7 io SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Animate," published in 1907, is well known as an admirable summary of the 

 present state of knowledge regarding the evolution of the animal kingdom as 

 revealed by palseontological research. The idea of introducing this work to 

 English readers was, therefore, an excellent one, and it is all the more to be 

 deplored that the translation has been entrusted to hands so little competent to 

 deal with it. 



The volume is edited by Mr. F. Legge, who dates his preface from the Royal 

 Institution ; and, as the name of the translator is : not given, it is to be assumed 

 that the editor accepts responsibility for the way in which the translation has 

 been carried out. It is apparent on every page, however, that not even the 

 most elementary knowledge of zoological or geological terminology has been 

 brought to bear on the revision of the text. Everywhere familiar technical names 

 and terms appear in ludicrous and novel forms. " Caslentaries " for Ccelentera, 

 "Balana" (with the plurals "Balana," "Balana?" and " Balanas ") for Balanus, 

 " Branchiopods " for Brachiopods, "the square bone " for the quadrate, "Horned 

 sponges " for Horny sponges — these are examples taken at random from a host 

 of others. Not unfrequently the result is to render passages quite unintelligible. 

 For example, on p. 208 we find, " In the Halitherium ... a small basin hollowed 

 out of a small cotyloid cavity exists . . ." In the original (p. 214) this passage 

 reads, " Dans \ Halitherium . . . il existe un petit bassin creuse d'une petite 

 cavite cotyloide . . ." Again, on p. 329 of the English edition, it is stated that 

 " Cayeux, while examining some narrow cuttings effected in certain pre-Cambrian 

 carboniferous schists, thought he recognised " the remains of Radiolaria. The 

 words rendered by " narrow cuttings " are " coupes minces," which any geologist 

 would at once recognise as microscopic sections. On p. 331 we read of "the 

 presence of colonies of Hydroids related to the Stromatopores, who [sic] are 

 Molluscs possessing a conical shell (genus Ckuarid) . . ." This is offered as a 

 translation of " la presence de colonies d'Hydroides voisines des Stromatopores, 

 des Mollusques a coquille conique (genre Chuaria). . . ." 



Of the footnotes which the editor has not been ashamed to add to Prof. 

 Deperet's work, we have only space to quote one, which is typical of the rest. On 

 p. 315, the word "Roussettes" (fruit-bats), which has baffled the translator, is 

 explained in a footnote, " Fruit-eating chiroptera like the squirrel. — Ed." ! 



Prof. Deperet may be assured that British palaeontologists will join in 

 regretting the indignity which has been offered to his work. 



W. T. Calman. 



The Chemical Constitution of the Proteins. By R. H. Aders Plimmer, D.Sc. 

 [Part I., pp. xii. +• 100, 3s. net. Part II., pp. xi. + 66, 2s. 6d. net.] 

 (London: Longmans, Green & Co.) 



Very properly dedicated to Emil Fischer, this book is issued as one of the series 

 of bio-chemical monographs which are appearing under the editorship of the author 

 and Dr. Hopkins, and one or two of which have already been published. 



To the average scientific man it may seem that the title of the present dis- 

 quisition is a trifle in advance of the times, and that the "Chemical Constitution of 

 the Proteins" is still somewhat a matter for conjecture. Whether this be so or 

 not, there is no doubt that the monograph must take a prominent place in the ranks 

 of compilations of special chemical subjects giving, as it does, in the clearest 

 manner, a full account of one of the most important branches of bio-chemistry, 

 and one which has lately been of special interest owing to the master-investigations 

 which are being carried out in its intricacies by Emil Fischer. 



