94 BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN PROBLEMS 



somewhat plastic verdicts of mankind, deserve a 

 respectful attention. Generally, perhaps, they con- 

 tain at least the germ of justice, yet judged from the 

 biological standpoint these verdicts are liable to be 

 erroneous and unintelligent. The different ideas of 

 right and wrong that are prevalent among different 

 peoples, supposedly civilized, attest the lack of uni- 

 formity which prevails in the judgment of human 

 conduct. It is of the utmost importance for the 

 establishment of humane and enlightened standards 

 of judgment that we should realize the fallacious 

 nature of all attempts to set rigid definitions to the 

 words " right" and "wrong." To imagine that 

 these words connote fundamental differences in con- 

 duct is a mistake which has had many unfortu- 

 nate consequences, owing to the facility with which 

 disapproval leads to harsh punishments. A girl 

 who kills her illegitimate child because hypercritical 

 social ostracism has brought profound discourage- 

 ment to her is severely punished for the act by the 

 same society which has been an active factor in 

 determining her act. From the standpoint of the 

 conventional judge, her act is one of the blackest of 

 crimes, while from a scientific standpoint, it was 

 merely the natural automatic response to an intol- 

 erable state of affairs for which the unfeeling attitude 

 of society was largely answerable. It might help 

 somewhat if people should agree to call those acts 

 good which, on the whole, appear to be in accordance 

 with natural laws and in the direction of promoting 



