Man on His Nature by Sir Charles Sherrington (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Man on His Nature. The Gifford Lectures, Edinburgh 1937-38. By Srn CHARLES SHERRINGTON, New York: The Macmillan Co., 1941. Pp. 413. This is a remarkable book, written by a remarkable man. It is a book brimful of information, a sincere book, a book which wrestles with great problems and endeavors to find a way towards their solution. Much of its contents may be accepted, partly as factual statement, partly as possible and interesting outlook. Much, however, seems unacceptable, because the author, although he evidently has given much thought to his problems, overlooks aspects of them or envisions them from an angle which allows only an incomplete and a distorted view. Sir Charles is among the most outstanding physiologists of the day. His book The Integrative Action of the Nervous System, of 1906, marks the beginning of a new era in neurophysiology . Hardly any other scholar has contributed as much to our knowledge of nervous function and none has shown so much critique and objectivity in forming his conclusions. Many of the facts mentioned in this book were discovered by the author; but the name of Sherrington is found nowhere. The man disappears behind his work. The Gifford Lectures are on Natural Theology. The founder wished Natural Theology, as Sir Charles tells us, "to be considered just as Astronomy or Chemistry." The approach evidently has to be empirical. It .seems, however, that Sir Charles has a conception of Natural Theology other than the U:sual one, and perhaps even the one Lord Gifford had in mind. To the author Natural Theology does not mean speculation on God and allied subjects on the basis of natural experience and with the means of reason. He seems to consider rather a Theology of Nature, as if the task were to replace the Divine by Nature. There are other features which denote a somewhat peculiar attitude towards things theological. Sir Charles tries sincerely to be just to the minds of past ages and to their ways, in regard to the interpretation of human nature and of the world in general. His excursions into the realm of the history of science are not the least interesting parts of his book. Sir Charles knows Aristotle and Kant; he is unusually widely read in fields rather far from his own work, but this reviewer cannot help feeling that the eminent author did not quite grasp the meaning of things to which he sometimes refers. Instead of quoting certain passages, it might be as well to comment on Sir Charles' interpretation of two prints taken from old books. One is the title-page of Fanti's Triompho di Fortuna (Venice 1527). On this woodcut one sees Time as a giant, carrying on his shoulders the Earth whose axis is provided with handles, the one in the hands of an angel, the other grasped by a devil. 507 508 BOOK REVIEWS On the sphere sits the figure of a pope; on his right is a female figure, pointing to the sky, at his left another woman, pointing downwards. The first, sitting on the side where the angel holds the axis, is dressed like a nun; the other seems attired in a worldly manner and sits on the devil's side. The allegory is simple. But Sir Charles writes: "A seated figure .of Religion wearing the triple tiara, attended by two angels. . . ." Furthermore, he refers the inscription on a scroll above the pope's figure: Virtus and Voluptas to the axis-turning figures, whereas these names belong, as is indicated in the cut, to the two attending allegorical figures. Now, anyone acquainted with the mentality of the Middle Ages or the times soon afterwards would understand the allegory and know the figures. The other print reproduces an illustration in the Rosario della gloriosa Vergine Maria (Venice 1561), and depicts three male figures with naked backs being scourged by a henchman of three judges standing in the background. An inscription above reads: Gli Apostoli furono battuti, and refers evidently to Acts, V, 40. Over the head of each of the three Apostles there is a :flame-again a wellknown symbol. Sir Charles has this to say: "It (the soul...