stirred his curiosity to such an extent that he has never had it satisfied.  From coast to forest, lake and stream, he has tapped the secrets of nature with all the enthusiasm of a miner looking for ore.  The Maine woods, Narragansett Bay, the mountains of Colorado have been his principal laboratories.




Rhode Island is Mr. Eddy's native home.  Moses Brown School and Brown University are his Alma Maters.  A thorough academic training whetted his early curiosity about living things, urging him to inquire further and further into their mysteries.




His is the mind of an explorer seeking intimate information about the intensely dramatic world in which we live, but concerning which most of us know so little.  The fourth amazing moving picture depicting his subjects in action is now being completed.  His two nature books written in collaboration with Royal Dixon — 
Personality of Insects
 and 
Personality of Water-animals
 — have recently been published by Henry Holt and Company of New York.  They are now selling in Great Britain and are being translated into French and Italian.






DO YOU KNOW—



THERE ARE WATER-ANIMALS WHICH
 —


Lay 200 million eggs a season


Blow bubbles to conceal eggs


Infallibly cure indigestion


Have perfect girth control


Conserve our water supply


Interrupt world commerce


Open cocoanuts for food


Electrocute their prey


Lure prey with lights


Support large harems


Live buried in sand


Live frozen in ice


Never get married





THERE ARE INSECTS WHICH
 —


Welcome guests in their homes


Jump eighty times own height


Are skilled horticulturists


Have no mouths or stomachs


Have ten thousand suitors


Build bullet-proof nests


Have ears in their legs


Keep cows and servants


Lay sixty eggs a minute


Ventilate their homes


Build cable bridges


Can make cardboard


Fly without wings








Lecture SubjectsWILL INSECTS DISPLACE MAN?



Illustrated with moving pictures if desired
.




Great numbers of people, believing that there is a tendency in Nature for the smaller creatures to destroy the larger ones, have asked Mr. Eddy his views regarding the permanent supremacy of man.  Is man going the way of the dinosaur and the plesiosaurus?  Are insects destined to inherit the earth?  What methods are being taken to prevent displacement?  An enlightening lecture, one which grips the imagination and teases the intellect, has resulted from these questions.





THE VOYAGE OF A SUBMARINE COLUMBUS



Illustrated with moving pictures if desired
.




Imagine touring the underwater regions of the world and meeting face to face with creatures you have known only through perusal of a menu card, a chance book, or perhaps have never known at all.  Corals building islands, lobsters disrobing, archers catching flies with water-pistols.  Shelled and scaly creatures; tiny rotifers and giant whales.  Imagine observing them in their everyday lives as they hunt, fish, build homes, rear children, clothe themselves, perform engineering feats and devise ingenious ways to avoid extinction.





WHAT GOOD ARE INSECTS?



Illustrated with moving pictures if desired
.




Children and adults are constantly asking the pertinent question:  
What good are insects?
  Receiving no definite answer, they conclude that all insects are worthless and proceed to kill them indiscriminately.  This lecture differentiates between our insect friends and insect enemies.  We are utterly dependent upon certain species both for the necessities of life and for many luxuries.  Insects have even influenced history, inspired religion and literature.





PERSONALITY OF INSECTS



Illustrated with moving pictures if desired
.




A popular treatment of insects whereby you are conducted into the very heart of a throbbing, diminutive, workaday world.  Here Lilliputian farmers, hunters, trappers, fishermen, carpenters, engineers, dressmakers, nurses, health officers, thieves and electricians are solving problems analogous to your own.  They make perfumes, fondle pets, enjoy music and produce a cold light.  It is necessary to maintain a balance of power within their ranks in order that we may escape their devastating onslaughts.





TOWN TOPICS OF ANTDOM



Not illustrated
.




Daily life in the ant world might furnish a reporter with an unlimited supply of newspaper copy.  There is feature material in abundance.  
Formica Refuscens conduct slave-raiding expedition,
 or 
Blue-ribbon cows mysteriously disappear.
  This is a vivid account of how ants domesticate other animals, raise crops, wage wars, keep slaves and build skyscrapers.  Many topics of human interest will be discussed in the light of knowledge gained from a close study of ant colonies.





THE TRUTH ABOUT HUM BUGS



Not illustrated
.




An intimate talk upon the social, political and economic development of our two greatest allies — bees and wasps.  The one group attends to the marrying of our plants; the other group strives to guard them from destruction.  Their ranks include skilled potters, surgeons, wax and paper makers, users of anaesthetics and adepts at birth and sex control.  The romance and mysteries of the hive will be explained.





