NA TURE 



21 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER ii, 1919. 



ZOO-LOGY AND HUMAN WELFARE'. 



Animal Life and Human Progress. Edited by 

 Prof. Arthur Dendy. Pp. ix + 227. (London: 

 Constable and Co., Ltd., 1919.) Price 10s. 6d. 

 i net. 



'T^ HIS volume is the outcome of a series of 

 -»- public lectures organised by Prof. Dendy 



-at King's College, London, in 1917-18 under the 

 auspices of the Imperial Studies Committee of 

 the University of London. The object of the 

 course was to inform ree public regarding zoo- 

 logical results already applied in furtherance of 

 human progress, and to emphasise the claims of 

 zoological science to recognition on terms of 

 equality with other departments of learning. The 

 college and the editor are to be congratulated, 

 not only on their courage and public spirit in 



! having, during the dark days of the war, arranged 

 a course which makes so much for enlightenment 

 and for reconstruction, but also on having made 

 the subject-matter accessible to all through the 

 medium of this volume. The lectures are most 

 informing, and if we express regret at the absence 

 of consistently full citation of the authors 

 quoted, this is done in tribute to their permanent 

 value. 



Prof. Dendy contributes the preface and an 

 opening lecture on "Man's Account with the 

 Lower Animals." To the weighty material items 

 in that account he adds the pregnant idea that 

 m-uch of our aesthetic sense is founded on insect 

 aesthesis, since the marvellous forms, colours, and 

 fragrances of flowers arose " in the course of 

 evolution in response to what we may fairly call 

 the tastes of insects long before man appeared 

 on the scene." Prof. Bourne adds a thoughtful 

 essay on " Some Educational and Moral Asp>ects 

 of Zoology." Prof. J. A. Thomson writes with 

 his usual vivid grace and wealth of Illustration on 

 "Man and the Web of Life." Mr. Tate Regan 

 discusses "Museums and Research," incidentally 

 putting in a strong plea for the view that evolu- 

 tion has been mainly adaptive, and that a change 

 of structure has followed, not preceded, a change 

 of habits. 



"The Origin of Man" is dealt with by Prof. 

 Wood Jones, who concentrates on primitive 

 anatomical features exhibited by man, differences 

 between man and other Primates, certain striking 

 resemblances to Tarsius, and the probable 

 remoteness of origin of the human stock. 

 With perhaps a little special pleading one could 

 ise a good many of his data in a thesis having 

 jfor its subject " Non-.'Vrboreal Man." "Some 

 [nhabitants of Man and their .Migrations " is the 

 ubject of Dr. Leiper's lecture, which will be read 

 vith all the more interest in view of his own 

 ■ecent researches on Bilharzia. In "Our Food 

 rom the Sea " Prof. Herdman emphasises the 

 'ital importance of sea fisheries, while "Tsetse- 

 NO. 2602, VOL. 104] 



F'lies and Colonisation " receives exposition from 

 Prof. Newstead. 



" I saw before me a great place where men 

 and women were making and imparting know- 

 ledge." Thus begins Prof. Punnett's "dream " 

 at the end of his most readable lecture on "The 

 Future of the Science of Breeding." May the 

 dream come true for every branch of zoological 

 science. Meantime we find emphasised, over and 

 over again, in the work before us a sad dispropor- 

 tion between the public support given to the study 

 of animal life and the splendid results this study 

 has achieved and can yet achieve for the further- 

 ance of human progress. 



J. F. Gemmill. 



WAR GLEANINGS. 



A Vision of the Possible: What the R.A.M.C. 

 Might Become: An Account of some of the 

 Medical Work in Egypt; together with a Con- 

 structive Criticism of the R.A.M.C. By Sir 

 James W. Barrett. Pp. xx+182. (London: 

 H. K. Lewis and Co., Ltd., 1919.) Price 9s. 

 net. 



SIR JAMES BARRETT has added another 

 vigorous and stimulating book to those he 

 has already published dealing with military 

 medical matters in the past war. The book treats 

 mainly of questions which came under his notice 

 whilst serving in Egypt, where he held posts 

 which enabled him to gain a broad outlook, as 

 they gave him an insight into the workings of 

 the military medical organisation, not only at its 

 local centre, but also in many of its peripheral 

 sections. His dicta have therefore the refreshing 

 qualities of first-hand observations in many fields 

 with which he was familiar. It must be added 

 that they are not less dogmatic when relating to 

 spheres with which he was less well acquainted ; 

 but there is always a note of sincerity and con- 

 viction which compels attention. 



The first section gives a general account of 

 the author's activities as an aural specialist, and 

 describes, by means of actual instructions issued, 

 the improvements in the treatment of ear diseases 

 and In the disposal of the men suffering from 

 them which were effected. In this connection 

 stress Is rightly laid on the advantages gained by 

 "the educational means adopted. The whole 

 service was taken into confidence^ the problem . 

 was explained, and the help of the m.edlcal officers 

 was invited." 



It may be asked why so much education in 

 the treatment of ailments common In the civil 

 population was required by medical men taken 

 for the most part straight from civil practice. 

 This the author explains in a later section of the 

 book, where he says: "The training of the 

 average medical man Is Intense and narrow ; all 

 his energies are concentrated on one problem, 

 doing the best for the sick man professionally. 

 He consequently speculates on remote risks. . . . 



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