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Vol. 56 No. 5 MAY 1951 Threepence

Notes of the Month

A Bible for Bloomsbury

Makings of the Mature Man

Collective Security

Easter—Fixed or Moveable

Book Reviews

South Place News

S. K. Ratcliffe

Ritchie Calder

Professor G. W. Keeton

Archibald Rohertson

Correspondence

Society's Activities

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SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETYSUNDAY MORNING MEETINGS AT ELEVEN O'CLOCK

May 6.—PROEESSOR T. H. PEAR, M.A., B.Sc.—"ffocial Psychology Today"

Duets by GWEN EMBLEY and G. C. DOWMANEarly une morning arr. Martin ShawNow is the Month of Maying arr. S. Liddle

Hymn No. 22

May 13.—Whitsun—No Meeting.

May 20.—PROEESSOR BARBARA WOOTTON, M.A.—"Constructive Unbelief"

Bass Solos. by G. C. DOWMAN:In the wonderful month of May Schur:Mu:7

SchubertLoveliest of Trees .. Sonzervell

Hymn: No. 147

May 27.—PROEESSOR G. W. KEETON, M.A., LL.D.—"Disarmament"

Piano Solos by ELLA INIMEY :Passepied DelibesToccata Chaminade

Hymn: No. 30

QUESTIONS AFTER THE LECTURES

Pianist: ELLA IVIMEY. Admission Free. Collection.

SOUTH PLACE SUNDAY CONCERTS.61st SEASON (1951-1952) will open on Sunday, October 7, 1951.

Annual General MeetingThis will be held on Wednesday, May 30, at 7 p.m. (There will be a

social gathering at 6 p.m., at which light refresffinents Will be provided.)The attention of members is directed to Rule 4, which states: "Thosemembers who are tstienty-one years of age or upwards, whose names havebeen stwelve months upon the register, and whose subscriptions for theprevious year have been paid, shall be qualified to vote and hold.office."The Annual Report should reach members by May 22.

' The Objects .of the Society are the study and dissemination of ethical principlesand 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.).Associates are not eligible to vote or hold office. Enquiries should be made of theRegistrar to whom subscriptions should be paid.

The Monthly Record is posted free to Members and Associates. The Annual charge

to subscribers is 4s. Matter for publication in the 'June issue should reach the Editor.G. C. DOWMAN, Conway Hall. Red. Lion Square. W.C.L. by May 10.

Officers

lion. Treasurer: E. J. FAIRHALL

Hon. Registrar: Mrs. T. C. LINDSAY Conway Hall, Red Lion.Square. W.C.1Secretary: HECTOR HAWTON

• TheMONTHLY

RECORDvol. 56 Nor 5 MAY 1951 Threepenrce

C N.T E NTS' •

NOTES OF THE MONTH. ..

A BIBLE FOR BLOOMSBURY, S. K. Ratcliffe ..

MAIZINGS OF THE MATURE MAN, Ritchie Calder ..

COLLECTIVE SECURITY, Professor G..131. Keeton ..

EASTER—FIXED OR MOVEABLE, Archibald Robertson

CORRESPONDENCE

BOOK REVIEWS

SOUTH PLACE NEWS

SOCETY'S ACT] V IT IES .

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PAGE

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The views expressed hj this journal nre not necessarily thoseof the Soc.

Notes of the MonthThe Black International

The unscrupulous methods employed in the United States to prevent PaulBlanshard's Freedom and Catholic Power from reaching the large publicit ultimately found have not been copied by English Catholics. Only sevendaily newspapers reviewed it in America, and The New York Times refusedto advertise it. The bitter campaign defeated its own ends by forcing intothe news a book which, excellent though it is, might otherwise have attractedlittle attention. Blanshard's case is stated with moderation and fullydocumented by quotations from Catholic authorities. He shows—as therecent suppression' of two •films well illustrates—that the Roman CatholicChurch demands liberty for itself in order to deny liberty to others. TheChurch is not satisfied to legislate for its members in such matters as divorce,contraceptives, prophylactics and life-saving abortion; it uses its enormouslygrowing power to obstruct progressive measures that are desired by a lessorganised majority; and wherever possible to trim the popular teaching ofscience and history to the requirements of its own orthodoxy. Publishersand broadcasters arc finding it -increasingly hard to resist such relentlesspressure. The losses incurred im Europe are being compensated for in theUnited States, and the expansion is on a scale that has already had inter-

0 3

national as well as purely national repercussions. Such iMperiu m in itnperiochallenges the very basis of the free democratic world that it pretends todefend.

Sermons from StonesIt would be very easy to draw a wrong conclusion from the strange affair

of the Coronation Stone. Of course it reads like a Stevensonian fantasy;and of course it seems nonsense, to a Rationalist, to attach importance to achunk of rock. But even the Logieal Positivists—remembering HumptyDumpty perhaps—have had to distinguish between "nonsense" and "im-portant nonsense". We cannot wholly divest ourselves of the legacy oftotemism without ceasing to be human. As Whitehead once pointed out,social stability is maintained by the power of symbols to evoke concertedaction. The common symbolism of a society can only be destroyed byrevolution; and the revolutionaries do not get rid of symbolism, they merelychange the symbols. It is,no use laughing superiorly at the way the mindworks. The Stone of Scone, by a familiar psychological process, has enabledsentiments and grievances in Scotland to be brought to a sharp focus. Ourexperience of the tremendous operative power of symbols—the swastika,the hammer and sickle, etc.—should warn us against the dangeroussuperficiality of a purely intellectualist approach. The Coronation Stonemust therefore be classed as "important nonsense". The function ofReason is to understand Unreason, not try to think it away or hush-up thetruth about human nature, as the Pythagoreans once sought to cbnceal theawful discovery of incommensurables.

Mondity and the NovelMiss Marjorie Bowen may be a little surprised to learn that an early

passion for her historical novels—notably The Viper of Milan—set Mr.Graham Greene on the path of authorship. He makes this confession inart autobiographical sketch in his latest book, The Lost Childhood, whichis worth studying because of the light it sheds on a fallacy so assiduouslypropagated by Catholic intellectuals that many outside the fold are beginningto accept it as the truth. By far the best propaganda that the Church ofRome can offer to novelists is the argument that nowadays to be a goodnovelist one must first be a Catholic—and to point to Graham Greene,Evelyn Waugh, Mauriac and others as examples. The argument is thatscientific humanism has destroyed the traditional distinction between rightand wrong; consequently the conflict between good and evil, which is themainspring of a dramatic situation, becomes meaningless. But the argumentis a very poor one because it leaves unexplained the patent fact that non-Catholics have written greater novels than either Graham Greene or EvelynWaugh, and that moral conflict is no monopoly of Christianity, still lessof a particular version of it. Neither Meredith, Hardy nor George Eliotneeded a theological sense of "sin" to heighten their dramatic effects. Theaim of Greek tragedy was to purge the soul by arousing pity and terror;and although we have depersonalised Fate, the tension remains betweenthe blind forces of nature and history, and the individual who understandswhat he nevertheless cannot wholly control—between the greatness and themisery of man.

