May, 1909.] THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 11 



BOOK NOTICES. 



Darwinism and the Problems of Life. By Conrad 

 Guenther, Ph.D., &c. Translated from the third edition by 

 Joseph M'Cabe. 



Last Words on Evolution. By Ernest Haeckel, translated 

 from the second edition by Joseph M'Cabe. 



We received some time ago from the publishers, Owen and Co., 

 London, copies of the above works, which, up to the present, 

 have not received notice in these pages. Those who are follow- 

 ing up the great question of evolution in its varied aspects will 

 find statements of great value in these books, which will be 

 helpful to them in drawing conclusions from any set of facts. 

 The second work, on account of its illustrations, genealogical 

 tables, &c., is perhaps more interesting than its companion, and 

 puts the question in such an unanswerable way that the reader 

 cannot help being convinced even against his will. It concludes 

 with a striking manner of illustrating the duration of life on the 

 globe, which seems worth quoting. Many leaders of science, 

 such as geologists, palaeontologists, astronomers, and physicists, 

 have variously calculated the time which has elapsed since life 

 first manifested itself on our earth at from one hundred to two 

 hundred millions of years. If, for argument sake, the shorter 

 time be taken, and an attempt made to reduce this vast period of 

 creation to an understandable unit such as twenty-four hours, as 

 has been done by Dr. H. Schmidt, of Jena, it will be found that 

 the five evolutionary periods, through which most are agreed 

 life has extended, would make up one day as follows ; — 



1. Archeozoic period (52 million years) = 12 hrs. 30 mins. 



2. Paleozoic ,, (34 million years) = 8 hrs. 7 mins. 



3. Mesozoic ,, (11 million years) = 2 hrs. 38 mins. 



4. Cenozoic „ (3 million years) = 43 mins. 



5. Anthropozoic period (1-200,000 years) = 2 mins. 



Analyzing this latter period at the same rate, it will be found 

 that the " historic " portion extends to only jive seconds, while 

 two seconds would suffice to cover the Christian era. Such a 

 calculation seems incredible, and yet the evidence of its correct- 

 ness appears on every hand. 



REMAINS OF PRE-HISTORIC MAN. 



There have recently been unearthed in France certain remains 

 for which are claimed the distinction of being the earliest remains 

 of man yet found. Somewhat to the south-west of Central France 

 are situated the departments of Correze, Dordogne, and Lot, 

 where during recent years important deposits of cut flints have 



