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I WILL begin by briefly recapitulating the theory of the evolution of the universe in the form in which, as I understand, it at present exists.

THE two books before us are of interest not only in themselves but also as illustrating important types of mental activity in America. Both books deal with religion. Yet the author of one is a professor of zoology and of the other a professor of Sanskrit. Prof. Lane writes from the Christian point of view, and combines an expert knowledge of biology with religious earnestness. His work is the outcome of a series of lectures in which he was asked by students to describe the theory of evolution and the salient facts on which it is based, and to discuss the effect of acceptance of the theory on “one's views of the Biblical account of Creation and of the Christian religion.” Prof. Hopkins, on the other hand, is not a Christian apologist, but plainly sympathises with the religious syncretism which is not uncommon among American intellectuals. He seeks to disclose and, we suggest, sometimes exaggerates likenesses to be found in the advanced religions of mankind. He uses a singularly wide survey of the religious development of humanity to indicate the sort of faith which may emerge from the present clash of creeds and philosophies. He is learned, urbane, and detached. (1) Evolution and Christian Faith. By Prof. H. H. Lane. Pp. xi + 214. (Princeton: Princeton University Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1923.) 9s. net. (2) Origin and Evolution of Religion. By Prof. E. Washburn Hopkins. Pp. v + 370. (New Haven: Yale University Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1923.) 15s. net.

AT the present time it is especially interesting to compare the way in which, in different parts of the world, thoughtful men regard the relation between religion and science. We should expect to find a general uniformity in the different attitudes of representative thinkers in Great Britain and America. We are largely of the same stock. We speak substantially the same language, so that books in large numbers pass in both directions across the Atlantic. But it is a curious fact that the popular religious dislike of evolution, which even enters into politics in the Middle Western States, affects leaders of American thought. No theologian of eminence in England would now challenge a scientific conclusion, for which experts combine to demand our assent. Yet, in the book before us, the professor of biblical history and literature in a college at Hanover, N.H., makes a vigorous attack on “the religion of science,” and argues that man cannot be fitted into the scheme of biological evolution. No J fossil or organic half-man, says the professor in impres- I sive italics, has ever been discovered, and never will be. (Grammatically the final clause means the opposite fl of what the professor intends; but we will let that pass.) The Religion of Science. By Prof. William Hamilton Wood. Pp. xi + 176. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., n.d.) 6s. net.

WHAT is to be the religion of the future? How far will traditional beliefs be affected by the view of the universe which modern science sets before us? Such are vitally important questions which in the present volume an American author tries to answer. The man of science takes for his postulate the uniformity of Nature. It has served him well, for vipon it the physical and biological sciences have been built. But are man's ethical and aesthetic faculties, which dominate human life, conditioned by inexorable law? Could we, if we knew completely a man's history and environment, predict his every action? The man of science is tempted to answer “Yes,” and his creed is, then, extraordinarily like the Stoic determinism to be found, for instance, in Marcus Aurelius. Most of us, however, are certain that we have free-will. As we make the admission, the chains of necessity cease to bind us. We find ourselves forced to make an idealist, or spiritual, interpretation of the universe, and many hold Christianity to be the most persuasive consequential position. The Next Step in Religion: An Essay toward the Coming Renaissance. By Dr. R. W. Sellars. Pp. 228. (New York: The Macmillan Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1918.) Price 1.50 dollars.