138 



NATURE 



[October 8, 1914 



of German society during the past generation ; 

 this is the cause of the present war. No means 

 are to be neglected to secure this end ; righteous- 

 ness, truth, and justice are to be sacrificed in order 

 that the German race may persist. The German 

 nation has been educated to believe in this ideal 

 by the Prussian ruling caste : " Deutschland iiber 

 Alles in der Welt." Therefore the war. 



Now it may be pointed out that the youth and 

 early manhood of the race are the fighting class ; 

 and that by war the most able-bodied of the 

 population are, at least partially, eliminated, with 

 the inevitable result of the deterioration of the 

 race as a whole. Probably it would be argued 

 by Prussian statesmen that the relative number 

 of deaths in war is small ; and a successful war 

 will leave abundant healthy men to perpetuate 

 the race. Deterioration by the effects of war, 

 they may contend, is not so wide-spreading as 

 deterioration by the saving of lives of little value. 



I have tried to state the case for the German 

 nation ; it represents an attempt to aid the 

 elimination of the unfit, the unfit being all who 

 do not hold with German ideals. 



Now a race with such an ideal becomes im- 

 possible. It cannot be denied that Germany has 

 contributed much in the past to literature, to 

 science, and to the art of music. Individual 

 Germans have attained the highest eminence, and 

 have gained universal admiration. But the 

 originality of the German race has never, in spite 

 of certain brilliant exceptions, been their charac- 

 teristic ; their mdtier has been rather the exploita- 

 tion of the inventions and discoveries of others; 

 and in this they are conspicuous. The same 

 obedience to command and the same attention to 

 detail may be noticed in their industrial and 

 scientific work as in their army. And of recent 

 years, according to common report, commercial 

 morality among the Germans has been at a low 

 ebb. They are disliked as business men ; their 

 methods are not regarded as fair, or their word as 

 trustworthy. Even in the world of science this 

 spirit is by no means unknown. In spite of their 

 boasted progress in what they imagine to be 

 civilisation, they have been relapsing into bar- 

 barism. And the execrable deeds of their army — 

 murder of defenceless non-combatants, destruction 

 of priceless buildings, heartless cruelty to women 

 and children — all these are merely the outward 

 and visible sign of their spiritual beliefs. The 

 aim of science is the acquisition of knowledge of 

 the unknown ; the aim of applied science, the 

 bettering of the lot of the human race. German 

 ideals are infinitely far removed from the concep- 

 NO. 2345, VOL. 94] 



tion of the true man of science ; and the methods 

 by which they propose to secure what they regard 

 as the good of humanity are, to all right-thinking 

 men, repugnant. These views are not confined to 

 the Prussian ruling caste, although in it they 

 find active expression : they are the soul of the 

 people. 



The conclusion is that this war is a war of 

 humanity against inhumanity ; of principle against 

 expediency ; of right against wrong. Fortunately, 

 the present aspect of the war is favourable to the 

 Allies ; and justice and mercy will undoubtedly 

 triumph. 



What is to be justice and mercy? First and 

 foremost, reparation must be made to the 

 Belgians for the outrages which they have 

 suffered ; next, France must claim not only 

 damages for the present invasion, but for the 

 indignities of 1871 ; Russia and Great Britain will 

 no doubt demand compensation. The motto of 

 the Allies must be "Never again." Not merely 

 must the dangerous and insufferable despotism 

 which has eaten like a cancer into the morals of 

 the German nation be annihilated, but all possi- 

 bility of its resuscitation must be made hopeless. 

 The nation, in the elegant words of one of its 

 distinguished representatives, must be "bled 

 white." 



Will the progress of science be thereby re- 

 tarded? I think not. The greatest advances in 

 scientific thought have not been made by members 

 of the German race ; nor have the earlier applica- 

 tions of science had Germany for their origin. So 

 far as we can see at present, the restriction of 

 the Teutons will relieve the world from a deluge 

 of mediocrity. Much of their previous reputation 

 has been due to Hebrews resident among them ; 

 and we may safely trust that race to persist in 

 vitality and intellectual activity. 



It would be unworthy of the dignity of scientific 

 men to imitate the example of some of the German 

 professors in " abandoning the distinctions con- 

 ferred on them by English learned societies." It 

 must be remembered that the award of distinc- 

 tions to Englishmen has been the act of the older 

 race of German men of science, who form the 

 councils of the various academies. Doubtless 

 these men deplore the degradation of their race, 

 as manifested in the outburst of barbarism which 

 has shocked the feelings of the whole world, and 

 it would be a graceful act if English men of 

 science were to retain the marks of their appre- 

 ciation. 



In conclusion, it cannot be contended that the 

 present war has in any sense been promoted by 



