Creative love is the impulse of life and of the
universe, says Mr. E. W. Hirst, and in the first part Of his bOOk, 'Ethical Love (Allen and Unwin, 7s. 6d.), he sets out to substantiate this view from a survey of modern science. The result is earnest superficiality, with consistent misinterpretations of natural phenomena-misinterpretations which are none the less sophistical for their amiable intent. In particular, he skims happily and ignorantly over the surface of _biology and psychology, supporting his statements with quotations, divorced from their contexts, from scientific works, and unconsciously ignoring what does not fit his idealistic thesis. Having thus laid his foundations, he proceedi in Part 2 to examine how social, political, and economic life should be organized to express the loving purpose of the cosmos. This part is moral and quite blind. Though the author pretend§ not to disparage sex, his ultimate ideal is a " sexlessness of soul " (and probably of body). Ile definitely condemns as unethical mere sexual enjoyment, and places such age-old and normal passions as lust and jealousy in--the chapter on
the pathology of sex. * *
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