11 JULY 1931, Page 16

[To. the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sta i r–The letters which have

appeared in your columns with regard to Sir Arthur Keith's rectorial Address, reminded me of the old saying "When thieves fall out," &c. This time it is two eminent scientists, so perhaps there is a gleam of hope for the ordinary mortal. Whether these two great minds ever agree as to the exact meaning of the term "tribal " or whether there may not have been some " early " men, like the Incas of Peru, who were quite peaceful, surely during the process of the evolution of man to a higher type and without the aid of "inter- marriage," we shall evolve some method of settling inter- national disputes other than the stupid and wasteful one of war.

Judging from the latest gesture from America, it may well be an international financial blanket rather than a tribal one we shall all be forced to sleep under in peace !

No one would expect Sir Arthur Keith and Professor Elliot Smith—least of all themselves—to settle this problem or any other by means of a boxing contest of physical skill, and since men can and do grow out of childish habits, why not nations