Heavy Weather
Man and the Atom. By C. E. Vulliamy. (Michael Joseph. 8s. 6d.)
THE atom bomb might be said to have reached the stage of legend without having yet attained the dignity of a literature ; and this in spite of the ever-increasing flood of print devoted to its potential consequences, physical and moral, many of these disquisitions being chiefly remarkable for their astonishing banality. Indeed, even casual conversation centred round atomic activity is not seldom found to exhibit a barrenness all its own ; while, considered as a vehicle for the common (or house) bore, the atom has as a subject few if any rivals. That so apparently omnipotent a force should provoke so undistinguished a chorus of comment is certainly surprising, if the bomb's well-publicised claims to have altered the whole meaning of human life could be accepted without question. Can the reason
for this insufficiency be Merely that the human predicament remains, in effect, just what it was before Hiroshima? Civilisations rose and fell in the past ; races were extinguished ' • weakness gave way to strength ; and if the Incas, for example, had perfected the breech- loader before the arrival of Pizarro, the Inca way of life might have dominated the South American continent rather than the Spanish or Portuguese.
Mr. Vulliamy's little volume tells us his own views about the atom bomb, and not merely the bomb, but the whole development of atomic theory from the earliest times. This survey is preceded by chapters entitled What is Man? and What is Philosophy?— questions answered with others, equally demanding, together with a generous provision of information regarding his special bugbears, which include fox-hunting,-B.B.C. programmes and dangerous drivers. The approach is aggressive enough to make us feel a trifle thwarted at the comparatively meagre conclusions eventually reached ; and, after many invitations on the author's part to abandon our discredited habits, we are still at a loss to know precisely what path to follow: Religion, he thinks, is played out ; science and philosophy are no better ; the only hope of the world is to forswear politicians, and for " men of sense and of good will " to combine in being " reasonable and humane."
It would be disingenuous to assume that Mr. Vulliamy does not include himself in this 'atter category ; but his contention that stupidity is "paramount, ubiquitous, deadly and unmistakable" is sweeping unless accepted in a purely subjective sense. In the first place, it is not at all clear what Mr. Vulliamy himself really thinks. The Romans are dismissed as " incomparably the least interesting of all the races that have controlled the destinies of European man" ; the Middle Ages were a " calamity " ; " the decay of the institutional [Christian] Church is hardly a thing to be lamented " ; " a rational man will unhesitatingly place the aeroplane among the curses " ; and yet " man and his achievement " and " systematic and effective morality " are spoken of with approval ; while " philosophers do not lose their dignity by accepting the doctrine of original sin." Leonardo in one place represents an advance and reflects " the true discipline of science," though elsewhere we are told a Lancaster bomber "would have afforded him great satisfaction."
It is tempting to concur with Mr. Vulliamy in his dislike for politicians, though he speaks of them as if they were in some way a breed apart, instead of being nothing more than human beings who engage themselves in public affairs. Thus Mr. Vulliamy's scientists, if they banded themselves together, Mould willy-nilly become politicians of a sort who happened to have enjoyed a scientific training, and even his "men of good will " would have to be politicians, too, when they came to consider the intricacies of the world's problems. It might be a case of an atomic frying-pan and
Previous page
