A CRISIS OF CIVILISATION
SIn,—When the world learned recently of the use of the atomic bomb, there came forcibly into my mind a little poem written by Sir Ronald Ross on August 21st, 5897, the day on which he discovered that the anopheles mosquito was the bearer of malaria. In it he praises God for " placing within his hand a wondrous thing," and goes on, " At His command, Seeking His secret deeds With tears and toiling breath, I find thy cunning seeds, 0 million-murdering death.
I know this little thing A myriad men will save .. ."
The inventors of the atomic bomb have worked with a persistence and freedom from self-regard equal to those of Ross, but to how different an issue: the immediate result of their discovery is to promote, not to pre- vent, " million-murdering death." As you rightly point out, " this triumph of organised research is in the first place a triumph in the interests of des- struction " This is not perhaps the moment to argue whether its use at the very end of the war was justifiable, though those who value the opinion of the smaller democracies must find cause for serious thought in the judgement of a Swedish journal that it places the Anglo-Saxons among the war criminals.
Two things stand clear. The last vestige of consideration kit the lives and rights of non-combatants has been abandoned; and the most urgent task of the immediate future is to control this terrific new power. The most encouraging feature of recent weeks has been the sobriety and absence of jubilation with which the announcement has been received.—
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