DISCOVERY 



87 



ment in evolution. Lastly, the whole endocrine system 

 is so extremely complex and the different glands so 

 closely interrelated in their functions that they cannot 

 bs rightly considered as separate entities. We 

 venture to say that the deeper psychologists and ph^'sio- 

 logists go into the problem of personality, the more 

 bewildered do they become at its psycho-physiological 

 aspect. The only safe dictum to be made at present 

 is that personality, character, call it what you wiU, is 

 largely formed by the continuous action and reaction 

 of mind and body upon each other. 



* * 4: * * 



We have dealt with Dr. Bermm's book, and the 

 questions that it raises, at some length, because it is 

 symptomatic of the present dangerous age of transition 

 in thought and mental attitude through which our 

 whole society is now passing. Generally speaking, 

 the average man and woman up to the end of the 

 eighteenth century went to the Bible for guidance if 

 he was up against questions concerning life or the 

 universe. In Victorian times scientists began, for him, 

 to usurp the place of the Bible ; they were ready with 

 the conceit born of newly acquired " knowledge " to 

 put him right on most questions. WTiat is the posi- 

 tion now ? Scientists, with their vast increase in 

 knowledge, realise how very little they know about 

 anything, and are not willing to give definite state- 

 ments about the results of their work. Under the cir- 

 cumstances it is not surprising to find that many people 

 are bewildered, and are not certain of where to turn in 

 their efforts to adopt an attitude to life and its prob- 

 lems ; that great numbers of our population are being 

 driven, not even into an intelligent agnosticism, but 

 into the most ridiculous extravagances of thought and 

 practice, particularly in connection with the problem 

 of human personality and its survival, by misinfomied 

 articles in the press, by pseudo-scientific books such 

 as Dr. Berman's, and by the extremes of spiritualism. 



It serves no useful purpose to be pessimistic about 

 the present state of things. But effective remedies 

 are urgently needed. We could not support the idea 

 that a special censorship of popular scientific books 

 should be established. Of more far-reaching import- 

 ance would be the setting up of a Commission to 

 collate the views of representatives of science, religion, 

 and intellect concerning The Problem of Human Per- 

 sonality. The difficulties in the way of such an under- 

 taking are sufficiently numerous and obvious to make 

 the suggestion appear useless. Yet we feel that our 

 journal represents a large body of people with active 

 brains who have a right to demand an answer, however 

 indefinite it be, from those men whose life's work is 

 concerned with various aspects of that subject which 

 has occupied the thoughts of mankind from the dawn 



of history. We should be glad to receive the views of 

 our readers upon this matter. 



***** 

 All the members of the Mount Everest Expedition 

 have left for India once more. What are their chances 

 of success this time ? Mr. Mallory put the question 

 to Mr. Bullock before they parted after their attempt 

 last year. His repl}', after long reflection, was : 

 " Fifty to one against." The chief obstacles in nego- 

 tiating the final six to seven thousand feet appear to 

 be the violent snow blizzards that swirl off the face 

 of the peak and the extreme exhaustion and difficulty 

 in breathing experienced at altitudes over 23,000 feet. 

 The time-honoured principles of mountaineers must 

 also be considered. As Mr. MaUory said in his paper ^ 

 read before a joint meeting of the Royal Geographical 

 Society and the Alpine Club last December : "A party 

 of two arriving at the top, each so tired that he is 

 beyond helping the other, might provide good cop}' for 

 the press, but the performance would provoke the 

 censure of reasonable opinion. If anyone falls sick 

 at the last camp, he must be taken down with an 

 adequate escort, and as soon as possible ; and simi- 

 larly on the final day. And coolies who become ex- 

 hausted in carrying up their loads cannot be allowed 

 to make their own way down." 



As against these difficulties, the climbers will prob- 

 ably have time to make several attempts on the peak, 

 instead of one, and will also at the start be in " fresh " 

 condition, and not exhausted by three months' climb- 

 ing and life in high altitudes. Mr. Mallory mentioned 

 another factor in favour of the assault : " The higher 

 one goes, the less will be the effect of any given rise. 

 To ascend the 3,000 feet above 17,000 is notably less 

 laborious than to ascend the next 3,000 up to 23,000 

 feet ; but the atmospheric pressure diminishes less 

 rapidly as one goes up ; consequently the difference in 

 effort required between one stage and another should 

 be less at each succeeding stage, and least of all be- 

 tween the last stage and the last but one. I beheve 

 it to be possible, at all events, for unladen mountaineers 

 to reach 26,000 feet, and if they can go up so far 

 without exhaustion, I fancy the last 3,000 feet will not 

 prove so very much more tiring as to exclude the 

 possibihty of their reaching the summit." 



1 See The Geographical Journal for Februarj- 1922. 



NOTICE 

 Professor Flinders Petrie wishes us to state that the dates 

 of the 1st to Vlllth Egyptian dynasties, given according to 

 the Berlin dating in a footnote to his article in the March 

 number, should have been given according to the more cor- 

 rect Egyptian dating, i.e. as 5500-4000 B.C. Fcr further in- 

 formation on this point, we advise our. readers to see Flinders 

 Petrie, Historical_Studies, p. 22. 