Theology ha the ThirdIt is probably true that there is as much interest today as during the nine-

teenth century in religion as a topic, but certainly the same cannot be saidof theology. Any radio series on science or on social philosophy bringsa good response in the shape of letters to the Listener, whereas the recent

4

talks in the Third Programme on current movements in theology went with- .out discussion. There is nothing at all surprising in this, for the broad-casting as a whole was below standard. Professor Ian Henderson, ofGlasgow University, was down to speak on the influence of Karl Barth.He kept far from the subject and dealt obscurely with certain of Barth'scritics, bearing names that mean nothing to nine listeners in ten. Incidentallyhe made the quaint remark that Barth broke with Calvin•when he saw thatCalvin's major doctrine was "founded upon a hidden decree of God apartfrom Christ"! Dr. Nathaniel Micklem, one of the most reasonable ofFree-Churchmen, made the mistake of cramming into fifteen minutes astatement upon two unrelated themes, Thomas Aquinas and the revival ofliturgical practices. All changes in religious thought are matters ofperennial interest; but what, from any point of view, is the worth of suchstuff as this?

A Bible for BloomsburyB Y

S . K. RATCLIFFE

No PUBLIC servant of his timc had a career more notable for variety andsuccess than that of John Maynard Keynes (his peerage can easily be over-looked). He was no less important in Whitehall than in Cambridge. Hiseminence in finance and economics was recognised at an early stage. TheFirst World War provided him with opportunities such as fell to the lotof no other man whose training had been wholly academic. He was onthe inside of the Paris Conference in 1919. The Economic Consequencesof the Peace was, apart from the memoirs of the chief actors, the onlybook about Versailles that impressed the world. His services in Washingtonafter the Second World War gave him a pivotal position in Anglo-Americanrelations.. Keynes, moreover, was a most challenging personality, the Centreof a group of friends whose varied gifts made them important in theintellectual history of England during some thirty years. In his massivebiography Mr. Harrod deals fully with his hero's friendships; and forreaders of The Monthly Record there is a particular interest in thosechapters because they refer to happenings within a short radius of ConwayHall.

Keynes's personal life was divided between .King's College, Cambridge,and the squares of Bloomsbury. His powers of mind were extraordinary.It would be difficult to name a contemporary who equalled him in rangeand vitality. Hence the influences that determined his thought and workare of special interest. In the early life of a man destined to fame,nothing is more usual than ,the positive start for which he is indebted toa teacher or a book. In the case of J. M. Keynes the impetus came froma Cambridge lecturer in philosophy and one small volume of ethical studies.Keynes entered King's College in 1902: In the following year G. E. Moore,afterwards professor of philosophy, published Principia Ethica, becomingthereby—doubtless to his own great surprise—the leader of a school andeven, according to his chief disciple, a reVolutionary influence. Never wasa mental bombshell hidden in gentler guise. Keynes, whose estimate ofthe book never changed, found that it was quite unknown to the youngergeneration thirty years later. Its author explained that his aim had beento write the introduction for "any future Ethics that can possibly pretend tobe scientific". He was, of course, largely concerned with the idea of Good,which, he held, "denotes one unique simple object of thought amonginnumerable others", and he played ingeniously with the question whether

5

it could be defined. Principia Eihica has only six chapters, one ofwhich is on Ethics in relation to Conduct. (Here the query may be heard:What other relation belongs to Ethics?) The present-day reader, accOm-panying Professor Moore along his scrupulous path, will probably feel thatit was quite appropriate for a lecturer who was long .knoWn by his habitof writing on the blackboard before his small class. But let us see whatKeynes made of him.

The story is vivaciously told in Two Memoirs, a little book that. couldnot have come from any other pen. For the young Keynes and his Cam-bridge friends, we are informed, the effect of Principia Ethica was morethan exhilarating; it was overwhelming. Moore ousted all other influencesof the day, and was so powerful as to overlay .the extremely differentcharacters of the group. No two of them were alike. Keynes says thathe himself was a nonconformist, while Lytton Strachey was a Voltaireaq,Leonard Woolf a rabbi, E. M. Forster an elusive creature, Clive Bell agay and amiable dog.

Keynes admits that they contrived to'get from MoMe something that wasdifferent from what he had to offer. That is plain enough, since theirteacher was "a puritan and precisian". It was assumed that in his ethicaltheory he had disposed of Bentham and Mill, as also he had corrected andsupplemented Henry Sidgwick, his senior in Cambridge philosophy. Theyoung disciples, says Keynes, accepted his religion but discarded hiS morals;or rather, they inferred that the religion made morals unnecessary.• By!religion he meant "one's attitude to oneself and the ultimate". ' What,'then, was their idea of this new revelation?

Its basis was "the principle of organic unity". Nothing mattered but"States of mind", the ideal state of mind was contemplation and impas-sioned communion, the objects being "a beloved person, beauty, andtruth". The aim was "the creation and enjoyment of aesthetic experienceand the pursuit of knowledge". Love came "a long way first"; and tobegin with, under Moore's influence it was "on the whole, austere andplatonic". Life should be lived entirely in present experience. There needbe no thought of consequences. "Social action as an end in itself", haddropped out of their ideal, which was altogether unworldly, without thoughtof .wealth or success, and was hostile to tradition and convention. Theywere given over to an "unsurpassable individualism"; and they were solemn,for Keynes recalls one terrible evening when he and another "asserted thatthere could not be anything wrong in being cheerful!" Looking back overa long road, he was still able to write that "this religion seems good, nearerthe truth than any other that I know", and suggesting "a purer, sweeterair by far than Freud-cum-Marx". Yet one may well ask whether thetenets, as thus summarised, comprise anything of importance that was notimplied in the famous epilogue to the Renaissance Studies that Walter Paterfound it prudent to withdraw. . But King's and Trinity would notacknowledge Pater.

