Vol. 61 No. 3 MARCH 1956 Threepence Notes of The
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Alb Vol. 61 No. 3 MARCH 1956 Threepence Notes of the Month Custos Benjamin Franklin S. K. Ratcliffe The Greeks and Evolution W. E. Swinton Marlowe and Shakespeare Archibald Robertson A Warning to Anthologists Professor Sir Ernest Kennaway Conway Discussion Circle Book Reviews South Place News Society's Activities • SOUTH PLACE ETHICAk SOCIETY SUNDAY MORNING MEETINGS AT ELEVEN O'CLOCK March 4—MRS. D. PICKLES, MA., B.S.c.—"Fmnce anal Race Problems in North Africa". Bass Solos by G. C. DOWMAN Still wie die Nacht .. Carl Bohm Si tra i Ceppi Handel Hyinn: No. 81 March 11—Dr. W. E. SWINTON, Ph.D.—"Scventeenth and Eighteenth Century Evolutionists". Violin and Piano Solo by MARGOT MACGIBBON and FREDERIC JACKSON. Sonatina Dvorak Hymn: No. 67 March 18—ARCHIBALD ROBERTSON, M.A.—"Remission of Sins or Righting of Wrongs?" • Piano Solos by FIONA CAMERON Sonata in C Scarlatti Schnnetterling G rice; Malaguena A then iz Hymn: No. 227 March 25—LORD BOYD ORR, D.S.O., M.D., F.R.S.—"The Morals of Power-. Soprano Solos by PAMELA WOOLMORE Hymn: No. 103 (Questions after the lectures) SOUTH PLACE SUNDAY CONCERTS, 65th SEASON Concerts 6.30 p.m. (Doors open 6 p.m.) Admission Is. 6d. March 4—MELOS ENSEMBLE Lennox Berkeley Sextet for String Quartet. Clarinet and Horn. Schubert Octet. March 11—ROBERT MASTERS PIANO QUARTET Mozart in G minor, 1(478; Brahms in A,•Op. 26 Piano Quartets. Beethoven Introduction and Variations in G, Op. 121a Piano Trio. March 18—ALLEGRI STRING QUARTET. CECIL ARONOWITZ. TERENCE WEIL Mozart in G, K387 String Quartet. Schubert in C, Op. 163 Two Cello Quintet. Brahms in G, Op. 36 String Sextet. March 25—AEOLIAN STRING QUARTET. STEPHEN SHINGLES Bartok No. 6 String Quartet, Mozart in D, 1(593; in E flat 1(614 String Quintets. April 1—NO CONCERT Officers Hon. Treasurer: E. J. FAIRIIALL Hon. Registrar: MRS. T. C. LINDSAY F Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, W.C.I Secretary: J. HurroN HYND - The Monthly Record is posted free to Members and Associates. The Annual charge to subscribers is 4s. 6d, Matter for publication in the April issue should reach the Editor, G. C. Dowman, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, W.C.I, by March 10. The --Objects of the Society are the study. and dissemination of ethical principles and the cultivation of a rational religious sentiment. Any person in sympathy with these objects is cordially invited to become a Member (minimum annual subscription is 10s.), or Associate (minimum annual subscription 5s.). Life membership flO 10s. Associates arc not eligible to vote or hold office. Enquiries should be made of the Registrar to whom subscriptions should be paid. • The MONTHLY • RECORD Vol. 61 No. 3 MARCH 1956 Threepence CONTENTS PAGE NOTES OF THE MONTH, C/istos 3 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN„S. K. Ratcliffe.. 5 THE GREEKS AND EVOLUTION,W. E. Swinton.. 7 MARLOWE AND SHAKESPEARE, Archibald Robertson - 9 A WARNING TO ANTHOLOGISTS, Sir Ernest Kennaway CONWAY DISCUSSION CIRCLE 15. BOOK REVIEWS.. 17 SOUTH PLACE NEWS 19 SOCIETY'SACTIVITIES 19 the views expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of the Society. Notes of the Month WE ARE PLEASED TO introduce two distinguished -newcomers as Sunday morning speakers in March: Mrs. Dorothy Pickles, on March 4, and Lord Boyd Orr on March 25: It is hoped that a large audience of members and friends will be present to hear the speakers on each occasion. Mrs. Dorothy Pickles, M.A., B.S.c. (Econ.), writer and broadcaster and lecturer, is on the staff of Morley College, and a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. As an authority on French affairs, she, will discuss "France and Race Problems in North Africa". The race problem has many manifestations, and a knowledge of each may •help us to comprehend the problem as a whole in seeking a solution. Lord Boydd Orr, D.S.O., M.D., F.R.S., as Director-General of the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, with his world-wide experience and his deep personal interest in promoting friendly relations among the peoples of the world, has special qualifications and authority in dealing with the subject of his own choice, "The Morals 3 of Power". Lord Boyd Orr is preparing now to go abroad to take part in conferences on World Government, and to advise Pakistan and India on their agricultural development. As President of the National Peace Council, his address will close the special series which has engaeed the Conway Discussion Circle during the current season. Testing the Bomb The Bishop of Chichester is to be congratulated on his courageous appeal to President Eisenhower and Sir Anthony Eden to pledge themselves to renounce all further tests