DISCOVERY 



249 



among tribes of nearer Asia, would operate in the direction 

 of another set. From the nature of the case, however, 

 evidence is partial and scanty. Not onlv do the checks on 

 population vary, but the optimum number also is not 

 constant, and varies in like manner with the conditions. 

 Mr. Carr-Saunders' analysis of conditions in the Middle 

 Ages and their effect on population, which bears out these 

 points well, is extremely interesting and worthy of close 

 attention. 



The problem which .Malthus stated as one of food supply 

 is now seen to depend rather upon the relation between 

 density of population on the one hand, and the maximum 

 return of industrv on the other. So long as skill 

 increases, so long will it continue to be desirable for the 

 population to grow larger. .A population which is either 

 too large or too small will fail to attain the maximum 

 return of industrv. .Mr. Carr-Saunders is of the opinion 

 that in India, Egypt and China we have cases in which 

 the checks operating on increase of population are not 

 adequate, and over-population probably occurs. He shows 

 further that in a primitive societv the balance between 

 density of population and the ma.ximum return of industrv 

 is dependent upon two factors. The first of these is 

 that in a primitive community, whether sedentarv or 

 nomadic, the tribal boundaries are strictly defined — a 

 fact which is often overlooked bv writers on primitive 

 society — and the means of subsistence are consequentlv 

 subject to definite limitation. The second is that there 

 is among primitive peoples complete social co-operation 

 in providing" the necessities of life. It is clear that, in 

 so far as any society fails to secure complete co-operation 

 among its members, we cannot say that there is anv 

 fixed number of population which would be the best in 

 tlie interest of the whole community. It is, however, 

 doubtful how far the complete social co-operation which 

 the author postulates in theorv would be found, even 

 among primitive races, in practice. 



In order to survey the specifically human aspects of the 

 biological problem, Mr. Carr-Saunders places before his 

 readers a lucid summarv of the geological, palaeonto- 

 logical and anthropological evidence relating to the 

 antiquity and descent of man. It would perhaps have 

 been an advantage had this evidence been a little more 

 fully discussed, especially in regard to the relative merits 

 of the various time n'leasurements put forward for the 

 different geological epochs upon which the evidence for the 

 antiquity of man depends. Presumablv he does not con- 

 sider that this evidence (nor even some recent discoveries 

 and investigations, notably that of the Rhodesian skull, 

 unless indeed this was made too recently for considera- 

 tion) materially affects his argument. He holds that In- 

 late Palaeolithic times man's evolution, both phvsicallv 

 and mentally, was to all intents complete ; and he con- 

 cludes that we may assume that the checks operative 

 among primitive peoples were also operative among pre- 

 historic races. This conclusion, however, is subject to a 

 reservation. He holds that it must not be too readily 

 assumed that conclusions based upon the practices of 

 primitive people are completely applicable to prehistoric 

 times. This is a perfectly suund measure of precaution. 



frequently overlooked by loo eager students of the men- 

 tality of prehistoric man. 



.Mr. Carr-Saunders' analysis of the qualitative aspect 

 uf the problem, i.e., changes of type of population, an 

 aspect which he regards as indissolubly linked with the 

 quantitative, is of extreme interest, but unfortunately 

 lack of space precludes its adequate discussion. His 

 treatment of it is hardly as successful as his handling ot 

 the quantitative aspect, i.e., of increase and decrease < f 

 population, and it is impossible to avoid the conclusion 

 that he has not always thought out his argument clearly. 

 He holds that three factors, germinal constitution, 

 environment and tradition, enter into the problem. The 

 distinction drawn between environment and tradition is 

 little more than formal, and it would be difficult as a 

 practical matter to separate the two. While recognising 

 tlie existence of mental differences arising out of differ- 

 ences of race, in Europe, for instance, he does not appear 

 to have considered the bearing of differences of race upon 

 the character of the population within a social organism 

 such as that of this country, where further investigation 

 may, and probably will, show that such differences are of 

 more thari academic interest, and have no inconsiderable 

 importance in relation to a number of social problems. 

 Mr. Carr-Saunders' final conclusion is, however, th.u 

 "The course of history is in the main dependent upon 



changes in tradition As far as tradition is 



equalised ... to that degree is menial endownient 

 of pre-eminent importance to the individual." \\'ith that 

 message of hope to the reformer and the eug'.'nist this 

 notice may fittingly end. 



E. X. Fai-Lmze. 



.\X ENTHL b!.\STlC MOL NTAIXEER IX XEW 

 ZEALAXD. 



The Conquest of the Ao-i,.' Zealand Alps. By SAMfia. 

 Turner, F.R.G.S. (T. Fisher-L'nwin, 21s.). 



Few climbers have had a wider experience of the summits 

 of the world than Mr. Turner. Twenty-four years ago 

 he began his climbing in the Swiss .A.Ips. Since then he 

 has never tired of the pastime, and has pursued it in the 

 .Alps, the Albai Mountains of Siberia, and Xew Zealand, 

 with a tentative venture in South .\merica on the slopes of 

 .Aconcagua. In the intervals of more serious work, Mr. 

 Turner kept himself in practice by winter rock climbing 

 in England and Wales, or by what seems to he the 

 extraordinarily dreary exercise of skipping. \\'e gather 

 that he prides himself on holding the record for one 

 hour's non-stop skipping, which entailed over 10,000 skips. 

 Climbing has always been Mr. Turner's pastime, to which 

 he has devoted himself in intervals between his business 

 affairs, but it was only when he settled in Xew Zealand 

 in 1011 that he could satisfy a longing to tackle the little 

 known Xew Zealand .Alps. The book records seven years' 

 climbing, from 1912 to 1921. In each year the climbing 

 season was fully occupied, and many victories were 

 gained. 



Tin- summit of the Xew Zealand .Alps is Mount Cook, 



