April 20, 191 1] 



NATURE 



243 



Huxley to Haeckel, and the present work is an 

 ■■ Haeckelismus " without the redeeming grace of 

 genius. It is dogmatic, and, still worse, it is dull. 



The question of the origin of life is easy to the 

 author. Scattered through infinite space and time is 

 carbon, which in its original state forms the simplest 

 germs of life (Zoatoms)* These are so small that even 

 under the highest magnification they are seen only 

 as an irresolvable dust. It is they alone which are 

 able to assimilate the carbon which has lost its life 

 (we are not told how it loses its life). When the 

 earth was molten the Zoatoms surrounded it like an 

 atmosphere, like the meteorites around a heavenly 

 body. Then, of course, come Protists, Protophytes, 

 and Protozoa, and all is plain sailing until we reach 

 the commencement of the Cambrian, where we, for 

 the first time, encounter fossil remains ; not, however, 

 representing, as we might expect, the beginnings of 

 life, but all, or almost all, the great subdivisions of 

 the Invertebrata. This remarkable fact has taxed the 

 ingenuity of geologists not a little; the author makes 

 short work of it; two or three pages are devoted to 

 describing the various kinds of rock metamorphism, 

 tine or other of which is asserted to have blotted all 

 the pre-Cambrian fossils out of existence, except 

 Eozoon, which is most likely a Stromatopora-like 

 organism, saved by a strange chance from destruc- 

 tion. 



Geologists, the author says, have spoken of a 

 ( arboniferous continent — Glossopteris land ; this is 

 ^rund falsch," and contradicted by the facts (which 

 ..re not cited). 



The notion of pre-Tertiary glacial epochs is widely 

 accepted by geologists, but it is " grund falsch" and 

 " unthinkable." A deep sea before the Triassic period 

 is also " unthinkable." No climatic zones were 

 "possible" before the Tertiary era. 



The profile of the Pithecanthropoids is still very ape- 

 like, as is seen in the lowness of the forehead, the 

 projecting jaws and retreating chin, the slope of the 

 occiput, and the size of the face. (This statement is 

 arrived at by piecing together Neanderthal man and 

 Pithecanthropus.) 



After all this, we are glad to be assured that the 

 M>ul is immortal; it resides in the Zoatoms, and so 

 may be dispersed, but not destroyed. 



There are several references in footnotes, almost 

 without exception to other works by the author. 



OVR BOOK SHELF. 

 (ini)ullai^cn dcr Ballonjiihriiuf^. By Prof. R. Emden. 

 Pp. vii4-i4o + Taf. 3. (Leipzig and Berlin: B. G. 

 Teubner, 1910.) Price 2.80 marks. 

 I IMS book contains twenty-two paragraphs or 

 1 hapters. It opens with a statement of the general 

 laws governing the relations of a balloon to the air 

 hich supports it, beginning with the density of the 

 ises employed and their lifting forces, and proceed- 

 ;.; with the consideration of the distribution of force 

 1 the envelope. 



Balloons are classified by the author as being of 

 I < instant mass or constant volume (i.e. as having 

 ' losed or open envelopes), and the behaviour of the 

 ilasses in rising and falling is discussed. 



NO. 2164, VOL. 86] 



The proper use of ballast is treated, and the im- 

 portance of having too much ballast rather than too 

 little is emphasised. Paragraph 18 deals with captive 

 balloons, especially with regard to the height to which 

 they can ascend in a wind. The diagram illustrating 

 this point appears to be wrong, the construction em- 

 ployed indicating that the height in question is 

 L(i — coso), where L is the length of the rope and 

 o its inclination to the vertical, instead of L cos a (as 

 it should be). 



The subsequent paragraphs are connected with the 

 use of the ballonet and the relative merits of closed 

 and open envelopes, and, finally, in paragraph 22 some 

 remarks are made on the steering of dirigible balloons. 



There does not appear to be much that is new in 

 the book, but it has the merit of being compact, 

 and most of the information it contains appears to 

 be correct. 



For how long frail structures such as balloons will 

 have a place in warfare when opposed to the hardier, 

 cheaper, and quicker flying machines is a question 

 which will be decided in the next few years, but for 

 so long at any rate Dr. Emden's book "will be found 

 useful. A. Mallock. 



Vaccine Therapy: its Theory and Practice. By Dr. 

 R. W. Allen. Third edition. Pp. x + 277. '(Lon- 

 don : H. K. Lewis, 1910.) Price 75. bd. net. 

 The principle of treating bacterial infections by vac- 

 cines, i.e. sterilised preparations of the organisms 

 which are disturbing the normal balance, ha^ taken firm 

 hold in modern English medicine. It has not reached 

 its present position without a struggle, and even now 

 it must be admitted that the proof of its usefulness 

 depends more on the cumulative weight of personal 

 impressions than on any rigid demonstration such as 

 an extensive case-statistic would supply. In practice, 

 however, an increasing body of influential opinion is 

 in its favour, and the acceptance with which former 

 editions of this work has been received show's that it 

 meets a demand. 



The present issue, which has been entirely re- 

 written, aims at "enabling the general practitioner to 

 approach with confidence a case requiring therapeutical 

 immunisation." With this object a sketch is given of 

 the nature of opsonins, the use and meaning of the 

 opsonic index, and the method of preparing vaccines, 

 while the various infections are treated at somewhat 

 greater length with regard to their special require- 

 ments. A considerable number of individual cases is 

 given to illustrate the selection of appropriate doses, 

 and the results which may reasonably be expected 

 from them in different circumstances. These include? 

 failures as well as successes, and the results of recent, 

 work in this country are summarised as fullv as the 

 scope of the work permits. 



As the author himself recognises, however, accurate 

 diagnosis is a prime essential of success, and this 

 presupposes an acquaintance with practical bacteri- 

 ology, which the general practitioner does not possess, 

 and such a bcxik as this can do little to supply. Some 

 space indeed might well have been saved by omitting 

 the altogether inadequate treatment of the method of 

 isolating and recognising the organisms which may be 

 found in a given case, and devoted to a more critical 

 appreciation of the problems involved in bacterial 

 inoculations. 



Die Eiszeit twd der vorgeschichtliche Mensch. By 

 Prof. G. Steinmann. Pp. iv + q6. (Leipzig: 

 B. G. Teubner, iqio.) Price 1.25 marks. 

 Prof. S■rEIN^f,\N•N, with evident pleasure, contributes 

 this work on the Ice age to a popular series issued by 

 the firm of Teubner. Tlic black letter type shows the 

 audience for which it is intended, and it will admir- 



