August 9, 1888J 



NATURE 



34i 



nel, led to the development of the electrical torpedo, by 

 which he materially aided the South, and which he after- 

 wards introduced into Europe, whither he was sent during 

 the war, to purchase torpedo materials. 



His subsequent connection with Mexico, and his 

 scheme for emigrating Southerners thither, though de- 

 signed with a view to ameliorate the condition of his 

 countrymen, and to open up a grand country, was never 

 approved of by his friends, was politically a mistake, and 

 terminated abruptly with the abandonment of the country 

 by the French, and the assassination of the Emperor 

 Maximilian. After this he returned to England, and, 

 ultimately, to a Professorship in Virginia. 



All through his chequered life he maintained an un- 

 faltering devotion to meteorology, and his latest efforts 

 were directed to developing a comprehensive system of 

 crop and weather reports throughout the States. 



The perusal of this interesting book leaves us with a 

 deep impression of the comprehensive grandeur and 

 philanthropy of Maury's mind. A rare spirit of devotion 

 to science, not merely for the pleasure it always affords 

 its devotees, but for the good it could achieve in the 

 service of man, pervaded his whole life, and the addi- 

 tional record here presented of work done and schemes 

 initiated, will add fresh laurels to the imperishable fame 

 of its subject. E. Douglas Archibald. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Pflanzen-Teratologie. Von Maxwell T. Masters, M.D., 

 F.L.S. Ins Deutsche iibertragen von Udo Damraer. 

 (Leipzig: H. Haessel, 1886.) 



It will be satisfactory to English botanists to find that a 

 translation of Dr. Masters's classical work on vegetable 

 teratology has been called for in Germany. The present 

 German edition is not, however, simply a translation, as it 

 has received many additions from the hand of the author. 

 The work is thus of interest to English as well as to 

 German readers, for it constitutes the most complete 

 account in any language of abnormal structures in plants. 

 The great value of such a record of teratological facts will 

 be admitted by all botanists, however much they may 

 differ as to the morphological significance of these 

 phenomena. 



In the German edition, the number of figures in the text 

 has increased from 218 to 243. As a few of the original 

 woodcuts have been omitted, the number of new figures is 

 somewhat greater than appears from the total increase. 

 Besides the additional woodcuts, a lithographed plate 

 has been added, drawn by the translator from original 

 figures of Goschke and Magnus. 



Some of the more important additions to the original 

 work may here be noticed. At p. 35 a new section is intro- 

 duced, on fasciation of the root, illustrated by a woodcut 

 (Fig. 8) of the singularly fasciated aerial roots of Aerides 

 crispum. Caspary's view that only a single growing point 

 takes part in the formation of each fasciated root is 

 cited. 



Fig. 66 (p. 155) shows a proliferous maleflower of a 

 Begonia, in which the stamens are entirely absent, and 

 replaced by flower-buds. The curious case of the develop- 

 ment of flower-buds on the root in Pyrus is illustrated by 

 Fig. 91, described at p. 188. A remarkable abnormality 

 in a Fuchsia is shown in Fig. 98 (p. 208). Here two 

 stamens (one simple and the other branched) have arisen 

 in the axils of a pair of foliage-leaves, which are adherent 

 to the inferior ovary. On p. 213 some figures have been 

 added to further illustrate the formation of adventitious 



siliquae in Cruciferae in the interior of the normal fruit. In 

 Figs. 131, 132, and 133 (p. 257) three interesting cases of 

 regular peloria in orchids are shown. 



A striking instance of pistillody of the stamens in a 

 Begonia is figured on p. 353 (Fig. 178). In this flower the 

 stamens were replaced by open carpels each bearing a 

 large number of marginal ovules. A conspicuous abnor- 

 mality in an Anthurium is shown in Fig. 204 (p. 411), 

 under the head of " Polyphylly." Here a great number 

 of large foliaceous bracts are developed on the spadix, 

 completely altering the character of the inflorescence. 



Two instances of polyandry in an Odontoglossum are 

 represented in Figs. 213 and 214 (p. 439). In the former 

 of these cases all the six stamens of the typical Mono- 

 cotyledonous flower are present. 



It should be mentioned that the additional woodcuts 

 are generally reproductions of figures originally published 

 by the author in the Gardener's Chronicle. In the 

 plate added by the translator the most interesting figures 

 are perhaps those illustrating a remarkable series of 

 abnormal forms of the foxglove, the number of parts in 

 a whorl varying from one to fourteen, and the flower in 

 many cases being actinomorphic instead of zygomorphic. 

 These figures, like most of those on the plate, are taken 

 from papers by Magnus. 



It is much to be wished that the numerous observa- 

 tions on teratology accumulated by Dr. Masters and others 

 since 1869 could be embodied in a new and complete 

 English edition. Until this wish is realized, the present 

 German edition is likely to remain the most extensive 

 treatise on the subject. D. H. S. 



Parish Patches. By A. Nicol Simpson. (Arbroath : 

 Thomas Buncle, 1888.) 



This volume consists of a series of short essays, each of 

 which gives expression to the author's delight in some 

 particular aspect of Nature. He presents no new ideas 

 or observations, but he has so warm a love for what he 

 calls the pastoral side of life, that most of his readers will 

 find something to interest them in his glowing descrip- 

 tions of scenes which appeal strongly to his sympathies. 

 The work is well printed on good paper with wide 

 margins, and it is carefully illustrated by engravings 

 from drawings by Mr. John S. Fraser. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he under- 

 take to return, or to correspond with the writers of, 

 rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part 

 of Nature. No notice is taken of anonymous communi- 

 cations.] 



Functionless Organs. 



I HAVF. read with extreme interest the abstract, given in your 

 number of July 26 (p. 310), of a paper by Prof. Ewart, on the 

 " Structure and Development of the Electric Organ of Raia 

 radiata." It bears upon a question of fundamental importance 

 in biological science. Organic nature is full of organs, or of 

 structures, which are either wholly or partly functionless. Some- 

 times they are called "aborted" ; sometimes "degenerated" ; 

 sometimes " rudimentary " ; sometimes " representative. " But 

 under whatever namej the Darwinian philosophy almost in- 

 variably explains them as structures, or parts of structures, which 

 must have once been useful, and have become functionless by 

 atrophy or disuse. 



This is a natural and necessary consequence of the doctrine 

 which ascribes all organic structures to utility as a physical 

 cause. Utility as a mental purpose is kept out of sight. Utility 

 in this last sense explains rudimentary structures by the uses or 

 purposes which they are to serve in the future, or which, at 

 least, they are capable of serving in the future. In this aspect 

 rudimentary structures become "prophetic germs." But we 



