Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-27
Whatever

Whatever
Is is-right sang Alexander Pope in the
sunny days of a prevalent optimism. Be
this true there must be many and varied
standards OF righteousness in this mixed
world of ours. The relatively of right and
wrong has received beautiful symbollza-
tion from Sir Oliver Lodge in cold and heat.
Cold is the absence of heat. Evil is the alb
sence of good But cold and heat are rela-
tive. When Lieut.. Peary brought his Eski-
mo dogs to Boston a number of years ;.go
he kept them in a refrigerator in January.
and severe Massst husetts January it was.
lest they perish of heat
The heat at which any given animal
thrives is its living heat. the Ecat lvorable
to its organism. To lower the heat is to
have less than the organism needs. to raise
il to higher degree is to have greater than
the organism can use The living standard
of morality then is that morality which is
advantageous to the life that morality
which is a help to our organism. Higher
than that is above our present reach. of no
use because we cannot measure up thereto.
Lower than that impairs the life, is retro
gressiVe, unhealthy, facilitating
Now the living heat rises with the organ
ism. The living heat of a crab or a fish
would he chill to dog or horse. And mans
living hea! is higher still. And the more re-
fined the human organism the higher its
living heat and the more sensitive it is to
changes in temperature.
So it is with standards of right and
wrong. The higher the man rises in the
scale of civilization the higher his standard
of right and wroUg and the more sensitive
is his organism to good and evil. the more
delicate is the determinations of his con-
science. and the mere fact that there Is a
rising scale implies that we are moving up
4 IA ha int urhj n6 to
above us today Will be beneath US tomor-
row: that living heat OF one age will be
chill for the next: that the standards of
right doing for one age of humanity Will
become the wrong, the evil in the succeed
ing age, of this fact history bears cease
less testimony.
As We Give
The better ear to conscience things that we
would not have about US peep out in our
characters This is inevitab le As the light
becomes more brilliant sight proportion
ately is illumined, and the fact that we are
looking forward. upward advances our
ideal That which had been above the line
OF vision now is parallel or below: that
which seemed good and right now passes
below into the evil and the wrong. Traits
now peep out in our characters whereof
we mad not been aware, or, being aware
had not thought ILL.,.
Now wish TO rid ourselves of tben,
They are comparable to vestig!al structures
which biologists find in animals Horses
have glands on their knees which some
suppose are remnants of liquid scent bags
they used in the Wild state to leave a trail
for their comrades. The serpent has SOU
Nen!r relics OF legs. Man has his appendix
once these organs played a useful part
Now the animal has transcribed the need
of them They are troublesome. So with
what we term our faults, our vices.
At one time in our neasHrelessly long ca
reer of evolution they played their useful
part 1t is only now as We are passing
into advanced Stages Of growth that we
find them hindrances instead of helps All
history and science testify TO Il rising scale
of right In the animal world the crimes of
nlan-murdcr, theft, raping-are daily ne
ceSsities to existence and imputed as evil
to none. So with the lowest human scales
among the cannibals. Lying has civilized
puh4ic opinion largely against it, yet many
deem II necessary to existence. A news
paper man remarked to Mark Twain that
IL took clever man to lie well. but the
humorist had y higher standard. and an
Swered that il took a far cleyercr man 70