The group repudiated all personal obligation to obey general rules.This freedom they announced aggressively, for they were, "in the strictsense, immoralists", and accordingly the strangest possible product ofPrMcipia Ethica. Keynes in due time came to look upon their attitude inthis respect as a Russian characteristic; certainly, says he, it is not English.After the company of friends had become associated with Bloomsbury, theirwords and ways gave rise to "a pervasive suspicion", which, he, observes,was not without justification. Some years earlier than this, however, it isindicated that they had thrown off the juvenile notion that "states of mind"and organic unity could .be divorced from the actualities of thought andaction. Keynes at any !rate realised that "certain powerful and valuable6

springs of feeling" had been omitted from their conception; and as theymoved towards the catastrophe of 1914 they were enabled to see "thethinness and superficiality, as well as the falseness" of their earlier viewof man's heart. Keynes was somewhat amused to recall that when D. 1-I.Lawrence- was introduced to Bertrand Russell and several other membersof the circle in Cambridge, he was infuriated by their talk and declared thatthey were "done for". That curt judgment, Keynes felt, was not withoutsome truth. -, When we conSider all this in the light of Keynes's career, and especially

against the background of his arduous labours and devotion to the publicservice, we may.be pardoned for thinking that we could hardly find any-

. where in the modern age a more startling contradiction betWeen the workof a great man and the philosophy that he himself believed to be the basisof his conscious life. To find delight in the experience of the hour, withoutthought of consequences or social duty and in freedom from all care asregards.the morrow—what has any such view of life to do with the mindand work of a John Maynard Keynes?

The Bloomsbury set has been described by a number of outside writers,not one of whom, naturallv, has anything to say about Principia Elhica.The latest •of these is Stepben Spender who in his autobiography, World

Within World, expresses the view that "this was the most constructive andcreative influence on English taste between the two wars". He notes thatthe group was largely a product of King's College and yet has no morethan a.bare mention of Keynes. The fact is that Stephen Spender was not inthe least interested in Keynes's thought or his personality, but found con-tinual delight in the conversation of Virginia Woolf and in her odd littleways. He wondered, for instance, why she should like to talk about theroyal family, to the extent of being tedious.

Makings of the Mature ManII Y

RITCHIE CALDER, C.B.E.

THE CRISIS in world affairs is due to the scarcity of mature men. TheUnited Nations as a conception assumes a maturity in human wisdom andwas based on the assumption that mature men existed; but the pettiness ofmen, as well as of nations, has corrupted its councils.

Dr. Brock Chisholm, Director-General of the World Health Organisation,has expressed strong views on the calibre of the delegates who are appointedby countries to represent them at international conferences. "We do notelect a pilot to fly us across the Atlantic", he has said. "We insist uponqualifications, training and technical knowledge. Yet we place our livesand the lives of millions and hundreds of millions in the hands-of delegateswho have not the training or knowledge of the affairs in which they aresupposed to deal. In terms of present needs of the world, they are notonly untrained but immature."

And he has defined what he means by maturity. It is not just a matteror community—a wise man who understood his neighbours. A hundredand fifty years ago, when time and distance were different, a person couldbe mature in isolation. He could be a mature man in relation to his parishor his community—a wise man who understood his neighbours. A hundredyears ago he could be mature in terms of his country. Patriotism, then,

7

might have been enough. Today a mature person must recognise that timeand distance have become so restricted' that we are all close neighbours onone small planet; he must be capable of living in harmony with all kindsof people everywhere. A mature person must be able to think two genera-tions ahead of his time; to assume goodness in the intentions of others untilhe discovers evil and even then to be tolerant; and to have an un-differentiated loyalty to the whole human race. The last is a new demandon maturity because in the past people could have this kind of loyalty totheir family, their community, their nation, or their cultural or religiousgroup without extending it to the rest of the world without discriminationof race, colour or religious and political beliefs.

What are the makings, and the means of making, a mature man? Whataro the basic essentials? A useful approach is to test ourselves for maturityand see how far we, as ordinary individuals, fall short of it.

How far do you think and act, in whatever walk of life you may be, interms of two generations ahead? In general- terms, that is, not just ofdoing well by your children or your grandchildren, but of humanity in.general. How far do you go in accepting something outside the Anglo-Saxon way of life? How much do you recognise and accept the validityof other cultural patterns, other philosophies and other religions? This isimportant because there is a great genuine impulse in many people—andexpressed in things like "Technical Aid" and "Point Fouf'which wantsto help the so-called backward peoples by giving them the advantages ofour modern material civilisation, complete with plumbing and vacuumcleaners. We know'what is good for them and they will damned well take

it and like it. Yet they may want to achieve their own better way of life,with our help, but in their own way.

How far do you express "democracy" in the idiom of Western Pai.lia-mentary Democracy and forget that true democracy may have the inflectionsof other cultural patterns? How tolerant are you? Tolerance is one ofthe greatest virtues. It is the essence of the Christian ethic and the true"charity" which is expressed in Islam, in Buddhism, in Confucius. Weshould be intolerant only of intolerance.

Maturity is the sublimation of reason from knowledge into wisdom.Learning is not wisdom. Expertise is not wisdom. The pedant may notbe wise. The scientist may not be wise. Maturity is more often a realisa-tion not of what you know but what you don't know, or having acquiredknowledge, of recognising it for what it is worth.

Rationalism can be as dogmatic as any religion—and as intolerant.Natural science is in &crisis rationalism, but at the end of the nineteenthcentury natural science was dogmatic. Laws were laws and not hypotheses.Scientists believed not only that science could find all the answers, but- thatit had found them—at least to read some of the scientific pronouncementsyou would think so.

Although, on their own limited subjects, some scientists may tend to bedogmatic, I think that true twentieth-century science is essentially humble.You can argue that eyen from the atom itself, or fi-om the reactions to theLysenko controversy. Claude Bernard, the great. French physiologist, said:"Science increases our power as it lessens our pride." Or as Oliver WendellHolmes put it: "Science is the topography of ignorance."

Put it another way, a scientist today would be likely to accept the state-ment -"Science is proof without certainty—belief is certainty without proof",or as Virchow said: -Humanism has only one formula for things unknow-able—I do not know."

It is because science is a great liberaliser that it is so tragic that naturalscience has been divorced from the humanities. And that brings one to

8

an essential element of the mature man. No man can be mature today whodoes not understand the scientific method, has not learned to subordinatethe.subjective to the objective, to rely on facts and not on prejudices. Thatdoes not mean that he should not have prejudices—who does not?,–but thathe should be conscious of these prejudices and allow for them as variablesin any equation of the facts.

A second essential is that any man who pretends to be mature shouldrealise the implications' of science. The two major problems today,inexorably bound up with the issues of peace and war, are the atom and theworld food shortage, coupled with the multiplying population. Both arescientific problem's. Yet a politician or a statesman can get up and boast—yes, boast—that he knows nothing about science and then go off andlegislate for- the atomic bomb or launch a ground-nut scheme. Or takethe benevolent contributions of science—the miracle drugs, control of infec-tious disease, prevention of malaria, etc. Every life saved is another mouthto be fed, \ but schemes to feed these mouths do not march together withthe means of saving lives. Statesmen and generals play around with warswithout really understanding either the implications of the atomic bomb orof biological warfare.-:So everyone must understand the implications of science. Yet in our

schools and universities, science and the humanities arc divorced. ModernGreats is still the major qualification for those who reach the higher levelsof the civil service. Political economics is still a qualification for ministers.Yet political science and economic science have no content of naturalscience or even of scientific method. Economists have no knowledge of theadvances which are making nonsense of their economics.

