272 NOTES AND COMMENTS [apbil1899 



the Human llace " {Medical Magazine, 1899, vol. viii. pp. 128-135). 

 We admit that it is defective in that its phraseology is simple, and 

 does not involve those " exact distinctive terms " without which 

 " clearness of understanding is impossible," but our only apology is that 

 the variety of biology to which we have been accustomed does not 

 enable its devotees to attain the clearness gained by describing man as 

 a " degenerating, quadrupedally-ancestored biped." We are afraid also 

 that our biological training did not include the study of the " successive 

 stages in the progress of the human baby towards the attainment of 

 bipedal progression," in spite of the fact that a " knowledge of the out- 

 line of such a history is part of an ordinary scientific equipment." We 

 regret these deficiencies the more because we think that " science " 

 like that of Mr. Buckman's article — which, of course, we take as a jeu 

 d'esprit — must have many advantages. When one gets habituated to 

 the harmonious multiplication of adjectives, and learns to indulge in 

 bipedal locomotion instead of taking a walk, the broad sweep of the 

 generalisations and the easy superiority to petty detail must have a 

 wonderful fascination, and besides it must save trouble. Biologists of 

 the old-fashioned type have, we believe, spent laborious days in 

 investigating the structure of animal parasites, and yet how needless 

 was their labour ! Could they but reach the true light, they would 

 realise the simplicity of nature, would understand that parasites have 

 " reverted to ancestral conditions," where the " body of the organism is 

 nourished by endosmotic action." Similarly, physiologists need no 

 longer toil and experiment, for their problems can be easily solved. 

 Would they learn the cause of the symptoms of alcohol poisoning ? 

 Obviously these can be readily explained as a. " return towards the 

 quadrupedal stage." Would they as physicians know the cause of 

 baldness in man ? Again what is it but reversion ? Surely the 

 beauty and simplicity of this method of reasoning must be apparent to 

 all. It is true that it leads to somewhat revolutionary results ; thus 

 w 7 e learn that the whale is an " instance of return from a higher to a 

 lower state," for it is a " mammal which has gone back to the fish-like 

 form," but we must be prepared to sacrifice a few prejudices to a 

 method which yields such a copious amount of information on so many 

 diverse topics. Does it not teach us that one of the great advantages 

 of cycling is that " the weight is rolled along," while " in bipedal loco- 

 motion the body is reared up on end " and " carried, in a most disad- 

 vantageous manner, alternately on one limb," and who would not 

 sacrifice much to obtain so priceless a bit of information ? Let whoso- 

 ever will therefore roll with our author down the broad path, regardless 

 of the stubborn few who attempt to bipedally progress up the narrow 

 one. We have entered this protest against science made easy, but 

 surely the sense of humour is not so dead amongst us that it will be 

 supposed that we mean more than that Mr. Buckman has lapsed in his 

 article just as Homer may have nodded. 



