Abstract
IT is always interesting to see what a scientific fact will look like after Mr. Wells's imagination has been let loose on it. The facts on which this book is based are that particles or photons of high energy provoke mutation, and that such particles and possibly photons are reaching our planet from outside. What if some intelligent extra-terrestrial beings, perhaps on Mars, are treating us as we treat Drosophila? If these beings are as benevolent as they are powerful, may we not expect that our mutations will be of a desirable character, and that the mutants will reform the world? So Mr. Wells's characters argue. Two thousand years ago Virgil was writing:
Star-Begotten:
a Biological Fantasia. By H. G. Wells. Pp. vii + 199. (London: Chatto and Windus, 1937.) 6s. net.
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H., J. Star-Begotten. Nature 140, 171 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/140171a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/140171a0