154 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Aquatic Microscopy. Dr. Alfred C. Stokes. Fourth Edition, revised 

 and enlarged. [Pp. ix + 324 and 198 illustrations.] (New York : 

 John Wiley & Sons, 1918. Price los. 6d. net.) 



This is a delightful book which every biologist will read with pleasure. 

 The author aims at providing the young American microscopist with a 

 means of identifying and studying the animals he finds in ponds and pools. 

 Dr. Stokes pleads guilty to " leaping scientific hedges and trampling on 

 scientific classification in a manner that will dismay the learned botanist 

 and zoologist," but the reviewer wishes that more beginners' books were 

 written in such an interesting manner as Aquatic Microscopy. Inclined 

 at times perhaps to be discursive and anecdotical, the author gives a good 

 account of the microscope and its parts. He then proceeds to describe 

 some of the aquatic plants, which, from his own experience, serve as haunts 

 for certain desirable aquatic animals. His account of the classificatory 

 differences between desmids and diatoms is rather mixed and obscure. 



Throughout the book we find " Keys to Classes and Genera " of various 

 forms : for instance, the author's " Key to Classes and Genera of Aquatic 

 Worms " cheerfully groups together Chironomus larva, Chaetonotus, Tur- 

 bellaria, and Oligochaeta. After all, to the beginner the Chironomus larva 

 is as much a worm as Chsetonotus. On p. 195 we find an example of the 

 greatest imperfection in this book : the author figures the larva of 

 Chironomus and also the form Chaetonotus ; he describes the figure of 

 Chironomus larva as "greatly enlarged " (really x 4 or 5), while no clue is 

 given as to the size of the figure of Chaetonotus. We recommend that the 

 author rectify this in his new edition. At the end of the volume is a useful 

 glossary. Although this book is written for the American student, it will 

 assuredly commend itself to English microscopists. The illustrations are 

 new and cleverly executed. 



J. B. G. 



ANTHROPOLOGY 



An Introduction to Anthropology. A General Survey of the Early History 

 of the Human Race. By the Rev. E. O. James, B.Litt. [Pp. iii + 

 259] (London : Macmillan & Co. Price 7s. td. net.) 



It has been remarked that the conflict between " Religion and Science," 

 that is, between many theologians and many scientists, which charac- 

 terised the latter half of the nineteenth century, has been succeeded by a 

 singular aloofness and indifference on the part of each group of the erst- 

 while protagonists towards the activities of the other. The clergy continue 

 their good work in their parishes, and the scientists push forward their re- 

 searches in their laboratories ; but neither know much of the doings of the 

 other, and both have lost interest in fundamentals. 



Most of the clergy, moreover, have proceeded as though nothing of im- 

 portance happened in the nineteenth century. It has merely become the 

 fashion quietly to ignore the first chapters of Genesis. This condition of 

 indifference is certainly more deleterious than the worst bitterness of the 

 old controversies. And hence one turns with interest to a work on general 

 anthropology of which the author is a clergyman. And one finds that here 

 is an author who at least does not ignore the issues. " The Old Testament," 

 he remarks, " begins with the time when man became a herdsman, no 

 longer dependent on the chase for his existence. But inasmuch as later 

 cultures can only be rightly understood when viewed in the light of that 

 which has produced them, civilisation being a product of evolution, the 

 theologian as well as the scientist should commence his investigations with 

 a survey of prehistoric man." This is refreshing. And, furthermore, Mr. 



