REVIEWS 171 



task, and they have done their work well. The book is well illustrated, and the 

 production leaves nothing to be desired. 



W. S. 



Genetics Laboratory Manual. By E. B. Babcock, Professor of Genetics, 

 University of California, and J. L. COLLINS, Instructor in Genetics, 

 University of California. [Pp. xi + 56.] (New York : McGraw-Hill Book 

 Co. ; London : Hill Publishing Co, Ltd., 1918. Price 55-. net.) 



Genetics, although essentially an experimental study, tends to become in 

 university courses a lecture subject only. It is to be hoped that the little volume 

 by Prof. Babcock and Mr. Collins will help to serve as a corrective to this 

 tendency. 



This book is in many ways a rather wonderful production. In the course ot 

 some fifty pages detailed instructions are given for a laboratory course in genetics 

 extending over fifteen or sixteen weeks, one three-hour period being devoted to 

 the subject per week. For each exercise two alternatives are given, so that work 

 is indicated for three such courses. The instructions are strictly limited to those 

 necessary for the laboratory work, the book being intended to supplement the 

 textbook. 



The material seems admirably chosen. Recognising genetics as a subject 

 common to the two branches of biology, both animals and plants are selected as 

 material for experimental study. One of the greatest difficulties arising in the 

 planning of courses in genetics is the time factor. Much material requires so 

 long a time to give results that it is ruled out as impracticable for class-work for 

 this reason. Hence the choice by the authors of the fruit-fly {Drosophila 

 melanogaster) for breeding experiments is a very happy one. The various experi- 

 ments with this fly form the subject of the first section. The second section 

 indicates materials for the study of variation in plants. Here the introduction 

 of field study in regard to variation in Stellaria media is an excellent idea. The 

 student is also introduced to bud variation, chimeras, and graft hybrids. In 

 the third section Mendelism in plants forms the subject of study ; maize, cereals, 

 and other plants are the species selected. The fourth and last section deals with 

 plant and animal breeding. Here the student is instructed in the methods used 

 in the hybridisation of plants. As regards animal breeding, work is designed for 

 acquainting students with the methods of recording pedigrees. This is, no doubt, 

 useful for agricultural students, but for others different material may probably be 

 substituted with advantage. 



Although designed primarily for North American workers, the manual should 

 be found extremely useful in British universities and colleges as a guide to what 

 can be done in a short time in introducing students to the methods of genetics. It 

 is to be hoped, however, that the expressions "to hand pollinate," " Mendelizing " 

 used in regard to characters, " to flame " in the sense of sterilising an instrument 

 by putting it in a flame, will not become accepted expressions in British institutions 

 of learning. Apart from the use of these terms, the authors are to be heartily 

 congratulated on this little volume. W. S. 



MEDICINE 



Intravenous Injection in Wound Shock. By W. M. Bayliss, M.A., D.Sc, 

 F.R.S. [Pp. xi + 172, with 59 figures in text.] (London : Longmans, 

 Green, 1918. Price gs. net.) 



The subject-matter of this book constituted the Oliver-Sharpey Lectures, but they 



