Evening star., 1948-11-28
Critical Study
OfScience as 1t
Relates to Man
THE ROAD TO REASON
BY Lecomte du Nouy. (Long
mans, Green; $780,

BY Lecomte du Nouy. (Long-
mans, Green; $780,
Reviewed by
CARTER BROOKE JONES
DIR. du Nouy was an investigatlVe
scientist who was not content to
write only in formulas. What rela-
ton, he always wondered, did sclen-
tific progress have to the life most
people were living? How did it ex-
plain birth and death? Did 1t In
crease or diminish hope OF immor-
tality?
Shortly before his untimely death
in l947 in New York he published
Human Destiny book that
should make him remembered long
after colleagues who never raised
their eyes above their test tubes
and retorts are forgotten. In this
extraordinary volume DR.. du Nouy
analyzed and synthesized develop
ments in the fields of biology,
physics and chemistry that relate
to human life. He concluded that
these discoveries not only did not
disprove the existence of God, but
actually strengthened faith in a Su-
preme Being and a spiritual uni
verse.
DR.. du Nuoy was not philisoph-
ical dabbler in science. He was a
scientist who won renown for the
results of his reach in biochemiStry
and biophysics. AS Ralph w. G.
Wyckoff of the laboratory Of physi-
cal biology at the National Institute
of Health, Bethesda, Md, points out
in q preface to this new book, Du
Nouy's investigations OF protein So
lutions and blood serum led to tech
niques that have thrown much new
light on the process underlying all
recovery from infectious disease.
Written Before Human Destiny"
Human Destiny" not only was a
critical success, but an unforeseen
sensation in the publishing trade. 1t
was best seller, though it certainly
was no book to amuse an idle and
lazy mind. The Road to Reason
was written some seven years ear
lier, but it furnishes a remarkable
accompaniment to the summing up
in Human Destiny In The Road
to Reason" DR.. du Nouy examined
more thoroughly the various
branches of science and the con-
clusions which philosophical minds
have based on scientific achieve
ments. There is critical study OF
certain scientific theories and their
relation to humanity. 1t is in no
sense popularization OF scientific
thought, and some chapters are not
for those without an advanced
knowledge of mathematics, physics
or chemistry. But his discussion OF
the theories and his summing up are
clear as sunlight to any reader, epi-
erammatic and highly quotable.
DR.. du Nouy has been as impressed
by the limitations of science as by
It's astonishing progress. He shows
the vulnerable positions OF thinkers
who have tried to reduce this and all
possible worlds to scientific dogmas.
He writes:
On the Matter of Miracles.
Man is not merely combination
of appetites, instincts, passions ana
curiosity. Something more is needed
to explain great human deeds, viz
tues, sacrifices, martyrdom. There
is an element in the great mystics,
the saints, the prophets, whose IN
fuence has been felt for centuries,
which escapes mere intelligence.
We do not admit physical miracles,
because they are outside the actual
framework of our knowledge; yet
we admit the reality of Joan OF Arc,
who represents real and confound-
ing miracle"
And, at the close he says: I'VE
have forgotten that science limits
Itself to interpreting and predicting
material phenomena, revealed by
our senses. We have overlooked, be-
hind the codified and conquered ma
terial forces, the directing forces
that alone characterize man. We
have looked solely for the things
that connect him with brute matter
and animals; we have lost interest
in those that raise him above them. )"
Writing before 1899, he saw the
ominous trend Of the times. He
called the "materialistic dialectics OF
the Soviets" the most absurd doc
trine that was ever produced by the
human brain-a veritable defiance
of intelligence and of science"
THE Road to Reason" was trans
lated from the French and edited by
DR.. du Nouy's widow, an American,
the former Mary Bishop Hartman.
THE HEARTH AND THE EAGLE
BY Anya Seton. (Houghton-
Mif7in; $500
Miss Seton's new novel is the his
tory of a family in Marblehead,
from the earliest days Of the Mas
sachusetts Colony, but more partic-
ularly the story of one descendant.
Hesper Honeywood grew up in the
decade before the Civil War in "the
Hearth and the Eagle" the inn
which had been in her family since
the early 18th century. She had
always, it seemed, been in love with
Johnny. But he went away to war
and never came back. Two other
men were entangled in her later
destiny. There was Evan, the artist,
who married her and took her to
live in a New York attic and left
her when he tired of responsibility