ABSTRACT
After his authoritative Genetics and Man (1964) Dr. C. D. Darlington has now given us a magnifi cent account of The Evolution of Man and Society.2 This monumental work is bound to have great infl uence on many who will never trouble to study the former. What is here brought together on the origin of cultivation of plants and animals, the effects of disease, the signifi cance of blood groups, and the recurrent destruction by man of the environment from which he draws his sustenance is a veritable treasure house of fascinating information. If Professor Max Beloff had not already given here (Encounter, October) a full account of the scope of the work, I should not wish to turn to criticism before dwelling at length on the merits of this contribution of a biologist to the understanding of history.3 But it seems to me necessary more explicitly to examine a crucial issue on which the book is likely to give a misleading impression and with which Professor Beloff deals only by implication.
