Vol. 59 No. 12 DECEMBER 1954 Threepence Notes

• Vol. 59 No. 12 DECEMBER 1954 Threepence

Notes of the Month Custos

Some Notes on a Vish to Finland Sir Ernest Kennaway

The Outlook for Humanism Archibald Robertson

The Mystery of Joanna Southeott Royston Pike

The Origin of Christianity P. G. Roy

Conway Discussion Circle Book Reviews

Correspondence South Place News

Society's Activit ies

SOUTH PLACE HETFEICAL • SOCIETY SUNDAY MORNING MEETINGS AT ,ELEVEN O'CLOCK . / • ' - . ' • -J..' , • December 5—PROFESSOR T. H. PEAR, M.A.-`tAre Modern Scientists Afraid of Doing Good?". ' . 'Cello and Piano SoloS by LILLY PHILLIPS and JOYCE LANDLEY Vivaldi Orientale; .'. Cesar Cui SPanisK Dance Glazounov

, - December 12-Dlt. Mi. E. SWINTON, Ph.D.—"Digging up the Truth!' Soprano Solos by MARY LENVIg • Gefang Weylef .. Wolf Dat..verlaffene Magdein Wolf HYmn:. No. 41 • December 19—ARCH1BALD ROBERTSON,'-i%I.A.--"Mithni iind the Christian Festival." Bass Solos by G. C. DOWMAN My Lone Abode Schubert My Lovely Celia arr. Lane Wilson Hymn: No. 226

SOUTH PLACE SUNDAY CONCERTS, 64t1- SEASON Concerts 6.30 p.m. (Doors open 6 p.m.) Admission Is. 6d. December 5—MACGIBBON STRING QUARTET Mozart in D, K575; Rawsthorne No. 2; Schubert in D minor, Op. Post h.

December 12-1IURWITZ CHAMBER ESISEMBLE Handel Concerto Grosso, Op.'6, No. 11 in A; Corelli Concerto Grosso No. 8. Op. 6; Boccherini 'Cello Concerto in B flat; Mozart Divertimento for Strings, 1C138 in F; Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 3.

December 19—FREDERICK GRINKE. DENNIS BRAIN. WILFRID PARRY: Beethoven in C minor, Op. 30, No. 2; Delius No. 2 Piano and Violin. Sonatas; Paul Dukas Villanelle Horn Solo; Brahms Horn Trio.

Officers Hon. Treasurer: E. J. FAIRHALL Hon. Registrar: MRS. T. C. LINDSAY Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, W.C.I Secretary: J. Hurto8 HYND

The Monthly Record is posted free to Members and Associates. The Annual charge to subscribers is 4s. 6d. Matter for publication in the January issue should reach the Editor, G. C. Dowman, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, W.C.1, by December 10. . . - . . • . The Objects of the• Society, are the study and-dissemination of ethical - principles and the cultivation of.,a rational religibus sentiment. - Any person in sympathy with these objects is cqrdially .invited to become a• Meniber '(minimum annual .subscription; is 10s.), or Asi"oeiatejminiminn annual , subscription 5s.). Life meinberShip:£10 .10i Associates are, not eligible to vote • , or hold office. Enquiries shriuld be aade of the Regisfiar to''whorn subsciiptiOns should be paid. 2 The MONTHLY RECORD — Vol. 59 No. 12 DECEMBER 1954 Threepence

CONTENTS PAGE 3 NOTES OF THE MONTH, Custos SOME Nous ON A VISIT TO FINLAND, Sfr Ernest Kennaway 5 THE OUTLOOK FOR HUMANISM, Archibald Robertson 8 Ti IE MYSTERY OF JOANNA SOUTHCOTT, Royston Pike 10 THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY, P. G. Roy . . 12 CONWAY DISCUSSION CIRCLE 14 BooR REVIEWS .. I 8 20 CORRESPONDENCE .. SouT0 PLACE NEWS 22 SOCIEXY'S ACTIVITIES .. 23

The views expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of the Society.

. Notes of the Month

THE YEAR ends in a general atmosphere Of hope that Makes a striking contrast to that of 1953 or 1952. Whether this mood is justified or not, the. British public decline to- be shaken out of its tempered or detached optithism. There are? to be sure, grounds for the present feeling. It is clear that the tension over the atom bomb is relaxed now that Moscow is ex- hibiting an altered attitude towards the West. A partial lifting of the iron curtain has convinced, our people that Russian policy is being modified. The belief has grown that both Russia and China are anxious to avoid war, and this despite -the published facts relating to the vastness of Soviet armament. Britain, again, is not disquieted by the result of the American election, while by a great majority we have accepted the rearming of Germany as inevitable, if not as a positive addition to the security of Western Europe. It is not difficult to believe that in home affairs the outlook on the whole is improving. Unemployment is negligible. Mr. Butler's repeated assurance that the upturn of the national finances is satisfactory is not seriously challenged. Nothing, it would seem could be much more serious than the menace of strikes in the nationalised and semi-nationalised industries; but even so the majority view' is that the danger can be handled 3 without grave losses to the nation. Meanwhile the curious condition of Parliament arouses some misgiving. It arises partly from the weaknesses of an Opposition when parties are balanced, and partly from the wide extent of the area (such as the social services) that is now almost common. The situation, however, is not likely to be maintained beyond 1955. The re- tirement of the Prime Minister must open a new chapter.

br. Albert Schweitzer In view of his standing as an eminent servant of humanity, it is not surprising that Dr. Albert Schweitzer's speech on acceptance of the Nobel peace prize should have been awaited with unusual interest. It was an earnest ethical sermon on the imperative need of world peace, its keynote being, as always with him, reverence for life. Schweitzer is a humanist..He affirms that the spirit of man is the one and only reality upon which we have to rely, and that there is no hope for our distracted world save in a new ethical crusade and adoption of the universal principles of compassion and co-operation. Hence the first duty of Governments is to set about healing the wounds left by the last war. He urges as a practical measure a large and determined effort to re-settle the Multitudes of uprooted people. We may all agree with this and in Schweitzer's statement that there is no greater obstacle to the recovery of peace than the mad nationalisms in- tensified by the wars, how, in a world of colossal armament governed by fear, a universal moral force can be discussed and applied. Schweitzer, in common with so many others, declares that the alternative could not be more plain: either we make peace or we perish. Schweitzer admits that this conclusion demands a miracle and that such miracles do not occur. Hence, we are driven to infer, the spirit of man is unequal to the task of the age. Schweitzer is no pacifist. He believes, like the majority of church leaders, that if a nation is attacked, the right of defence by means of all the terrible weapons now at its disposal must be conceded. Buf does not this fateful concession destroy the moral basis of his.own solemn argument?

Broadcast Religion It would be interesting to learn the extent of the protests coming from the listening public now being aroused by the policy of the B.B.C. in the field of religion. If the complaints are few or moderate, the fact could undoubtedly be explained by the widespread indifference to religious matters that has been noted at church conferences and in other assemblies for many years past. Any foreign listener to the regular features of our broadcasting system, always extravagantly praised in Parliament, could not fail. to take note of the uniform assumptions concerning the "oldLtime religion". The chosen preachers take for granted that theology does not fall within, the realm of knowledge or inquiry. They scorn the riches of comparative religion and speak as though the immense results of a century of biblical research may be altogether set aside. Long ago Matthew Arnold protested sharply against the extreme "licences of affirmation" about God and Jesus Christ in which our religious instructors indulged. There is no evidence that this practice has been challenged in the broadcast services. No critical or modernist voice is ever heard. Look, for instance, at its daily morning admonition so quaintly called the Uplift. It has become a playground of the literalists, whose expositions and.ritual phrases are astonishingly juvenile; as when the dramatic scenes of Jonah were presented. as a portion of the actual history of Nineveh, the greatest city of the then known .world. At 7.50 a.m. the great majority of.listeners are getting off for the dayls work. Why not treat. them .as adults? 4 The Father of Liberalism • Liberal and progressive thinkers will unite in' paying homage to John Locke, who died 250 years ago. He is sometimes called the Father of British Philosophy, but he is 'quite certainly the fountain head Of the vatious streams of liberal and progressive thdught which have inspired the idealism of successive generations. A physician by profession, he looked on' social ills with the pragmatic eye of a doctor, tied to no rigid general principles, but using the experimental method of the great founder of medicine, Hippocrates, who was, perhaps, the first empiricist. "I appeal to observation and experience," wrote Locke, thereby setting the mould in which the dominant school of British thought was to be formed. He found philosophy a narrow specialism, to which only those who knew its highly, technical terms had the key. He set himself the task of making the subject readable for the ordinary intelligent man, disclaiming all ambition to construct yet another system that pretended to be the truth at last. He described himself, modestly, as "a journeyman and under-labourer" who .was content with the "twilight of probability". Thus the doors werc opened for all that is best in our tradition and for the development of what was in his day called Natural Philosophy, but which in the early part of the last century came, to be known as Science. Cus-ros