A mature man must have a sympathy for, if not an intimate knowledge of,peoples and cultures outside his range of experience. He must have a graspof the forces and patterns of history. He must know something of geo-graphy so that he does not refer to Czechoslovakia as a distant country ofwhich we know little, or whatever it was Chamberlain said. He must thinktwice before he applies labels to movements which are the inexorable forcesof self-expression. He must not impose his cultural patterns on otherswhose culture is as surely based as his own, and which, in any event, is thepsychological formative of the communities with which he is pretending todeal. He must not believe, in his arrogance, that his way of lifc is a wayof life to which others must necessarily aspire. He must not think thathis ideas—for instance, of democracy—must necessarily be the form thatdcmocracy may take elsewhere. Western parliamentary democracy is sup-posed to date back to Simon de Montfort. In fact it is only a generationold—in terms of universal franchise—even in the country which nurturedit. Or take the-"Libertd, Egalite, Fraternite" of the French Revolution: howfar has democracy proved itself as a stable mechanism in France, with its.experimental Republics? How can you transplant American democracy, thatcomplicated system of checks and balances? In short, democracy is anorganic growth which can only spring from the soil in which it is to grow.It is an indigenous not an exotic plant. The mature man must not be aknow - all who thinks he knows exactly what is the right thing for thosewhom he wants to, help. He may; but those whom he wants to help mustthink that they know what help they need. Paternalism, like charity, canonly provoke ingratitude. He must have some knowledge of the graces oflife, music, poetry and the like, but he must appreciate that others havedifferent appreciations. And he must know something of the processes whichare revolutionising his world in the form of scientific advances. I say knowbut as I said before, knowledge is not necessarily wisdom. And wisdorn, Imaintain, is the tolerance that is added to knowledge.

(Summary of an address delivered on February 11)

Collective SecurityBY

- .PROFESSOR G. W. KEETON, M.A., LL.D.

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY consists of a number of sovereign States, not in thelast resort-answerable to any superior organisation. Each State pursues itsown policies, to gain those ends considered to be in the best interests of itscitizens. Many of these interests necessarily conflict: for some States haveraw materials which others lack, and some have large areas of land, whilstothers are only of small dimensions. The, achievement of their policies isgained by sovereign States by the exertion of power, in a greater or a lesserdegree. Objectives may be achieved by negotiation, by diplomatic pressure,by agreement, by arbitration, and ultimately, if sufficiently important, bywar. An illustration of such pressure is shown in the present controversybetween Britain the Argentine over the question of meat. This has somevery useful lessons for us, for it shows theft are many disputes of importancewhich can be settled by peaceful negotiation.

How does this compare with the conduct of affairs within a State? Hereagain, disputes arc settled by the exercise of power (e.g. a strike), but thepower always operates within a framework of law; otherwise either it issuppressed, or the dispute degenerates to civil disorder or revolution.

Within a State, therefore, law controls the exercise of force. Of course,in the international scene there is international law, but it lacks the neces-sary compulsive force. Therc is no international compulsive machinery,even when a verdict has been given on a dispute in the International Court.For instance, Albania has not yet satisfied the judgment against her, givenby the International Court of Justice some time ago. Moreover, Statesthemselves are the interpreters of international law, and they are not com-pelled to resort to any tribunal except in a very limited class of cases. ;AnyMatter of importance to the State's welfare is non-justiciable. If a StateSuffers a serious international wrong from a great Power, it can seek redreas,but if it fails, it must accept the situation or go to war. Hence in inter-national affairs force, not law, is the over-riding factor. A State must•protect,and where possible; extend its interests against possible opponents. .Consequently, the international society is unstable and perilous. ;

In the nineteenth century, it was hoped that as States became more demo-cratic they would live together peaceably; but the reverse has been the case,for the force of popular opinion behind a State in an international disputeis a very powerful aggravating factor. As wars have become steadily moredestructive, the urge for security among the common people has; become

• stronger, but at the same time the ideological cleavages between Stateshave become deeper. It has become clear that only super-state machinerycan control inter-state disorder.

Modern history is full of such experiments on a partial scale, successfuland unsuccessful. The successful ones have extended areas of security. Theyinclude the United States of America, the U.S.S.R., Canada, Australia, SouthAfrica, Switzerland and Germany, which in the nineteenth century com-prised several distinct countries. Examination of the experiments shows thatconfederation has been uniformly unsuccessful, whilst federation has beenuniformly successful. Confederations, however, have frequently •been half-way houses to full federation, in the cases, for instance, of the United 'Statesand the Gernian Empire. Federation has often been stimulated by anexternal threat, and the necessity for a completely united front to meet it.

After the First World War, there was an urgent desire to .establish aworld-wide security system, which resulted in the creation of the League of

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Nations—a clear example of confederation. Whether the units of thiscOnfederation became more closely linked, or whether the confederation dis-solved, depended on whether it could guarantee collective security. Historyshows that it failed to do so. The main landmarks were Corfu, 1923,Manchuria, 1931; Abyssinia, 1935; China, 1937; Austria and Czechoslovakia,1938: In each of these crises, the major States failed to respond to thechallenge, and the episodes therefore formed a continuous series leading tothe Collapse of the confederation.- The United Nations Organisation is again a confederation, but this timewith more emphasis on the major Powers. It shows the weaknesses:of suchan organisation; for instance in the paralysing effect of the Veto and in the ,primitive nature of its coercive organs. Once again, there has been a'-elearchallenge to an international confederation, in the crisis over Korea. :Thishas been met, but the settlement has been delayed by the action of a secondaggressor, China. In face of the challenge offered by so large a State, theUnited Nations has been hesitating, in an effort to avoid spreading/the war.This is a recurrent problem-in all efforts to build an effective and world-wide organisation to restrain aggressors.

The United Nations must either go forward or back. The:issue raisesthe root problem of all collective organisations—whether it is prepared toput down any challenge to any State's security, or whether a threat from apowerful lawbreaker will be allowed to go unredressed. To meet the chal-lenge raises the possibility that war may come sooner than it otherwisewould,.but there can be no real peace until this problem has been solved.The issue in the United Nations Organisation is that there'are two 'groupsof,States with contradictory policies, and both are extending their securityareas by common defence and foreign policy.

Within a State, collective security has been -achieved by the suppressionof those who sought to stand above the law, as for instance: a powerfulbaronage, or Crown, and it will only be when a similar position has beer)achieved in international society, that peace will be secure.

