844 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 728 



oughly. There are several books whicli are 

 more scientific and chemical, but there is 

 none which will be of greater value to the 

 chemist, the practical man or the young ap- 

 prentice at the painter's trade. As an illus- 

 tration of this may be cited the reason — which 

 the reviewer has never seen before given — 

 why American linseed oil is inferior, owing 

 to the fact that it is made from unripe seed. 

 Other good features of the book are the tables 

 of color synonyms and for preparing tints. 



No mention is made of artificial graphite, 

 corn or Chinese wood oil or wood turpentine. 

 A. H. Gill 



Man in the Light of Evolution. By John M. 



Tyler, Amherst College. New York, D. 



Appleton & Co. 



Nothing could be more suggestive of the 

 change that has come over the attitude of 

 thought toward modem scientific ideas than 

 this book. A generation ago our scientific 

 fathers were in the midst of a bitter contest 

 with the world of theistic thinkers over the 

 truth and meaning of the doctrine of evolu- 

 tion. Evolution and atheism were regarded as 

 going hand in hand, and any one who was in- 

 clined to look with kindness upon the possi- 

 bility of human evolution was regarded at 

 once as a foe to any and all forms of theism. 

 One can not read this book of Tyler's without 

 being impressed with the wonderful change in 

 standpoint which a generation has produced. 

 Not only does the work accept without ques- 

 tion the doctrine of the natural origin of man, 

 but its central aim is to show that the goal 

 of evolution in the human race is to be found 

 along the ^line of religious instincts, and that 

 the church to-day is the expression of this 

 highest development of evolution. To our 

 fathers of a generation ago, both theistic and 

 scientific, this would have seemed the strangest 

 radicalism; to us to-day it seems natural and 

 deserving of earnest thought and favorable 

 consideration. Nothing can be more indica- 

 tive that a new era in this discussion has 

 arrived than the reading of this work. 



The book traces, in a most sketchy manner, 

 it is true, the salient features of animal evolu- 

 tion; the production of a stomach by the 



Coelentera; of muscles by the worms; of a 

 backbone by the vertebrates ; of a brain by the 

 mammals ; and of mentality by man. It con- 

 cludes that the highest phase of mentality 

 which is now unfolding itself involves the ex- 

 pansion of righteousness, of unselfishness, and 

 of the religious instinct. Not only does the 

 religious idea become a part of evolution, but 

 the evolutionary doctrine becomes the in- 

 terpretation of the religious idea. Truly " the 

 stone which the builders rejected, the same 

 has become the head of the corner." 



The tone of this discussion is eminently 

 optimistic, as indeed must be any discussion 

 of evolution that takes a broad conception of 

 this doctrine. The indisputable law that the 

 best adapted must, in the long run, be the 

 victor, leaves no room for anything but ad- 

 vance, and hence for optimism. The only 

 disquieting suggestion is, that some phases of 

 life which we think " best " are not best. Of 

 course, many a side branch, adopting lines of 

 ease which led downward, will disappear; but 

 they disappear because something better takes 

 their place. Even the alarming tendency that 

 has been so emphasized in recent years, 

 towards the decreased reproductive rate among 

 the higher classes, receives its interpretation 

 in this discussion. These classes have adopted 

 the easier line of life and are simply following 

 the universal law of nature toward extinction, 

 in order that their places may be taken by 

 those races or classes that have retained their 

 hold upon the line of possible advance, instead 

 of rejecting it for the easier life. Each gen- 

 eration is only an incident in the great 

 purpose of the ages, and many a side line is 

 crowded out of existence by the greater adapt- 

 ability of the central line of advance. Ad- 

 vance is the law of nature, and with this great 

 doctrine of evolution fully realized, only 

 optimism is possible. 



Many other phases of the evolution doc- 

 trine are touched upon in this work that can 

 not be referred to here. Professor Tyler is 

 to be thanked for presenting thus a wholesome 

 picture of the progress of the ages from a 

 somewhat new standpoint. 



H. W. Conn 