Some Notes on a Visit to Finland

B Y

SIR ERNEST KENNAWAY

AFTER SOME CORRESPONDENCE with Professor Sakari Mustakallio, Director of the Central Institute of Radiology in Helsinki, who had in 1944 initiated enquiry into the relation between cancer of the rcspiratory tract and smoking in Finland, my wife and I fiew to Helsinki on August 5 last. On the 7th he drove us to his estate in the country and, only 48 hours after leaving London, we sat in the bright sunshine looking at a lovely prospect of rich green pasture sloping up from the shore of the lake to the encircling birch woods, with our host and hostess and their daughters, and, thanks to their knowledge of English, although thc name "Mustakallio" had been to us just an entry in Acta Radiologica, somehow we all seemed like old friends. No attempt is made here to give any adequate account of various investi- gations on cancer which are in progress in Helsinki. Professor Mustakallio (1944) drew attention to the incidence of cancer 'of the larynx and hypo- pharynx among smokers, and to the early age at which many,of them began smoking, and this line of investigation was carried on in his Department by Marja Koulumies in a study, now ,well-known, entitled Smoking and Pubnonary Carcinoma (1953), Ond hopes' very much that this work will be extended and elaborated especially as regards the smoking habits of Finnish women in town and cOuntry. Professor Mustakallio, who is doubtful, of any increase in the incidence of bronchial carcinoma, is bringing up to date his series of radiologically treated cases which had numbered 1,000 in 1950;* he has usually 10 to 15 such in hand, and his assistant, Dr. Malmio, happened to be treating three women, all non-smokers. The sex and age distribution of this series of cases is noteworthy. In collaboration,with his Department, the Central Statistical

* An early report on this work appeared in 1946 (1). 5 Office had just completed a morbidity survey of all the cases of bronchial carcinoma diagnosed in 1953 in Helsinki, other urban, and rural districts of Finland, which I was allowed to read. Comparison with such figures from England, if such were available, would be of great interest, as 67 per cent of the population is rural. The country differs much from ours in the matter of atmospheric pollution, and of smoking habits, especially .among women; at any rate until recent years women from the country might resent enquiry whether they smoked. The habit is increasing in the towns, as one might expect. The Central Statistical Office kindly gave me an elaborate table of the consumption of tobacco in all forms from 1938 to 1953: in comparing the amounts per head with those from other countries, one Must bear in mind the preponderance of the share taken by the male half- of the population. We brought home some examples of cigarettes for examihation in the laboratory. K. H. Kahanpaa, Chief Actuary of the Central Statistical Office of Finland, had sent me a set of volumes of the tables "Causes of Death in Finland" for the years 1939 to 1951 which contain a large amount of data classified by sex, organ, locality and in other ways and some extremely rough com- parisons with similar data for this country was the subject of a very interesting talk on August 9 with two members of the the staff, Magister Aarrc Tunkelo, and Miss Korpela, who has visited England recently in connection with statistical work on cancer. I hope that they will make some comparison of the incidence of caneer in the two countries. The growing population (Tunkelo,-I953-4) of Finland (4.1 million) is about one-tenth.of that of England and Wales (44 million). Professor Mustakallio and Dr. Erkki Saxen, Pathologist to his Department, took us for delightful motor runs to all parts of Helsinki and into the country. The roads leading out of Helsinki are paved successively with stone setts. tar pavement (i.e. bitumen from Poland. or Mexican asphalt), cement sheets, and macadam, when the dust begins. The chief crops around Helsinki are the unfamiliar rye, wheat, oats and great areas of potatoes which are tractor-dug: those served at table are as small as our "new" potatoes and of very good flavour. I enquired about the breed of cows, mostly very much alike, and was told "Asia".- Their appearance- was not at all Asiatic and one could look in vain for the zebu's hump; stupidly. I had not detected a pronunciation of "Ayrshire". Cows are kept under cover for eight months in the year, as in Iceland, and 43 per cent of cultivated land is given to hay. We visited a village Lutheran Church. built of massive blocks of red and grey granite, "ein'Feste Burg" indeed, with separate bell-tower. The church- yard, and graves, were the tidiest I have ever seen, with scarcely one super- fluous blade of grass. Probably this contrast to many English village church- yards depends, not on any spiritual enlightenment, but upon the financial aspect of. Establishment in Scandinavian countries. The War Memorial Gardens. beautifully kept and planted as are all open spaces in Helsinki, commemorates Finland's ill-fated part in two wars. The rows of stones marking the graves lie in zig-zag fashion, two together; this arrangement certainly lessens uniformity, and one wonders who devised it and with what object? The tomb of General Mannerheim stands out on higher ground. But of all these sights by far the saddest is that long vista of a simple wall bearing the crowded names of those whose fate, and grave, will never be known. Helsinki stands on a whole series.of peninsulas and the sea confronts the wanderer unexpectedly. As a "smokeless zone" it is defective, as many steamers are far from smokeless.. Large quantities 'of Russian oil and its products are obtained under treaty and Finland has just built two 6.000- ton tankers to bring this material. The introduction of diesel engines for 6. traction; involving, as elsewhere, the question of initial and running costs, is just beginning. Domestic heating, carried out by radiators fed by boilers heated by oil (Russian), coal (Polish, Russian, British), coke (Polish) and in the country wood, was, at the time of our visit, in hot weather, of course in abeyance. But even when allowance is made for this, Helsinki seems to be a remarkably clean city. All the time I was there I never saw a single black partiele, whereas while one is writing a letter in certain places in London, E.C.I ... The open double window of my room had a wide white- painted ledge inside it, which was wiped daily, but there seemed to be little or nothing to remove. My wife saw several very smoky chimneys, but one must remember that Helsinki is a large city (population 400,000, cf. Nottingham 306,000, Bristol 442,000); its rapidly growing edges consist largely of great blocks of flats, preferred because •of economy in heating. Professor Mustakallio enquired for me whether any measurements of atmospheric pollution had ever been carried out by the officers of Public Health, and Could learn of none, which suggests that the question is not • yet obtrusive. Observations would be valuable when the ground is covered with snow, which is a useful detector, and collector, of suspended and deposited matter (R. L. Cooper and A. J. Lindsey, 1953). Unfortunately, we could not visit the chief manufacturing town, Tampere (population 105,000). Milk is the standard drink, served at all times and in all places, in tumblers, fresh and soured, while with tea or coffee one usually receives cream. In restaurants both men and women will take a glass of milk, with a cup of tea or Coffee, or perhaps two glasses of milk, together with a cake or a sandwich. Dr. Jokinen obtained for me from the Central Statistical Office an elaborate table showing the methods of utilisation of milk, which will be compared with any similar data which are available here. , Unfortunately I developed a peculiar kind of asthma, with very severe dyspnoea in the early morning. Professor Mustakallio secured my admission to a very comfortable private room in the hospital, under his colleague Dr. Koulumies, by whom, and by his assistant Dr. Jokinen, every resource of diagnosis, treatment and nursing was applied. Nowhere could one have received more careful and kindly treatment. After ten days, when means had been found of controlling the attacks, after being fortified by intra- venolis injections, I was conveyed by two very efficient ambulance men, of rather mysterious aspect, to the airpoh and reached London after a most comfortable journey without the slightest respiratory distress at any altitude. My private rooffi in the hospital looked out upon an ordinary road, of all things in a foreign town the most instructive, as in show-places and restaurants one sees many more cosmopolitan types. The road, Unioninkatu bY name, stone-paved, led to the market place and bore heavy traffic in the early morning; those who have been patients in St. Peter's Hospital near Covent Garden Market will understand.•But I do not mind noise, and one can learn a good deal from it. Finland shows, as do Sweden and Iceland, various anthropological types—the tall, fair, good-looking, conventionally "Scandinavian" type, and many varieties of thicker, shorter, darker people. The average of good-looks among young 'women is very high and one sometimes wonders, as one may .in France, what becomes of them in later life, if one dares to say such a thing. The Finnish day of business ends earlier than does ours, perhaps an adapatation to the early darkness of winter* and aftcr 4 o'clock a stream of people, largely female, of the shop-assistant and secretarial classes, passed homeward along the road. Such people in England are generally well groomed, bujI venture to say that the women of Helsinki are more so. A' significant fact is that many women wore white, cream or • The latitude of Helsinki is about that of the Shetland Isles. 7 beige coats and many of the older men had fiat white caps; in London the cleaning of such things would be costly. A few country people of the poorer classes from the market trudged by with very different gait, the men in black wide-awakes and gaiters,,.the women with white headcloths. The.young male clerical class are, very tidy and•practically all hatless. Manual workers wear the moleskin trousers which here have altered their social status, or boiler suits, and some wvear caps. I saw no one whose clothes looked worn out, or who appeared dirty apart from occupational dirt, and never saw anyone smoking anything. Of course I can ;only report things seen in ten summer days out of one microcosmic window: no doubt other people saw other things out of other windows. My wife made some enquiries and ex- peditions, not very productive, in search of the poorer districts. Of course no attempt is made here to assess the basis of any apparent prosperity, a complex matter of treaties and non-rearmament. Children are dressed in.bright colours, as they are in Iceland. Sunday is, of course, the day for the best.display by persons of all ages. Two little girls with really golden hair, very carefully brushed, in jackets and skirts of the brightest blue with wide white margins, walking hand-in-hand in the bright • sunshine, made in ideal Picture. Less than a dozen horses clattered along my road in a day, and I never heard the sound of a whip-lash; in my student days in London one would not have had to wait so long. All the horses seen, in town and country, were of the same dun colour, and as in Iceland,.all look well fed and well treated. Why is this, when the treatment of draught animals over a large .part of the world, day after day, and century after century, is appalling? Finland's 400,000 horses are among the luckiest in the world. The predominating impression which one gets of life in Helsinki, and in Finland elsewhere so far as we saw it, is one of especial cleanliness and tidiness. On one's return home, after receiving .so much kindness in a foreign country, one opens the dismal newspaper and then wonders, if the world really must be like that always?