(Summary of an address delivered on March 11)

Easter—Fixed or MoveableB

AR.CHIBALD ROBERTSON, M.A.

THOSE OF us who were brought up in the Church of England probablyremember our early years whiling away dull sermons by turning over thetables for finding Easter which are prefixed to the book of- Common Prayer.Many of us must have wondered why the anniversary of what is alleged to bethe most important event in the history of the world could not be kept ona fiked date. The fact that it is not so kept has provided valuable ammuni-tion for those who declare the Gospel story to be wholly mythical.

There is no evidence that the first Christians kept Easter ,at all. It isnowhere mentioned in the New Testament ("Easter" in Acts xii, 4, is:a mis-translation, rightly corrected to "Passover" in the Revised Version)-nor inany record earlier than the second half of the second century. The PaulineEpistles, usually considered-to contain the earliest Christian writings, regardthc observance of "days, and months, and seasons, and years" as a weaknessto be indulged but not approved. The only specifically Christian festivalmentioned in the first age of the Church is Sunday; and the references to itin the -New Testament are so slight that we may doubt whether it wasuniversally kept. Once in the Epistles and once in the Acts we read-of the"first day of the week" as a day observed by Pauline congregations.- In the

Apocalypse we read of "the Lord's day" as that on which the seer receivedhis revelation. There is no other mention of Sunday in the New Testament.Outside of it we read in Barnahas (a writing difficult to date, but fairlyearly) that Christians kept the "eight day" (sic) as that of the Resurrectionand Ascension. This is the earliest mention of the reason for keeping Sun-day. Justin (about 150) goes into more detail. Sunday is the day of Christianworship, firstly, because God on that day began the creation of the world,and secondly, because Jesus on that day rose from the dead. But allthese references are to a weekly Sunday, not to a yearly Easter. We donot begin to hear of Easter until the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161-180)when we read of a dispute between the Roman and Asiatic churches as tothe date on which it should be kept. This looks as if it had only recentlybegun to be kept at all. From that time onward the date of Easter was asubject of acute differences among Christians.

These facts are incompatible with the view that Easter was the anniversaryof an event whose date was known. If the first Christians had wanted tokeep the anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus, they wouldhave kept the dates on which they believed those events to have occurred.The fact that they did not do so, that no attempt was made to do so untilthe second century, and that then the dates disagreed, is inexplicable onlyon. one of two suppositions. Either the first Christians did not know thedate, or they did not want to keep it. Either hypothesis is almost equallyextraordinary. If the date was unknown, it is difficult to believe in thehistorichl basis of the story. If the first Christians did not want to keepit, their Christianity was very different from what subsequently passed underthat name.

There is evidence pointing to both these conclusions. As mythicists arenever tired of pointing out, in the Pauline Epistles the crucifixion and'resurrection are not localised or dated. They do not belong to the biographyof a teacher, but to a mystery religion taught by Paul on the strength ofa revelation independent of human testimony. Consequently there is noquestion of an anniversary. Only in the Gospels is the story brought downto earth and given a date, and then but vaguely. Not one of the Gospelsspecifies the year of the crucifixion. The three Synoptics date it on the dayafter the Passover, the Fourth Gospel on the day of the Passover. Plainlythe Evangelists did not know the date, but invented it for doctrinal reasons—the Synoptics to identify the Eucharist with the Passover, the FourthEvangelist to identify Jesus himself with the paschal lamb. The Passoverwas an old spring festival; but as the Jewish calendar was lunar, it wasalways kept on a full moon. -

But we have reason to believe that some Christians had another groundfor not keeping the anniversary. In certain extant Christian writings thedeath of Jesus has so little doctrinal importance that it is not even mentioned.The canonical Epistle of James, for example, nowhere rcfers to the crucifixionor resurrection. The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles refers to Jesus as 'the "servant" of God, but not to his death or reappearance, only to hisfuture advent "on the clouds of heaven." Hermas refers to his "labours'and toils", but not to his death or resurrection. Only one conclusion ispossible from the silence of these writers. There was a school of earlyChristians who did not accept Paul's doctrine of the saving death of Jesusand therefore did not want to commemorate it. There was no reason whyChristians of this school should celebrate the anniversary; so they madeno attempt to do so.

These two reasons between them account for the absence of any traceof Easter before the middle of the second century. On the orthodox theorythat the redemption of mankind took place on a known date this absenceis inexplicable.

12

It is very curious that the earliest known commemoration of the Resurrec-tion should have been, not on a particular day of the year, but on a particularday of the week. No other case exists, so far as I know, of an allegedhistorical event being celebrated weekly. Sunday, however, as its nameindicates, was a pagan day before it was Christianised. Of all pagan cultssun-Worship was the least repugnant to the more enlightened minds of an-tiquity. Among the Jews the Essenes, as Josephus tells us, offered a formof prayer before sunrise, "as if they made a supplication for its rising".Now the first Christians in many respects closely resembled and were prob-ably closely connected with the Essenes. The sun'X day would naturallybe taken over and made the Lord's day, especially when Christianity spreadin pagan countries where sun-Worship was popular. As Loisy puts it, "theday of the sun was not consecrated to Jesus because the Christ rose on thatday, but because it was the fitting day for his resurrection-.

When in the second century a yearly Easter came to be celebrated, thereal date (if there was a real date) had long been forgotten. In the heatedcontroversy which arose late in that century Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus,stood out for keeping Easter on a fixed date, viz. the Jewish Passover. Onthe assumption that the Gospels were historical, this was not unreasonable.But Victor, bishop of Rome; insisted on a Sunday and excommunicated theAsiatics. It is easy to see why. The Western churches were less interestedin historical exactitude than in the conversion of the pagan world. Fromthis point of view nothing was to be gained by tying up Easter with aJewish festival, and everything by linking it with a day already honouredby pagans. At the time Victor was persuaded by the more tolerant lrenaeusto withdraw his excommunication, and the variety of practice was continuedfor over a century. Finally, after the establishment of Christianity, theCouncil of Nicaea laid down the rules for finding Easter which are still inforce. Under those:rules Easter falls on the Sunday immediately followingthe full moon which occurs on or next after March 21, the date of thevernal equinox—a compromise between lunar and solar reckoning.

A further complication arose' from the bishops' insufficient knowledge ofastronomy. The calculation of the full moon depends on an exact know-ledge of the length of the lunaemonth, which is 29.53059 days. The Councilof Nicaea could not be expected to know this. The result was that forcenturies after the Council, an element of "hit and miss- entered into thecalculation of Easter, with consequent variation in different countries. ,Inthe time of Augustine, and later, there was a difference of a meek between'the calculations of Rome and Alexandria. Moreover, down to the sixthcentury some Western churches, in their zeal to appropriate pagan festivals,defied Nicaea and kept Easter on the vernal equinox—the traditional dateof the resurrection of Attis.

