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NATURE 



[January 27, 1921 



by Dr. Culpin. This is a work in which the 

 Freudian conceptions are much used, but they are 

 given in a manner which presents both sides of 

 the case. Dr. Culpin is not childishly dogmatic; 

 his reasoning is lucid and without partisanship; 

 his results are given favourable or the reverse ; and, 

 above all, his book is enlightening. It makes one 

 think for oneself whether one is a beginner or a 

 scholar in psychology. 



(3) "A Manual of Psychiatry," edited by Dr. 

 A. J. Rosanoff, is, of course, a very different pro- 

 duction from the two dealt with above. It is a 

 comprehensive text-book, covering the whole 

 ground of the field of mental disease, and, though 

 one may not agree with it on all points, yet as a 

 general text-book the subject-matter is handled 

 very clearly, the practical details in the treatment 

 of the insanities are sound, and the references 

 indicate a careful and thorough familiarity with 

 the writings of all the modern psychiatrists. A 

 chapter is devoted to the Freudian teachings ; 

 they are inserted as excerpts from Freudian pub- 

 lications, no reference being made to the actual 

 views of the author himself, or to any criticism 

 which might be given. The chapters on the Stan- 

 ford revision of the Binet-Simon tests for mental 

 deficiency and the free association tests for use in 

 analysis, with the very full "frequency of associa- 

 tion " tables, are striking and useful innovations 

 in a text-book of this kind. 



The Teaching of Palaeontology. 



An Introduction to Palaeontology. By Dr. 

 A. Morley Davies. Pp. xi-i-414. (London: 

 Thomas Murby and Co., ig^o.) Price 12s. 6d. net. 



Invertebrate Palaeontology : An Introduction 

 to the Study of Fossils. By H. L. Hawkins. 

 Pp. xix-l-226-l-xvi plates. (London: Methuen 

 and Co., Ltd., 1920.) Price 6s. 6d. net. 



Palaeontology : Invertebrate. By H. Woods. 

 Fifth edition. (Cambridge Biological Series.) 

 Pp. viii-l-412. (Cambridge: At the University 

 Press, 1919.) Price 12s. 6d. net. 



IN pre-war days we were accustomed to rely 

 overmuch on Germany for text-books of 

 zoology and palaeontology. In the latter science 

 all that this country could show for fossil inverte- 

 brates was the useful examination-candidate's 

 manual by Mr. Woods and one of the British 

 Museum guides, which, though written for 

 another purpose, was used as a text-book by some 

 teachers. Now, thrown more on our own re- 

 sources, we have not only a revised edition of the 

 Cambridge book, but also a corresponding work 

 from Dr. Morley Davies, of the Imperial College 

 of Science, and a more general introduction by 

 NO. 2674, VOL. 106] ^ 



Mr. Hawkins, of University College, Reading. 

 Apart from brief chapters on vertebrates and 

 plants by Dr. Davies, each of these books deals 

 only with invertebrates, so that it is easy to draw 

 comparisons which may be profitable. 



Mr. Woods and Dr. Davies both cater for 

 university students, and both describe the phyla 

 of the Invertebrata in succession, thus producing 

 essentially zoological text-books, in which extinct 

 forms take a predominant place. Mr. Hawkins 

 deals rather with principles, not so much describ- 

 ing fossils as using them to explain the methods 

 and conclusions of palaeontological science. It is 

 his book, not that of Dr. Davies, which really 

 merits the title "An Introduction to Palaeon- 

 tology." 



All the same, for the discipline of the 

 schools it is the text-books that are necessary, 

 and, while the value of Mr. Woods's method has 

 been proved by an experience of twenty-seven 

 years, we welcome the novel treatment by Dr. 

 Davies. .\s becomes a teacher in the school of 

 Huxley, he has introduced the more intensive 

 study of selected types. In dealing with the 

 Brachiopoda (with which, as the commonest of 

 fossils, he selects to open), he does not, as does 

 Mr. Woods, begin with the general anatomy of 

 the phylum, but, map in hand, he guides his 

 pupils to a pit in the Cornbrash and lets them 

 collect those characteristic species Terebratula 

 intermedia and Ornithella obovata. These are 

 examined and their common characters noted ; 

 then closer examination brings out the points of 

 difference, especially in the arm-loop. The 

 features of these fossils are next elucidated by a 

 study of modern forms, and on the way we are 

 introduced to the conceptions of relation to en- 

 vironment, ontogeny, phylogeny, comparative 

 morphology, chronology, and classification. At 

 last the student, now or never thoroughly inter- 

 ested, passes to the systematic account, in which 

 such common fossils as Leptaena rhomboidalis, 

 Productus productus , Conchidiutn KrUghti, and 

 Spirifer striatus receive more detailed treatment. Is 

 not this an admirable method? If only Dr. Davies 

 had followed it more consistently throughout ! 



Both Dr. Davies and Mr. Hawkins deal with 

 some technical matters of which students too 

 often are left in ignorance. Such are the col- 

 lection, preservation, and investigation of fossils, 

 the rules of zoological nomenclature, and the ter- 

 minology and nomenclature of rock-divisions and 

 time-divisions. On these last thorny questions 

 both authors are, in our opinion, sound, and 

 these sections of Dr. Davies 's book in particular 

 should be an ever-present help to all working 

 palaeontologists. 