This is a slightli; abridged•version of a paper which will appear in full in The Medical Press. REFERENCES:-

Cooper. R. L. and Lindsey, A. J. (1953) Chemistry and Industry. 1, 177. Kouluniies, M. (1953) Acta Radial. 39, 255. Mustakallio, S. (1944) Acta: Radial. 25, 13. Mustakillio, S. (1946) Annales Medicinae Intennae Fenniae, 35, 109. Tunkelo,. A. (1953)Bank of Finland Monthly Bulletin, 27, Nos. 1-12. Tunkelo, A. (1954) ibid, 28, No. 2.

The Outlook for Humanism

ARCHIRALD ROBERTSON

SEVENTY YEARS AGO the, task of the humanist (the person deVoted to human welfare to the exclusion of divine or supernatural interests) seemed simple. It was to break down what remained of supernatural belidf and mobilise all available forces for the advancement of human welfare. The tide seemed 8 to be flowing in favour of the humanists. Liberalism was in •the saddle;- evolution was popular doctrine; the Churches, here and on the Continent, were on the defensive; the temporal power of the Pope.had been destroyed; his claim to infallibility was a matter for, ridicule rather than refutation among progressive people. True, Liberalism had not solved the economic problem, and a trade .slump of international dimensions was beginning to turn workingmen to Marxism, and rulers to colonialism as the .only answer to it. But progressives in the main hoped to weather the storm by timely adjustments here and there. As Clifford had .put it a few .years before, the kingdom of Man was at hand. Then, in that year 1884, a pensioned German professor of classics named Friedrich Nietzsche -cursed the progressives with bell, book and candle, not because he was a Christian (far from it) butt because the humanist ideal seemed to -him small, slavish and mean. In• a utilitarian world, he com- plains, "earth will have become small", and its inhabitants, dedicated to the achievement of happiness, contemptible. "Each willeth the same, each is equal. 'We have invented happiness', ..the last men say, blinking.- And Nietzsche is deadly • serious about. it. The thing may .happen. "This brutalising of man into a pigmy with equal rights and claims is undoubtedly possible." He calls on all -strong and original" minds to resist it. I disagreed with Nietzsche When 1 read him, and I disagree now. He need not have called for resistance. It was already there. Even while Nietzsche wrote, the scramble of the Great Powers for colonies, markets and concessions in Africa and Asia was beginning, and by •the turn of the century had overshadowed the Liberal humanism of a generation before. In 1914 the scramble and the consequent armaments race and military alliances ended in the First World War, in which (we used to be told, but no doubt it is an exaggeration!). every German soldier carried a copy of Nietzsche's Also Sprach -Zarathustra in his knapsack. Naturally after that Western progressives, who had been rather in awe of, Nietzsche, dropped him like a hot potato. A more important consequence of the First World War was the Russian Revolution and the translation of Marxism from theory into practice. It -is a consequence which even those who condemn it ought to understand. If all that capitalism with its industrial -efficiency and its creed of the survival of the fittest could do was to regiment millions for mutual murder and dope them with hate propaganda to keep them at fighting pitch, naturally. some who were tired of the massacre and still had energy left to do- something about it turned their weapons on those who had misled them, and determined to build a world in which it would not happen again. Planned production became a slogan not only in Russia, but even in capitalist countries, as an -inevitable result, of the hell in which unplanned production had ended. But the ghost of Nietzsche still walks. That fear and hatred of a world planned for peace and plenty, which actuated him seventy years ago, now actuates not only capitalists who stand to -lose -by it, but many intellectuals also. It is expressed with ability and candour in Aldous -Huxley's Brave New World, published -in 1932, in which it is easy to see the influence of Nietzsche. The utilitarian nightmare, the "green-meadow happiness of the herd" where nothing is great, comes to life in Huxley's caricature of a world where babies are incubated in bottles and chemically predestined to a- station .in life where they will be ffiseful and happy automata. That, according to Huxley, -is the 'logical consequence'of planning: •His argument:is the more impressive because he has no illusions about an unplanned world. An unplanned world means .backwardness, dirt, disease, superstition and savagery. Huxley lets us know in no unceitain terms that if he has to choose between backwardness; dirt: disease,. superstition and savagery in which adventure. and-sacrifice -are .necessary;.and a world of useful and 9 happy automata, in which they are not necessary, he chooses backwardness. dirt, disease, superstition and savagery every time. I disagreed with, Huxley When I read him, and I disagree now. • - ) The Second World War and the advent of weapons of mass destruction have forced these issues to the fore. This has been particularly noticeable in discussions about the hydrogen bomb. Nobody denies that if the hydrogen bomb is used (and it is taken for granted that in another war it will be used, and used on both sides) civilisation will be destroyed and men, • wothen and children will be killed. off by the million—perhaps by the hun- dred million. Very well then, ask simple people, why invent and manufacture such a thing? As it is nobody's interest tO be destroyed, why not agree to scrap all stocks of such weapons.and not to manufacture any more. and set up a machinery of inspection to'sec that the agreement is kept? To this it is answered sometimes that the Russians would never keep an agreement (a foolish, answer, as the logical consequence would be to make no agreements on anything). More often the answer is that the hydiogen bomb is the only deterrent that exists against Communist aggression:, that is to say, only by threatening to destroy .civilisation can we prevent civilisation from evolving in a direction we dislike.•It is Aldous Huxley's answer and Nietzsche's answer: better a reversion to savagery than a civilisation in which freedom as we interpret, art as we interpret it, grandeur as we interpret it do not exist. Once more I disagree. If there is to be any outlook for humanism, I think humanists must Make up their minds where they •stand here. Obviously, if civilisation is destroyed, there is no outlook for anyone. But if it is not destroyed—and an increasing number of people all over the world are determined that it shall not be—what then? In that case we (whoever we are and in whatever country we live) have to resign ourselves to peaceable co-existence with people whose conception of the basic values of civilisation differs from ours. Humanists should be able to make up their minds to that much more easily than other people. In the first place, we are not tied by religious dogma. "God" means nothing to us; and "anti-God" causes no shivers. In the second place. we know—or if not, we ought to know—just how the difference about the basic values of civilisation has arisen. This difference, which divides humanists in the present, has arisen largely as a result of the success of humanists in the past. We have been telling people for 200 years —300 if we go back to the English Revolution and Winstanley's Law of Freedom—to attend to human interests instead of imaginary divine interests. But what human interests? It obviously, depends on your way 'of living. To people whose material livelihood is assured it may be natural to think first of freedom of the press, freedom to oppose the Government and things like that. But to people whose material livelihood is not assured it is natural to think first of food, shelter, health, education and the means of getting them, and of those other things a long way after. Only if we understand that there is this difference between different parts of the world, and that humanism inevitably Means something different to people in different situations, can we face our task with resolution and confidence. - (Summary of address delivered on October 24)

