I often have my doubts, Bertie, if there is such a thing as the
existence of evil? If we could honestly convince ourselves that there
was not, it would help us so much in formulating a rational religion.
But don't let us strain truth even for such an object as that. I must
confess that there are some forms of vice, cruelty for example, for
which it is hard to find any explanation, save indeed that it is a
degenerate survival of that war-like ferocity which may once have been
of service in helping to protect the community. No; let me be frank, and
say that I can't make cruelty fit into my scheme. But when you find that
other evils, which seem at first sight black enough, really tend in
the long run to the good of mankind, it may be hoped that those which
continue to puzzle us may at last be found to serve the same end in some
fashion which is now inexplicable.

It seems to me that the study of life by the physician vindicates the
moral principles of right and wrong. But when you look closely it is a
question whether that which is a wrong to the present community may not
prove to have been a right to the interests of posterity. That sounds
a little foggy; but I will make my meaning more clear when I say that
I think right and wrong are both tools which are being wielded by those
great hands which are shaping the destinies of the universe, that both
are making for improvement; but that the action of the one is immediate,
and that of the other more slow, but none the less certain. Our own
distinction of right and wrong is founded too much upon the immediate
convenience of the community, and does not inquire sufficiently deeply
into the ultimate effect.

I have my own views about Nature's methods, though I feel that it is
rather like a beetle giving his opinions upon the milky way. However,
they have the merit of being consoling; for if we could conscientiously
see that sin served a purpose, and a good one, it would take some of the
blackness out of life. It seems to me, then, that Nature, still working
on the lines of evolution, strengthens the race in two ways. The one is
by improving those who are morally strong, which is done by increased
knowledge and broadening religious views; the other, and hardly less
important, is by the killing off and extinction of those who are morally
weak. This is accomplished by drink and immorality. These are really two
of the most important forces which work for the ultimate perfection of