The Blind Cave Fish 



451 



offspring as would the one with fairly 

 good sight. Now in all the fishes, it is 

 supposed, variation of the eye is con- 

 stantly taking place, and variations 

 which tend to spoil it are much more 

 frequent than those which tend to 

 improve it, on the general principle 

 that an accidental change is vastly 

 more likely to harm a complicated 

 mechanism than to add to its perfection. 

 In the open these unfavorable variations 

 are constantly being weeded out by 



natural selection; in the cave they are 

 allowed to survive, and hence the whole 

 population of cave fishes eventually 

 comes to lack eyes, these organs having 

 been deteriorated by unfavorable varia- 

 tions, generation after generation. 



Both these explanations require to 

 be supported in detail by numerous addi- 

 tional hypotheses, and they are not 

 beyond criticism. They are, however, 

 probably the most satisfactory that 

 have been so far suggested. 



Advice for Nervous People 



THE MASTERY OF NERVOUSNESS, 

 based upon the re-education of self. By Robert 

 S. Carroll, M.D., Medical Director, Highland 

 Hospital, Asheville, N. C. Pp. 346, price $2. 

 New York: The Macmillan Co., 1917. 



In the stress of modern -life, almost 

 every man and woman at some time 

 faces the problem of nervous debility. 

 To help them meet this problem. Dr. 

 Carroll has written a simple, sensible, 

 practical book. It is not at all technical, 

 but is intended solely for the layman, 

 dealing exhaustively with right methods 

 of eating, working, playing, thinking; 

 with the emotional and the intellectual 



life. It should be helpful to many. 

 Dr. Carroll's treatment of heredity is 

 very casual and not particularly clear. 

 He appears to think that a man may, by 

 overeating and the use of tobacco as 

 well as by other excesses, damage his 

 germ-plasm in such a way that his 

 offspring will be born with impaired 

 nervous system. Proof of this would 

 be received with much interest by 

 geneticists. However, a discussion of 

 heredity is not an integral part of the 

 book, and it would not be fair to lay 

 too much weight on its shortcomings 

 in this direction. 



A Study of Men of Genius 



GENERAL TYPES OF SUPERIOR MEN, 

 a philosophico-psychological study of genius, 

 talent and philistinism in their bearings upon 

 human society and its struggle for a better 

 social order. By Osias L. Schwarz, with a 

 preface by Jack London and an introductory 

 letter by Max Nordau. Pp. 435, price $2.50 

 net. Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1916. 



It is not often that a book carries, in 

 its own introduction, so fair a review as 

 Dr. Nordau has written to Dr. Schwarz. 

 He says, in part: 



"Your study on genius, pseudo- 

 superior man and philistine is in reality 

 a pretext for invective against the 

 average man who is, in fact, an average 

 beast. Your indictment against that 

 type is wonderful in its quaintness, 

 raciness and overwhelming power. It 

 compares favorably with the very best, 



most scathing satires on the miserable 

 creature man that I know of in the 

 world of literature. But it is dogmatic, 

 not scientific, it is subjective and 

 cannot claim that calm objective argu- 

 mentativeness that carries with it 

 conviction even to obtuse or opposi- 

 tionally oriented minds." 



The present reviewer indorses Dr. 

 Nordau's judgment but would add that 

 he spoke too mildly when he wrote to 

 Dr. Schwarz, "Your analysis of hered- 

 itary influences in the formation of 

 genius is hazy." No one should expect 

 to get any real anthropological data 

 from the book. Nevertheless, it is 

 stimulating, and any thoughtful reader 

 will enjoy dipping into it. 



