DISCOVERY 



271 



patently been confined to a small number of pedants 

 and cranks whose influence was nil. 



The general lesson we learn from a careful study of 

 the English of the past is that standards of propriety 

 in speech are for ever shifting, that there is no absolute 

 ' right ' and ' wrong,' and that many dogmatic state- 

 ments on this subject have no sounder authority than 

 belongs to individual whim. 



{Concluded.) 



Reviews of Books 



The Control of Lite. By J. Arthur Thomson, M.A., 

 LL.D. (Andrew Melrose, ys. 6d.) 



The purpose of this book is to vindicate a particularly 

 modern thesis, namely, that Science is for life. It is 

 written in an attractive way by one who is not only a 

 professional biologist, but an acknowledged master of 

 popular exposition. On the subject of science and life 

 several books have appeared of late ; this one differs from 

 them in dealing with the subject mainly from a biological 

 point of view. 



From the informality of its diction, its occasional 

 moralising, a repetition or two, and the nature of the few 

 slips that have been made, it is not hard to gather that 

 some of it at least is the spoken word, and one need not 

 be a Sherlock Holmes to deduce further that the audience 

 addressed consisted of men engaged in religious, educa- 

 tional, or social work, not specially trained in science, but 

 evidently with wide interests, up against some of the 

 problems of life and anxious to know what biological 

 science has to contribute to their solution. These sen- 

 tences may serve to give a general idea of the book and 

 of the class of readers to whom primarily it should appeal. 



Science is for life. Professor Thomson does not wish to 

 argue that life is the only end of science, or that science 

 and more science are the only things man needs in life. 

 His point — and it is an old point, but a fresh and up-to- 

 date exposition of it is both necessary and interesting — 

 is that mankind may reach a new freedom and attain to 

 greater heights by bringing more brains, as well as more 

 good-will, to bear on the relief of his estate and the en- 

 largement of everyday life ; that an application of science 

 to every practical problem will rid him of many hindrances 

 that slow his progress towards the fuller realisation of his 

 ideals. 



Is there a single practical branch of human thought or 

 knowledge that has been left imtouched by the progress of 

 science ? Many would prefer to avoid answering this 

 question, but the answer " No " must be given. It 

 cannot be avoided. The physical conditions which 

 control our existence must necessarily be more funda- 

 mental than the aesthetic, the moral, or the intellectual. 

 Our religion, philosophy, and political systems must be in 

 harmony and alliance with our science if they are to be a 

 help and a happiness to man in his ascent. 



The book is expository. Professor Thomson gives some 

 examples of discoveries in the inorganic world that have 

 given civilised people control over their environment : the 

 X-rays which locate the pearl in the unopened oyster or 

 the bullet buried in the bone ; the ether which carries 

 messages so that man from afar hears the cry of ships in 

 distress upon the sea ; the falls at Niagara which drive 

 mills and illumine cities hundreds of miles away ; the 

 fertilisers made partly out of thin air ; the preventive 

 measures adopted in the conquest of plague and pestilence. 



In the realm of organisms Professor Thomson cites the 

 following examples : " The science of heredity has sup- 

 plied levers which can be used with great practical effect 

 in regard to cereals, root-crops, and fruits, cattle, sheep, 

 and poultry. To the interesting problems of forestry, 

 which are of great importance from the occupational as 

 well as from the economic side, the methods of genetics 

 and bionomics have only begun to be applied. It has 

 been shown how ' waste places ' like sandy heaths, pit- 

 heads, and salt marshes, may be made profitable. . . . 

 It may be that some discovery in bio-chemistry will 

 change the whole economic problem of food-supply." 



In a further chapter the author proceeds to illustrate 

 other aspects of the rapidly growing biological control of 

 life. He mentions the conquest of many microbic or 

 parasitic diseases such as malaria ; the development of 

 serum therapeutics, which is so important in connection 

 with diphtheria and tetanus ; and the utilisation of the 

 secretions of the ductless glands of other organisms to 

 supplement deficiencies in our own. 



The four subsequent chapters discuss the way in which 

 biological science can help in questions of heredity, health, 

 and nurture, and deal in some detail with such subjects as 

 our natural inheritance, recent advances in the study of 

 heredity, nature, and nurture, individually acquired 

 modifications and their transmissibility, the biology of 

 health and the individual life-cycle. The treatment of 

 these subjects is exceedingly good considering the author's 

 limits of space. A man who e.xpects a stop-press En- 

 cyclopcedia Britannica within the covers of a book of 275 

 pages will complain of scrappiness of treatment, but the 

 sensible reader will see that each chapter is a useful 

 introduction to a subject which may be pursued further 

 in the larger treatises where the rate of exposition is less 

 breathless. 



Professor Thomson next deals with problems of popula- 

 tion and social ideals, such as eugenics and eutopias, from 

 a biological point of view. On these subjects he writes 

 optimistically, (he believes in the idea of progress), but 

 very wisely he realises and declares that, although the 

 biological teaching is the first word on them, it is not by 

 any means the last. He does not advocate, for example, 

 killing off the unfit, or practising the ruthless methods of 

 those who like to regard men as brutes. 



" Our kindly social sentiment and sense of solidarity is 

 a sign of progress ; every right-minded person hopes for 

 more. And yet we help the sickly, the diseased, the 

 thriftless, the feckless, and we must go on helping them. 

 . . . We have thrown off the yoke of Natural Selection. 

 And yet, if we persist in sheltering inferiority from the 