The Mystery of Joanna Southcott

11 Y ROYSTON PIKE FROM TIME - ro TIME there appear in the newspapers and magazines advertise: ments such as this: "Crime and Banditry, Distress and Perplexity, will 10 ihcrease until the Bishops open Joanna Southcott's Box of Sealed Writings", followed by the address, Panacea Society, Bedford. Such advertisements have been appearing for many years, and are evidence of the continued existence of one of the niost extraordinary of modern religious movements. . . Joanna Southcott was born in 1750, the daughter of a Devonshire farmer in a small and not very prosperous Way of life. She had little or no school: ing, but was brought up in the "fear of the Lord" and a knowledge of the Bible. She became an incorrigible scribbler and rhymester, and left to pos- terity some 4,500 pages of printed works, not to mention as much again which still remains in manuscript form. Quite early she began to have visions and dream drearhs, although she was normal enough in other respects. Thus she has (Old us a great deal about her very harmless and sometimes amusing love affairs. It is strange to reflect that the life Of this untutored little piece of Devonshire girlhood is far better documented .than that of any of her contemporaries in one of the most interesting ages of our history. None of her suitors was succeSsful, and at length she moved to Exeter, where she Spent many years as a domestic servant. About the time of the outbreak of war with the French Revolution she began to exercise her prophetic gifts, and although most of the things she prophesied were connected with the weather and the progress of the war of a very obvious character, she soon acquired a considerable reputation locally for her prescience. She then sought the advice of the clergy, and proved herself a thorn in the flesh for one of them in particular, the unhappy Mr. Pomeroy who after a period of acquiescence in her prophesyings. expressed doubts and fell away, whereupon she continued to denounce him for his apostasy in page after page of turgid prose. When she was in her forties, she seems to have come to the conclusion that she was the Woman mentioned in the Book of Revelation, the Lamb's Wife, the Bride of the Holy Ghost. • Stranger even than this, she found many to believe in her and her pre- tensions. In 1802 she was visited by seven gentlemen, among them three clergymen, who enquired carefully into her teaching and writings and at length resolved that her claims were justified. Now wo have the first mention of the famous Box, which probably was no more than the convenient receptacle such as servants were accustomed to take about with them, into which to put their oddments. Into Joanna's box were popped the scraps of writing containing her "prophecies", and at this "First Trial" a selection was made and sealed up and replaced in the box. Soon after she removed to London—the funds were supplied by one of the "Seven Stars", William Shiirp, the celebrated engraver—and eventually she found a home in St. Pancras with Mrs. Jane Townley, a well-to-do widow, and her maid- servant, .Ann Underwood, who was discovered, to possess the invaluable gift of being about to decipher the prophetess's handwriting. A second ”Trial" took place at Paddington in 1803, and a third at Bermondsey in 1804, following which Joanna seems to have been generally accepted by an ever-widening circle of followers as the Woman mentioned in Scripture whose offspring in some strange way should "bruise Satan's head". How this was to be performed was not revealed until 1813, when in her Book of Wonders she declared that the Lord had informed her that she was, though she would be in her sixty-fifth year, to become the mother of Shiloh, the mysterious being mentioned in Genesis, who is to gather the Children of Israel and lead them into the Promised Land of Millennium. Immediately her followers throughout the country set about preparing for the miraculous birth, and the Prophetess moved her residence to a house in Manchester Street taken specially for the accouchement. • What followed i told in the most intimate and interesting detail by Dr. II Richard-Reece, one of the. medical. men who were called in to attend her. Unfortunately for his reputation, his early doubts that such a thing could be in a woman of her age were stifled, and he became known in the news-1 papers as a man who had -satisfied himself of her pregnancy. But as the months passed he regretted his credulity, and when he last saw the Prophetess he was convinced that, but for her deluded followers assembled about her, she would have confessed that she was suffering from, a ghastly delusion. Joanna died on December 27, 1814, and four days later, in compliance with her last i-equest, Reece and other doctors performed a post mortem. There was no child—and her followers were aghast. One of them said it was enough to make him turn Unitarian. Others, however, maintained.that there had been a Child, •but it was a spiritual one, and so was not visible to hurnan- eyes. Joanna was buried almost surreptitiously in 'the cemetery adjoining St. John:s Church, Marylebone, and there her grave and monument may still be seen. But the real mystery only now begins, for belief in her did not die in that frowsty bedroom. While there was a great falling away of the 30,000 —some said 100,000—of. her -following, many continued to hold that she was the•Bride of the,Lamb, and she was hailed as one of a line of Prophets, of whom the latest was a lady who died as recently as 1918. Even later, there has been a. clergyman's widow. ,who, at Bedford, was accepted as Shiloh. (An extract from this lady's hciok, Brushes With The Bisltops, con- stituted the reading.), And the Box? It is supposed to contain writings which are to be Of immense value 'to Britain in her hour of greatest danger, when it should be opened by twenty-four Bishops of the Church of England. In 1918, -Bishof) Boyd-Carpenter actually offered to perform the rite, but the then custodian of the Box declared that the conditions stated by Joanna had not been fulfilled' and the opportunity never recurred. The box that was opened in-1927 was not the real box, we are assured. That remains inviolate in a place.of safety known only to one or two of the believers in the" mission of the Devonshire servant girl who left so strange a mark on the world.,

(Summary of an address delivered on October 31.)

