578 



NATURE 



[July 7, 192 1 



come, while in the case of the really backward 

 races the premature application of modern culture 

 and educational methods would spell disaster. Wise 

 supporters of the League of Nations do, at any 

 rate, recognise that part of the " sacred trust " of 

 a mandatory Power is to provide for the education 

 and training of the races under its tutelage on 

 lines suitable to their stage of development. 



Criticism of any scheme of internationalism is 

 easy, and the difficulties which have to be over- 

 come are enormous. The verdict of history on 

 the whole is adverse. But against this must be 

 set the fact that the world has never been faced 

 with conditions similar to those of to-day, or 

 with the possibility of a crisis such as would be 

 involved in another war. Is the realisation of 

 the danger which threatens civilisation strong 

 enough to overcome the jealousies, the bickerings, 

 and the rivalries of States which are loosely joined 

 in a confederation, or even united under a " world- 

 law "? Present conditions are not favourable to 

 the probability of success. Although we may 

 speak of nations as if they were individuals, one 

 of the strongest of social forces which operate 

 in the case of the majority of the individual 

 members of a community is absent. Nations, like 

 corporations, have no conscience, and the force 

 of the moral judgment and the opinion of others 

 is not operative. Whereas in a civil society 

 public opinion largely determines conduct and 

 force is the ultimate sanction, in a confederacy 

 of nations force is the only sanction. The balance 

 of power alone will influence any member or group 

 of members who may wish to defy the bodv as a 

 whole. 



It is no answer to criticism to say that in a 

 world- State, or in the conditions of international 

 amity towards which the supporters of the League 

 of Nations would wish to progress, such occasions 

 for misunderstanding would not arise. Apart 

 from the differences in degree of culture, there is 

 among nations as they exist to-day a variety in 

 outlook which is the outcome of history, tradition, 

 education, and environment. The effect of this 

 variety in outlook was patent to those who, during 

 the war, took part in operations with the com- 

 posite armies which fought on some of the Allied 

 fronts. The outward semblance of unity of action 

 was attained only by a constant smoothing away 

 of difficulties and misunderstandings arising out 

 of national differences of temperament and out- 

 look. 



Differences of temperament are easy to note, 

 but difficult to reduce to a scientific formula, i 

 NO. 2697, VOL. 107] 



Nor do we know how far they are fundamental 

 and ineradicable. The comparative study of racial 

 psychology on modern scientific lines is almost an 

 unexplored field. National character, in so far as- 

 it is the product of tradition and education, may 

 be susceptible of modification. Most nations to- 

 day are the result of a fusion of races the members 

 of which live more or less in amity, and this lends 

 support to the view which holds to the ultimate 

 possibility of a wider unity. Against this, how- 

 ever, must be set the view of some anthropologists- 

 who are inclined to attach increasing importance 

 to race as a persisting element in character. In. 

 this country, for instance, notwithstanding- 

 common environment, common tradition, and 

 common institutions, differences of occupation 

 and of class feeling seem, in a general way, 

 to go with differences of racial type. Should 

 a more extended observation tend to confirm this- 

 view, it would suggest that any form of inter- 

 national confederation which aims at obliterating 

 nationality and race would scarcely attain enduring; 

 success. 



What Relativity in Science Implies. 



The Reign of Relativity. By Viscount Haldane. 

 Pp. xxiii-l-430. (London: John Murray, 1921.} 

 2is. net. 



THERE is no need to begin this notice of 

 Lord Haldane's book with a general refer- 

 ence to its scope and purpose. It is well known 

 that, though the book deals with many problems, 

 of science, it is not scientific in the technical mean- 

 ing of the term ; it is philosophy, and, as philo- 

 sophy, it includes every realm of human experi- 

 ence, and, therefore, science, in its synopsis. It 

 will be more interesting to readers of Nature to 

 select certain particular problems of science which 

 are also problems of philosophy. 



The first part of the book deals mainly with the 

 principle of relativity, the metaphysical basis of 

 which is brought out with wonderful clearness. 

 Lord Haldane achieves this, not so much by his 

 direct exposition, which is thorough, as by his- 

 delicate and subtle critical comparison of two- 

 methods of applying the principle in mathematics- 

 and physics, that of our English mathematician,. 

 Prof. Whitehead, and that of Einstein himself. 

 His exposition of both these writers is masterly.. 

 The chapter on Einstein is the clearest account 

 of his theory and method that has yet appeared ; 

 possibly it appears clearer than it otherwise would 

 from the fact that it follows the account of White- 

 head, which is certainly more difficult. This does 



