UP FROM THE SLIME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 790, 10 September 1954, Page 13

UP FROM THE SLIME

MAN, TIME AND FOSSILS, by Ruth Moore; Jonathan Cape, English prite 21/-. "HIS book attempts to trace the course of human evolution. Ruth Moore calls herself a "reporter." Certainly human interest, in the American use of the term, is very prominent. * The first section deals with the deduction of the theory of evolution. The sections on Darwin, Lamarck and Mendel are particularly interesting, and bring together materials formerly scattered. The chapters on Haldane, Fisher and Wright probably indicate reasonably modern views on the manner of evolution. The fact of evolution, of course, has not been sensibly disputed for half a century. In the main the point made is that evolution is progressive adaptation and nothing else, a matter of change of genetic frequency. The remainder of this section is very weak. How on earth Cope came to be included is a greater mystery than any discussed in the book. True, he was a great excavator, but, then, so is a bulldozer. What can one make of a book that gives a chapter to Cope and scarcely a page to Weissmann? The chapter on De Vries fails to emphasise that his evening primrose was a_ hybrid, and thus he was led astray in his study of mutations. The second section deals with the evidence for the theory of human evolution. All the major excavated skulls make suitable appearances. The author vividly brings to our attention the fact that man’s pelvis made him man, and not his brain. The development of. the pelvis to permit an upright stance long predated the brain of modern man. Methods of dating the remains receive deserved and careful attention. The reader will find an excellent account of the uranium dating of the age of the world, and the fluorine and radioactive carbon dating of man. These are very well explained and I know no place, other than the original literature, where the material may be found. This book is intended for popular consumption, but there is one point made in the last chapter which goes much deeper. The theory is that a pelvis, shorter and more upright than that of the ape, forced man tod walk as he does, and thus freed his hands, and set his head at its present angle. All science is judged by the accuracy of its predictions. It is proposed in Chicago to operate on an ape to give him a human pelvis. He should, then, of his own volition, walk upright. This proposal will

bear thinking about.

J.D.

McD.