Lynn Poole uses film clips, sketches, and photos to discuss pre-Columbian discoveries of the new world. In the seventh century BC, the Phoenicians circumnavigated Africa and may have sailed to the Azores and Canary Islands. They were followed by the Celts, who journeyed to Iceland and Greenland according to accounts by St. Brendan, who set sail from Ireland between 565-573 and encountered a crystal column in the sea, either an iceberg or glacier. He also possibly sailed to the Azores and Canaries and possibly to Mexico since Cortez discovered, in 1519, that the Aztecs celebrated a blend of paganism and Christianity and spoke of Quetzalcoatl, a legendary white priest. The Vikings or Norse also migrated to Iceland in 874. Around 900 they discovered Vitramannaland, or "white man's land," possibly an Irish settlement in North America. In 930 Gunnbjorn discovered Greenland, and in 982 Erik the Red colonized it. Bjarni Herjulfsson, blown off course, explored part of the American coast unknowingly in 985. Leif Erikson also sailed along the shores of the American continent and established a colony named Vinland the Good, its exact location disputed. Other evidence of pre-Columbian Viking discovery includes maps and the existence of the stone Newport Tower in Rhode Island. Edmund Plowden referred to the tower in a 1632 petition, but this may have been elsewhere than Newport. Additional exploration included that of Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524, the Venetian expedition in 1398 described in "The Zeno Narrative", and the Portuguese discovery of Newfoundland in 1450 and Labrador in 1492.

Johns Hopkins University chemistry professor John H. Andrews demonstrates that all matter vibrates in harmonic wave patterns. He begins by using an oscilloscope and slow motion camera to show a plucked harp string's fundamental vibration at 64 times per second and its harmonics at a faster vibration. He compares this with the two-dimensional vibration of a drum membrane, also viewed on the slow motion camera and oscilloscope. Dr. Andrews then progresses to the three-dimensional wavelength of a sphere and notes that different and more complex harmonic patterns are based on the shape of the object. Since no two statues are alike, their wave patterns are all unique, as evidenced when a gadget taps them repetitively and their sound is recorded on magnetic tape. Dr. Andrews slows the tape to hear specific sounds and compares this to slowing a LP record on a record player from high speed to the proper speed to make the words recognizable. He explains that the aggregate vibration of the whole statue is based on its external shape, like atomic and molecular vibration. He points out that the formula for entropy, the measurement of the complexity of harmonic pattern, is the same as the formula for information theory, the measurement of the amount of information in a communication. Thus, a statue has high information value because its complex external shape gives it a high shape entropy and it communicates more meaning. This concept has implications for the communication values of modern v. classical art.

In this second program of a three-part series, astronomical historian and lecturer John Williams Streeter describes Venus as the morning and evening star and tells the viewers when and where to observe it. He gives the planet's distance from sun and earth, its solar orbiting time, its measurements, and its mass, density, and surface gravity and then announces, "That's all we know." A brief history of the astronomers who made telescopic observations and early drawings of Venus include Galileo in 1609, Francesco Fontana in 1645, Gian Domenico Cassini in 1666, Francesco Bianchini, William Herschel, and Johann Schroter in 1788. Mr. Streeter says that Venus apparently has an atmosphere because it reflects sunlight and thus must be covered by dense white clouds. Venus's atmosphere was first thought to be like that of the carboniferous period on earth, but a subsequent spectroscopic study showed nothing but carbon dioxide, permitting no life as we know it. However, the Venusian ocean may support one-celled animals. Mr. Streeter describes the history of speculated life on Venus and shows early sketches of Venusians. Film clips show the 1959 balloon and gondola designed by Johns Hopkins University's Dr. John Strong and piloted by Navy commander Malcolm Ross. It rose to an altitude of 80,000, and its spectroscopic data, analyzed by physicist Charles Moore, showed measurable water vapor on Venus. In order for a rocket to reach Venus, Mr. Streeter predicts, it would launch from the moon, choose a route requiring the least fuel, and not reach its destination for over two years.

Leo Geier introduces the viewers to Euterpe, the Greek muse of music and then introduces William Sebastian Hart, faculty member at the Peabody Conservatory and founder/musical director of the Gettysburg Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Hart states that the three artistic entities of music are the composer, the orchestra, and the conductor. The composer invents the music, which is made up of rhythm, melody, and harmony. He demonstrates each of these elements with the tune "Pop Goes the Weasel," which he also plays in the styles of Mozart, Bach, Mendelssohn, Debussy, and Prokofiev. Baltimore composer Sidney Shapiro wrote these variations for this broadcast. Next Dr. Hart describes the history of the orchestra and how instruments were added. He shows a chart of the orchestra seating for a 90-member symphony and explains how the sounds are balanced. Lastly, Dr. Hart explains how the conductor and his baton evolved from the church's choirmaster keeping time with his staff. He displays one page of a full orchestra score and explains each line written for different instruments. The conductor has many tasks, including controlling the orchestra's balance and timing, setting the pace, and unifying the whole, but most of all he must inspire the musicians.

