THE EVOLUTION OF MAN:

Otago Witness, Issue 2676, 28 June 1905, Page 77

THE EVOLUTION OF MAN:

A POPULAR SCIENTIFIC STUDY.

JBy Ernst Haeckel, Ph.D., M.D., LL.D., Sc.D., Professor at the University of Jena-.

[Translated from the fifth (enlarged) edition (two. volumes) by Joseph M'Cabe.] London: Watts and Co. Dunedin and Christchurch : Whitcombe and Tombs. (£!2 2s net.)

{RIVTEWKD BY DINORNIS.)

There are two reasons why I should not attempt to give account of this splendid book in any extended way. One reason is •that the edition, costly as it is, is already almost sold out. I had the information . from London a month since that only 150 copies remained undisposed of, the rest of the edition of 1000 copies having been sold before publication. It is necessary, therefore, that intending purchasers should act promptly, otherwise they are likely to be permanently disappointed. The publishers state that they do not intend to reprint the work. Every public library worthy of the name should certainly possess a copy, and I am pleased to observe that the Dunedin Athenaeum, as per last issue of "Library Notes," has been provided with this unique book. The other reason alluded to consists in the fact that in itself the work embodies a presentment of the subject so entirely complete and comprehensive that only a learned biologist could do anything, like adequate justice to it in a set review. Even then, at least two .pages of the Witness would be needed to give space enough for the purpose.^ Needless to Bay, I am no learned biologist, nor is it likely that the editor could possibly spare all that space for a book notice of any kind. All that I need to do, all that is necessary to do, is to. givft, briefly;, a general idea of this splendid book, which is really unique in that it is the only work extant dealing in "a truly exhaustive manner with the great subject of the evolution of man. Within the last few years a great change tas taken place in the mental attitude of thoughtful men and women with regard to this important subject. The old prejudices are rapidly dying away, and the evidences which for long have been more than sufficient to convince scientific men have now become familiar to inquiring minds in all 'ranks of society, the result being that the doctrine of evolution is now very generally, if sometimes rather vaguely, adhered to in places where one would scarcely expect any such thing. Before me lies a London magazine, in which it is mentioned that "the Dean of Westminster, addressing « large, gathering of Sunday school teachers at the Church House, made a notable pronouncement, .which may have si far-reach-ing - effect. The idea that the human species was separately created was given tip, and the fact of man's descent from lower "organisms accepted. Many people, ' the London journalist observes, "will accept from a dignitary of the Church) what they will not take from anyone else." That is a true word, and pity 'tis, 'tis true. If from the theologian we take our thtology, let us at least take our biology from the man who has made of that subject his life's" study. I hope, now that have got the hint from a Dean, that those Sunday school teachers will proceed to take their facts from this great compendium ; other folk, according as it is with them, it is to be hoped will do likewise. Such interested seekers after a knowledge of the marvellous facts of this "proper study of mankind " may go farther, but they will nowhere find in any one book even an approach to the masterly completeness of treatment which the subject has received in this one. Professor Haeckel describes his work as "a popular scientific study," but I do not feel altogether confident that that can be taken quite literally. Many readers have so habituated themselves to very thm soup indeed, in what they imagine to be_scientific literature, that perusal of "The Evolution of Man"- would inevitably prove too strong meat for them. On the other hand, there are those who will find no difficulty at all that may not be easily overcome with the aid of an excellent glossary, in which the more technical terms are accuTately defined. „ „ "The Evolution of Man" is practically m. new work.. The determination to work the subject out on strictly biological lines b*> been the goal of Haeckel s profound and laborious research lor almost, half a century. No sooner was the principle of biological evolution enunciated than the then young Jena scientist at once pevoeived the possibility of its application to man, and set to work to elaborate our ancestral tree. In 1870 he gave a sketch of the line of evolution in has 'Natural History of Creation," which Darwim said ■would if he had read it earlier, have onade the writing of the "Descent of Man unnecessary In 1874 Haeckel issued his famous "Anthropogenic" (The Evolution 01 ■"Man) in which he built up into one organic structure the whole material he had amassed bearing on human evolution, and illustrated it by liis own considerable artistic skill. During the intervening 30 years a vast amount of new and important material has been accumulated as the result o± embryological study, the progress of comgparative anatomy, palaeontology, and other branches of. science. The time had, m ■fact, come for a complete, comprehensive, and constructive presentment, in a popular form, of the new irresistible evidence for the evolution of man. This the gifted author accomplished in the new edition, recently issued in Germany, of his •'Anthropogenic." It is, as I said, virtually a new book, and it entailed the better part »f a year's arduous labour from its author. iThe text has been considerably augmented, 'there are 30 full-page plates, superb productions in colour and photogravure. The ordinary engravings (many of them also full- page size) number 512', and 60 genetic tables show at a glance tie various lines

of descent. Th© illustrations have all been designed and painted afresh by the author on a larger and finer scale, and are splendid examples of the artistic skill which Professor Haeckel counts among his many attainment*. From all possible points of view, both of the scientific text and of the faultless illustrations, the work must be pronounced a truly superb manual of human development. Each volume of this valuable and beautiful work contains over 400 pages, the text having been most carefully translated with a view ±0 make all technicalities as plain as possible to inexpert readers; the work has, in fact, been written for the general reader, though even for the student it has no rival as a comprehensive statement, thoroughly equipped in detail, of the evolutionary position. The first volume deals with the history of the subject, and presents a compendium of modern embryology. It is here that tie wealth, of illustration is greatest. The second volume discusses the evolution of the race in the light of comparative anatomy and palseontology, and has also a series of interesting chapters on the evolution of particular organs — organs of sense, digestion, circulation, reproduction, etc. Those who object to many of Professor Haeckel's philosophical pronouncements will be gratified by the almost total lack of anything of the kind here. The argument and attitude are scientific throughout, and the author never quits the biological territory en which he speaks with almost unrivailed authority to-day. In every sense this is a great work, and or© for -which, students of the natural his tory of man have every reason to be grateful to the veteran biologist of Jena.