The Origin of Christianity

B Y

. P. G. R 0 Y

HOWEVER SCEPTICAL people may be with regard to biblical reports, the claim that Chrisianity, originated in Palestine they accept .as "Gospel druth-: It is. hard to see why the setting of an admitted fairy-tale must not be doubted, if so many other things; for which we only have the same authority, are more than doubtful. . The Romans believed that their ancestors were refugees from Tro);: history has shown this to' be a pious myth, invented to 'claim cultural relationship with the Hellenic world. Christianity, a Hellenised synchretisin (i.e.,' hotch-potch) of various messianic beliefs of the Near East, had to claim similar connections with that regiori of the world—the -cradle of many Saviour cults. Yet it was Rome where all those religions and cults' finally met and blended. And again, it was Rome from where -the new spiritual message could spread, nor from the backwaters-of a politically and culturally unimportant, little land. 12 • When classical Slave economy found itself in an impasse, soeiety became increasingly responsive to the mystery cults of Asia Minor, begotten from the old magic rites. Mystery religions provided an ideological sheet anchor for the dispossessed peasantry, the slaves in general, and all the oppressed nationalities under the sway of Roman despotism or Byzantine totalitarianism. The• mysteries of Dionysus, the god of wine, offered union with god through, intoxication . and ensuing "divine .frenzy- ("enthusiasm" means: to have god "within" oneself, from Greek en = in, and theos .4 god); the Eleusian mysteries promised their initiates immortality after death: the Orphics the Paradise, and so forth: The path of salvation consisted greatly of magic rituals such as initiation and symbolic purification—through water or fire ordeals—preceding a mystical rebirth. In Rome, the caput inundi, these views blended with the Levantine con- ceptions of the Seasonal Messias, • i.e. the recreative power of the' sun, periodically persecuted but finalljt resurrected in triumph and glory. The cultural pooling could' not take place anywhere else but in the Metropolis of classical chattel slavery' where a great portion of the slaves repreSented the best educated stratum of the, population. This in itself rules Palestine out, where there could not be slaves takeff from the bloom of Greek, Persian or Egyptian civilisation. At first by word .of mouth, then through recording, the Coming of the Saviour—a mighty LORD who alone was powerful enough to smite the teinporal lords: was' the'yallying cry of the downtrodden, in an effete and decaying society; add again, this last hope in the succour of al heavenly superman was necessary in Rome, but not in remote, weak Palestine. How- ever, owing to the fact that this medley of slaves from all over the antique world could not develop national unity nor class-consciousness, the redeemer had to come from a remote corner overseas. Exposed to continuous influence from Syrian and Egyptian centres of Hellenistic culture, even Palestine could not be left untouched, with the result that spiritual movements—such as the local Sects Of the Essenes and Nazarenes—developed; but never could such local movements have spread beyond the limits of the' Hebrew tongue. When choosing Jehoshua. Josua or Jesus, an old tribal hero and demigod of the Jordan valley (and connec- ting him with the local Thamuz—Drid, or David), the authors of the New facts, pretended descent from Troy for the Romans. In a similiar way the Testament did nothing else but imitate Virgil who, centrary to historical scriptural epos claimed higher antiquity, and continuity for their heroes through the trick of choosing the remote corner of Galilee in unimportant Palestine for the resetting of an old yet modernised mystery play. It did not matter. much that in this forgery historical events were confused and place names (such as Nazareth) invented. At .first the followers of the new "Message", concocted of Jewish theology and vulgarised Greek philosophy, expected the Redeemer 'hourly, as only a quick help and liberation was of any interest. Consequently, there was no need for the building up of a stable organisation, an elabotrate iitual nor a (Thilosohhical formulation of their cieed. They lived in ,a near-communistic brotherhood of eonsurhers, not caring for the morrow as they expected their deliVerance by then. When however' the coming of the Deliverer was time and again delayed, adjustments becameamperative and the loose hope had to be stabilised through doetrinal bones. It ;was only then: that the Paulinic Church was founded. An organisation sprung up and began' to proselytize: It 'strengthened the, bfethren to resist ',worldly authOrities= not economically, but with regard to the worship of the Roman gods and deified Emperors. Tolerant' though 'the Romans 'were in' matters spiritual; 13 the masters and overlords of the ancient world could never allow civic disobedience to go• on unpunished; this was the only and sole reason for certain punitive measures which,:boosted up as religious persecutions,: created the climate•of martyrdom for the members of this so far not too important sect. It resulted in knitting tighter the Christian communities. Finally the Church evolved an hierarchy, modelled on the Imperial administrative system: a Canon was edited bymeans of the old recipe, combined with current maxims attributed to the "Christ" or the mythical "Twelve", and all this was prefixed by the, bulk of the Hebrew scriptures. "To defend and explain their faith before imperial officials and the middle classes, the leaders were obliged to formulate in terms of analytic 'reasoning the emotional 'content of religious exPerience. They inevitably used the terminology of Greek philosophy and Aristotelian Jogic helped out by references to approved or tolerated and familiar Classical and Oriental doctrines. The inherent difficulties of the task inevitably provoked controversies Whieh would split the Church into sects ... so soon as the pressure of persecution relaxed.. Increasing emphasis came to be laid on the negative sanctions for piety and ' morality. . . . In the Kingdom there would be no distinction between slave and free, but here slavery was an' established institution, and the slave must submit to his master:' (Prof., V. Gordon Childe: What Happened in History). At last, at the Council of Nicea, the new religion was made to fit the purposes of a world united cotnniercially. In this form Christianity pro.ved the most powerful institution for world domination, and this was the main reasOn why Constantine readily accepted it •as his tool and 'declared it State Religion. He bartered clerical endorsement of the existing social order on earth for a share in temporal wealth and the right to persecute antagonists. The next to make use of this most powerful -instrument, Christianity, which no ambitious exploiter could refuse to have at his disposal,' was Charlemagne. Just because it was the cradle of Christianity, Rome had to be, and still is. the seat and spiritual centre of Christianity in its' undiluted totalitarian form.

• Conway Discussion Circle On Tuesday, October 5, the Venerable Narada Thera spoke on "The Essence of Buddhism". He said that ideas expounded by Buddha 2.500 years ago were known popularly as Buddhism, but he was going to use the .term "Dhamma", which means "the teaching". It was concerned with suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering and development of the Eight Fold Path, right understanding, right thoughts, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right one- pointedness. This path led To morality, concentration and insight, which combined to fight craving. Craving was evil and the cause of suffering. Dhamina was not independent of man but associated with him. Dhamma was not a religion as it did not contain a system of faith or worship. Buddha taught man not to accept anything on blind faith because it was according to tradition or preconceived notions, but to exercise reason and accept only that which was conducive to his wellbeing and the wellbeing of others. Dhamma ,was tolerant and peaceful and during 2.500 years had not shed 14 a drop. of blood. •here was freedom of experience and criticism, leading to confidence based on knowledge. There was no worship in Buddhism; only respect paid to what the image represented. There were no petitional prayers, which ,seemed only a selfish bargain betweeff God and .man. Buddha placed no supernatural being over mart, but spoke of man's own.creative possibili- ties. We were our own creators and destroyers and made our.own Heaven and'Hell. By one's own exertions one was purified or defiled, and no man Could purify or defile another. In 'place of petitionarV prayer was mental culture, reached through meditation and leading to development and self- enlightenment. Buddhism Was nOt a revealed religion, and , did not Claim a monopoly of truth. There were no prdphets or Messengers. Buddha was but a man ; he became an extraordinary map; in fact. a Buddha, but all men were potential 'Buddhas. Buddhism was a, religion only, in the sense that it sought to destroy evil. , Buddhism was not sirictly a philosophy. Philosophers sought wiSdom and had little to do with-practical action. Buddhisrn lay emphasis on practice. The speaker showed that although there were some differences, later philosophers held many views similar to those that Buddha had already. expounded. Buddha taught rebirth, but not transmigration of snuls as did Pythagoras : he cave the same advice as Descartes, not, to accept but examine all phenomena. Berkeley spoke of metaphysical fiction, and believed in a soul. Buddha did not, but he analysed mind and matter. Hume analyseu the mind and found mental states but no 'soul. Buddha did the same, finding fifty-two mental states. Schopenhauer spoke of suffering and craving but not of its destruction. Buddha had talked of. its cause and also its remedy. Bergson advocated a doctrine or change and William James a stream of consciousness. To Buddha the mental state was constantly changing. Each moment of life was forever slipping into the past. In one sense.man had no.past or present but an eternal Now. Buddhism was not an ethical system, although it had an excellent code of morals. Morality was merely a means to an end and not an end in itself. For the monk there were 220 rules, but these did not apply to the laity. There were 'five precepts: not to lie, steal, kill, commit adultery or take intoxicants. In Buddhism evil was ianorance, hate, lust, anything unwhole- some, and the good consisted of generosity, wisdom, and everything for the wellbeing of others. To Buddha the present was the offspring of the past, and the parent of the future ; he remembered his rebirths of consciousness. To scientists the infant prodigy was the result of abnormal glands ; to the Buddha it was due to past aetions. With the extinction of evil one did not have to pass intO nothingness, but to a state of bliss. Man had to cease to do evil, and strive to do good. The Buddha thought that man should eradicate all impurities and -achieve enlightenment. L. L. B. •

