LITERARY NOTICES. 



849 



ming nauplius, which after a time fastens 

 its head to a piece of wood and adopts an 

 immobile life. It then loses its organs of 

 touch and sight and power of locomotion 

 its legs being used simply to bring any float- 

 ing particles of food to its mouth. A more 

 remarkable case of loss of structure is that 

 of the ascidian phallusia, one of a class of 

 sea-animals found incrusting rocks, etc., on 

 the sea-bottom, the individuals being often 

 joined together, forming a plant-like mass. 

 The individual is a tough, leathery mass, 

 shaped somewhat like a bottle, with an open- 

 ing at each end, through which water con- 

 tinually passes, and possessed of little inter- 

 nal structure. Most of the young of ascid- 

 ians differ widely from their parents, that of 

 the phallusia the most markedly. The egg 

 of this gives rise to a tadpole which bears a 

 close resemblance in outward form and in- 

 ternal structure to the tadpole of the com- 

 mon frog, both possessing the four distinc- 

 tive structures of the vertebrata. But, while 

 the tadpole of the frog ascends in the scale 

 of organization, that of the ascidian descends 

 to a form in which its origin is unrecogniz- 

 able. Without the recapitulative develop- 

 ment in this case of the ascidian, Professor 

 Lankester avers that no naturalist would 

 have suspected that it belonged to the ver- 

 tebrata, and, as this recapitulation is so fre- 

 quently wanting, and when it exists is often 

 shorn of its " most important part," it is not 

 safe to set limits to the possible occurrence 

 of degeneration. Many forms now supposed 

 to be improvements upon their ancestors 

 may, upon further investigation, be shown 

 to be degenerate. The conditions that he 

 thinks predispose to degeneration are para- 

 sitism, fixity or immobility, vegetative nutri- 

 tion, and excessive reduction of size ; and 

 when, therefore, organisms are characterized 

 by these habits or peculiarities, degeneration 

 may be suspected. While Professor Lan- 

 kester's discussion is confined to zoology, he 

 recognizes the bearing of the hypothesis 

 upon evolution in general upon man and 

 the arts perfected by him. The general 

 conclusion he reaches is, that while the for- 

 mer universal belief that man and other crea- 

 tures had degenerated from a previous per- 

 fect condition is untrue, the contrary opinion, 

 that development has been a continuous 

 progress from lower forms, is also untrue. 



vol. xvn. 54 



The truth lies between the two; there have 

 been both progress and retrogression, and 

 both movements will probably take place in 

 the future as in the past. The constant 

 cultivation of those things that make for 

 progress will alone secure any race from 

 the possibility of degeneration. Full illus- 

 trations accompany the text to afford a ready 

 comparison of the forms pointed out. Notes 

 on the relation of the doctrine of develop- 

 ment to the theological doctrine of a soul, 

 and on some further cases of degeneration, 

 are appended to the text. 



The Obelisk and Freemasonry', according 

 to the Discoveries of Belzoni and 

 Commander Gorringe. . By John A. 

 Weisse, M. D. With Illustrations and 

 with the Hieroglyphics of the American 

 and English Obelisks, and Translations 

 into English, by Dr. S. Birch. New 

 York: J. W. Bouton, 706 Broadwav. 

 1880. Pp. 178. Price, 2.00. 



The newspapers last spring reported 

 that stones bearing masonic emblems had 

 been discovered in the foundations of the 

 Egyptian obelisk that has since been brought 

 to this city. A description of the emblems 

 by Grand-Master Zola, of the Grand Lodge 

 of Egypt, and a letter from Consul Farman, 

 at Alexandria, confirming the fact that dis- 

 coveries had been made, were also published. 

 Dr. Weisse, who fully believes in the an- 

 tiquity of masonry, was presented by Mrs. 

 Belzoni, widow of the celebrated Egyptian 

 traveler, in 1850, with manuscripts, draw- 

 ings, etc., assuming to show that an institu- 

 tion similar to freemasonry existed in Egypt 

 before pyramids and obelisks. All of these 

 evidences, with other matter and illustra- 

 tions bearing upon the same point, have 

 been combined in this work, which is curi- 

 ous and interesting if not historical and 

 scientific. 



Annual Eeport upon the SrRVEYS of 

 Northern and Northwestern Lakes 

 and the Mississippi Biter, in Charge 

 of C. B. Comstock, Major of Engi- 

 neers, etc. ; being Appendix MM of the 

 Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers 

 for 1879. Washington : Government 

 Printing-Officc. Pp. 80. 



The report shows progress in the trian- 

 gulation of Lake Erie, the triangulation 

 connecting Lake Erie with Lake Michigan, 



