SOME NEW BOOKS. 703 



unless there is already present a speck of living matter. Professor 

 Sabatier calls this power, by which a cell converts into protoplasm 

 substances which are not protoplasm, " amorce " — the power of 

 inducing combination. It is this that is possessed in full force by 

 primitive protoplasm, and so confers on it conditional innnortality. 

 It is this that gives embryonic tissues their reparative and repro- 

 ductive powers. But as cells become more and more specialised 

 they gradually lose " amorce,'' and ultimately die. 



But Professor Sabatier collects many instances to show that 

 this — the apparently peculiar feature of life — is really shared with 

 inorganic chemical reactions. Again and again it happens that all 

 the conditions for the production of an inorganic substance may be 

 present, but the reaction will not take place, or takes place 

 only slowly and with difficulty, unless a small fragment of the 

 desired compound be placed in the mixture. It is in the working 

 out of this idea that the most valuable part of the book consists, and 

 it seems, without question, that this line of research will carry 

 biologists almost into the confines of physical chemistry. The 

 outposts from the two sides already see each other. P. C. M. 



Horn Measurements and Weights of th£ Great Game of the World. By 

 Rowland Ward, F.Z.S. Square 8vo. Pp. viii. and 264, illustrated. London : 

 Published by the Author, 1892. Price £1 los. 



In this handsome and well-illustrated square 8vo volume, Mr. 

 Rowland Ward treats of a subject which forms a kind of border-land 

 between sport and science ; and the author has thus done well in 

 stating on the title-page that his work is intended as a record for 

 both sportsmen and naturalists. With the mere ambition of the 

 sportsman to beat his rival by obtaining the finest pair of horns or 

 antlers of any species of "large game" on record, the true zoologist 

 has, of course, no sympathy ; but, on the other hand, every student 

 of mammals must be interested in learning the maximum develop- 

 ment which these appendages are capable of attaining, and from this 

 point of view he thus is clearly indebted to the rivalry among 

 sportsmen. 



As its title implies, the greater part of the work is devoted to the 

 Pecora, among w^hich the Bovidae, from their numerical superiority, 

 claim by far the larger share of space. The horns of the various 

 species of Rhinoceroses likewise come within the scope of the title of 

 the volume. When we find, however, that the dimensions attained 

 by the tusks of elephants, hippopotami, and wald boars, as well as the 

 bodily measurements of lions and tigers, are also given, we feel that 

 the author has scarcely done himself justice in selecting a sufficiently 

 comprehensive title for his work. 



The especial value of Mr. Rowland Ward's volume is that it 

 covers a practically new f'eld, there being, so far as we are aware, no 

 other which treats of the whole subject ; such records of measure- 

 ments which exist being, as a rule, scattered through various 

 zoological and sporting works, the publications of zoological and 

 natural history societies, and the columns of sporting newspapers. 

 In the main, the work consists of a series of tables of measurements 

 arranged under the headings of the various species recorded ; but in 

 the case of some of the less known or recently discovered forms, 

 more o~ less detailed descriptions of the animals themselves are given. 

 The tables, in most cases, comprise measurements of a very large 