Uniformity was eventually obtained by basing the calculation not on thereal moon in the heavens, but on an imaginary."ecclesiastical moon" whichexecutes its lunations in alternate months of twenty-nine and thirty days,with a few adjustments to make the phases of this imaginary moon fall onthe same dates every nineteen years. The phases of this fictitious, but con-venient, body may differ from those of the real moon by as much as twodays, but at least they enable Easter to be calculated without puttingecclesiastics to the necessity of using decimals.

So the matter now stands The inconvenience of regulating a springholiday, which everybody wants, by the phases of the moon, and animaginary moon at that, is obvious. Most of us would welcome a fixedEaster. In 1928 Parliament passed a bill providing that, subject to the con-currence of the various Christian churches, Easter should in future be kepton the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April. This would fixEaster within a few days. But ecclesiastical consent has not been given and

13

is not likely to be given. For the Church of Rorthe, or her apes in otherchurches, to agree to this would be tantamount to an admission that theCouncil of Nicaea was not inspired by the Holy Ghost. Which isimpossible.

(Summary of an address delivered on April 8) '

CorrespondenceTo the Editor of The Monthly Record.

DRAR SIR—Reading the report of the Junior Debating Group—"Is HumanLife Sacred?"—the statement occurs that "only force could, be the finalarbitrator". I cannot but strongly disagree with this view. Human life,being the highest form of life on this planet, is most sacred if only for itswonderful potentialities. War as a means Of settling disputes is utterlydegrading'and bestial and quite unworthy of civilised human beings. Infact, the only realistic position to adopt is the pacifist one.

To stand firm and refuse to kill one's fellowmen is the first step towardsbetter human relationships, upon which the foundations of real peace arelaid. All throligh history force has been tried and each waf leaves itslegacy of hate—a fit breeding-ground for future conflicts.

This vicious cirele must be broken and only the pacifist way can do it.In these days, when war has become incompatible with human survival, we?Mat destroy the will to war, or war will destroy us.

Yours sincerely,

R. 'A. HIGGINS

Book ReviewsThe CONWAY LECTURE •

ART AND THE EVOLUTION OF MAN (COMYay Memorial Lecture, 1951). ByHerbert Read. Freedom Press. 2s.In the forty-second Conway Memorial Lecture, Mr. Herbert Read

advances a theory of aesthetics which is a profound and original contribu-tion .to a subject that is almost the Cinderella of philosophy. Nothing iseasier, of course, than to make vague generalisations about art, or to speakin hushed tones about beauty—unless it be to "explain away" the wholecreative process by psychological claptrap. But Mr. Read has studied toodeeply and thought too long to indulge in the facile theorising that hasso often brought aesthetics into disrepute. Moreover he has looked longat pictures; and he has written poetry. He possesses a rare combination ofqualities which compels us to pay attention to every word he utters on thissubject. In approaching what is, for man, perhaps thc ultimate ontologicalmystery—the nature of the creative act itself—he submits to the disciplineof science and yet gratefully accepts the insights of a poet. He draws onthe latest researches of psychology and even mathematical logic. He doesnot (happily) trouble about the silly psychologising which would reduce thehighest products of the human mind to the level of a neurosis. Frompsychology he extracts "eidetic imagery" and "Gestalten", and from logicalspeculations he makes use of L. L. Whyte's unitary principle, SusanneLanger's theory of symbolism (partly derived from Whitehead, whose pupilshe was), and Morris Cohen's suggestions about metaphor and analogy. Itmust not be thought for a moment that the result is mere eclecticism.These ideas have been floating in the air; they penetrate every thinkingmind; and in Mr. Read's mind they have mingled with his own experience14

in an intellectual act which, in his own view, is not essentially differentfrom an act of artistic creation. As Koffka has said, "art psychologicallyconsidered is not an idle play on our emotions, but a means of helping usto find our place in the world". All perception—indeed, according to L. L.Whyte, all process—tends towards symmetry of pattern. Mr. Read con-tends that human history is marked by, definite stages of increased Con-sciousness directly attributable to the developing aesthetic faculty. This,faeulty arises from .the ability to project and compare those vivid images(known particularly to children and primitives) which scientists call,"eidetic".Out of this original neutral alchemy, of comparing and remembering images,

•developed language, ritual, magic, religion and science. "All these stagesin the evolution of mankind are ,due to refinements of perception involvinga progressive transformation of perceptual patterns, a structure satisfying a'requiredness' inherent in, or spontaneously generated by, the immediatelypreceding evolutionary situation. The alternating phases of the history ofart generally known as classicism and fomanticisrfi, for example, are to beinterpreted as alternating phases of evolutionaiy stability and revolutionarytransformation."

Metaphor and analogy, so indispensable in-all but the most abstractbranches of science, are necessary instruments for . our apprehension ofreality. Perhaps Mr. Read would agree with Cassirer that the perceptionof similars gave rise to serial order which is,the basis of conceptual thought.He holds it is a mistake to suppose with Hegel that conceptual thinkingmay entitle us to regard art as "a thing of the past". M r.. Read concludes:"It is mere presumption to claim the essence and intimacy of the mind forabstract thought; that arcane region is reserved, if for anything, for actsof symbolic transformation, for the formative intuitions of the great artist."

In the brevity of a single essay there are necessarily many difficulties thatcannot be dealt with adequately. 1 sthpect that Mr. Read's objections toJane Harrison's views (nay be partly due to the ambiguity of such terms as"art" and "ritual". Jane Harrison would have agreed that in the-beginningno important distinction could be drawn. "There is simply no evidenceto show that in its origins art was in any sense the expression of anemotional need", writes Mr. Read. That is a pretty sweeping statementabout a twilight world of conjecture and inference. . There-is "simply noevidence- that the human race could draw before it could speak, thoughMr.'Read considers it "likely". A fuller development of the general theme,with numerous examples, will be eagerly awaited, and-some of the difficultiesof those, like myself, who are broadly in sympattiV with'Mr. Read's insiuht

. into the aesthetic order at the base of all exPerience will doubtless be clearedup. The cave-paintings are practically our only evidence about the levelof consciousness in prehistOric times. We know nothing about the aceom-paniments of chanting and dancing, from which myth and drainaprobably arose. The result is an inevitable, but possibly dangerous, over-emphasis on the visual imagery by means of which experiences in theobjective world could be re-lived. But is Jung wholly mistaken in sup-posing that the subjective drama, the interior tensions of the mind, arealso projected as symbols—remaining symbols for poetry but subsequentlywrongly categorised by religion? A unified theory most take into accountevery type of symbolism; self-adjustment as well as adjustment to socialand natural environment. These remarks are not intended as a criticismbut (ather as an expression of an eager hope to see the hypothesis of thismost illuminating lecture applied in detail over the rich field in which thehuman mind not merely -copies a self-suflicient reality but creates genuinenovelty.

