To the Editor of the "Norra-Cama Datty news."
Smr,—Would one of your well posted readers kindly enlighten me upon the signification of the word "moron," written without, a capital! It occurs in a very serious passage in a new work by an American University Professor.
The book is entitled "Must we fight Japan?" by Pitkin. The passage is on Page 41:
Allegations so ridiculous that only children or morons have taken them seriously.
Murray's great Oxford Dictionary agrees with the latest Funk Wagnall Standard Dictionary in defining '"'moron" as "A class of Salamander." The obvious meaning implied would seem to be depredatory to last degree, but the whole style of the book and more especially the context of page 41 absolutely precludes the hypothesis of a slang term used as a simile. Bopk is very well printed so ihe idea of a misprint is most probable. Passage deals with citations from the Yellow," or "Hearst" Journals.
I am, ete., Bookworm. Shanghai, March 24.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.