Abstract
ON a first glance through this unusual book, there rises in one's mind the delightful remark that the mother of David Hume is reputed to have made to him—“Man, Davie, you'ed believe anything if it's no in the Bible.” For Mr. Croft Hiller accepts in the most trusting spirit the newest conclusions and theories of modern biology, and thrusts them with a fierceness that makes the index as combative as the text, against freewill and dogma—by dogma apparently meaning ecclesiastical Christianity. But it is only fair to say that although his acceptance of scientific authorities is from the point of view of science absolutely uncritical, he states the views he has selected with an acumen that his discursive and flamboyant style cannot disguise completely. A considerable part of the book is given to accounts of controversies in which the author has been engaged, and hell-fire, plenary inspiration, and the immorality of the clergy reappear like King Charles' head. He endeavours to show that recent investigations have established the dependence of man's physical qualities on physical structure, and he accepts Weismann's view that acquired characters are not inherited. From these premises he draws sociological conclusions that made, a writer in the National Reformer (to the pages of which Mr. Hiller was an esteemed contributor) accuse him of Toryism. But his conclusions do not always justify such a use of that appellation. They are such as the following:—That however society may attempt to equalise men, nature will insist on producing great inequalities. That education, as its effects are not transmitted, will not directly ameliorate society by raising the general standard. That criminals are no more worthy of punishment than geniuses of reward. That while for the benefit of individuals training of individual qualities is necessary, for the benefit of the race selection of the naturally better endowed is necessary. That the mainspring of all action is selfishness, but in practice the selfishness of the individual is restrained by the selfishness of the community.
Biology as it is applied against Dogma and Freewill, and for Wetsmannism.
By H. Croft Hiller. Second edition. (London: Williams and Norgate, 1893.)
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M., P. [Book Reviews]. Nature 49, 386 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/049386a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/049386a0