Evening star., 1925-10-11
BI +. w. HOWE,


! have just read book. very ably
! written. called Idiot Man. by Charles
! Richter, professor of physiology in a
winner of a Nobel prize. The author
| is apparently a considerable person.
! age.
His contention is that while man
has been called homo sapiens (wise
! mani. such praise is undeserved: he
should be called homo stultus Stupid
mani because of abundant evidence OF
extraordinary dullness. 1t is unpleas-
ant to be told one is stupid; it is
more unpleasant to encounter proof
of it. which Prof. Richter comes dis
agreeably near supplying.
Other Races Ignored.
lie pays almost no attention TO the
black races. which for 10000 years
have lived in Africa and have done
little to improve themselves. The red
and yellow men are also disposed of
in few pages. that the author may
hurry to the stupidities of the whites,
who have. at least. few sketchy at
tempts at science and art. analytical
treatises on geometry and morality.
dictionaries, plays, cathedrals, sym.
phonies. universal exhibitions. physi.
cal laboratories and astronomical OBJ
servatories. Very little, says the au-
; thor, after 800 centuries, but still
something: enough to give white hui
manity an appearance Of intelligent.
| if not reasoning. life.
This he denies il has. and concludes
that mankind should return not to the
savage but to the animal state. since
animals never are degraded beings.
They live a serious. serene existence.
hunting or grazing as they are car
nivores or herbivores. Those living in
herds have a vague social order, which
consists essentially in combining to
escape dangers and to find easier con-
ditions of living. Certainly they never
engage in general wars. starve and
murder each other by wholesale, or
destroy their pastures, as has always
been the habit Of men.
Walk Into Misery.
To walk straight into unnecessary
misery in obedience to prejudices. mis-.
takes or defective reasoning Is the in
excusable thing he says we are guilty
of. A few great minds have emerged
from the herd: therefore man is not
destitute Of reason, but this very rea-
son. instead Of being an argument
against his stupidity, is a terrible
proof Of 1t. To have reason, and be
Ao1S
| than to lack the faculty Of reasoning.
| Intelligence yoking herself with
| stupidity, so Prof. Richter sums UP
| human evolution.
The author frankly confesses he is
not mad and presumptious enough tc
! suggest a system of reform, and to
add yet another book to the vast lit
| erature Of social economy. which is
already of such rank. yet barren
| growth. There could be no stronger
| proof of mans inability to solve SO
! cial problems than to examine the
bog in which we actually wallow-
! pamphlets, lectures, phrase.making
| arguments which have accumulated
in thousands, and which only make
| US worse.
Nor does he claim to be better than
| others. He believes the use OF to-
bacco to be an evidence Of our stu
pidity. "On this subject" he wittily
says, II can speak as an expert, for
| / am a great smoker, and know it is
extremely harmful"
| Opposes Socialism.
| The author does not seem te
believe in socialism. the remedy pro
| posed by most professors. Nothing
| is more lawful he writes, thar
acquired wealth. The principle OF
SOCIALISM is to impose the same yoks