WHAT CAN A MAN BELIEVE ?
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—In reviewing Mr. Bruce Barton's book What can a Man Relieve ? in the Spectator of February 11th, Mr. Duncan Jones says, " And in the end we must admit that the most precious gifts of to-day. hope for the humble, education, hospitals, are all direct products of Christianity."
The statement that hospitals are " direct products " of Christianity, though frequently made, is nevertheless not guile, accurate. Mr. Vincent A. Smith, in his Life of Asoka, the great Buddhist Emperor of India, who ascended the throne 278 a.c., when treating of Rock Edict II. on page 162, says, " Hospitals are mentioned in the Arthasdstra, Bk. chap. 4, as part of the equipment of a fortified town. A physician was called chikitsika. The interpretation of the edict as a whole may be regarded as finally settled." On page 66 he further tells us that " the remarkable free hospital which the Chinese pilgrim found working at Pitaliputra, six and a half centuries later doubtless was a continuation of Asoka's foundation."
On the same page and on page 67 he mentions " The curious animal hospitals which still exist at Surat and certain other cities in Western India also may be regarded as survivals of Asoka's institutions." We further learn that Asoka included " animals within the circle of neighbours to whom duty is due." I make this correction not with any desire to minimize the great benefits which Christianity has conferred on mankind, but rather because there is a danger that if claims are made for Christianity which cannot be substantiated, those that are well founded may thereby be impaired, a danger which Bishop Butler long ago pointed out.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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