On Tuesday, October 12, Mr. Donald Ford spoke on "The Future of the Novel". He said that many voices in this country and the United States were saying that the novel, as an art form, was dead. Harold Nicholson, J. B. Priestley and John Steinbeck seemed to think that the novel. had a distinguished past, a dubious present and no future. He himself thought that only by projecting one's own personality into a novel, infusing it with one's oWn individuality, and filling it with one's own impressions and -in- terpretations could one be said to be producing anything new, in fact creating a novel, and by sot doing one could claim the attention of readers, and make a bid for the future. Recently there had been reported in the 15 press mafiy cases of obseene libel: This was a retrograde step, and if the novelist lost his right to veXpress hin-ielf freely, then 'the novel as an art form might well have only a limited' future. The object of a novel was to extend man's curiosity, intensify *his insight and widen This knowledge of the problems:of personality. The novel had changed considerably since Victorian times; delving further• into character, helped by psycho-analysis. While this had led to the production of both horrible and boring novels, . nevertheless, it' had served a*Purpose and a genuine creative Process had been evolving. The courts Made ndattempt to make -a novelist more moral, hut accused him of trying to corrupt, without being specifiel Mr. Ford viewed this course of events With alarm, as the increased number of court cases would make publishers more eainious and this in turn would have its effect on writers and would tend to modify their views of life. One should not 'defend pornography or obscenity, but there was a fine dividing line between writing which was corrupting to unbalanced minds, and worthwhile descriptiOns of Inter-relations of 'people. The modern novelist was interested in the -formative period of character and if this was formed by private events then the novelist thought he had the right to explore these. Unfortunately this right was now threatened. Public taste had changed, and since the war it was popular to read non- fiction books 6f travel and adventure. The decline in the popularity a the novel was probably due to competition from television and films, with the perennial.enemy, the theatre. The drama however, was always "dying", but somehow still seemed to thrive. He did not think television or films were a serious threat as they had their, own particular approach and their own limitations, whereas the novel was un1que and could 'stand in its own right. Whatever its form ;the novel was essentially a story, and throughout history man had always told stories and would continue to de so. Personally when starting a novel he only had a broad idea of the story as he first thought of a character he would 'like to write about, evolved from people he had met or seen, and these characters became alive, lived with him, and worked out their own solutions to situations. In the course of writing There is Still a River he had clarified his thoughts on values and judgments, and realised he Ead 'reached a philosophic humanist stand- point, which took fourteen years to evolve and be described, and his present ideas would probably, take the same period. Essentially however, the novel did not preach, or diseuss politics, but told a story. It was the cherished wish of everyone to get inside the skin of other people and this the novelist essayed to do. Men were always curious about other human beings, and as long as the novelist could put forth his own impressions ,and experiences and show more insight than the average person, then the novel would eontinue, and could claim to have a future. L B.

On Tuesday, October 19, Mr. Archibald Robertson spoke on "The Art of Inveetive". He said that invective was a necessary department of propaganda. Since public life. had to be lived in, an atmosphere- of struggle, all public Men, all parties and all Governments had need of propaganda; which consisted' in persuading people that what you wanted was good and that what' the dther side wanted was bad. This latter branch of propaganda is wheie invective comes in: Like all propaganda, invective does not confine. itself to stating facts:- it labels them with, epithets intended to evoke 'a particular 'reaction in the hearer or.reader. This can be done well or done badly. In this sense- invective is an' art: The object of invective 'is to make the persOn or thing you attack hateful- or contemptible in the, eyes •of an 16' audience or a reading public. You may do this by attributing to him (or it) qualities which people, despise; or by denying to him (or it) qualities which people revere and to which,, you suggest, the object of your attack fraudulently lays claim; or if the object of attack has undeniable good qualities, by making them look petty compared with his bad ones. The oldest specimen of invective in European literature is Achilles' abuse of Agamemnon in the first book of the Iliad. They quarrel over the posses- sion of a girl who has been made captive in the Trojan War; and Achilles, furious at the loss of the girl, abuses Agamemnon in full council as a "drunken sot" who filches other men's prizes instead of fighting for his own. Here the pattern is laid down for one type of invective which has persisted through history—the accusation of making gain by false pretences, or in modern parlance, exploitation. Or the accusation may be directed not at an individual, but at a revered institution such as an established religion. The point of the many invectives in the Bible against idol-worship is that idols are honoured as gods, and their priests get the offerings customary in religious Worship, on false pretences: "they have mouths, but they speak not", and so forth. One ingredient of successful invective is, then, to hold up to contempt the person or thing which you attack. In relatively advanced civilisations invective may. have a subtler aim, namely to make the object of the attack contemptible not only to the public, but even to himself—as we say, to get under his skin. Dr. Johnson's letter to Lord Chesterfield was a masterpiece in this kind, but it dces not seem to have penetrated the skin of its recipient: Chesterfield is said 'to have read it aloud and remarked on its felicity of expression! Invective can be used with effect in defence of, as well as in attack on established institutions. Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution contain invective which is telling if—and only if—we agree with the assumptions on which it is based: that is if we agree that there is something intrinsically admirable about rank and descent, and that the application of reason to society is to be deplored. The success of Burke's Reflections was due to the fact that these assumptions were then generally accepted by the ruling classes of Europe. Among middle and working-class readers Burke's rhetoric was easily punctured by Tom Paine's reasoning. But among the more intellectual Tories, ever since, this lifelong Whig has been a canonised prophet. 'Macaulay's writings are a gold-mine of invectiYe. Unlike many masters the art, he can aim his shafts with equal facility at the Right or Left according to the purpose he has in hand; and whichever he is doing, he com- mands, our admiration. His reply, in the essay on Milton, to the reactionary sentimentalists who idealise Charles I is a masterly example of the invective which debunks false pretences. Especially effective is Macaulay's contemp- tuous dismissal of Charles' private virtues. In his essay on Barere, in which he flays a time-serving revolutionary. Macaulay perorates with an ingenious parody of the New Testament: "Whatsoever things are false, whatsoever things are dishonest, whatsoever things are unjust, whatsoever things. are impure"—and so forth. As we read the familiar Pauline phrases rolled out in this. inverted form, we forget to question the historical accuracy in our admiration of the-technique! Here we have another ingredient of invective—the use of time-honoured phrases in a new and' unexpected' context. Invective'fs also part of the stock-in-trade of great poets, as we have already seen from the, Iliad. Byron wields it lustily against George IV, Castlereagh, and his pet aversion, Southey. Swinburne's defiance to kings and- priests and to the God they make in, their own, image shocked the Victorians and is full of sound and fury, but lacks body: we never quite know what Swinburne stands for. He never rises 'to the height- of Shelley, 17 Shelley's fine Masque Of Anarchy, with its &inclusion, "Ye arc many—thcy are few", probably helped to inspire Marx's manifesto on The Civil War in France which, Written at white heat•after the suppression of the Paris Commune, perorates on the same note. Shelley and Marx illustrate a third ingredient of invective—the conveyance of an impression that you are after all the stronger party. ' Shaw usually prefers ridicule to invective; but his comparison of the Irish and English characters in the preface to John Bull's Other Island contains one blistering piece of invective. Of course Shaw's description of •"God's Englishman" as "hysterical, nonsense-crammed, fact-proof, truth- terrified" and so on was never true of all Englishmen, but it contained just enough truth about the English middle class at the end of the Victorian era to give it sting. That is perhaps' the final recipe for good invective. It must have a skeleton of facts; but the skeleton must be clothed with flesh and blood in the shape of resounding, rabble-rousing epithets in such a way as to make the object of attack look despicable and doomed. All the great ages of literature have known this secret. Only cant pretends to despise it. A. R. Book Reviews

INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY, by John Lewis. Watts and Co., 21s. Many of us fight shy of philosophy as concerned with a dream-world remote 'from life—the pastime of "a blind man in a dark 'room looking for a black cat that isn't there". Dr. Lewis shows us that philosophy is an attempt to answer questions suggested by real life, and that the questions and answers change as life changes. Thus in antiquity philosophers tried to answer the question whether anything was stable in a world whieh was changing and, as it seemed to them, changing for the worse. The realist Heraclitus said that everything changes. The wishful thinker Parmenides said that change was an illusion 'and that only the absolute was real. Plato, meditating between the 'two, decided that the world we perceive with the senses indeed changes, but that this world is only the shadow of an unchanging world of "forms" or "ideas" which. may be known by the philosopher. Aristotle, correcting Plato, pointed out that forms or ideas' are not independent of real objects, and that only by studying and classifying things around us (inanimate objects, living things, human beings and societies) can we know anything nt all. Both Plato and Aristotle were the philosophers of a leisureu class living on slave labour, for whom any change was likely to be a change for the worse, and who therefore took a dim view of it. They live rather for, their questions than for their answers. Antiquity passed, and, in Gibbon's words, "barbarism , and religion" triumphed. The revival of philosophy coincides with the revival of town life and civilisation amid. the darkness of the Middle •Ages. Bernard of Clairvaux felt outraged by Abelard, who found.contradictions in the Fathers and "stared at everything face to face" instead of opening his mouth and shutting his eyes to see what tumbled from the skies. Thomas Aquinas strove to reconcile the science of Aristotle (the only science, he knew) with. the' revelations of Scripture arid the Fathers. Essentially Aquinas was a conservative trying to save feudal society from the flood-waters of criticism, as Aristotle had tried to save slave society. Hence his reverence for the Greek philosopher. • Then came the Renaissance, the ,discovery of the world and of man,, gunpowder, the compass, the printing-press. Bacon in England and Descartes in France rejected ancient tradition and called fOr a direct investigation, of natyre which would inake man- the master of things. Spinoza, living in the comMercial republic of Holland—the contemporary of Huygens the astronomer and.physicist, and Leeuwenhoek the microscopist and .biologist—. was virtually a materialist ; by equating God with nature he practically hbolished God.. Hence his chief works were published only after his death, and he had to wait even longer for. recognition. Far more significant at the time. was Locke's onslaught on effete authority in Church and State, which prepared the way for the frank Materialism of eignteenth century phoosopny and for the American and French Revolutions. The weakness of Descartes, Spinoza and their successors was that, for all their radicalism, they were conservative in their theory of knowledge. They assumed that something called a mind by logical reasoning got at something called a wodd, without showing how this was possible. Locke did not solve the problem by saying that objects impressed themselves on the mind by the'senses ; for how could imprcssions amount to knowledge ? Hence philosophy since their time has had for its principal job the stopping of the gaps in their theory. This has been attempted in two ways. The idealists (Kant, Hegel and their school) cut the knot by denying that there is a knowable world independent of mind. The troubte with this is that it makes nonsense of science and leads logically to solipsism (the paradox that you know only yourself). The materialists (Feuerbach, Marx and so on) take the common sense view which we all assume in daily life, namely that mind is a function of an organism, and hold (reinforced.here by the theory of evolution) that we move our ideas true by the success with which we apply Them in our collective struggle for existence. For the idea, which misled Spencer, that evolution means a war of all against all is a misunder- standing. Living things struggle for survival how they can : and man's way of mutual aid is just as natural as the tiaer's way of tooth and claw. Dr Lewis's last chapters deal with the flight from reason in recient philosophy as represented by James and Bergson ; with the negative criticism of Russell and his followers : and with the progressive, but unduly abstract and crabbed philosophy of Whitehead. Throughout thc book he is a reammte and reliable guide. I have come across only two small errors of detail. Surely it was not the Athenian democracy, but the Thirty Tyrants who ordered Socrates to go and arrest a citizen whom they wanted to put out of the way. And surely Croce should not be blamed for accepting fascism because he was Minister of Public Instruction from 1920 to 1921. Mussolini did not take power till 1922. A. R.

SCIENCE AND SOCIAL ACTION : Josiah Mason Lectures delivered at the Uni-' versity of Birmingham. By W. J. H. Sprott, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Nottingham. Watts and Co., I5s. These lectures, delivered to a learned audience, are theoretical and some- what technical. Professor Sprott raises questions of great interest—for example, the limitations of Freudian theory, due to its data being collected in a patrilineal society in which the father is head of the family ; the nature of rewards and incentives in societies based respectively on kinship, competition and collectivism ; the role of civil servants in administration ; the meaning of "class"; the materialist conception of history ; the influence of ideas the methods open to the social scientist ; the mentality of criminals ; the possibilty of any such generalised social theory as, for example, Marxism, given the limited data for verification or refutation. Professor Sprott is a "field" sociologist of wide experience. In particular he knows something at first hand of the new China—an unusual qualification. It is a pity, therefore, that he does not cultivate a more popular style. When 19 I read that a collectivist society decorates its walls with pictures of "a charismatic and loving leader", I am brought up short. "Charismatic" is not in my dictionary. Then I remember my Greek and conclude that "charismatic" means "gifted". In which case why• not use plain English ? And is anything gained by calling delinquency "deviance"? A. R. HUMANIST THOUGHT AND ACTION The Ethical Union has published a series of pamphlets under this title, and has sent four of them-for notice in the Monthly Record. • ESSENTIALS OF HUMANISM by H. J. Blackham, Is. 3d. Is a comprehensive statement of Humanism. HUMANIST PARENTS AND TEACHERS by Virginia Flemming, Is. 3d. Lady Flemming has gained practical experience, in her own family, on the question of bringing up children in a Humanist household. Her pamphlet is divided into two parts. I. Bringing up children in a Humanist home. 2. Religious and ethical education in our schools. THE HUMANIST GROUP, Is. 3d. - Deals with the creation of a Humanist Group. Group activities. Procedure and officers. Psychology of Groups. THE POLICY AND PROGRAMME OF THE ENGLISH HUMANIST MOVEMENT, 4d. This pamphlet reports what the Executive Committee of the International Humanist and Ethical Union propose as their programme. It gives useful lists of questions about the character of Humanism; about life on Humanist assumptions; usual objections to Humanism. "A Humanist movement should be prepared to answer such questions and to meet such objections." Correspondence To the Editor of the Monthly Record. Dear Sir, From Colonial War to World War • As reported in the Record, Mr. Robertson in his address on June 27 expounded once again the well worn formula for the causes of war-- i-ivalry between powers in their search for markets to dispose of their ex- portable .surpluses, leading to colonial war and thence to world war Whatever justification may be found in history for this interpretation, as applied to conditions today. it simply) is not true. The trade figures for 1953 disclose that, of total U.K. exports of some £2,600 million, about £360 million, say 14 per cent, went to Colonial Territories. Are wc really invited to believe that this proportion is so important that we must seek further conquests? Is it seriously suggested that for the sake of increased dividends, we are-prepared to go buccaneering with the prospect of our total destruction? The thing Is arrant nonsense. Today markets are made not by depressing but by raising living standards. The evidence is under our noses in the notable rise in level in the modern industrial states. Poverty in the underdeveloped countries is due, not so much to exploitation by capitalists, but rather to lack of capital. Whilst it would be quite untrue to say that there is no exploitation of primitive and depressed peoples, the scene-is changing. The improvement of standards in, for example, the Middle East—where the oil companies operate—is a matter of common knowledge. That Mr. Robertson selects his evidence from the nineteenth century and ignores all the changes that have come over Lhe scene must raise in the minds of his readers the suspicion that he is indeed. a progresSive ofi fifty 20 years ago. This is regrettable, for, with so able a mind, he could make a real contribution to clear thinking, if only he could get rid of his obsessions. G. ANDREWS Mr. Robertson writes: "It would be arrant nonsense indeed if I had suggested that the British Government was preparing to seek further conquests. But I suggested no such thing. It does not seem to occur to Mr. Andrews that, when a Great Power has acquired the colonies and spheres of influence, it is faced with the necessity of defending the colonies, etc., so acquired against internal revolution and against rival 'Great Powers. The history of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is not irrelevant to the problems of today. We are reaping what the men of that day sowed, and we forget it at our peril I draw Mr. Andrew's attention to my final paragraph." To the Editor of the Monthly Record.

