Spectral lines

With Dean Ryder away this month traveling at high velocity through Europe, this issue of the “Lines” is undergoing a spectral shift, dropping into the zone occupied by the chairman of his spectrum board of consultants — obviously a shift toward the lower end of the scale. There is nothing, of course, that a member of the odd breed of characters known as “consultants” welcomes more than a slight hint he will be afforded a page on which to express his views. In fact, a slight hint is all that is needed, and he is particularly pleased when he can do this while momentarily out of range of the editor´s blue pencil. It so happens, however, that two years´ association with your editor in the delicate job of bringing spectrum into being and defining its objectives has brought about a fair convergence in the wavelengths emitted by our respective viewpoints. This month, however, I propose to put aside Jack´s prism, and let you use mine. If the results are not entirely satisfactory, he will doubtless tell you and me about it on these pages in the following months.