21 APRIL 1900, Page 24

Man and his Ancestor. By Charles Morris. (Macmillan and Co.

5s.)—The evolutibn of man has certainly not been treated apart from other issues, and Mr. Morris's claim to be first in the field with a treatise devoted to man must hold. His aim is to tell the story to a wide circle, composed, One must suppose, of people who have a smattering of physiology. Since Darwin's work a great deal has been dis- covered which, while of scientific interest to the student of evolution, may not always appeal to the general reader. These facts Mr. Morris brings in very clearly. One of the most re- markable survivals of man's ancestry is that in the trunk the horizontal veins have valves, but not the vertical, inverting the order obtaining in all quadrupeds. This looks as if man had descended from a quadruped, but that the now useless valves did not interfere enough with the circulation to be dropped. Of course the chasm is bridged between ape and man, though the chapter dealing with the ape's use of weapons comes to an end conveniently before the reader has time to ask about the inven- tion of the bow. Nor is Mr. Morris's explanation of the realisation of the value of fire at all scientific. He can be clOgmatic at times, but is tentative here. Another. difficulty, at least to the unscientific reader, is the fact of so many contemporary races of so wide a mental disparity. But the volume is well written and the subject ably and lucidly handled in a comparatively small compass. The last chapter deals' with "spiritism." and the author teems to look forward to a great advance when we shall have universal peace. The mind doubtless has a vast future before it, but it will not depend on peace ; as long as man retains any physical vigour he will fight.