Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-17
MENTAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
BY GEORGE WILLIAMS.

- N@oi'NL Williams
when rising above mans purely terrestrial
surroundings into the province of con-
science, he listens for the guidance of that
voice which indicates the right and warns
against the wrong? There should be- but
that's the worry of 1t, there is but. A
far-seeing despot shared Davids views, and
IN MS own Vernacular exclaimed, He that
telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight"
What follows Is not in the records. but 1t
is supposable. To safeguard his subjects
against the Vaccinations of INSCRIPTIONS
outsiders he ordained an unalterable de-
cree that every one entering his dominions
be asked why he came and where he was
going. If the answer given were proved
to be true, he was allowed to pass. If, on
the other hand, II were proved to be not
true, he was hanged This high-handed but
well-meant measure worked well, and to
the satisfaction of all concerned, with the
exception perhaps of the Undesirables, who
were effectively dealt with in prophetic an
ticipation of the aliens bill Some were
passed, and some We're hanged, the despots
ruling being in each case conscentiously
given. But one eventful day, as a success
ful novelist would put II, "a strange thing
happened" and brought about an unex-
pected impasse. A stranger presented him
self for admission, and on the usual inter-
rogatories being put, he said at once and
without circumlocution, that he had come
to be hanged, and that he was going
straight to the gallows. The man was UNI
doubtedly a crank and a nuisance, but he
had succeeded in creating a situation that
must be faced But how? A lawmaker
should not be a law-breaker, and his own
happy despot was bound to administer his
own enactment. He had hitherto done so in
all good faith, and with clear conscience.
Now, however, what was to be done? To
hang his tormentor would obviously never
do, for he had spoken the truth, and he
should, therefore, be allowed to pass. To
allow him TO pass would as obviously never
do, for his statement would have been
proved untrue, and he ought consequently
to have been hanged. A fair-minded ar
bitter of life and death should give to these
alternatives exhaustive elaboration. and
the shade of the despot is celebrating still.
nor has his conscience yet enlightened him.
With some reluctance We pass away from
what we might have relied on as
ground to find, maybe, firmer foothold in
that accuracy of definition which pervades
the whole of logic's armory. To prevent
covert surprise open attack in discussion
it is essential that term shall be defined
before it is haadled. But once defined, it
is of universal application, and ruthlessly
disdains all exceptions. That is an axiom,
and we grip it with both hands And yet
there is "a leakage. One example must suf-
fee, for to all other limitations have to
be added the limitations imposed by the
editor. TO go round an object may be con-
vincingIy defined as being opposite to each
successive point in it's circumference In
turn" We'll, say you elect to go round me.
/ stand still in the middle OF the room.
you skirt the walls until you return to
your starting place, and having been oppo-
site TO each successive point III my circum
ference in turn, you have gone round me
The thing is done. II, however instead
of standing still, face you the whole time
you have. as before, skirted the walls. I
have, as before, been the center of the
circle you described: but, inasmuch as Won
have not been opposite to each successive
point in my circumference in turn, but have
been opposite to only one point throughout
your march, you have not gone round me
The thing is not done This is bad enough
but Il becomes worse If ! step inside a
transparent glass cylinder, which Is mo-
tionless while pivot as before. This time
you have again, of course, not gone round
me; but you have gone round the cylinder
within which / am. To conclude there
fore, that 1t Is possible to go round an OBJ
ject, and at the same time not go round
what the object contains. opens up a shore
less ocean or absurdities. and makes 1t in
sufferable TO have such a conclusion forced
upon us. as 1t Is,
In the territory of ethics. even, where
every separate stage of social evolution is
claimed by the historian as being under
his hand, there are. nevertheless. unan-