426 
NATURE 
[ FEBRUARY Ke 1917 
ARBOREAL HABITS AND 
TION OF MAN. 
Arboreal Man. By Prof. F. Wood Jones. Pp. x 
+230. (London: Edward Arnold, 1916.) Price 
8s. 6d. net. 
VER since anatomy became separated from 
physiology and practical medicine it has 
run the risk of being assimilated with the material 
with which it deals and itself becoming a ‘‘dead 
subject.” By a curious paradox this tendency 
became specially pronounced when the publica- 
tion of “The Origin of Species” gave a great 
impetus to research in morphology, although 
Charles Darwin himself never failed to take into 
consideration the physiological and psychological 
factors which directly or indirectly affected the 
evolution of animal structure. But when the 
study of morphology led certain anatomists to 
regard their subject as what they were pleased 
to call a “pure science,” worthy of being cul- 
tivated “for its own sake,” and not merely as 
the geography of the territory the medical student 
would exploit when he became a physician or 
surgeon, an unfortunate tendency developed to 
disregard any treatment of the subject which 
might expose it unduly to the latter interpretation. 
As a result it suffered from the lack of those 
vitalising influences which the study of the func- 
tions naturally exerts upon attempts to explain 
structure. 
The outstanding merit of the book which Prof. 
Wood Jones has given us is that it impresses 
upon the mind of the student the importance of 
studying living animals and human beings as the 
indispensable method for really understanding the 
meaning of their anatomy. 
The somewhat ambiguous title emphasises the 
fact that his main theme is the examination of 
the far-reaching and determining influence of 
arboreal habits in the evolution of man’s struc- 
ture, distinctive abilities, and outlook. The 
general idea is not new, but it needed restating 
and expounding in the light of our current know- 
ledge. Prof. Wood Jones-had added much new 
information as the result of his own investiga- 
tions, and has presented the whole argument 
with. all the lucidity and brilliance of the con- 
spicuously successful teacher he has proved him- 
self to be. The book represents the Arris and 
Gale lectures as they were actually given at the 
Royal College. of Surgeons. If he had been ex- 
pounding the subject in another way, no doubt the 
author would have givén fuller bibliographical 
references and discussion of the evidence. . But in 
its present form the work can be confidently re- 
commended to students as an exceptionally clear 
and sober exposition of certain of the factors in 
THE EVOLU- 
human evolution which have in the past not re- | 
ceived the amount of attention their importance 
merits. The book is illustrated with character- 
istic samples of the author’s clever draughts- 
manship. 
G. 
NO. 2466, voL: 98] 
Ex.iot Situ, 
PHILOSOPHY. 
(1) The Contingency of the Laws of Nature. By 
Emile Boutroux. Authorised translation by 
Fred Rothwell. Pp. ix+196. (Chicago and 
London: The Open Court Publishing Co., 
1916.) Price 5s. net. 
(2) The Dreams of Orlow. By A. M. Irvine, 
with an Introduction by J. Arthur Hill. Pp. 
256. (London: George Allen and Unwin, 
Ltd., 1916.) Price 5s. net. , 
(3) 4 Modern Job: an Essay on the Problem of 
Evil. By Etienne Giron, with Introduction by 
Archdeacon Lilley. Authorised translation by 
Fred Rothwell. Pp. 92. (Chicago and London : 
The Open Court Publishing Co., 1916.) Price 
25, Of. net. 
(1) M EMILE BOUTROUX’S essay was 
+ originally presented as a thesis to 
the Sorbonne in 1874. Its aim was to find a new 
vindication of the freedom of the human will. 
The great difficulty which is always supposed to 
beset the libertarian is to reconcile free-will in 
man with the strict determination of natural 
objects which are governed by immutable laws. 
The author undertakes to show that there are no 
such laws. What really exist are uniformities 
which are similar to the uniformities in behaviour 
of a man who has formed very regular habits. 
“Contingency ”’ in the title of the essay means 
“non-necessity,” and the laws of Nature are not 
necessary, though they are regular. So long as 
we regard the laws of Nature as necessary we 
render illusory all life and liberty. And so the 
author claims that he has “‘restored to man that 
reality and effective influence over the course of 
things which common sense attributes to them, 
but which purely intellectualist or voluntarist 
philosophies, like those of Germany for the most 
part, declare to be inconceivable and illusory.” 
It is evident that the aim which M. Boutroux 
has set before himself is one which will command 
widespread sympathy, but the method by which 
he endeavours to realise his aim is too abstract 
and formal to be satisfactory, For the greater 
part of his book he is arguing against presup- 
positions and is attacking conceptions which, 
though widely current forty-two years ago, are 
not accepted to-day by any considerable body 
of philosophic opinion. The highly abstract (and 
therefore unsatisfying) character of the author’s 
argument is seen most plainly, perhaps, in his 
second chapter, on Being. “On the lowest rung 
of the ladder of things given we find being or 
fact pure and simple, as yet indeterminate. Can 
we say that it exists necessarily?” The author’s 
answer is, of course, that we cannot say so. On 
this whole question, however, our comment must 
be that the conception of pure indeterminate being 
is empty and futile. It stands in the forefront of 
Hegel’s system, but since the date when this essay 
first appeared the Hegelian system has fallen out of 
| favour, and men have turned to more concrete 
and fruitful inquiries. Altogether we are inclined 
