NEW BIOLOGICAL BOOKS 



z8 5 



HUMAN BIOLOGY 



SYMBOLISM. Its Meaning and Effect. 

 By Alfred North Whitehead. 



The Macmillan Co. 

 $1.50 5 x 7! ; x + 88 New York 



This small volume includes three lec- 

 tures given at the University of Virginia, 

 under the Barbour-Page Foundation. At 

 the start we are given this definition: 



The human mind is functioning symbolically 

 when some components of its experience elicit con- 

 sciousness, beliefs, emotions, and usages, respecting 

 other components of its experience. The former 

 set of components are the "symbols" and the latter 

 set constitute the "meaning" of the symbols. The 

 organic functioning whereby there is transition from 

 the symbol to the meaning will be called "symbolic 

 reference." 



The author then develops the signifi- 

 cance and consequences, philosophical 

 and social, of this kind of mental activity. 



It is the first step in sociological wisdom, to recog- 

 nize that the major advances in civilization arc 

 processes which all but wreck the societies in which 

 they occur:— like unto an arrow in the hand of a 

 child. The art of free society consists first in the 

 maintenance of the symbolic code; and secondly in 

 fearlessness of revision, to secure that the code serves 

 those purposes which satisfy an enlightened reason. 

 Those societies which cannot combine reverence to 

 their symbols with freedom of revision, must ulti- 

 mately decay either from anarchy, or from the slow 

 atrophy of a life stifled by useless shadows. 



ENVIRONMENT AND RACE. A Study 

 of the Evolution, Migration, Settlement and 

 Status of the Races of Man. 

 By Griffith Taylor. Oxford University Press 

 $7.50 5! x 8|; xv + 354 New York 



This is a study of the population 

 problem along anthropological lines, by 

 the head of the Department of Geography 

 in the University of Sydney. The book 

 starts with the thesis that "the world 



problem of today is the adjustment of the 

 nations to the crowding which for the 

 first time in history is affecting the whole 

 earth." The discussion of this, and 

 various subsidiary problems which arise 

 from it, is divided into four parts. The 

 first is introductory, stating the problem 

 and the technique to be used in its dis- 

 cussion. The second part deals with 

 "The Changing Environment and Race 

 Distribution," in the past. It is a com- 

 prehensive review of the author's views 

 as to the forces which have influenced 

 migration. The third part is devoted to 

 a discussion of the white race in the 

 Australian environment at the present 

 time. Finally, the fourth part of the 

 book is given to a prophesy as to the future 

 distribution of the white race. The 

 conclusion reached is embodied in the 

 following table: 



Future white settlement and its political control 





BRITISH 



V. S. A. 



OTHER 



STATES 



TOTAL 



I. North American 

 region (52. per 

 cent of total) . . . 



II. European region 

 (2.9 per cent of 

 total) 



millions 



60 



76 

 62. 



mi 11 has 



5*3 



millions 



IO 



316 



"5 

 6 



millions 

 70Z 

 386 



"5 

 8i 

 62. 



III. Argentine region 

 (8.5 per cent of 

 total) 



IV. South African re- 

 gion (6 per cent 

 of total) 



V. Australian region 

 (4.5 per cent of 

 total) 



Total , 



377 

 2.8 



5*3 



39 



457 

 33 



r.347 



100 



Percentage 





Whether one agrees with all the 

 author's conclusions or not this is an 

 extremely interesting and provocative 

 book. 



