need (never more necessary than now) for politicians to understand the
meaning of the words they use, and the nature of the main conceptions
which are entertained by the nation, and those which dominate their own
minds. He says that his opinion of the German people remains unchanged.
"They were very much like our own people, except in one thing. This
was that they were trained simply to obey, and to carry out whatever
they were told by their rulers. I used, during numerous unofficial
tours in Germany, to wander about incognito, and to smoke and drink
beer with the peasants whenever I could get the chance. What impressed
me was the little part they had in directing their own government, and
the little they knew about what it was doing." Lord Haldane dates this
habit of mind back to the days of Frederick the Great; but is there not
something to be said for the view that it is to be traced back through
the period of the religious wars into the baronial Middle Ages?
Lord Haldane's conclusion is that "the question is not one simply
of the letter of a treaty, but is one of the spirit in which it is
made.... The foundations of a peace that is to be enduring must,
therefore, be sought in what is highest and most abiding in human
nature." These sentiments are eloquently supported by Mr. Maynard
Keynes, who resigned his position at the Peace Conference (where he
represented the Treasury) because he felt that the negotiations were
not being inspired by that spirit and by those high and abiding ideals.
His argument, which is supported by very acute reasoning, is that the
economic clauses of the Treaty threaten the ruin of our interlocked
economic civilisation; and, with the skill of an artist, he strengthens
the gloom of his tale by giving in introductory chapters a tragic
setting: a concourse of statesmen, oblivious of the greatness of the
issues involved, men of mechanical or cunning minds, men obstinate
and narrow, ruthless and cynical, adroit and cunning, intriguing,
hoodwinking, whilst their world was rolling towards the precipice.
The issues he considers, the arguments he advances, are far too
controversial to be entered into here: but it is a book which states
one point of view far more powerfully than it has been stated anywhere
else and, as such, should be read, if only to be answered. We take it
that beyond the public questions which engage the author's mind there
must have been a personal one (which is also, however, a public one)
which must have caused him much disquiet: the question how far a civil
servant, whilst the events under discussion are still in progress, is
morally entitled to divulge things he would not have seen save in his
official capacity. He may--this we suppose is beyond dispute--resign
and conduct argument on the basis of facts known to the public; but
should he watch statesmen at private assemblies, judge their characters
by what he sees there, and then come out and attempt to blow them
sky-high? We suppose that Mr. Keynes, who is no doubt convinced that
his estimates are sound and that the whole future of the world may
depend upon people realising what he believes to be the truth, would
say that there was a conflict of obligations, and that the larger one
had overcome the lesser. But we do think that there is room here for
investigation and definition by a political philosopher with some
practical experience. The problem is not a simple one.
A HANDBOOK OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS. By SIR GEOFFREY BUTLER. With an
Introduction by Lord Robert Cecil. Longmans. 5_s._ net.
THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE LEAGUE. By EUSTACE PERCY. Hodder &
Stoughton. 6_s._ net.
It would hardly be possible to find two more different books on the
same subject than these two. Hence it is extraordinarily instructive to
read them together. Sir Geoffrey Butler is an academic international
lawyer, a lecturer in International Law and Diplomacy in the University
of Cambridge. He is therefore well qualified for the task which he has
undertaken, a short and elementary treatise, "which tries to place
the League in its historical perspective." He traces the history of
international relations and shows that the League is a development of
the idea of a Concert of Europe as opposed to the idea of a Balance of
Power. He then explains the constitution and machinery of the League
as it appears in the Paris Covenant, gives the text of the Covenant,
and adds a commentary or explanation of its various clauses. Sir
Geoffrey does not possess a light or facile pen, and occasionally his
meaning is singularly obscure. The book is academically cautious and
unoriginal, but it sticks to its object, which is to explain the kind
of international instrument which the victorious statesmen fashioned in
Paris. Hence it will be useful to those who do not possess technical
knowledge but wish to understand the significance of the clauses, or
bare bones, of the Covenant.
Lord Eustace Percy is not concerned with bare bones, but with the flesh
and blood which may or may not one day clothe the skeleton which the
victorious Powers produced at Paris. No one could call the author or
his book cautious; they are always trying to get back to fundamentals.
To Lord Eustace the Covenant of the League is a "revolution," and
he endeavours to show the revolution in British policy which it
implies--the ultimate, fundamental responsibilities which, with the
signature of the Covenant, the nation and its statesmen assumed.