H. H.15

SCIENCE PAPER-BACKS

Messrs Watts are to be congratulated on their imaginative boldness inissuing• a new series of paper-backs at Is. per copy at a time when mostpublishers are nerving themselves to increase prices. Costs of productionhaye multiplied more than four times since 1939. Unlike mostproducers, the publisher cannot easily transfer the extra cost to thecustomer; and, incidentally, unlike most workers, the author's profits godown as the cost of living rises. The mathematics of publishing have alwaysseemed one of the major mysteries of the universe, and they are nowesoteric. For, despite• all, never were more books published. The totalnumber of new books produced in this country last year exceeded that ofthe United States by 6,000. Never were cheap paper-backs more popular,Messrs. Watts's Thrift Books even undercut the Penguins and Pelicans,and they are astonishing value. The first four deal with such varied subjectsas evolution, genetics, theatre going and the physical basis of mind.

Professor T. Neville George's Evolution in Outline is intended for thosewho have no special knowledge of biology, but who wish to learn whatdifference, if any, the advances in knowledge since Darwin's time make tothe essentials of his theory. Darwin was innocent of genetics, and it isfascinating to turn from Professor George's exposition to 'the equally lucidWhat's All This About Genetics? by Mrs. Rona Hurst. She contrives mostingeniously to dispense with the formidable technicalities that usually sur-round this subject. It is sad to reflect that The Ladder of Life .is aposthumous work. The late Adam Gowans Whyte had a gift for this sortof easy introduction to a difficult subject. He never sacrificed accuracyto clarity. It obviously delighted him to trace the various stages in theascent of living organisms and his philosophy began in wonder. All thesebooks gain much by their well-chosen illustrations. Finally, in a lightervein, Mr. Harold Downs has written on Theatregoing, and Mr. HamiltonFyfe contributes an introduction. •The next batch 'in this attractive serieswill be eagerly awaited.

H. H.• I •

THE ANATOMY OF MAN AND OTHER ANIMALS, OR BROTHERS UNDER THE SKIN.By D. Stark Murray and Grace M. Jetfree. Watts & Co. 18s.While not seeking to discuss the theory of evolution, this book "seeks to

examine the great variety of uses and of external form which nature hasendowed a fundamental structure and comes clearly from one source". Alsoit "looks at the many ways which nature has sought to do the same jobwith different types of organ". •

The story of the long and hazardous journey from the amoeba to thehuman being, how our organs have developed through a bewildering numberof forms of life, is described with a commendable claritV and amount ofdetail, most of which can be understood by the non-scientific reader. Man'skinship with other animals "can only be properly understood against thebackground of his close affinity with the rest of the animal kingdom".

There are many illustrations with four-colour plates by E. C. Mansell. -

FINDING THE. MISSING LINK. By Robert BIDOITY Walls & Co. 6s.This is a new edition of Robert Broom's book, which was originally

reviewed in The Monthly Record for March 1950. It contains details offurther discoveries which prove, according to Dr. Broom, that .the riddle ofman's origin is now definitely solved.

Whether Dr. Broom is justified in his conclusions or not, his evidencemake, fascinating reading. Immense reseaich has been •done in ,South16

Africa during this romantic quest for proof of our prehistoric ancestry.It would not seem that Dy. Broom is able to say how the different speciesoriginated. There is no doubt, however, that important discoveries havebeen made in South Africa.

The book ends with a cohfession of philosophical faith.On going to Press, we learn, with regret, of the death of Dr. Broom, just

when it is possible that he was on the eve of further discoveries.

South Place NewsSunday Conperts

We are indebted to Mr. Max Hinrichsen for calling our attention to aletter which appeared in the March issue of Musical Opinion.

'MUSICAL 'LEG-PULLS' •"Sir,—Practical jokes in the musical world seem to be a thing of the past,

but a recent leg-pull, quite unique I believe, recently took place in London."Two young northerners came South, to study music. They were intro-

duced to a noted London musician, who learned that both were keenchamber music enthusiasts, and, apart from anything else, they wished topurchase a piano. He suggested that they could 'kill two birds with onestone' by going to one of the South Place Sunday Concerts, where therewere scores of Chappell pianos on sale. Both of the lads were rather puzzled,but, so as not to show any ignorance in front of the distinguished man, theydecided to go to an appropriate Sunday concert, in which they could hearone of these pianos.

"On arrival at the concert, and a quick look through the programme,they saw the words: 'Chapell Grand Pianoforte; Scores on Sale.' Cominentis quite unnecessary!"

Tresh publicity for the Sunday Concerts comes from the April issue ofLondon Musical Events, whose Editor allows us to quote from Dr. C. E. M.Joad's article: "Music as I hear it."• He writes: "1 am told that sixty years ago you couldn't have found morethan one very occasional chamber music concert a week in London andthat this would have been 'Society', that is, snobbish, precious, and eitherfree (for prestige reasons) or wildly expensive:

"The change—for these quartets are now as thick on the concert flooras blackberries in September—is due partly to the gramophone, partly tothe B.B.C., but also in part to the pioneer work undertaken by the SouthPlace,Concert Society, who have been at it Sunday after Sunday for sixtyyears: I heard Concert No. 1507—first in .South Place and now in theConway Hall. No praise can be too high for this musical effort, sustainedthrough large audiences and small, through foul weather and fair, sustainedthrough two wars... . First-rate music is cheaply provided—you can getin for a 'bob' and all the seats are the same price—for numbers Of poorish,youngish people, many of whom are students, many refugees, who are givensomewhere to go on a Sunday evening without being either bored or fleeced.High marks to the enlightened 'ethicists' who have chosen this admirablemethod of mitigating the rigours of the English Sunday!"

Clements' Memorial PrizeThe cash value of this prize for a chamber music work has been increased

from £20 to 1125. The adjudicators appointed for 1951 are Sir Arthur Bliss,Roberto Gerhard and Elisabeth Lutyens.

17

Information may be obtained from the Hon. Secretary, Conway Hall,W.C.1.

Thursday EveningsOn March I, Miss D. Walters read two onc-act plays, the second of which

" 'Ome ain't so sweet", wa's most amusing. It pictured a Hollywood "giant"in sentimental mood-and, as can well be imagined, provided Miss Walterswith excellent scope for her dramatic talent.

On March 15 Missp. Walters, Miss R. Halls and Mr. G. C. Dowinanread "A Visit to Bilininghann", a shodplay by Laurence Housman. This isone of a group of Queen Victoria plays and was well received. Mr. Dowmanalso sang duets with Miss E. L. George and Mr. R. T. Smith, with Miss H.Hutton at the piano. Miss Hutton sang,also, in her usual pleasing manner.

