Opposition to the Eighteenth Amendment in the House of Representatives

The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution forbade the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages in the Nation. The National Government was to enforce Prohibition in every state of the union. Before there was consideration of the Amendment, the Temperance Movement in the United States was a constant factor in American life. From Colonial times on, there were groups promoting temperance and abstinence from alcohol. By the beginning of the Twentieth Century two important groups had formed to promote the Temperance Movement- The Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League. In period prior to the First World War, there developed a movement toward national Prohibition. Prior to that point Temperance groups focused on individuals abstaining from alcohol or on local communities banning its manufacture and sale. By 1917, the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution was being debated in Congress. The Senate passed it with very little discussion, and the House of Representatives took up the matter in December, 1917. While debate was fairly short, several points were advanced that presaged the ultimate failure of the Amendment. These are its unenforceability, the lack of state control over the alcohol industry and the impossibility of legislating sober living. These points were also prominent in the ratification debates in Connecticut and Rhode Island. The Amendment ultimately failed and was repealed in 1933. Those who have studied the process for the Amendment and its failure indicate that it failed because it was imposed by the government. The vast majority of the population did not want it. This thesis validates those points. Examination of the votes against the Amendment showed that many congressmen cited its ultimate unenforceable nature and the lack of popular support for the Amendment as problems. These very elements were the causative factors in the Amendment’s failure. Congress was forced into passage of the Amendment by the efforts of the Anti-Saloon League which controlled a majority of the seats in the House of Representatives. However, when the opposition is studied, the majority of those opposing the Amendment were from the larger states. Thus, the smaller states ultimately forced the majority of the population into accepting bad public policy

A Fetal-Maternal Shift of Blood Oxygen Affinity in an Australian Viviparous Lizard, Sphenomorphus quoyii (Reptilia, Scincidae)

Compared to adults, the oxygen affinity of blood from fetal Sphenomorphus quoyii is very much higher: P50 is approximately 70 Torr in adults and 30 Torr in nearly full term embryos (PC02= 17 Torr, T=34 degrees C). Following birth, oxygen affinity decreases gradually and adult values are approached after about 15 weeks, with the onset of winter retreat. Electrophoresis revealed a multiple hemoglobin system in both adults and embryos, but there were no apparent differences between them

Causal structure of acoustic spacetimes

The so-called ``analogue models of general relativity'' provide a number of specific physical systems, well outside the traditional realm of general relativity, that nevertheless are well-described by the differential geometry of curved spacetime. Specifically, the propagation of acoustic disturbances in moving fluids are described by ``effective metrics'' that carry with them notions of ``causal structure'' as determined by an exchange of sound signals. These acoustic causal structures serve as specific examples of what can be done in the presence of a Lorentzian metric without having recourse to the Einstein equations of general relativity. (After all, the underlying fluid mechanics is governed by the equations of traditional hydrodynamics, not by the Einstein equations.) In this article we take a careful look at what can be said about the causal structure of acoustic spacetimes, focusing on those containing sonic points or horizons, both with a view to seeing what is different from standard general relativity, and to seeing what the similarities might be.Comment: 51 pages, 39 figures (23 colour figures, colour used to convey physics information.) V2: Two references added, some additional discussion of maximal analytic extension, plus minor cosmetic change

The 20Ne(d,p)21Ne transfer reaction in relation to the s-process abundances

A study of the 20Ne(d,p)21Ne transfer reaction was performed using the Quadrupole Dipole Dipole Dipole (Q3D) magnetic spectrograph in Garching, Germany. The experiment probed excitation energies in 21Ne ranging from 6.9 MeV to 8.5 MeV. The aim was to investigate the spectroscopic information of 21Ne within the Gamow window of core helium burning in massive stars. Further information in this region will help reduce the uncertainties on the extrapolation down to Gamow window cross sections of the 17O(α,γ)21Ne reaction. In low metallicity stars, this reaction has a direct impact on s-process abundances by determining the fate of 16O as either a neutron poison or a neutron absorber. The experiment used a 22-MeV deuteron beam, with intensities varying from 0.5-1 μA, and an implanted target of 20Ne of 7 μg/cm2 in 40 μg/cm2 carbon foils. Sixteen 21Ne peaks have been identified in the Ex = 6.9-8.5 MeV range, of which only thirteen peaks correspond to known states. Only the previously-known Ex = 7.960 MeV state was observed within the Gamow window