In order to do this, he not only examines the League and Covenant;
he gives a most interesting account of the previous international
position and policy of Britain, the United States, and the chief
Continental Powers; he analyses and criticises the terms of the
Paris peace treaties; he deals with Labour unrest; the epidemic of
revolution, Bolshevism. The whole forms a restless, brilliant, and
often paradoxical essay on international relations. Its great merit is
that the natural reaction to it in the reader is thought. It is true
that the author's own political thinking is frequently much less deep
than it would appear to be on a cursory examination; but at least if
he cannot himself go to any great depths, he always tries to go as
deep as he can, and he carries his reader below the obvious surface of
political platitudes. His method is to appear at first to go almost to
the extreme limits of "progressiveness" and unorthodoxy, and then, by
the help of a paradox, to double on his tracks and to show that after
all the "progressives" are out of date, and nothing much could have
been done other than has been done. Thus he begins by writing about
such terms of the Peace as the Saar, the Balkans and Austria, Shantung,
the Adriatic, and the economic clauses, in language which we might
expect from the extreme Left, and then, when the reader is beginning to
feel that he has been robbed of his last illusion, he is headed back
from despair with the paradox that "in a sense, the strength of the
Treaty lies in its weakest parts--in those provisions which are the
least workable in practice."
For some tastes there will be too much of this kind of paradox in
this book. Lord Eustace is, perhaps, at his best when he is dealing
either with past history or with the immediate subject of his book,
the Responsibilities of the League. The League, in his view, is "the
one novel contribution made to the settlement by the Conference at
Paris"; it creates the conditions and machinery necessary if the
family of nations is to realise a "policy of joint responsibilities,"
and to deal continuously in a spirit of friendly co-operation with
"the standing common interests of nations." This thesis is explained,
worked out, and illustrated with very great ability. Lord Eustace
obviously considers that those who framed the Covenant produced the
best international framework and machinery which at the moment it was
possible for practical statesmanship to produce. Those who expected or
asked for more are, in his opinion, impractical idealists, or, what
is worse, they do not see that the whole object of the League is to
continue and develop the existing international system of absolutely
sovereign States. His treatment of this extremely difficult and
important question of sovereignty is the least satisfactory part of his
handling of the League. He holds that the doctrine of communal society
"applied to the League of Nations clearly rules out first of all any
encroachment upon the sovereignty of its members." But sovereignty
does not consist solely, as he seems to imply, in "the claim of the
State against any of its members," and surely the League might limit
or "encroach upon" the sovereignty of its members without necessarily
creating a Super-State. It is a pity that Lord Eustace has not dealt
more thoroughly with this question, for it is vital to another
important opinion held by him, namely, that the League must be the
enemy of and bulwark against Bolshevik or Communist Governments.
THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. By J. RAMSAY MACDONALD. Swarthmore Press.
10_s._ 6_d._ net.
This is not a mere list of criticisms and reminiscences written by
a carpet-bagger. Mr. Macdonald was in India as a member of the last
Public Services Commission. He has studied numerous official and
unofficial books and documents, and has met and heard the views of
representatives of all classes and schools of political thought. He has
stayed with Provincial Governors, Indian leaders, district officers,
and heads of native institutions, such as the Gurukul of Hardwar and
the Rabindranath Tagore school at Bholpur.
The result is a book of great interest, written with an insight and
moderation which will commend it to many who do not agree with all
its conclusions. It was written, Mr. Macdonald tells us, before the
Montagu-Chelmsford Report was published; but it is none the worse
for this. References and comments on the Report have been added, and
every line may be read with profit alike by the extreme reformer, the
moderate constitutionalist and the firm conservative.
Mr. Macdonald begins with an account of the rise of Nationalism and a
sketch of the history of European penetration and the advance of the
East India Company in India. This enables the British reader at once to
understand the remainder of the book, and places him in possession of a
store of knowledge which may help to foster that interest in India and
her problems so lacking in British electors and politicians alike.
The pronouncement of August, 1917, the Montagu-Chelmsford Report, and
the passing of the Government of India Act of 1919 are first steps
towards the establishment of self-government for India; but the real
difficulty to be solved is the representation of the mass of the
people. Mr. Macdonald holds that "The democratic forms of the West are
not the only forms in which democracy can take shape.... India is not
a nation of equal citizens so much as an organisation of co-operating
social functions." The question of diversity of race and language
will remain even when primary education has become general, and Mr.
Macdonald might have made clearer his views of the lines on which
genuine popular representation can be secured. He does, indeed, in his
account of the 50,000,000 "outcastes" of India give us a dim vision of
his hopes that with education will come leaders of ability to represent
them; but this does not solve the main problem of ascertaining and
giving expression to the will of the people. With the Councils and
reformed administration India will be somewhat in the position of
England in 1832, and whether she is to develop under British tutelage,
or to be left to work out her own salvation under her own bourgeois
Government, is a question which statesmen will be called on to decide
in the near future.
The chapters on finance and on religion and Nationalism are among the
best in the book, while the pithy accounts of the ceaseless toil of
a Lieutenant-Governor and of a District Officer should disabuse the
minds of those who have been accustomed to regard Indian civilians as
comfortable overpaid loafers.