Lynn Poole describes the two formative revolutions during John Locke's lifetime (1632-1704): the Puritan Revolution and the Glorious Revolution. Costumed actors examine Locke's ideas on government that led to his 1690 publication of "Two Treatises of Government," on natural rights theory and the social contract. Locke argued that all governments are a contract between the governing and governed and that the government rests on the consent of the governed. Lynn Poole reads from Locke's "A Letter Concerning Toleration," a religious tract. Subsequent acted scenes show Locke's later influence: a 1750 rationalist claims the most influential works are the Bible and Locke's publishings, such as "Some Thoughts Concerning Education," and "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding;" a 1776 American patriot demonstrates how Locke's political ideas are reflected in the Declaration of Independence; and a 1789 Frenchman explains how Locke's concepts were expanded by Voltaire.

This program, first in a series of six about men who changed the world, shows the impact of Sigmund Freud's ideas on our lives. Lynn Poole briefly discusses Freud's early work with Joseph Breuer, who used hypnosis to treat patients with hysteria. This led to Freud's version of psychoanalysis. He believed that the human personality was composed of the conscious and unconscious mind and that impressions in childhood, predominantly sexual, which the conscious mind refused to accept became neuroses in the unconscious mind. Freud's publications affected all disciplines, as evidenced in the reading of a stream of consciousness passage from James Joyce's "Ulysses." The impact was similar in art works such as Salvador Dali's "Persistence of Memory" and Yves Tanguy's "Mama, Papa is Wounded!" Freud's influence on poetry is proven by comparing love poetry written by William Wordsworth in 1804 with that of W. H. Auden written in 1958. Freud's mark on child rearing is apparent when compared to recent works on the subject.

This program focuses on the psychological and sociological aspects of gerontology. Dr. James E. Birren, with the National Institute of Mental Health, discusses how structure is created by a job, spouse, children, friends, and organizations, and when these influences are stripped away, one must initiate one's own meaningful activities to avoid idleness. He characterizes meaningful activity as something offering group approval, a degree of ritual or repetition, a semi-challenge, and a degree or range of uncertainty of outcome. He notes that geriatric research is growing; however, increasing life spans may increase interrelated problems in health, economics, social adjustment, and personal adjustment. Research has shown that usually poor health leads to retirement rather than the opposite, and those who continue working tend to feel better. Examples include George Bernard Shaw, Winston Churchill, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Ida Fuller, the first person to draw social security.

Johns Hopkins University president Milton S. Eisenhower briefly summarizes the life of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), a poet and philosopher exiled from his native Florence. He then interviews Dr. Charles Singleton, Johns Hopkins professor of humanistic studies, about Dante's "Divine Comedy." Dr. Singleton explains that the poem is divided into 100 cantos and 3 canticles: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradisio, each of which he describes with diagrams. The poem tells the tale of a journey through the afterlife to God and can be read in the literal sense as well as an allegory. Dr. Singleton reads verses from Canto I in Italian and translates. St. Augustine's phrase "the unquiet heart," from "The Confessions," is the basis of Dante's allegory, a notion of the living's journey of mind and heart to God. He describes the image of a flame and how it rises upwards, seeking its proper place. Dr. Eisenhower comments that Dante's poem invites readers on a journey to escape provincialism.

This program celebrates with photos and songs the centuries of international university Christmases, such as at Johns Hopkins' Bologna (Italy) Center. The seventy-member Johns Hopkins University Glee Club, directed by James Mitchell, sings such pieces as "O Come, O Come, Emanuel," "Indulci Jubilo," "Salvation is Created," and "Angels We Have Heard on High." An 1884 photo shows the first 13-member Hopkins Glee Club including Woodrow Wilson, and a 1957 photo shows the traditional Gilman Hall Step Sing. Projecting into the future, an electronic brain generates Christmas songs with electrons, as they might be played in 2057. Johns Hopkins University president Milton S. Eisenhower discusses the celebration of the nativity and the Christian principles by which free men live and on which universities center their programs.

Dr. Donald Benson, anesthesiologist-in-charge at Johns Hopkins Hospital and associate professor of anesthesiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, announces that the expired air resuscitation method is much preferred to the prone pressure method (both of which are demonstrated) for victims in need of artificial respiration. He outlines the history of assisted ventilation, including Elijah's documented use of it in the Bible, Versalius's use of bellows to inflate lungs of animals in 1555, Hooke's discovery of the function of lungs in 1667, the development of the safety bellows for humans in 1827, and the implementation of the prone pressure method in 1893 and Britain's rocking method in 1932. Dr. Benson describes breathing's response to anaesthesia as well as the normal breathing process. A film shows a patient undergoing thoracic surgery whose breathing is controlled by a breathing bag attached to an endotrachial tube. Dr. Benson explains and demonstrates mechanical respiration.