Shorter Notices The Boon of the Atom. By George Bankoff,
M.D., F.R.C.S. (Faber and Faber. 6s.) IT is a difficult task to condense and explain in relatively simple language the present conceptions of matter and energy and to record the various stages of experiment and deduction by which they have been arrived at. But Dr. Bankoff has, on the whole, accomplished this with considerable success ; and his present book is both less rhetorical and sentimental in manner than some of his previous work has been. He points out that such beneficent advances as the use of X-ray photography and therapy, of radium therapy and the invention of the thermionic valve are all children, as it were, of the same body of research as has led to the construction of the atomic bomb. And he emphasises once again the fact that research —the human mind being what it is—cannot be- stifled. It must and will go on. But whether its boons will outweigh its obvious poten- tialities for disaster will depend on other and non-scientific activities in the sphere of what the philosopher calls values. The goodness, not the cleverness of mankind or its effective leaders will ultimately determine this. Meanwhile as a brief and lucid little exposition for the ordinary educated layman this book can be strongly. recom- mended.
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