49o 



NATURE 



\_Sept. 20, 1888 



ammonia salts in producing uric acid in birds, and the 

 remarkable confirmation of this by Minkowski, who 

 found, after extirpation of the liver, the uric acid of the 

 bird's urine replaced by ammonia. 



The subject most fully treated is that of the pigments, 

 but here again the important works of Nencki and Sieber 

 on haemoglobin and its derivatives, find no mention. A 

 work like the present is necessarily a compromise. It 

 does not give so equable and well-judged an account of 

 what it is important to know in physiology as might be 

 expected from the reputation of the author and the size 

 of the book ; but it shows the judgment of an experienced 

 teacher in endeavouring to make every subject perfectly 

 intelligible and in leaving no branch of physiological 

 science untouched. L. C. Wooldridge. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



The Mind 0/ the Child. Part I. The Senses and the Will ; 

 Observations concerning the Mental Development of the 

 Human Being in the First Year of Life. By W. Preyer, 

 Professor of Physiology in Jena. Translated from the 

 original German by H. W. Brown. " International Edu- 

 cation Series." (New York : Appleton and Co. London : 

 Whittaker and Co. 1888). 



It is with no small satisfaction that we notice the issue of 

 this work in the English language. It has already 

 remained much too long in the German and French 

 tongues only ; and it speaks ill for the enterprise of 

 British publishers that now the name of Appleton appears 

 upon the cover. For, although comparisons as a rule are 

 invidious, in the present instance there can be no doubt 

 that the work in question holds the first place in the 

 literature of the subject with which it deals. And since 

 the study of infant psychology was inaugurated by M. 

 Taine and Mr. Darwin, it has become so popular a 

 branch of scientific literature that an English translation 

 of " Die Seele des Kindes " must be an assured success, 

 even from a commercial point of view. 



In the case of a book already so well known, it is 

 needless to say much by way of analysis. We must 

 remark, however, that the present volume comprises only 

 Parts I. and II. of the original — the remainder being 

 reserved for publication as a second volume. Hence the 

 instalment of the translation now before us deals only 

 with the senses and the will ; the next instalment having 

 to treat of the intellect, and all supplementary matter. 

 As everyone who has read the original is aware, Prof. 

 Preyer has devoted himself to his subject with an assiduity 

 and a thoroughness which only an assured conviction of 

 its importance could inspire. And, in the result, his 

 patiently continuous observation, his skilled intelligence 

 as a well-read psychologist, together with his high attain- 

 ments as a professed physiologist, combine to render his 

 work, not only as before remarked the most important, 

 but also in many respects the most interesting, that has 

 hitherto appeared upon the subject of psychogenesis. 

 Therefore we recommend this work to all our English 

 readers as the best that they can procure on " the mind 

 of the child " — and this whether their interest in such a 

 mind be scientific only or likewise parental. 



G. J. R. 



Arithmetical Exercises. By H. S. Hall, M.A., and S. R. 

 Knight, B.A. (London : Macmillan and Co., 188S.) 



In this book we have a collection of examples comprising 

 about eighty progressive miscellaneous exercises and a 

 set of fifty papers taken from such examinations as the 

 London University, Oxford and Cambridge Local, Pre- 

 vious Cambridge, Army Preliminary, &c. The examp'es 



are judiciously chosen, and great care seems to have 

 been taken to make the work as "progressive as possible. 

 An appendix is added, consisting of two hundred 

 graduated questions in logarithms and mensuration, pre- 

 ceded by a list of the numerical constants and formulae 

 used in the latter. The answers to the examples are all 

 collected together at the end. 



An Elementary Treatise on Mensuration. By E. T. 

 Henchie. (London : School Books Publishing Com- 

 pany, 1888.) 



In this work we have an excellent treatise for those who 

 are about to begin the study of this subject. All reference 

 to trigonometry has purposely been avoided, and the 

 author has in the second chapter added the enunciations 

 of Euclid's propositions which bear on the work, together 

 with an explanation of each. 



Plain rectilinear figures, curvilinear areas, the circle, 

 surfaces and volumes of solids, are dealt with in turn, 

 and each chapter is accompanied by a set of illustrative 

 examples thoroughly worked out and explained, followed 

 by a separate set to be worked out by the student. Land 

 surveying forms the subject of the eighth chapter, in 

 which are described the various instruments with the 

 methods of using them. The figures throughout are very 

 clear, and* the shading used in those of the chapter on 

 solids is excellent. The book concludes with a set of 

 miscellaneous examples, making in all about 1260, 

 together with the answers to the above. 



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.] 



Lamarckism versus Darwinism. 



I had hoped that my previous letter might have closed this 

 correspondence, but Mr. Poulton's reply suggests to me the pro- 

 priety of making one additional remark. This is, that while 

 writing the sentence in the Contemporary Review to which he 

 ha* taken exception, it never occurred to me that anyone would 

 gather from it that I intended to disparage the work of an 

 eminent man, who happens to be also a personal friend. But, 

 as this appears to be the impression conveyed to Mr. Poulton, I 

 should not like to allow his statement of it to pass unnoticed. As a 

 matter of fact, no one can appreciate more thoroughly than I do 

 the extensive knowledge, the clearness of thought, and the 

 great powers of original research which are now being so 

 conspicuously displayed by Prof. Weismann. 



From the first it has been sufficiently obvious to me how the 

 present misunderstanding arose ; and if, in>tead of affirming 

 that I was ignorant of Prof. Weismann's writings, Mr. Poulton 

 had begun as he has ended, by asking me to "explain" my 

 remark with reference to them, of course I should at once 

 have done so. However, as stated in my last letter, it is my 

 intention at no very distant date to deal with the whole question 

 of so-called "Lamarckism versus Darwinism" ; and, therefore, 

 my only object in this communication is to stop from going 

 further the impression that I hold in light esteem the highly 

 important achievements of Prof. Weismann. 



George J. Romanes. 



Geanies, Ross-shire, September 8. 



Mr. Gulick on Divergent Evolution. 

 Mr. Gulick's paper on this subject appears in the last 

 number of the Journal of the Linnean Society as having been 

 " communicated by Alfred Russel Wallace, F.L.S." It may 

 therefore be s-upposed that I recommended its publication, or 

 that I agree with its main argument ; and as this is not the 

 case, I ask permission to say a few words on the subject in the 

 columns of Nature. 



