THIS WEEK'S BOOKS
DR. E. E. FOURNIER D'ALBE has tried his hand at prophecy ; but he is more disconnected, less reasonable, less suave than his fellow-prophets in Messrs. Kegan Paul's To-day and To- morrow series. His book is called Quo Vadimus ; now he is considering the final fate of mankind ; now our fate in a few thousand years ; now in a few hundred years. And he is no prophet of woe. He begins by informing us that we have no need to fear any disaster to our planet within any easily expressible number of years. "The discovery of radio-activity has had the effect of greatly postponing the general freezing up of our planet." He suggests two long-distance dangers.
If the sun, entering an unknown part of space filled with denser matter, were to develop a form of radiation leading to a considerable increase in the penetrating atmospheric rays, the persistent action of these rays upon the human germ plasm might bring about the total destruction of the human race by reducing its birth-rate to zero. The effect might not even be discovered until it was too late to remedy it." Or a new germ might be evolved which attacked the germ plasm in the same
way. But the most immediate danger (if the future of a few
thousand years hence may be considered immediate) is not from outside at all. It is quite possible that all mankind should tire of life ; think that" the race had lived long enough ; and develop a universal Will to Die. When Dr. Fournier d'Albe comes nearer to our own times, he shows himself merely pleasantly fantastic ; foresees a time when " dress will be light, so that half a dozen changes of costume can be carried in a handbag," for example.
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