The evening finished in liVely style with community singing, which closedwith "Auld Lang Syne".

MarriageDixoh-Brown.Many.guests were assembled in the Library at Conway Hall to witness

the marriage of Allan St. John Dixon, M.D., to Sheila Victoria -Brown onMarch 24. The bridegroOm is the only son of Percy St. John Dixon, oneof the trustees of this Society, whose family have been associated with SouthPlace for many years. His great-grandfather was a member as long agoas 1840, during the ministry of W. J. Fox.

The ceremony was simple, eminently satisfying, and was conducted byMr. Hawton. It received the complimentary remarks of several present.In reply, to the toast, the bridegroom remarked that he had so enjoyed it hewould like to go through it again—"with you", of course, he told his bride.

The Library had been tastefully decorated with spring flowers and shrubsand.the reception which followed the ceremony was friendly and animated.

JUNIOR DEBATING GROUPMarch 16. Mr. C. J. Ware stated that Road Safety Was a 'serious problem,

about which the public was apathetic. Most road accidents were,'Iunda-mentally, due to the human element; on the railways the human element'hadbeen reduced to a minimum and travelling was' safe. Road accidentsincreased when petrol rationing was abolished last May and more cars cameon. the roads.

Remedies could be classified under three headings: engineering, i.e. theimprovement of the road system (although the country could not at presentafford the many millions of pounds required for large-scale improvementand modernisation); enforcement of the existing laws and perhaps morecontrol of certain kinds of traffic; and educating the. public to be morecareful (child fatalities in 1950, when there was a national children's safetypropaganda campaign, was the lowest on record).

In the 'ensuing discussion the responsibility of drivers was stressed, aswell as the neccssity for the early improvement of the road system. It wasuggested that it should be made easier for pedestrians to know when it was

safe to cross at junctions controlled by traffic signals, that private carsshould be inspeCted periodically, that there should be some control ofcyclists, and that the penalty for dangerous driving should be more severe.

March 30. Major H. C. Morris explained the need for and the scope ofthe proposals to reform the marriage laws. There were, he said, 200,000separated married couples in this country and the divorces. granted18

numbered 40,000 a year:j.ako there was.un uncounted 'number of unofficialseparations. The means of obtaining legal-'divoree Were very complicatedand unnecessarily expensive. The most important difficulty is the-questionof the 'children, for where the marriage had. failed, the, children inevitablysuffered. A divorce gives legal sanction to the arrangements for childrenand for this a sociologist is required.

In the discussion it was said that marriage involved heritage, economicefficiency and pleasure. Children needed both parents. The Bill 'whichmade a seven-year period of desertion-a ground for divorce should be madela w.

There had always been difficulties in marriave and, in the past, the inferioreconomic position of women compelled them to accept any conditions thrustupon them. Havilig achieved some measure of emancipation, it was notimperative or.prOper for them to continue to do so. The whole system ofmarriage required to be overhauled se that the percentage of successfulmarriages today could be increased.

R.P.A. Annual MnnerThe R.P.A. Annual Dinner will bc held at the Connaught Rooms on

Thursday, May 17. Professor A. E. Heath will be in the Chair and thespeakers will be R. H. S. Crossman, M.P., H. L. Beales and C. BtadlaughBonner. Reception 6.30 p.m. Dinner 7 p.m. •.Dancing 9-11.30 p.m. Tickets21s. each (including refreshments during the Dance). Evening dress optional.

Tickets from the Rationalist Press Association Ltd., 5 Johnson's Court,Fleet Street, E.C.4.

New Members and AssociatesMr. C. G. Dixon, "Monkhof", Barnet Lane, Elstree, Herts.; Miss D. E.

Hughes, 92 Mansfield Road, N.W.3.; Mr. J. Cheetham, 665 Princes Highway,Sylvanis Heights, Sylvania, New Smith Wales. -

Change of Address of MembersMr. Glynn Barton, 6 Lansdowne Road, W.11; Mr. J. C. Foskett, 44

Tewkesbury Gardens, N.W.9; Mr. F. Shaw, 53 Cholmeley Park, N.6.

BirthTo George and Dorinda Dillon (née Dixon) a second daughter, Anna.

ObituaryMr. Arthur Andrews died on April 6 in his eighty-sixth year, at his home

in Chesham Bois. He joined the Society about 1890 and the R.P.A. in 1921.Very„ active in the Society in the days of the old Finsbury chapel, he wasa founder-member of the Sunday concerts committee. He also took a greatinterest in the various dramatic performances, entertainments and bazaarsheld in the eighteen-nineties to help clear off-the debt on the old building.A man of wide interests with a genius for friendship.

He married Irene, who survives him, sister of Athene Seyler, the well-known actress. They are the daughters of Clarence H. Seyler, a Society"stalwart" of Conway's day.

19

Society's ActivitiesSouth Place String Orchestra. Conductor: Eric Sawyer .

• A concert will be given on Sunday, May 6, at Conway Hall. Tickets 2s:and Is. may be obtained from the Hon. Secretary, Conway Hall, W.C.1. Theprogramme will consist of:,

Introduction and Allegro: Elgar

Concertino Pastorale: - Ireland

Clarinet Concerto: . Malcolm Arnold

SOloist: 'FREDERICK THURSTON

Practices take place in the Library on Fridays, at 7 . p.m. There arevacancies for competent amateurs: Particulars may be obtained from theHon. Secretary, Conway Hall, W.C.1..

The Library, Conway Hall

The Librarian will be in attendance on Sunday Mornings arid Tuesday andThursday evenings.

Junior Debating Group

Meets on Friday evenings at. 7. p.m. Visitors are welcomed and invitedto take part in the debates.

Sunday Social

May 20, in the Library at 3 p.m Hector Hawton, "How to wri,te a/book",

Thursday Evenings in the Library ,at 7 Mm.

May .3.—Mr. Edward Westrope: ."Holidays in. Rumania.:

10.—Closed.

17.Closed.

.24.—Mr. J. C6mmins: "1 kept a diary" (continiied).

31.—Tea and talk.

Rambles . . .. .Whit. Sunday, May 13. Train 9.53 a.m. Charing Cross, or 10 a.m. London

Bridge. C.D.T. to •Tadworth. Bring lunch. Ramble via Buckland and,Betchworth. Tea at Reigate 4.30 p.m. Leader:, Frederick Sowan: - ,

§uriclay, May 27. 'Train 1.51 p.m. Holborn Viadudt. C.D.T. to Shoreham,arrive 245.p.m. Tea at Otford. 'Leader: peggy Birse. . - /

FARLEIGn PRESS LTD. Itu.), BEECHWOOD RISE, WATFORD.