Science and Civilisation. by F. S. MarvinReview by: A. E. ZimmernJournal of the British Institute of International Affairs, Vol. 2, No. 6 (Nov., 1923), pp. 265-266Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Royal Institute of International AffairsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3014585 .

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1923] SCIENCE AND CIVILISATION 265

of course, notes the points in which the League of Nations falls short of Mr. Keen's original conception.

All the numerous articles are well and clearly written. The author is a maan who shows the benefit of a legal training; he writes 'concisely and knows exactlv what he wants to say. On the other hand the book strikes us as being singularly aloof from the actual facts of the world as it is; it shows no personal knowledge of inter- national affairs and throughout the whole of it there is practically no reference to the nature of the practical difficulties which stand between him and the attainment of his idea. This is true even with regard to the actual working of the League of Nations itself. He iiotes, indeed, the advantages which have come from the establishment of the permanent secretariat, but, as compared with similar books, there is a curious absence of observation and criticism of the way in which the League does its work. For instance, he postulates for his League the supremacy of justice, " universal, impartial, fearless, unfailing and inevitable "; we find no reference to that remarkable quality of the League in action, wvhich is exercising so many minds, namely the tendency in regard to any dispute to aim at conciliation and compromise rather than absolute justice. And yet from his point of view this is surely essential. He rightly says that "the main thing is to make the League universal in its operation"; he notes with regret that the present League is niot universal, but this does not lead him on to any conasideration of the real difficulties in establishing universality. He tells us:--

" Probably what is most needed for hastening the entry of Germany, Russia and the United States of America, is a very eager and persistent activity on the part of the governments of the existing states of the League in seeking to bring it about."

This is one of those obvious statements which do not really help us.

,Science and Civilisationt. Edited by F. S. MARVIN. (The Unity Series, VI.) 1923. (London: Humphrey Milford. 8vo. 350 pp. 12s. 6d. net.)

THE Unity Series of essays arranged and edited by F. S. Marvin, product of an annual summer school at Woodbrooke, has reached its sixth volume in a book on Science and Civilisation. Professor Myres, Professor J. Arthur Thomson, Mr. Charles Singer, Mr. Julian Huxley and others trace the development of scientific thought and invention from prehistoric timnes to the present day. The general aimn of the volume, in the editor's words, is to treat science as " one of the leading threads which have tended progressively to bind humanity together in historic times." From this point of view the indi-vidual essays are unexceptionable, although their total effect is somewhat patchy; but they do not offer much of interest or of criticism falling within the scope of this Journal. The student of international politics will turnr rather to the concluding chapter on " Science and Human Affairs," in which Mr. Marvin attempts to meet the criticism, which will have occurred to most readers, of his description of science as a " thread -tending progressively to bind humanity together."

Mr. Marvin, as against Dean Inge and other prophets of our time, is a firm believer in progress. He bases his belief " on the nature of man and the broad known facts of history." If the present looks unpromising, " the sadness of to-day and yesterday is but a trough

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266 BRITISH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS [NOV.

between great advancing waves "; and if, in 1918 and 1919, " the facts surpassed the competence of the best brains which tried to cope with them " (which some of these brains, on both sides of the Atlantic, whose advice was disregarded, would deny), it is because, in spite of the development of the human brain since prehistoric times, we have not yet developed the " spiritual organ, not located in any one cranium," which " must grapple with the problems of the future." This organ " will be the co-operative working of many minds." " Such co-operation," he continues, " has been crowned recently in the newly-formed Committee of the League of Nations for Intellectual Work." Useful as that Committee has been in its various inquiries, Mr. Marvin would probably alter his opinion as to its pioneer- ing spiritual quality if he had read the report of its past work anid projected programme.

This illustration is a typical example of a certaini want of per- spective and proportion which somewhat vitiates Mr. Marvin's optim- istic argument. Mr. Marvin sees the history of mankind as a definite and, broadly speaking, uninterrupted progress towards a goal of perfection-a perfection envisaged as both material and spiritual. To use his own expression, mankind is climbing an Everest and it cannot do so without a conviction of its possibility anid a hopeLul determination to do it. This hopefulness is reinforced by every favourable incident on the road, such as the formation of a Com- mittee of Intellectual Co-operation at Geneva. Students of inter-- nationial politics will, perhaps, be both inore sceptical and more con- fident than Mr. Marvin-more sceptical as regards the relation between the achieved results of international co-operation in our owv little day and the general movement of our planet or our universe, and more confident in the capacity of individual students of human affaira to make an independent synthesis of the world we live in, even without the aid of the new co-operative organ which Mr. Marvin tells us that science has in store for us. In other words, the Unity Series, in spite of the admirable individual efforts of its contributors, has not yet effected a satisfactory adjustment between sociological theory and modern history, or between the determinism of science and the freedom of each and every individual, in our own and every society, to make or imar his soul's career. A. E. ZIRIERN.

History of Modern Europe, 187-8-1919. By G. P. Gooon, D.Litt. 1923. (London: Cassell & Co. 8vo. vi + 728 pp.)

MR. GOOCH requires no introduction to members of the Institute, and this work on the history of Europe fron 1878 to the end of the war has already been generally recognised as the best available account of this very important period of history. We may add that it is not in the least superseded by the more recent publication by the Cambridge University Press of the third volume of their great History qf British Foreign Policy. It is nlot necessary, and we do not intend, to give any detailed account of the contents of the boolk; it will be sufficient to say that Alr. Gooch has an unparalleled command of the authorities; he writes clearly and simply, aind we get, therefore, a narrative which can be used with full confidence in the accuracy and impartiality of his judgluent.

None the less there are two points of criticism which must be made, The first is that though the book professes to be a history of moderni

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