New Britain herald., 1917-12-17
.ssIGNs OF CIVILIZATION" ].
GeometricAl Drawings and Skeletons Have Much in Common When Humanity Looks For
 Guide-Post. -. s&


 Humanity Looks For @
 Guide-Post. - ! (washington Times).
 We talk of civilization as though 1t necessarily implied improvement.
 Civilization means the school and the library, but 1t also means tho prison and the poorhouse.
 Two short stories illustrate different views of what we call civilization:
 Aristippus was a young Greek gen. tleman of large means, genuine in- tellectual power. sense Of humor and a reputation as philosopher.
 He was on his way to Corinth with a young lady named Lais, or possibly he was coming from Corinth with her. Anyhow, he was wrecked on the voy- age. If you know anything about the reputation of Lais, you know that the philosopher was badly employed. and that the Greek gods doubtless wrecked his vessel to impress upon his mind the importance of morality.
 Thrown ashore on a barren stretch of sand, the philosopher was very sad at first. He observed on the sand the remains of certain geometrical draw ings. and instantly exclaimed: There is help near. Here see signs of thinking men, of civilization"
 voltaire tells of wrecked individuals thrown on 8 lonely coast, and also much distressed and frightened.
 They saw no geometrical tracings in the sand. But on bleak moor in the twilight they saw the black beams of a. gtbbet, and below the cross piece, swinging in the wind, they saw a human skeleton with bony wrists and ankles chained together.
 Prayerfully the wanderers dropped on their knees and exclaimed with upturned eyes:
 Thank God, we have got back to civilization"
 Thus you see there are varying signs of civilization. There Is a, great gulf between the signs perceived by Aristip ppus-signs of the mental ac- tivity which engages in geometrical demonstrations-And Voltaire's sign of civilization-the brutal execution of brutal criminal
 Those accustomed to waste time in speculations that cannot bring a f1nan- cial, return may. be interested in the following application of the sign of civilization which Aristippus imme- diately recognized back in. the days Of two thousand years ago.
 We know that some day the inhab- itants on Mars or some other planet will want to talk to 1s. They have doubtleSs been studying us and con- sider us still too barbarous and prim- tive to be worth talking to.
 But when we become semi-civilized, in the cosmic sense of the word, the older and wiser planets will get ready to open communication with us.
 How will they go about 1t They are perhaps absolutely different from us, in shape, in manner of thought in every conceivable way, including language, customs, and so on.
 < But geometrical, mathematical facts are the same throughout the universe
 Will not the wise Martian who wants to speak to us and decides to flash some message down here on our clouds, or on the surface of the wa ter, utilize the universality of geo. understand that thinking beings are trying to talk to us? ,
 The sum of the angles of any tri- angle is equal to two right angles.
 That Is true of every triangle, no matter what it's shape, no matter whether 1t be drawn on this earth or on the most distant sun, et
 Therefore, when the Martian gen. tleman gets ready to talk to us he need only repeatedly place before us two right angles followed by a tri- angle. or a triangle followed by two right angles Instantly, like sAristip- pus. we can say there is civilization in Mars, or wherever that sign comes from, or at least there is organized thought. The mind that is flashing that sign knows something about geometry.