• Sir, Marriages at Conway Hall 1 cannot altogether agree with your note on the new Marriage Act. I cannot trace that there was any mistake in the drafting of any of the Marriage Acts. However, the administration of the law may have varied, the law itself was the same from 1840 to 1954. The Marriage Act, 1949, which had to be amended by the Act of this year to permit any of your members to get married at Conway Hall, re-enacted provisions of former statutes and this earlier law was the same as that contained in the 1949 Act. This Act was only a consolidating measure. It was section 2 of the Marriage Act, 1840, which authorised marriage to be solemnised out of the district in which the parties dwelt, provided that any party •ntending such marriage declared at the time of giving such notice the religious appellation of the body of Christians to which he pro- fessed to belong. This section was amended by sections 3 and 13 of the Marriage and Registration Act, 1856, but the provision applying it only to Christians was not changed. The Marriage Act, 1949 (Amendment) Act, 1954, therefore, does not put right any drafting error but is a very definite amendment of the law extend- ing the right to marry outside the districts in which the parties dwell, to non-Christians, such as Humanists and Moslems. Some M.P.s were a little uncertain about the proposals but vigorous advocacy of the principles of religious toleration and freedom, not only by Joseph Reeves, M.P., and Arthur Palmer, M.P., but also by James Hudson, M.P., convinced the waverers and the Government. But the result was only achieved by hard work on the part of a number of people and the willing co-operation of the General Register Office. The reform may be a small one but the recognition again by Parliament of the principle of religious freedom is important. As from January 1 next, any member of the South Place Ethical Society, wherever he lives, can be married at Conway Hall. Finally, may I say that I cannot claim any initials except as undersigned. Yours, etc., 'ROBERT S. W. POLLARD

To the Editor of the Monthly Record. Sir, After listening last night.to a talk on Buddhism in the Library of Conway Hall, I came away filled with the thought that here is another "religion"— code of individual behaviour—call it what you will—that, like other religions, 21 not excluding Humanism, does not face up to actualities but provides a convenient psychological escape mechanism. As I listened I pictured the masses of poverty-stricken, wretched, inhabitants of the country from which the speaker came (India : perhaps he would claim that Ceylon is not India !) and wondered hoW on earth Buddhism could solve their fundamentally simple problem : poverty in the midst of plenty. Neither does Buddhism (or Humanism or . . .) solve the twin evil of poverty-in-the-midst-of-plenty, namely, war. The fact is that man—individual man—iS by nature good and his poverty and war are the result of an anachronistic money system. Let us solve that problem first and create the conditions under which every man can "con- template his navel": in other words, stop escaping from the reality of the present situation and supporting the propaganda lie that it is the individual human being that needs changing and not his environment. Bombed sites, it struck me recently, are monuments to those who dictate to others and to the mass of human sheep who are, at present, compelled to obey. Yours faith full y, J. W. LESLIE South Place News Dora Mary Clements Dora Mary Clements died on October 16, aged 89 years. The funeral ceremony which took place at Golders Green Crematorium was taken t,y Mr. J. Hutton Hynd and was much appreciated by the members of the family who were present. During the service the Adagio Cantabile from Beethoven's Sonata Patketique was played on the organ. Mrs. Cements' association with the Society goes back a very long time. Her parents were married by Moncure D. Conway in the U.S.A. some considerable time before Dr. Conway came to London to take up his ministry at the old South Place Chapel. Thus, Mrs. Clements was probably not only the oldest member in age but she also had the longest membership. Her activities in the Society were many and varied. The help she gave to Alfred Clements in the running of the South Place Sunday Chamber Concerts is well known. She also entered wholeheartedly into the social side of the Society's activities such as soirees, dances and perhaps more important still, the famous co-operative holidays held at Easter in the Isle of Wight, and at Whitsuntide in Ashdown Forest. These started some years before the beginning of the century and continued annually for many years after the first .world war. Dora Clements was a good, gracious and generous soul, much beloved by all with whom she came into contact during her long and useful life.

Thursday Evenings On October 7 our esteemed friend George E. O'Dell gave an interesting talk on "A Galaxy of Human Stars". The audience were most appreciative of a fine performance. On October 21, Miss Hilda Hutton and friends entertained with a delightful selection of musical items. Solos and duets were sung by Miss Hutton, R. T. Smith, G. C. Dowman and Miss Aspinall. W. Faulkner (violin) and Victor Thurdin (clarinet) once again gave of their best, which is very good. Miss Hutton accompanied throughout the evening. 22 0n October 28, Mrs. R.,F. Burns entertained, in her inimitable style,lwith a talk on. Portuguese life, and literature,..giving pictures from :her ..own travels in that country. • 'JUNIOR DISCUSSION GROUP :On September 24, Mr. Ian Dixon speaking onA"Pacifism Today"... said that there was ,a need for an international_ code of:moral behaviour but the international code was rapidly getting worse. We now accepted many things as normal against which civilised beings should recoil in horron and disgust. The .pacifist insisted that the individual was responsible, for .his oWn. actions "and should 'therefore refuse to perpetrate injustice". No min has the right to take another's life, this would be unjusi to, the•yictim and to his relations. A man can volunteer his own life if the cause is just. During the discussion it was said that everyone wanted peace but on' whose terms ? Peace was a state of mind., The big test of pacifism would be to see your friends attacked. You Must differentiate betWeen pacifism as a personal action and pacifism as a political ideal. You are not widng if you cannot live up to a principal you believe to be right. The balance of power keeps the peace and apparent weakness leads to aggression.,The' "Social Contract" cannot be evaded, :Mete is no alternative but to ,protect•the State. A pacifist is a working member of Society and he iS ,entitled to rights. History shows that• preParations for wan do not defer 'war and if, the ideal of negotiating from strength fails, preparations for wars should -be refused. Pacifism leads to a standard of life in which the causes,,of wars are removed.

Society's Activities Conway Discussion Circle Meetings in the , Library on Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. December 7—Professor Hyman Levy : "The Challenge of the Atomic Age." „ 14—Royston Pike : "The Faith of an Agnostic."

Junior Discussion Group Meets on Fridays at .7.15 p.m. , • December 3—The Reverend H. R. Moxley, M.A. "Our Responsibility towards Refugees." 10—Miss Yvonne Watts. "Food and .People." 17—Major G. Adcock. "The Evolution of Sex." „ 24—NO Meeting. 31—:No Meeting. Admission Free.

Children's Party In view of last year's success, it has been,decided to hold another children's party on Saturday, January 8; from 3 pin. until 6 p.m. Any suggestions for the entertainment of the children will . be warmly welcomed. There will be games. Parents and guardians who wish to attend are asked to send the numbers of children and adults to Miss R. Halls, Conway Hall, at the earliest opportunity, so that adequate arrangements may be made. 23 The Library, Conway Hall The Librarian will be in attendance on Sunday mornings and Tuesday evenings. Ramble Sunday, December 12. A tour of the City which will include the temple of Mithras. Meet St. Paul's Station 2.30 pm. Leader : Victor Howlett. Dance A dance will be held in Conway Hall on Saturday. December 4. Tickets 3s. (with running buffet) may be obtained from the Hon. Sec., Conway Hall, W.C.I. Life Members Mrs. F. M. Hawkins, 9 Asmuns Hill, N.W.11. Mr. F. V. Hawkins, 9 Asmuns Hill, N.W.11. New Members Miss G. Farnell, 114 Sussex Gardens, London, W.2. Mr. A. H. Goodhew, 49 Temple Fortune Hill, N.W.11. Mr. P. Kay, 8 Greenhill, Wembley Park, Middlesex. Mrs. M. McLachlan, 39 William Street, Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Mr. R. R. Roberts, 8 The Laurels, Palmerston Road, Buckhurst Hill, Essex. Change of Address of Members Miss J. Croll, 33 Shoot-up-Hill, London, N.W.2. Mr. T. A. Rostron, 6 Boothman Place, Nelson, Lancs. Mrs. E. Wyatt, 1 Jesrnond Road, Hove, Sussex. New Associates Miss M. A. Briggs, 25 Beaumont Avenue, St. Albans, Herts. Mr. D. Quarant, 26 Museum Chambers, Bury Place, W.C.I. Change of Address of Associates Mr. C. Davey, 709 Remuera Road, Auckland S.E.2, New Zealand. Mrs. A. Eisner, 5/5 Northwood Hall, N.6. Sunday Social December 19 in the Library at 3 p.m. Mrs. R. S. W. Pollard: "Solving marriage problems."

Thursday Evenings • . In the Library at 7 p.m. December 2—W. Peat: "Holiday pictures in Italy" 9—George E. O'Dell: "New tales first told." I6—G. C. Dowman and friends: Musical evening. Bookstall ARE YOU GIVING BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS? S.P.E.S. Bookstall can obtain -ANY BOOKS published. Book tokens also. accepted. Send your orders early to: The Bookstall, South Place Ethical Society, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, W.C.I.

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