SCIENCE
THEORETICAL AND APPLIED COLLOID CHEMISTRY. By WOLFGANG OSTWALD. John
Wiley & Sons and Chapman & Hall. 11_s._ 6_d._ net.
THE CHEMISTRY OF COLLOIDS. By RICHARD ZSIGMONDY. John Wiley & Sons and
Chapman & Hall. 13_s._ 6_d._ net.
Colloid chemistry, for which Dr. Wolfgang Ostwald claims to have
established the right "to existence as a separate and independent
science," is a study of very recent development, which has come to its
own during the past twenty years. In many respects its development
offers a close parallel to that of catalysis, a branch of chemistry
recently noticed in these columns. In both cases we have a few
brilliant, isolated studies, succeeded by a long period during which
little attention was paid to the subject; in both cases this century
has seen a large body of chemists, especially the younger men,
attracted to the investigation, the phenomena in question, and results
have been rapidly attained which have proved of great theoretical
interest, and have already found wide application in industry. Just as
the old idea that there were a few special catalysts has been succeeded
by the belief now held that every substance can be made to act as a
catalyst in suitable circumstances, so it is now stated freely that,
instead of there being a small class of colloids, any substance can be
prepared in a colloid state. Incidentally, colloidal preparations are
widely used as catalysts.
Colloid chemistry may be said to have arisen some fifty years ago in
the researches of Thomas Graham, who showed that a large class of
liquids or semi-liquids would not diffuse through animal membranes,
as do ordinary solutions of salts. Because many of these substances
were sticky he gave to the whole class the name which they now hold,
colloid. Since then his conception has been extended, and it is now
realised that, strictly speaking, we should talk rather of a substance
in a colloidal state than of a colloid, since typically crystalline
substances, such as ordinary salt, can be prepared in colloidal
solution. The characteristic of such a solution is the fineness of
sub-division--the dispersion--of the "dissolved" substance. In a true
solution, in the ordinary sense, we have, in general, the substance
existing as separate molecules dispersed throughout the solvent. In
a mechanical suspension, such as may be prepared from exceedingly
fine sand and water, the suspended particles, which take some time
to settle, can be easily seen with a microscope, if not with the
naked eye. In between these two classes of dispersed systems we have
solutions in which the particles, while consisting, in general, of
a very large number of molecules, are small enough to pass through
filter-paper and escape the ordinary microscope, while at the same
time they do not diffuse through membranes and can be seen by special
optical arrangements, _i.e._, the so-called ultramicroscope. Such
dispersed systems are colloidal systems, which have only recently
been investigated in detail, although Faraday prepared colloidal
solutions of metallic gold which still exist. Colloidal chemistry
has been picturesquely called "the world of neglected dimensions,"
which is appropriate enough. Of course the exact degree of dispersion
which constitutes a colloidal solution is purely arbitrary, since,
as Wolfgang Ostwald--the son of Wilhelm Ostwald--insists in the book
before us, solutions are known which show all ranges of sub-division
of the dissolved substance, from molecular dimensions to visible
particles. Various distinguishing tests have led to solutions in which
the diameter of the particles lies anywhere between a millionth and a
thousandth of a millimetre being conventionally called colloids.
The scientific, industrial, and medical applications of colloid
chemistry increase in number daily--we are already confronted with
the word colloidotherapy--and there is a growing demand for books
on the subject. The two before us are each by authors who are
celebrated for their researches in the subject: Zsigmondy invented the
ultramicroscope, which has been responsible for the most important
recent advances in the study of colloidal solution, and Wolfgang
Ostwald has added clearness to nearly every branch of the subject.
Ostwald's book, adequately translated by Dr. Martin Fischer (although,
we may remark, the word "enormity" is not generally used as a synonym
for hugeness), is based on a series of lectures given by him in America
just before the war. Publication has been delayed by the war, and it is
interesting to note that in the preface, written in 1915 when Germany
was apparently in a good position, the author looks to science to form
the first bridge between the peoples then at war, and exclaims, "How
should I, for example, cease to admire, to adopt, and to develop the
labours of a W. B. Hardy, a W. M. Bayliss, a J. Perrin, a P. P. von
Weimarn, and others, just because they belong to a people hostile to my
own?" The book gives a most excellent sketch of the whole field, by one
who is an enthusiast in his subject, and may be thoroughly recommended
as an introduction for those who are beginners, even if their general
knowledge of chemistry is slight, while even the expert will find much
in it to interest him. As a detail we may mention that Ostwald gives a
quick receipt for the preparation of red colloidal gold with ordinary
distilled water, while other authors, including Zsigmondy, insist
that the preparation is a delicate undertaking, requiring specially
distilled water and the greatest care. The wonderful range of phenomena
now included in the subject is clearly brought out, and the pictures
of Liesegang rings and the ultramicroscopic photograph of a setting
cement are beautiful. The treatment of gels, the jelly-like form into
which certain colloidal solutions pass, is particularly good, and gives
much valuable information not hitherto available in popular form.
