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Science, Ethics and Politics</Article-Title> BOOK REVIEWS 377 SCIENCE, ETHICS AND POLITICS, Albert Szent- that it was destructive of religion. He writes, Gyorgyi, 91 pp., $2.50, Vantage Press, New "the real irony is that Ghazzali was right and York, 1963. St. Thomas was wrong. Science does shake man's Written by a Nobel laureate, this is a small faith in God and undermine religion. It has book of cellected letters to the editor, essays, been doing so for many years and shows every and excerpts from speeches. The common de- sign of continuing to do so. As to how it will all nominators throughout all of these writings are end, and whether this is a good thing or a bad that mankind is faced with the decisions as to thing, only our remote descendents-if any- his eventual annihilation, that time is running will be able to say." out for a solution to mankind's problems, and I found the story of the destruction of the that science offers the only hope that mankind libraries on page 131 the most comprehensive has. It is a sobering book representinga famous -for a concise statement-that I have seen, not scientist's attempt to help his conscience in a only of the libraries of Alexandria but of many, world which is faced with overwhelming many others. Scientists, and particularly teach- Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/27/5/377/21511/4440983.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 armament. ers, of all disciplines will, I believe, greatly enjoy THE LANGUAGES OF SCIENCE, Philippe Le Cor- this excellent book. beiller, Ed., 224 pp., $4.95, Basic Books, Inc., Warren E. Howland New York 16, 1963. School of Civil Engineering A compendium of lectures given over a Brit- Purdue University ish television network on scientific communica- CHARLES DARWIN AND NATURAL SELECTION, tion in various aspects. The authors include Alice Dickinson, 192 pp., $2.95, Franklin Beadle, Adrian, and Ashby. The subtitle of the Watts, Inc., New York 22, 1964. book is "A Survey of Techniques of Communi- CHARLESDARWIN, Gavin de Beer, 290 pp., cation," and this tells the running theme through $4.95, Doubleday and Company, Inc., Gar- the book. One author makes quite an excellent den City, New York, 1964. case for scientific education for all English cit- ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, Charles Darwin, izens, and the argumentsare just as cogent for 502 pp., $5.95, Harvard University Press, American readers. The chapter on animal com- Cambridge,Massachusetts, 1964. munication is interesting, and the section on The year 1959 marked the centennial of the Pavlovian conditioning is surprising and well publication of the Origin of Species and appro- worth reading. The index is quite useful. priately a great number of books concerning THE ANCIENT ENGINEERS, L. Sprague DeCamp, Darwin and Darwinism was published in that 408 pp., $4.95, Doubleday and Company, year and the few years following. The end is Inc., Garden City, New York, 1963. apparentlynot yet in sight as is indicated by the This is a lively, scholarly, and well-docu- appearanceof these three works. Although it is mented account of what must seem to the reader nowhere stated in the book, it seems that Dick- -after a few pages-to be an important chapter inson's account of Darwin is intended for in the history of civilization. It tells of the lives younger readers; it can certainly be read with and accomplishments of an exceedingly ingen- profitby many adult readers,however. De Beer's ious and important group of men-the ancient book, on the other hand, is for the more mature engineers but at the same time it weaves in the person, and I might add, it is also one which history of science and shows relations with the should be recommended to the superior high more familiar political and military events of school biology student. One outstandingfeature history. Numerous anecdotes illuminate the of de Beer's work which distinguishes it from pages of the story. Dickinson's is his rather complete discussions of The author's enthusiasm for his subject is dis- current views on many of the subjects which played in his jaunty style. Progress is a good Darwin studied. Both authors have provided us word in his vocabulary and so is technology. with interesting books and have done an admir- His not too frequent interpolations of philo- able job of making the personality and genius sophical comments display his "humanism" and of Darwin apparent. De Beer's, however, is the his optimism which is tempered by a sense of more stimulating account. the tragic and ironic in human affairs. The more or less standard edition of the The latter note is sounded with peculiar force Origin of Species has been the seventh or last in this story of the beneficial effect of the phil- edition (1872). Why then this facsimile of the osophy of Thomas Aquinas on the subsequent first edition? In the introduction, Ernst Mayr progress of science in the western world as con- states, "Surely, the justification for a facsimile trasted with the depressing effect of the philo- of the first edition . need not be established." sophy of Ghazzali in the reactionary world of However, he thoroughly establishes the justifica- Islam. Aquinas had taught that science of tion by pointing out, among other things, that Aristotle was compatible with religion; Ghazzali "where we go back to the Origin, we want the .
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