Page:Weird Tales Volume 30 Number 02 (1937-08).djvu/129

 think nothing of it) into the bush and lonely places alone, and stay there maybe from sunset to sunrise, in spite of noxious insects and wild animals, which are a real menace in the hotter countries. It is generally overlooked that the study of entomology has been of real benefit to mankind in many ways. Entomology has been the means of understanding diseases that are very prevalent, notably malaria and African sleeping-sickness. It is of untold value to agriculture, yet the common idea persists that because a man takes an interest in collecting insects, which is the only way to classify them and learn their habits and their actions, he must be harmlessly crazy. Now, all you bug-hunters and anti bug-hunters, let us hear your views on the subject. Is there one well-known authentic case of a crazy man collecting insects? The study of entomology is an education in itself, for one cannot go very far in it without acquiring a certain amount of learning, as the names they are known by are mostly Latin and Greek, or of that origin, as are also the technical terms used. On second thoughts, your magazine is not perhaps the medium I would have chosen to raise this question, were it not for the fact that the passage complained about occurred in your magazine. But the reason I think it may not be the happiest choice is, that, did I have the faintest shadow of belief in werewolves, ghosts, zombies, and haunters of the dark, djinns, devils or incubi, I would be afraid to continue my hobby of collecting moths in the lonesome places of the earth, at the witching hour of midnight, and later, as I am a regular subscriber to your magazine, as I find it real interesting."

Samuel Gordon writes from Washington D. C.: "Spinoza's tomb carries an {{reconstruct|inscription which runs something like this: '{{reconstruct|Here}} lies a man who was closer to God than {{reconstruct|any}} other mortal.' If there ever lived a man {{reconstruct|who}} was apparently closer to the essence of {{illegible}} weird in nature than Lovecraft was, {{illegible}} not know of. him. He seemed to s{{illegible}} world far from the commonplace; a v{{illegible}} with hidden meanings and innuendoes {{illegible}} cosmos peopled with demons and gods of {{illegible}} than the first star. And who can {{reconstruct|definitely}} say that Lovecraft saw but illusions? In these days of stark realism, of wars and rumors of NEXT MONTH Lake of Life By Edmond Hamilton Here is a weird-scientific thrill-tale that combines adventure, mystery and romance—the story of a modern Ponce de Leon who searched for the elixir of immortality. Deep down be¬ low the vast crater formed in prehis¬ toric times by the striking of a mighty meteorite he found the lake, glowing with radio-active life force from outer space, but it was warded by the dread Guardians, as was foretold in an an¬ cient legend. The pages of this astonishing weird novel relate the fascinating quest of the fabled lake in an African wilderness by Clark Stannard and his intrepid little band; and tells of the terrible mountains of destruction, of the Pe	and of the