Any human attempts at a planned world are merely playing into the hands of the Devil. Auld Hornie, by the way, to use the pet name which the Scots have given him, perhaps in thanks for his attacks on the Sabbath, has been in charge of our planet since before life originated on it. In France only one, the engineer Claude, did so, though the Catholic biologist Carrel came back from the USA to support the Vichy government. Mr. Lewis' characters are confronted with moral choices Hke slugs in an experimental cage that get a cabbage if they turn right and an electric shock if they turn left. Mr. Lewis is often incorrect, as in his account of the gravitational field in the space ship, the atmosphere on Mars, the appearance of other planets from it, and so on. The criteria for fictional writing on scientific subjects are similar to those for historical romance.