PROMETHEA MOTH






STAG BEETLE






TIGER SWALLOW-TAIL BUTTERFLY






BUMBLEBEE







Recent Engagements
Clubs, Schools, Museums

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, NEW YORK


MONDAY AFTERNOON CLUB, BINGHAMTON, N. Y.


STATE TEACHERS' COLLEGE, MANSFIELD, PA.


WOMAN'S CLUB OF WISCONSIN, MILWAUKEE


LADIES' LITERARY CLUB, GRAND RAPIDS


CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY


THE NORTH END WOMAN'S CLUB, CHICAGO


LOOMIS INSTITUTE, WINDSOR, CONN.


SQUARE AND COMPASS CLUB, BOSTON


SOUTHBRIDGE WOMAN'S CLUB, MASS.


HYDE PARK TRAVEL CLUB, CHICAGO


WILLARD SCHOOL, EVANSTON, ILL.


MAPLEWOOD WOMAN'S CLUB, N. J.


SALISBURY SCHOOL, CONN.


WESTTOWN SCHOOL, PA.


COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY


JOLIET WOMAN'S CLUB, ILL.


LINCOLN SCHOOL, PROVIDENCE


LA GRANGE WOMAN'S CLUB, ILL.


WOMAN'S CLUB OF LEBANON, PA.


AUSTIN WOMAN'S CLUB, CHICAGO


OPEN FORUM, SCHENECTADY, N. Y.


DAUGHTERS OF INDIANA, CHICAGO


WOMAN'S CITY CLUB, KANSAS CITY


MOSES BROWN SCHOOL, PROVIDENCE


PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS CLUB, R. I.


ROGERS PARK WOMAN'S CLUB, CHICAGO


OAK GROVE SEMINARY, VASSALBORO, ME.


THE RIDGE COMMUNITY CENTER, CHICAGO


HAMILTON PARK WOMAN'S CLUB, CHICAGO


FORT LEAVENWORTH WOMAN'S CLUB, KANSAS


STATE TEACHERS' COLLEGE, FARMVILLE, VA.


MECHANICS' ASSOCIATION, WORCESTER, MASS.


PROTESTANT WOMEN'S SERVICE CLUB, CHICAGO


FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, CHICAGO


VASSAR BROTHERS INSTITUTE, POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.


THE NINETEENTH CENTURY WOMAN'S CLUB, OAK PARK, ILL.







Comments on the Brayton Eddy Lectures



MRS. W. J. DOUGHTY, 
Woman's City Club of Kansas City
—
After Brayton Eddy finished his interesting talk with his fascinating pictures, one of our most prominent insurance men, who is tremendously interested in the work, rose and said we had presented the kind of lecture he had been trying to get the Presidents of the Universities of Kansas and Missouri to bring here sometime and he thought we were to be congratulated in having someone present the subject who is so intelligent.  I think one feels that Mr. Eddy has a great deal of culture and sincerity.




MR. H. L. MADISON, 
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
—
Our Sunday afternoon audience deeply appreciated your enlightening lecture 'Personality of Insects.'  Your material was well organized and interestingly presented.  You spoke easily, clearly and convincingly.




MRS. N. L. BECKER, 
North End Woman's Club, Chicago
—
'The Voyage of a Submarine Columbus' was an outstanding presentation, with its many wet as well as dry 'fish stories.'  You held a most critical audience with intense interest, it having been referred to as the most interesting 'Men's Night' we have ever had.




MRS. OTTO A. SJOSTROM, 
Hamilton Park Woman's Club, Chicago
—
Women haven't by instinct a natural-born 
love
 for bugs, I think; and so it is all the more interesting to find that they were most enthusiastic about your work.  'So unusual,' I was told.  'Fascinating,' a 'revelation,' 'the best program of the year.'  You should be pleased and happy to have something strikingly new and fresh to take to your audiences.  And then personally I want to thank you for the very great satisfaction I felt in my dealings with you.




MISS FRANCES E. WHEELER, 
Lincoln School, Providence
—
The fact that plans are already afoot to engage you again, testifies to our attitude regarding your lectures.




MRS. LEE BRODIE, 
Monday Afternoon Club, Binghamton, N. Y.
—
I am especially pleased with this comment from the 
Morning Sun:
  'Mr. Eddy is an exceptionally fascinating speaker and the obviously authentic character of the information he gives, make his presentation one of the best nature lectures that the club has ever had.'  You really deserve it, for to me your pictures are more wonderful than any I have ever seen.  And you have such a happy way of presenting your subject.  We hope to hear you again.




MANAGEMENT THE REDPATH BUREAU KIMBALL BUILDING, CHICAGO