LITERARY NOTICES. 



847 



the negro in America ; others relate to the 

 interests of Liberia ; the Congo State ; the 

 aims of education and the lives of noted 

 leaders. All are well thought out, and can 

 not fail to be helpful to the people for 

 whom they were written. 



Essays upon Heredity and Kindred Bio- 

 logical Problems By August Weis- 

 MANN. Vol. I. New York : Macmillan & 

 Co. Pp. 471. Price, $2. 

 The three great names in the history of 

 biologic evolution are those of Lamarck, 

 Darwin, and Weismann. The first edition 

 of this work, which was soon exhausted, ap- 

 peared as a single volume, and at a much 

 higher price. The present volume is more 

 desirable, as one gets with it a list of refer- 

 ences to the numerous discussions that its 

 appearance immediately evoked, and which 

 has continued at a high tension and without 

 interruption in the numbers of Nature and 

 other periodicals ever since. One can un- 

 derstand the cause of the intense feeling 

 shown in these discussions by glancing at 

 the titles of these essays which have ap- 

 peared at various times since 1881 : The 

 Duration of Life, 1881 ; On Heredity, 1883 ; 

 Life and Death, 1883; The Continuity 

 of the Germ-plasm as the Foundation of 

 a Theory of Heredity, 1885; The Signifi- 

 cance of Sexual Reproduction in the The- 

 ory of Natural Selection, 1886; On the 

 Number of Polar Bodies and their Signifi- 

 cance in Heredity, 188Y ; On the Supposed 

 Botanical Proofs of the Transmission of Ac- 

 quired Characters, 1888 ; and The Supposed 

 Transmission of Mutilations, 1888. 



While any one of these subjects was suf- 

 ficient to excite endless controversy, the last 

 two essays were bound to bring on an irre- 

 concilable conflict. A principle that we had 

 regarded as settled, namely, that traits ac- 

 quired by the individual during life could be 

 transmitted to his offspring, is not only de- 

 nied by Weismann, but this comer-stone of 

 natural selection being knocked away, the 

 edifice, to our astonishment, does not tumble, 

 but remains just as steady without it. The 

 author's judicial and temperate way, his 

 admission of doubt, where doubt exists, 

 inspires confidence in his deductions. In 

 ending his essay on the Duration of Life, he 

 says : " And so, in discussing this question of 

 life and death, we come at last — as in all 



provinces of human research — upon prob- 

 lems which appear to us to be, at least for 

 the present, insoluble. In fact, it is the 

 quest after perfected truth, not its posses- 

 sion, that falls to our lot, that gladdens us> 

 fills up the measure of our life, nay! hal- 

 lows it." 



In closing his essay on Life and Death 

 he says : " Life is continuous, and not peri- 

 odically interrupted : ever since its first 

 appearance upon the earth, in the lowest 

 organisms, it has continued without break ; 

 the forms in which it is manifested have 

 alone undergone change. Every individual 

 alive to-day — even the very highest — is to be 

 derived in an unbroken line from the first 

 and lowest forms." 



It is impossible within the limits of a 

 brief review to make even an abstract of 

 the writer's arguments. The low price of 

 the work enables every student to possess it. 

 To the few remaining opponents of evolu- 

 tion among thoughtful students who are un- 

 familiar with the facts and details cited, 

 this hot discussion between the Weismanni- 

 ans and the Neo-Lamarckians must seem 

 fratricidal, whereas it may be compared to 

 a band of earnest travelers perfectly united 

 in their efforts to reach the same goal, and, 

 coming to a number of cross-roads, heated- 

 ly discuss which is the right road, firmly re- 

 solved to follow that when demonstrated, 

 even if many have to finally retrace their 

 steps in order to do so. The acrimony and 

 satire which have been excited by these dis- 

 cussions are in consequence of the fact that 

 there is no half-way ground upon which the 

 combatants can unite. It must end in abso- 

 lute defeat to one or the other side. Great 

 credit is due to Edward B. Poulton, Selmar 

 Schonland, and Arthur E. Shipley, all accom- 

 plished biologists, for their connection with 

 the work as editors. 



The Story op the Hills. By Rev. H. N. 

 HuTcniNSON. New York and London: 

 Macmillan & Co. Pp. 357. Price, $1.50. 

 The simple description on the title-page 

 of this work — " a book about mountains for 

 general readers" — nptly characterizes the 

 contents and style of the volume. The au- 

 thor has written especially for those who 

 enjoy mountain scenery, and has aimed to 

 heighten their enjoyment by increasing their 

 understanding of what they see. He has 



