February 27, 1919] 



NATURE 



503 



BIOLOGISMS EXPOSED. 



From Darwinism t<< Kaiserism. Being a R< 

 of the Origin, Effects, om! Collapse of Gar- 

 many's [ttempi at World-Domination by 

 Methods of Barbarism. 1>\ Dr. Robert Munro. 

 Pp. w 1-5. (Glasgow : jfames Maclehose and 

 Sons, [919.J I'ri' e (>. net. 



DR. MUNRO is a whole-hearted selectionist, 

 bul ,i great part of his vigorous book is 

 devoted tn exposing the fallacy, not confined to 

 Germany, that might is right, a fallacy which 

 finds its theoretical foundation in a misunderstand- 

 ing of Darwinism. Natural selection has worked 

 so well, they say, in the evolution of animate 

 Nature thai we cannol do better than continue it 

 in the kingdom of man; but, as the author 

 reminds us, it has to be recognised that natural 

 selection has resulted in efficient parasites, as well 

 as in efficient Primates. It is preposterous to 

 assume that the conditions of modern warfare 

 represent a logical continuance of the struggle for 

 existence as observed in wild Nature, for the 

 sifting processes of the terrible four years that 

 the world has wrestled through are in a different 

 category, as Dr. Chalmers Mitchell has well 

 shown, and have worked in great part in the 

 wrong direction dysgenically, not eugenically. 

 Man cannot, indeed, hope to keep his foot- 

 hold, still less make progress, without sifting, 

 but Dr. .Munro shrewdly lays bare the folly of 

 thinking that man is shut up to Nature's 

 methods. He must assist, improve on, or even 

 counteract them; and civilisation has in' great 

 part consisted, as sir Raj Lankester and others 

 have made clear, in throwing off the yoke of 

 natural selection. More positively, man must 

 substitute rational, social selection for natural 



'ion. Since Huxley's famous essay, many 

 antitheses have been drawn between natural 

 i"D .mil the sihm^ methods which experi- 

 ence indicates as spelling progress lor man, but 

 there has been a tendency to Conceive of Nature's 

 tactics ton crudely and without Darwin's subtlety. 

 For Darwin quiti clearlj recognised that en- 

 ■ iirs after the well-being of the famiK are 



ided in the struggle lor existence, as well as 



internecine competition around the platter of sub- 

 sistence. 



Dr. Munro has dune a useful piece of work in 

 once again nailing In the counter the false coin 



of pseudo-Darwinism, and in trenchantly exposing 

 the shallowness of would-be "scientific" bio- 



logism-. Man is to make' progress not only along 



the lines <>i the common ground which he shares 



with other mammals, but also along the lines ol 



his distinctive peculiarities which make him "a 

 man for a' that." \\ e have nol been able to 

 do more than allude to one of the main ideas of 

 an arresting volume, which many will heartil) 



welcome, though they cannot agree with it all. 



Thus we regrel to see the confident statement 

 that "acquired peculiarities during lifetime 



ime sometimes permanent." What proof is 

 NO. 2574, VOL. I02] 



OUR BOOKSHELF. 

 .1 School Chemistry Method. Being the Teacher's 



Supplement to Chemistry Notes and Papers. 



Parts i., ii., and iii. By G. N. Pingriff. Pp. 



xii f8o. (London: " Geographia, " Ltd., n.d.) 



Price 15. gd. net. 

 Chemistry Notes and Papers for School Use. 



(Xotes and Question Papers to Supplement the 



Pupil's Own Laboratory Votes.) In three parts. 



By ('.. N. Pingriff. (London: "Geographia," 



Ltd., n.d.) Price 2s. 3d. net each. 

 Ix "\ School Chemistry Method" an attempt 

 is made to overcome the well-known difficulty of 

 preaching from another man's notes by the issue 

 of a companion booklet explaining the author's 

 method. This part of the work will be found 

 useful, though the firsl chapter, on "The Aims 

 of Science Teaching," is either not necessary, 

 since the book is intended only for teachers of 

 chemistry, or, alternately, must be considered to 

 be by implication a rather severe indictment of 

 that part of the teaching profession. The re- 

 mainder of the book explains the manner in which 

 the author intends "Chemistry Notes and 

 Papers " to be used. It must, however, be noted 

 that there are also a detailed syllabus of the 

 course, a list of essay subjects, well graduated 

 and not too difficult, a key to the exercises — both 

 practical and numerical — and a short selection of 

 books suitable for the science library. 



The "Chemistry Notes " are made up in twenty- 

 four loose sections, perforated, and fastened to- 

 gether temporarily. The pupil is supposed to 

 make his own text-book from the results of his 

 practical work, and at intervals a section of the 

 notes is to be inserted in this book following 

 some practical work leading up to the subject- 

 matter of the section. The notes are brief, but 

 interesting, and they cover a wide range of topics. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for 

 opinions e -.pressed by his correspondents. Neither 

 cun he undertake to return, or to correspond with 

 the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for 

 this or any other part of Nature. No notice is 

 taken of anonymous communications.] 



The Neglect of Biological Subjects in Education. 



Tin-; two recent letters in Nature (January 23 and 

 February <>) under the above title cxpc.se a defect in 

 our science teaching which has been plain to me foi 

 sonic years. Hitherto 1 have refrained from referring 

 to this publicly owing to my lack of authoril 

 ccli! itional matters, but I now feel emboldened 

 only to acknowledgi mi hearty agreement » 

 views expressed in these two letters, hut also to 

 vi are upon a few remarks of a critical nature on 

 a 1 -in rete ci ti hing, ( ; 1 if the 



1 ersity of Cambridge. When I took the Natural 

 S ces Ti ipi is ih. -1 udi nl had a ] • • hoice ol sub- 

 jects (and I fancy the same still holds), selecting 

 usually three or four; none war. compulsory. Thus 

 a candidate could graduate in high honours in natural 

 science and yet be totallv ignorant of biology. The 

 converse could also occur — for example, l.\ taking 



