REVIEWS.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 27, 31 January 1920, Page 22

REVIEWS.

THE MAKING OF HUMANITY. (By ROBERT BRIFFAU.LT. Geo. Allen and Unwin. 12/G net.) This is an attempt to trace the evolution oi mankind upon purely materialistic lines. 'Ihe writer sets out witfl the sweeping assertion that "Man, biologically cousiuered, io but an aggregate anil complexities, subtleties and euibliluatiuiio, Human behaviour, thought, liiotory, achievements, and endeavours have haa no other spring than the original and primordial tendencies which actuate the amoeba. Throughout evolution no new impulse hae been created; the particularised form in which impulse is manifested in alone susceptible of change.' Having stated this proposition with considerable elaboration, and with the dogmatic confidence of an inspired prophot, it is a pity that -Mr. Bnlfnult did not go a step further, and reveal to us the pedigree of the protozoa endowed with s.uch marvellous potentialities. For the •question naturally suggests itself—How came these simple single-cell organisms to possefis such marvellous "primordial tendencies"? And what was the force which governed the upw&rti trend from tHo uniocon, for tlic author is impelled to acknowledge that a law of progress is manifest in the evolution of man from these primitive forms of life. He even arraigns the past to show that no age can compare with the one in wfiich we live. The Athens of Perikles was a dirty little evil-smelling Levantine town, where existence was dreadfully uncertain, and political conditions dilfered little from a Reign of Terror. War in classic Greece meant putting every man old or young, to tlie sword, and soiling the women and children into slavery. He finds Imperial Rome little better, and conditions of life in the Dark Ages. Tudor England, and the Seventeenth Century most undesirable. '"How many of us.'' he asks, "would consent to step back into that prim mid-Victorian world that lies almost within our memories?" The task which the author sets before him is to expound "the nature of that evolution whose laws ghape the destinies of the human world." "In that awful and sublime process," he proceeds to say, "amid tragedies and horrors un speakable, miseries untold, mire, sordid nose and squalor, baseness unavowablc. we see man—for all his faults and follies—making himself ouj of a brute into a demi-god. The obvious question is thrust upon Uβ —'How did he do it?' " "The answer to that question," Mr. Briffault goes on to assure us, "is exceedingly simple, and so obvious that no profound penetration is needed to discover it." Nevertheless, in the three hundred pages which follow, abounding in a phraseology remarkable for its redundancy, the "'simple answer" does not emerge with any clearness. Conjecture is mistaken for proof and reliance for the acceptance of unproved assertions is placed upon the potency of dogmatic reiteration. Setting aside Mr. Briffault's theories regarding causation, there is evidence in the book of n very wide reading. His historical researches cover an extensive range, but a faculty for generalisations appears to have prevented the author, when dealing with obscure phenomena, from realising the necessity for proceeding with the caution that ie characteristic of the experimental method, which he recognises as of first-class importance in the world of science as the basis of sound conclusions. Credit for introducing the experimental method into Europe, by the way, he declares to have been due entirely to the Arabs. Thoughtful readers generally, while recognising the erudition which the book discloses, will, we think, come to the conclusion that this work contributes very little towards the solution of the problem which is the avowed object of the author's quest.

'The Battle of the Falkland Islands," in which the British Xavy avrnged the defeat of Admiral Craddock. off Coronet on the eoaet of Chile, will always be regarded as an. important incident in naval history. The detailed account of the battle, therefore, written by Commander H. Spencer-Cooper, and published by Cassell and Co., possesses a value beyond its interest to the general reader. because the author has not merely set down his own impressions and opinionb but states that "in order to preserve accuracy, as far as possible, each phase presented has been read and approved by officers who participated." Aβ a prelude to the main story. Commander Spencer-Cooper describes the position of, German men-of-war in foreign seas when the war began, and the movements of the China squadron under Vice-Admiral Count Yon Spec. He gives an account of the operations "of the cruiser Karlsruhe, which sank seventeen British ships, representing a value of £1,62*2,000, and was finally destroyed by an internal explosion. The notable fight between the Carmania and the Cap Trafalgar fills an interesting chapter, and a summary is given of the exploits of the light cruisers Emden and Konigsberg. A careful review of the facts relating to the action off Coronel so far as they are definitely known, prepares the way for the momentous battle in which Yon Spec's squadron was finally disposed of. This authoritative account of the battle of the Falkland Islands was completed in 1917, but was withheld from publication because of the many omissions prescribed by the Xaval Censor at that time. "Lost Among the Red Men," by Edward S. Ellis, a thrilling story of adventures in the 'sixties, makes its appearance in an admirable edition in "The Boys' Library of Adventure," published by Cassell and Co. Two emigrant trains on their way to the Pacific Coast, one in charge of the veteran guide, Jack Bosworth, and the other piloted by the famous hunter and trapper known as "Shagbark," join up en route across the plains, bound for Salt Lake. The meeting took place in the land of the Shoshone Indians, whose chief delight was to "tie a feller to a tree, setting a pile of wood about him burning, and then dancing round him till he passes in his checks." iA youth belonging to the first party has been reported missing, and a searching party is organised to discover him, if possible, and effect his rescue from these hostile savages. This excursion penetrates into the heart of the Indian country, from which the explorers narrowly escape with their lives after some of those thrilling experiences and feats of courage which are so dear to the hearts of boys.