Lynn Poole interviews Dr. S. Fred Singer, associate professor of physics at University of Maryland, scientific consultant on U.S. Air Force's FARSIDE project, and father of the earliest practical satellite, MOUSE (Minimal Orbital Unmanned Satellite). Dr. Singer lists the primary contributors to propulsion: Newton, Tsiolkovsky, Oberth, and Goddard. He explains that the technical aspects of a rocket include propulsion, guidance, payload, and reentry. Currently chemical propulsion systems are used to launch rockets, but other propulsion systems, such as iron, photon, fusion, and fission, are being studied. Dr. Singer sketches a diagram to explain how gravitational pull and velocity make a satellite orbit and notes that a velocity greater than seven miles per second results in "escape velocity" and non-return of the satellite. The purpose of basic research, he says, is to train young people, such as the University of Maryland students who designed and built Terrapin and Oriole rockets.

Dr. Charles R. Anderson, professor of American literature at Johns Hopkins University, discusses the life, family, and poetry of Emily Dickinson, who lived in Amherst, Massachusetts from 1830-1886. At age 28 Dickinson fell in love with a married minister, her personality changed, and she began to write poetry, publishing just seven poems and keeping nearly 2,000 in her room. He seclusion became extreme as she renounced the world. However, her poetry keenly expressed New England village life as a microcosm of the larger world. Dr. Anderson discusses some of her more satirical poems, such as "The Show is not the Show" (no. 1206) comparing the human race to a menagerie. Other poems reveal the travesty of brokers and bankers, the village gossips ("The Leaves like Women interchange," no. 987), and the conventional ladies of the town ("What Soft-Cherubic Creatures," no. 130). However, Dickinson shows understanding and compassion for the town drunkard in "The Ditch is dear to the Drunkard."

In this film by Milner Productions, Dr. George Boas, Johns Hopkins University professor of the history of philosophy, meets with students at the Baltimore Museum of Art. He looks at Piet Mondrian's "Composition V" and explains its composition and rhythm. In comparison, he considers Marguerite Gerard's "Mother," a story picture like Norman Rockwell's "Saturday Evening Post" covers, and shows how its design is composed of triangles and vertical oblongs. Next, Dr. Boas interprets the subject, symbols, and design of a painting by Honore Daumier, best known for his caricatures. He also explains Elihu Vedder's allegorical picture "The Soul Between Doubt and Faith." Dr. Boas shows Picasso's portrait of "Leo Stein," and concludes with an explanation of Andre Masson's fantasy painting "There Is No Finished World," dealing with the precariousness of human life. He admits that all pictures are complicated and that there is no one definition of art.

This program follows a patient, Mrs. Baker, through the procedure of cosmetic plastic surgery, beginning with her conferences with both psychiatrist Jacobson and surgeon Edgerton. The viewers follow the patient from hospital admittance and pre-op through the actual surgery to decrease her nose size and to augment her chin with a bone graft. Dr. Edgerton discusses post-op procedures and expectations and shows pre- and post-surgery profiles of Mrs. Baker. According to the patient, the plastic surgery changed her inner feelings of worth as much as her outward appearance. Dr. Jacobson stresses that cosmetic plastic surgery should never be sought for self-indulgence, only to remove self consciousness and self doubt.

Dr. Donald Andrews, chemical professor at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), introduces this program with a brief report from the recent National Science Foundation's conference on chemistry teachers held at JHU, which encouraged coordination of the chemistry curriculum between high schools and universities. He then shows a film developed by the Hopkins chemistry department, "Operation: Chemist" by Milner Productions, which follows a representative student through the JHU chemistry program and lists the options open to him. The university's introductory chemistry course stresses quantitative rather than qualitative problems. This is followed by experimental problems and specialty fields such as organic chemistry, as taught by Dr. Alex Nickon, shown using molecular models in a research seminar, or biochemistry, using lab animals to research the relation between food and exercise on the heart. The film highlights examples of the equipment available to students.

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.

This program features Christmas music by the Johns Hopkins University Glee Club, directed by James Mitchell, and the University of Maryland Mixed Vocal Group, directed by Charles Haslup. The University of Maryland group sings "Winter Wonderland," "I'll Be Home for Christmas," "White Christmas," "Come, All Ye Faithful," and "Holy Night." The Hopkins Glee Club sings the Ukrainian hymn "Glory to God," "Go Tell It on the Mountain," "Indulci Jubilo," "See That Babe in the Lowly Manger," and "The Bells." Johns Hopkins student composer Richard Kapp plays "Bells," "Wassail," and "Boy Meets Santa," original Christmas pieces for the piano. Hopkins president Milton S. Eisenhower presents his annual Christmas message, discussing the traditions of the celebration and observation of this holiday, the widely divergent moral convictions threatening the world today, and the qualities of good character.

Lynn Poole shows two children album pages of lasting gifts: the oldest hymn, "Gloria in Excelsis," inserted into Mass by Pope Telesphorus, sung by the Johns Hopkins Glee Club; the custom of Christmas cards, first designed by John Callcott Horsley at the request of his friend Henry Cole in 1843, and another card designed by W.M. Edgley; the story surrounding the composition of "Silent Night," with words by Father Joseph Mohr and music by Franz Gruber and sung by a duet; the history of the Christmas tree traced to Martin Luther; the development of Santa Claus by cartoonist Thomas Nast from Dr. Clement Moore's poem "A Visit from St. Nick"; the 1897 "Is there a Santa Claus" letter to "The New York Sun" and response from its editor Francis P. Church; the Welsh air "Deck the Halls" sung by a quartet; the Yule log custom; Johns Hopkins' President Milton S. Eisenhower's remarks on the significance of Christmas; and the composition of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" with words by Charles Wesley.

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.

This program uses authentic photos and drawings made on the scene as the backdrop to the story of the initiation of, preparation for, and fighting of the Spanish American War. Walter Millis, military historian and author of "The Martial Spirit; a study of our war with Spain", sketches the events and personalities of the U.S. intervention into Cuba's revolt against Spain, beginning with the mysterious explosion of the battleship "Maine" in Havana Harbor. Mr. Millis highlights the various roles played by Theodore Roosevelt throughout the episode as well as the military strategy of such leaders as Spanish Admiral Pascual Cervera and U.S. Army General William Shafter. He explains how the scope of the war extended to Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines and resulted in the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands.