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THE ATHENAEUM 17 Literary Notes THE OUTLINE OF HISTORY By W. M. Howard, ’24. H. G. Wells is, probably, one of the most versatile writers that England has produced during the twentieth century. Reading the list of books accredited to him, one finds that Wells has written a series of novels such as “The Soul of a Bishop,” “The Wheels of Chance,” “The New Machiavelli”, and “The Food of The Gods,” a series of books upon Social, Religious, and Political questions, such as “Mankind in the making,” “A modern Utopia,” “The Salvaging of Civilization,” and “War and the Future.” I shall endeavor to present to the reader a veritable picture of “Wells’ Outline of History.” Numerous writers have written histories of the world, but none, so far, save Wells, has been written in such manner that the ordinary layman could grasp the significance, im portance, and continuity of the history of the world. This “Outline of History” starts with the Nebula hypothesis of the creation of the world; continues with illustrations of the Fauna-flora of each era, from the early Archean of the late Cenozoic. The theory of evolu tion is clearly seen in the general account of the ages of Animalculae, of Sea Scorpions and Trilobites of Fish, Amphibia, of Reptiles, of the Pithecanthropus men, of the Neanderthal men of Cromagnon men, and finally of modern men with all of their complex social, political, religious and economic organizations. Wells gives an unique review of the rise and the fall of Egypt, Persia, the Jewish kingdom, Greece and Roman Empire, and the creation of the Western states. One finds a very acute analysis of the three great modern Religions: Bud- dahism, Christianity and Mohammedism. One sees Budda teaching the principle of cleanliness, Christ and Muhammad the principle of Love and Brotherhood. Government is traced from the crudest to the most polished, that is, from the tribal and monarchal governments to our present day Representative Democracies. The development of the nineteenth cen tury, including the colonial expansion of Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain; the unification of Germany; the germinal seeds for the Triple Alliance; the Triple Entente; and finally the hot bed for the Great War of 1914, is very picturesque. Some readers have accused Wells of being niaterialistic, how ever, we shall not enter a discussion about his religious view, but there is one thing certain, no writer of history has ever sounded the necessity of Brotherhood as loudly as Wells. After one has read the last two chapters of his history, “The Catastrophe of 1914” and “The next stage of history,” one will be forced to say that Wells is an apostle of the Universal Brotherhood Movement. After reading Mr.