of the hydrogen bomb even if they are not yet ready for a complete prohibition of nuclear weapons of all types with adequate international safeguards. It is unlikely that much notice will be taken of appeals on moral grounds, but there are surely very good material reasons for postponing the series of tests that are planned for this year. Systematic studies are being made by scientists of the possible harm that may result from increasing the amount of radio-activity in the atmosphere. There are differences of opinion among the experts about the amount of pollution that can be tolerated without genetical damage. This is a question of fact, and a positive answcr should soon be forthcoming. The ethics of atomic warfare are, of course, a matter of individual opinion. But as the Bishop points out, civilised nations are committed to some extent by various international agreements. Thus the Hague Conference of 1907 laid down the principle that -the right of belligerents to choose the means of inflicting damage upon the enemy is not unlimited". Again, the Treaty of Washington, 1922, and the Geneva Protocol, 1925, both forbid the use of poison gas or bacteriological warfare. It is difficult to see how mass extermination can be reconciled with the definition at the Nuremberg Trials in 1945 of crimes against humanity. The prcsent position seems to be that most people give uneasy approval to nuclear weapons provided they are only used in a game of bluff—or what Mr. Dulles has called "the necessary art" of going to the brink of war but.no further. It would be interesting to hear some pronounce- ment on the ethics of bluff. The Curse of Eve Until the nineteenth century the pious belief that women ought to bring forth children "in sorrow" and so share the punishment inflicted on Eve for her dreadful sin in starting the human race was almost universally held. Queen Victoria, to her lasting credit, would have none of this nonsense and demanded chloroform. Since then, public opinion has undergone a whole- some change. Even the Roman Church, despite its fundamentalist attitude to the Bible, no longer holds that childbirth should be as painful as possible. In an address to some 700 gyruecologists, the Pope gave his blessing to the system of psychological preparation advocated in this country by Dr. Grantly Dick Read. He went even further and expressed approval of the technique employed in Russia which is based on the theory of conditioned reflexes worked out by Pavlov. He added the warning, however, that "the ideology of a researcher or scientist is not in itself the truth and value of what he has found and described". Some good, therefore, can come even out of Russia. "In punishing Eve", the Pope said, "God did not wish to forbid nor did He forbid mothers to make use of means which render childbirth less painful." Nevertheless, anwsthetics are treated with reserve and hypnotism is not permitted. Moreover, pregnancy must not be prematurely terminated in order to save the mother's life. However, it is something that a gleam of common sense should penetrate the dark and ancient windows of the Vatican. 4 International Humanist and Ethical Union The proceedings of the LII.E.U. regional conference at Antwerp, August 27-31, 1955, have been published. Among those who made contributions to the conference were Mr. Joseph Reeves, Chairman of the Rationalist Press Association, who gave informa- tion about the R.P.A. and Ethical Societies in England. But was he altogether correct in saying that the first Ethical Society was born almost at the same time as the Fabian Society? Mr. H. J. Blackham spoke on philosophical questions, and with Mr. J. H. Lloyd joined in discussions. Copies of this report may be ordered from the Administration of I.H.E.U., Bleyenburg-straat I, Utrecht, at the price of Hf1.1,50, or 3s., or 40 cents, or equivalent currency, post free. ' Religious Television Alan Taylor, writing in the Daily Herald on January 11, calls attention to the decision of commercial television to give religious services on a Sunday evening. In order to be fair, a committee of three has been set up consisting of a Roman Catholic, an Anglican, and a Non-Conformist. But, writes Mr. Taylor, is this fair? The Christian religion is the religion of only a minority of the people of this country. "Is it right that the repre- sentatives of this ageing minority should monopolise Sunday evenings?" He thinks that to be really fair, ought we not to "follow every Christian preacher with a Rationalist, Freethinker, Atheist or whatever you like to call .him?" Clements Memorial Prize 1955 There were eighteen entries for the annual chamber music competition but the adjudicators, John Addison, Arthur Benjamin and Geoffrey Bush made no award. Honourable mention was given to H. J.