LITERARY NOTICES. 



277 



succession, morphologr, embryologry, classification, 

 and many other peculiarities of organization, such 

 as its fundamental unity of composition, but more 

 especially the fact, so far as has yet been proved, 

 of the derivation of all observed individuals from 

 more or less similar parent stocks, constitute a re- 

 markable collection of accumulating and converging 

 lines of evidence in favor of the doctrine of spe- 

 cific organic descent. 



These proofs, however, are merely circumstan- 

 tial ; the relation of this problem to human experi- 

 ence being such as to render it incapable of demon- 

 stration ; still, the gravest objection to the theory 

 of organic transmutation is the difficulty of under- 

 standing how matters could have been so consti- 

 tuted and arranged that from simple and indefinite 

 beginnings such wonderfully complex and determi- 

 nate results could have been obtained. Natural 

 SELECTION does not account for the origin of specific 

 characters, but merely explains how, out of numer- 

 ous so-called spontaneous variations, such only can 

 be preserved as are in sufficient harmony with their 

 environments. 



And, while changing incidence of conditions is 

 undoubtedly instrumental in determining organic 

 sequences, it is important to ascertain what is the 

 nature of the factors engaged, and how they co- 

 operate in the evolution and establishment of dis- 

 tinct specific characters. 



The main conception of Dr. Fraser's the- 

 sis may be gathered from the following pas- 

 sages : 



The mere association of developmental impulses 

 and envelopmental facilities and restraints could 

 never of itself issue in any definite progressive re- 

 sult, unless subjected to the determination of some 

 controlling principle of order. Hence the regularity, 

 definiteness, and consistency observable In organic 

 reactions and relations testify to the additional ex- 

 istence and jurisdiction of a supplementary princi- 

 ple of co-ordinative supervision. 



As man, by factitiously arranging the means at 

 his disposal in accordance with his needs and tastes, 

 institutes systems of artificial co-ordination, so the 

 spontaneous adjustment of organic activities, in 

 subjection to, and in conformity with, prevailing 

 correlated tendencies and requirements, constitutes 

 a principle of natubal co-okdination. In the 

 elaboration and establishment of specific organic 

 results, this principle fulfills the two distinct 

 though complemental offices of a directive and a 

 selective function; the former determining each 

 temporary step in the process, the latter deciding 

 which out of many courses will be permanently or 

 successively adopted. 



In a dependent evolving system, with abundant 

 accommodation, provisions, and protection, it might 

 remain a matter of indifference what number and 

 kind of forms were produced, as all would alike be 

 preserved, each phase being simply a resultant of 

 the interaction between inward eflbrts and outward 

 restraints, without the intervention of any subse- 

 quent eliminating process. Here the principle of 

 co-ordination could only have directive scope ; but, 

 in a circumscribed area with limited supplies and 

 liability to Invasion, as soon as the rate of produc- 



tion exceeds the means of support, co-ordination 

 will assume a selective rdle, submitting the various 

 competitors for the different accessible situations to 

 prescribed tests, accepting only such as conform 

 with the required standards, and rigorously reject- 

 ing all relatively unsuitable or incompetent ones. 



Organization seems to have been planned and 

 conducted according to some such method and de- 

 sign; its potentialities, when properly supple- 

 mented, constituting an incalculable fund of 

 tranemutable and genetic energies, affording 

 the principle of co-ordination enormous re- 

 sources whereon to operate, so as to render pos- 

 sible the realization of results practically inconceiv- 

 able. 



POPCLATION BY AgKS, UnITED StaTES, NeW 



York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. 

 By W. S. Landsberg. Baltimore, Md. 

 Pp. 30. Price, 10 cents. 



The author believes that the distribution 

 of a population according to the ages of the 

 individuals is not fortuitous, but is the re- 

 sult of the influences which all the circum- 

 stances of a people's life exert upon its ex- 

 istence, naturally conditioned by births and 

 deaths. In the light of this view he dis- 

 cusses the lessons to be drawn from the vi- 

 tal statistics of the United States and the 

 three cities named. 



The Minting of Gold and Silver. By Al- 

 bert Williams, Jr. Pp. 24. 



This paper was prepared to form a part 

 of the census report. Without attempting 

 an exhaustive treatise on modem practice 

 in minting, Mr. Williams reports upon the 

 processes employed in the mints at Carson, 

 Nevada, and San Francisco, California. 



The Modification of Plants by Climate. 



By A. A. Crozier. Ann Arbor, Mich. 



Pp. 35. Price, 25 cents. 



In this pamphlet the author discusses a 

 subject concerning which our present knowl- 

 edge is " scattered and unsatisfactory," and 

 on which he desires to elicit more informa- 

 tion. From the facts he has been able to 

 adduce he concludes that enough has been 

 observed to make it evident that variation 

 is not accidental or at random, but is, at 

 least in part, in definite directions and due 

 to definite causes. " It seems to be estab- 

 lished that as plants move from the locality of 

 their largest development toward their north- 

 ern limit of growth they become dwarfed in 

 habit, are rendered more fruitful, and all 

 parts become more highly colored. Their 



