Abstract
DR. SCHMUCKER is skilled in the art of popular exposition. From this point of view his little book leaves little to be desired. It covers the conditions precedent to man's life on earth as revealed by geology and palaeontology, as well as the evolution of man and his cultural history. The author shirks no difficulty and boldly tells his readers when any conclusion which he sets down is doubtful and when the evidence is inadequate, inconclusive, or unsatisfactory. He is a fervent admirer of Dr. H. Fairfield Osborn, and in most controversial questions follows that distinguished author. Consequently, his treatment of the early stages of man's history up to the beginning of the Neolithic period is both fuller and more satisfactory than it is for the later periods, where he is uncritical and not always exact. He accepts, for example, Pumpelly's very high dating for Anau, and his account of the rise of European culture is sketchy at best. The book is written for the American public; but two features will be helpful to English readers. One is a very clear account of the evidence for the Ice Age in America so far as ascertained; the second is an analysis of the peculiar social conditions in the United States which gave rise to the evolution controversy and culminated in the Dayton trial after this book was written.
Man's Life on Earth.
By Prof. Samuel Christian Schmucker. Pp. xxx + 299 + 4 plates. (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1925.) 10s. net.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
[Book Reviews]. Nature 116, 860 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/116860b0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/116860b0