The Science of Life

Abstract

THIS is in several ways a remarkable book, as its authorship would lead us to expect, for it gives us in one volume a competent comprehensive survey of the whole of biology—physiological, morphological, embryological, and evolutionary; it is written so that it can be ‘understanded of the people’ and with a sparkle that engages the attention; and it is one of the few books, heralded by Sir Richard Gregory's “Discovery”, which make the reader feel that science is not only for illumination, but also for “the relief of man's estate”, as Bacon phrased it. If, as we believe, mankind is at the dawn of a new era—the biological era, when an all-round appeal will be made to the biological sciences, as already to the physical, for guidance in the control of human life—then the big book of Wells, Huxley, and Wells will come to be regarded as an instalment of the relevant ‘Law and Prophets’. Along with biology, we are, of course, including psychology, for these two sciences are becoming almost as inseparable as chemistry and physics. No doubt the last scientific word will be with sociology; but that science, though born two millennia ago, has not yet come of age.

The Science of Life.

H. G. Wells Julian Huxley G. P. Wells. Pp. xvi + 896. (London, Toronto, Melbourne and Sydney: Cassell and Co., Ltd., 1931.) 21s. net.