Young Socialists Magazine 1913 July Dec.pdf

•THE YOUNG IOCIALIITI' MAGAZINEwhere animals big and Hule, goodand bad indifferently, were beingkilled and eaten by myriads ~11tht. time. 1 must understand.I reasoned out I part of theproblem that long night. Ma ynot we human beings have injtctedOUf personality. 10 tospeak, into the lower animab. at·tributing O\lr own high reasoningpowers, and especially our ownkun sensibilities. to action ~which in them art only iostine·live? \Ve think of the happylittle instct in his summer danceon the surface of the pool shrewdly:Eigugging ab~ut to avoid apossible frog or fish in the waterbelow. who yearns for flies fordinner but whose method of huntingthem is on straight lines. Thetty ilf afraid of death. we say, andcalculates carefully for its avoid­Ance. But can a fly possiblyknow anythIng about death? Noanimal has sufficient powers ofgeneralization to under~tand inIht fainttst degree what death i~,mueh less to grasp the idea thaihe himself rnust die. A borse ora dog will !oee bi!l team-mate orhis playmate drop at his sidewithout the .lightest concern,And while'there is much effort andItruggle in that which undoubtedlyre ~ \llts in the prolonging ofliff-mainly by that accumulatedwisdom of uncounted generationsof animals properly caUed instinct-yet it ("annot be put forth conl('iOllSI,to prolong life, Forthere ('an be no apprehension ofthe nlue or desiraoi1ity of life onthe part of animals, and no conscious.,'oidance of death,Why do they struC'gle, then ?Why doe, tho fish Rop so agoni7.ingly?J( it were genuineagony, such as a humatt being en ~dures when dying-but even thatill much le8~ than it looks to be,tht wise men tell us-who couldever go a-fishing again? But iti!t not. The explanation i. notdifficult, Some primiti\'e fish,happening to flop a little, savedhis life from the talons of a birdor beast of prey by his flopping,and transmitted a tenden('y toflop-dull at first . but graduallyacquiring intensity-to countle5~Keneration ~ after him. But thebrother of our primitive nsh.neKlecting to flop, wu promptlycaught and eaten, There wu notransmitting of ' hi s non-floppingdisposition to his descendants,for he had none. And graduallyall the non-floppers were destroyedby fish-hungry animalsor perished in drying-up pools,O nly the flopping fish survh'ed.and they arc our fish of to-day.If a man were a filth, still retaininga man's brains, he woulddoubtless Rop too, should occasionarise. but it would be becauseof his reason, But the nsh withthe nsh"s brains flops from in·stinet. which is not reason at all,but the dim accumulated temem·brance of millions of t1I;perience!)inducing prompt and wise. action.However much agility an animalmlY 'show, however much ofwhat in man would be shrewd·nellts. however much alertnessand desperation he may seem tomanifellt in his conflicts, it cannotbe (rom fear of death, sincehe haa not the faintest conceptionof the significan.;e of the word,whether II applied to himself orothers.My mind vaguely worked overthis question for months andyeO'lr!, tilt one day I fell on theice and was aroused tb the realityand decided quality of human suf·fuin", at any rate, As the longdlYs of conv.lescence came.) mynurst, .n exceedingly brighf andobserving- younr woman, told m~of an experience Ihe onct hadwith a big Swede during l\e('bAospitattraininr. It Slhed mud,Iirht on my problem. I Jivrthea.ccount in her words u nearlyall I can remember."ll was in my last yn.r oftraining," she said, "and ~ was incharge of the men', surgicalward. One night there wil\brought in a big fellow with oneleg terribl), injurtd-he had fallenund(r the wheels of a freightcar. "J'he interi;. said it WI! aperfe('tly ~ Iear case-the leg mustcome off. No need of calling thesurgeon on duty-the surgeonI'come only in the daytime, youkn'lw. except in emerlencie!!l.The leg waf! pretty well groundoff. anyway; and the operationwould be simple, But the mangot wind of what they were aboutto do, and objected 50 stronglyto the lOll of his leg that he finallywOll. T hey decided theywould wait till Dr. MOrich c .. mein the morning. Uut when hel·ame. hi8 verdict was the umetherewas n'o hope whate,'er forthe leg, and ' hope for the man'slife only by amputation. But thebig 1.lIow p, .. d.d desp