To write an account of " Creation " which is
to begin " at the beginning " and which is to embrace an account of the formation of island universes, of the sun, of the planets, of the appearance of life on the surface of the earth, and which is to trace the development of life through its numberless forms until the emergence of man, is a formidable task which few would undertake without considerably wider knowledge of fact and understanding of principle than that which is shown by Dr. Thom in his Dust to Life (Ernest Benn, 21s.). Not only is the style of the book most cumbersome and confusing, but its pages are strewn with faulty science. The cosmological part of the book is worst in this respect. Dr. Thom seems to have relied solely on " The Scientific American " for his physical and cosmological knowledge without realizing that even in its diagrams it is not to be relied upon. If only he had sub- mitted the proofs of the book to a college student before sending it to press he should have been able to eradicate many of its errors. The best part of the book is the descriptive treat- ment of evolution, but even here the author shows a sad lack of biological and philosophical background. Not only is his biology weak but in his description he uses mechanistic, pur- posive and moral terms quite indiscriminately in a most annoying way. The book as a whole gives the impression that the author is usually out of his depth.
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