The last two chapters, or lectures, on scientific applications and
technical applications of colloid chemistry are of surpassing interest,
as indicating the practical importance which this young science has
attained. All life processes take place in a colloid system, and
the necessity to physiologists of the study of colloids is forcibly
emphasised. Rubber milk, or later, is a colloid, so that all the
problems of coagulation of rubber and its subsequent vulcanisation are
included in the subject. The setting of cements is a colloidal problem.
These, and many other questions, are briefly but clearly discussed. The
experiments which accompanied the lectures are described, and are most
suggestive.
Professor Zsigmondy's book is more technical, and deals mainly with
"hydrosols" and "hydrogels." The author's reputation in this field
vouches for the excellence of the treatment of the many expert problems
discussed. Naturally the subjects of ultramicroscopy and protective
colloids are discussed in detail--the author originated the "gold
figure" used to express the protective effect of a colloid. The
theoretical discussions are particularly valuable, and physiologists
will read with interest the long discussion of protein bodies. There
is an appendix on industrial colloid chemistry by the translator, Dr.
Ellwood Spear, in which the problems of rubber manufacture, tanning,
and other industrial processes are very briefly treated. There is in
this section a chapter on smoke abatement, but the methods mentioned
scarcely fall within the province of colloid chemistry as generally
understood. A final chapter, by Dr. J. F. Norton, deals with the
application of colloid chemistry to sanitation.
MODERN SCIENCE AND MATERIALISM. By HUGH ELLIOT. Longmans. Green & Co.
7_s._ 6_d._ net.
This book is an exposition of monism, the philosophic theory that
asserts the identical nature of mind and matter, as distinct from
the dualistic "superstition"--as our author terms it--of matter and
spirit. Sir Oliver Lodge, in a recent article, claims that three
fundamental things are required to explain our universe: viz., Mind,
with its rudiment Life; Matter, with its element the electric charge;
and Ether, with its fundamental properties equivalent to elasticity
and inertia. Mr. Elliot will have none of this. For him there is no
reason to postulate other things than those capable of investigation
by physical science--the ether and matter are essentially of the same
kind, while all the phenomena of life are, if not at present explained
on a physico-chemical basis, yet ultimately explicable in terms of the
exact sciences. Life is a name for certain properties of protoplasm,
and the chemical reactions of life are more complicated, but not more
mysterious, than those of the laboratory. As for "ghosts, gods, souls,
_et hoc genus omne_," our author holds that "these have long been
rejected from the belief of most advanced thinkers." He traverses the
assertion of Professors Mach and Karl Pearson, that while science can
explain "how" things occur it cannot explain "why" (the point under
discussion depends, of course, on Mr. Elliot's interpretations of the
words), he pours scorn upon Herbert Spencer, Bergson, and all the
vitalists. Altogether the book is one of the most pugnacious defences
of monism which we have read, and will delight the bitter opponents
of all spiritualistic philosophies. At the same time the author
maintains that his philosophy is not materialistic, in the ordinary
sense, but a form of idealism, and this, of course, is true, in a way,
of any form of monism, it being possible either to say that the atom
of matter is as full of mystery as life, or that life is as full of
mechanism as the atom. It is obviously impossible in the limited space
at our disposal to criticise the arguments put forward on a subject so
complicated and controversial, but we think that nobody will admit
Mr. Elliot to be as unbiassed as he appears to consider himself,
judging by his remarks on the bias of the vitalists. His claim for
the support of the physiologists reminds us that Dr. J. S. Haldane
recently opened a discussion on the question, "Are Physical, Biological
and Physiological Categories Irreducible?" by a pronouncement in the
affirmative; the physicists also are not all monists. The question is
more two-sided than our author will admit. His science is unfortunately
by no means beyond reproach: to say that the charge on the electron is
"inconceivably immense" is either extraordinary inaccuracy of phrase or
extraordinary error, while to state that the electron has weight is to
assert something of which we have no experimental evidence. That light
is a vibrating motion of the same character as sound is incorrect, and
such instances can be multiplied. These things are not of fundamental
importance to Mr. Elliot's argument, but they show, to say the least,
a deplorable looseness of expression. Nevertheless, the book is worth
reading to all interested, either as friends or enemies, in the
monistic philosophy, and may lead some of those who talk so freely of
souls and mind to be a little more precise as to what they mean by
these terms.
ACCOUNTS RENDERED OF WORK DONE AND THINGS SEEN. By J. Y. BUCHANAN.
Cambridge University Press. 21_s._ net.