18 AUGUST 1928, Page 19

In his small book on The Beginnings of Man (Hodder

and Stoughton, 2s. 6d.), Mr. E. 0. James attempts to give at the same time a scientific account of the evolutionary theory of the ancestry of man and a reconciliation of the theory with Christian belief. The book is marked by a modest and alert spirit. "It is for the anthropologist," he writes, "to investigate and- supply the most reliable data available from the actual remains of early man, and such of his work as has survived the wrecks of time. This, if duly verified, the philosopher and the theologian should make the basis of their further research, interpret it in terms of validity and reality, but, of course, without doing violence to the facts."