and Laboratory Methods. 2638 



whether there might be found a strength of potassium cyanide which would 

 destroy the bacteria in vaccine without injuring the essential organism. Their 

 efforts were entirely successful. They found that a solution of ///^'200 KCN 

 exerts a complete bactericidal action upon the vaccine without in any way injur- 

 ing the specific organism. Successful vaccinations were made on children with 

 pulp which had been freed from bacteria by the KCN. The authors suggest 

 that this result gives inferential evidence, at least, that the "organism of vaccine 

 partakes of the nature of animal protoplasm and is a protozoon." r. p. 



Snyder, H. The Chemistry of Plant and Ani- This work is Stated by the author to 

 mal Life. Easton, Pa. (Chemical Publish- be the outgrowth of histeaching of chem- 

 ing Co.), iqo^. . • ■ r. i i r . ■ , 



istry in the School of Agriculture of 



the University of Minnesota, and it is essentially a combination of lecture 

 work and laboratory directions for an elementary course in certain phases 

 of agricultural chemistry. The first twenty-one chapters (154 pages) are given 

 up to a discussion of elementary general chemistry. The greater part of the 

 remainder of the book deals with the chemistry of plants chiefly from the stand- 

 point of the agriculturist. Only a few chapters are devoted to animals, these 

 dealing with the composition of the animal body, and animal foods. The chief 

 value of the book to the general physiologist is found in the fact that it presents 

 in a handy form for reference, a digest of much of the work which has been done 

 by the chemists of the various experiment stations. r. p. 



Fischer, E. Experimentelie Untersuchungen The principal result of Fischer's work 

 uber die Vererbung erworbener Eigenschaf- i • i •. r • i i 



ten. Allg. Zeitschr.f.Entomol. Bd.6, 1901. <>" the inheritance of acquired charac- 

 Weitere Untersuchungen uber die ters appears to be very well established, 



Vererbung erworbener Eigenschaften. Ibid. 1 •, • 1- r 1 ^ 1 • -^ 



Bd 7 1Q02 ^"" ^t ^^ °"^ ^^ fundamental signifi- 



Rev. in Zeitschr. f. Allgm. Physiol Bd. 3. cance tO biological thought. In the 



■ ^'^ ■" ' 9 J- course of his study of color and form 



changes artificially induced in butterflies by temperature differences, Fischer has 

 found that such " acquired characters" maybe inherited. A particular favor- 

 able form for such work is Ardia caja L. By the action of cold (-8° C.) on the 

 pupae aberrant adults are produced differing from the normal individuals not 

 only in color, but in color pattern and general form. When such aberrant indi- 

 viduals are bred under //^rw^r/ conditions nearly 10 per cent, of the progeny 

 again show the aberration in the adults. These results show that it is possible 

 for temperature influence to produce progressive changes in the species in a 

 state of nature. R. p. 



RadI, Em. Untersuchungen uber den Photo- ^^ this work the author gives a critical 

 tropismus der Tiere. Leipsig (Engelmann), summary of practically all of the work 

 pp. VIII and 188, 1903. (4Mk.) ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ reactions 



of animals to photic stimuli, together with the results of his own investigations 

 in this field. The extent of the field covered and the mass of detailed facts 

 which the work comprises make it impossible to give a brief summary of the 

 results. Radl's own work on the light reactions of organisms (some of which 

 has already been reviewed in this department) has been carried on from a dis- 

 tinctly original point of view, and he has brought out a number of facts, which 

 are very interesting at least. His general standpoint is that the phototropic 

 orientation of an organism and the optical orientation of man are " ganz analoge 

 Erscheinungen." ^- p- 



