44^ 



NATURE 



[February 6, 19 19 



1 these objects. They ignore completely the 

 fact that physical science has transformed the 

 reality of the common-sense world beyond recog- 

 nition. They make the naive assumption that 

 the common-sense view of reality is a necessary 

 requirement of physical science. So here, when 

 we ask what is the existence which is distinct 

 from t he essence given in sense-perception, space 

 and time and stuff are offered us as the unques- 

 tionable framework, ground, and criterion of 

 existence. In this Prof. Strong has, of course, the 

 new realists in mind. Hut why do the new realists 

 persist in ignoring the evolution of mathematical 

 and physical theory, the principle of relativity, 

 the new concepts of space, time, and velocity, 

 the new scientific world-view of a universe con- 

 sisting of events and history, in their touching 

 anxiety to save at all costs the common-sense 

 reality of the plain man's world? 



This is not intended as depreciation, but as an 

 indication of the real difficulty I feel in regard to 

 Prof. Strong's theory, with which I am in general 

 agreement. 



I would advise anyone whom this review may 

 induce to read Prof. Strong's book to begin at 

 the second chapter, entitled "Introduction," and 

 defer the first chapter, entitled "Preliminary,'' 

 until he has read to the end of the book. The 

 "Preliminary" chapter, probably, on account of 

 its brevity and attempt to epitomise, is very- 

 obscure in comparison with the main argument. 

 H. Wildon Carr. 



BIOLOGY AND HUMAN WELFARE. 

 Civic Etiology: A Text-book of Problems, Local 

 iiuj National, that cm he Solved only by Civic 

 Co-operation. By Prof. Clifton F. Hodge and 

 Dr. Jean Dawson. Pp. viii + 381. (Boston and 

 London : Ginn and Co., 1918.) Price 75. net. 



rHIS timely book shows in a graphic way, 

 thoroughly well documented, how much 

 man might improve his place in Nature and his 

 immediate environment if the available knowledge 

 could be utilised in concerted civic action. The 

 coloured frontispiece contrasts an earthly Paradise 

 in Oregon with man-made desert conditions at 

 Shingkung, China, and the idea of the book is : 

 "Which?" "Discovery is pushing forward in 

 direction as never before in the history of 

 orld, and still it would seem that enough 

 is ady known to make living well-nigh ideal 



and the world almost a paradise, if only enough 

 people v." Yet "probably not less than five 



hundred thousand valuable lives are sacrificed 

 annuall) e currents of preventable disease, 



along with several billions of dollars' worth 



of foods and er property swept away by rats, 

 insects, weeds, fungi." Unco-ordinated in- 



dividual effort ca tie; co-operative scientific 



1 nut nil backed In offers our only hope of 



success. "Ouredu ids to be so organised 



that every citizen sh; II enough to stop a 



breach the instant he si 



NO. 2571, VOL. 



The course of instruction mapped out in this 

 book is thoroughly practical and on sound educa- 

 tional lines, ;is one would expect, of course, for 

 Prof. Hodge is the author of perhaps the wisest 

 of all books on "Nature-study." Rats cost the 

 States some five hundred millions of dollars every 

 year, besides losses inestimable in money, and 

 injurious insects are three times as costly as the 

 rats. This sort of fact occupies a prominent place 

 in the book, and the practicable measures of con- 

 trol are made so clear that he who runs may read. 

 Thus to make the most and the best of the bird 

 life is an obvious communal duty. (We notice, by 

 the way, that the authors refer to the survival of 

 an old passenger pigeon in the Cincinnati Zoo- 

 logical Garden. The death of this bird was re- 

 ported in England some considerable time ago, 

 but this may have been an exaggeration.) 



The inquiry broadens out to include discussion 

 of the following and much more: the careless fell- 

 ing of trees and the disasters of forest-fires ; the 

 control of weeds (which do annual damage to the 

 tune of live hundred millions of dollars); making a 

 back door beautiful ; the improvement of cultivated 

 plants and domesticated animals; the campaign 

 against flies, mosquitoes, and other serious pests; 

 the control of fungoid and bacterial diseases of 

 plants, animals, and man; the life-histories of 

 parasitic worms; the cultivation of clams and 

 Crustaceans; the improvement of fisheries; and 

 the utilisation of genetics as a basis tor eugenics. 

 It is a wide ambit, but the authors are to be con- 

 gratulated on the skill with which they have used 

 common things to illustrate general principles, and 

 have thrown the light of general principles on 

 common things. So while the course is frankly 

 utilitarian, it is at the same time a discipline in 

 the methods of science. 



I he book ends with a lively chapter on "Know- 

 ing How to Know How," and another on the pro- 

 gress of scientific discovery. The authors are 

 quite sound on the practical value of theory, but 

 they naturally lay emphasis on even the simplest 

 endeavours to face the facts (of any order of mag- 

 nitude and intricacy) without blinking. They are 

 at one with Goethe when he said : "The most per- 

 nicious thing in the world is active ignorance 

 (or words to that effect), and with Emerson when 

 1m wrote : "I am impressed with the fact that the 

 greatest thing a human soul ever does in this 

 woi Id is to see something and tell what it saw 

 in a plain way. . . . To see clearlv is poetry, 

 philosophy, and religion all in one." We are 

 heartily at one with the authors in their exposi- 

 tion of what biology may do for human welfare; 

 mi! niiK doubt is whether they have put in saving- 

 clauses enough. For there are some readers of 

 easy ambitions who may be tempted to think that 

 all will be right with the world if we get rid of 

 rats and hook-worms, if we control weeds and 

 Hies, if we take Pasteur and Mendel into our 

 everyday confidence. Hopes so sanguine will 

 meet, we fear, with bitter disappointment. 



J. A. T. 



