March 21, 1889] 



NATURE 



485 



siderable improvement has been made in the character 

 of the smelting appliances. Some curious points are, 

 however, brought out by M. Guyard's researches, espe- 

 cially as regards the speiss or arsenical regulus formed 

 in the lead furnaces, which he finds collect by preference 

 nickel and molybdenum from the ores, while cobalt, if 

 present, is carried off by the lead, and may be found in the 

 skimmings taken from the bath before casting it into 

 pigs. Another point of interest is the occurrence of 

 chlorine, bromine, and iodine in notable quantities in the 

 furnace fume, which are due to the corresponding silver 

 salts of the ores. The general chemical problems arising 

 in the study of the ores and the containing rocks have 

 been treated in a separate section by Mr. W. F. Hille- 

 brand. The mass of analytical material contained in 

 these sections is very large and important, but in some 

 instances their value is diminished by an unnecessary 

 striving after accuracy. Analyses reported to six decimal 

 places seem to be scarcely suitable for practical purposes. 

 The petrography of the district has been studied by Mr. 

 Whitman Cross, his results being illustrated by heliotype 

 prints of microscopic sections which though good in their 

 way are decidedly inferior to the excellent drawings given 

 by Prof. Irving and others in the earlier volumes of 

 the same series before photographic illustrations were 

 used. In his preface Mr. Emmons very handsomely 

 acknowledges the "continuous and unwearied service" 

 rendered by Mr. Ernest Jacob, an old student of the 

 Royal School of Mines, who, we are sorry to say, has 

 been compelled by reasons of health to retire from a 

 service in which in a comparatively short time he was 

 able to do a large amount of excellent work. 



H. B. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Practical Inorganic Chemistry : the Detection and Pro- 

 perties of some of the more Important Organic Corn- 

 pounds. By Samuel Rideal, D.Sc, (Lond.), F.I.C., 

 F.C.S., F.G.S., Fellow of University College, London. 

 (London : H. K. Lewis, 1889.) 



This little book, as we learn from the preface, is designed 

 to meet the wants of the medical student in his higher 

 examinations, and we may say at once that it fulfils that 

 purpose admirably. The syllabus of the University of 

 London has been duly considered ; all the substances 

 therein mentioned are discussed at length, and their re- 

 actions fully given : and not only this, but Dr. Rideal has 

 helpfully distinguished in each case the most character- 

 istic reaction by an asterisk. With the aid of this book, 

 and with ordinary application, the average candidate may 

 fearlessly confront the Sphinx of Burlington Gardens (and 

 a fortiori all minor Sphinxes), and attempt her riddles 

 without risk of being torn in pieces. 



All this is excellently done, and only one regret crosses 

 the mind of the reviewer. Of course, a medical student 

 is not intended to be an organic chemist, or, necessarily, 

 a specialist of any kind ; and it would be absurd to expect 

 from him the knowledge of a specialist. But the training 

 of a medical student is calculated to make him regard 

 himself as the depositary of universal scientific knowledge 

 — a belief which he frequently carries with him through 

 life. Would it not be possible to convey the salutary 

 notion that all this testing for organic substances has 

 about as much relation to real practical organic chemistry 

 as, say, the " use of the globes " to practical navigation ? 



Scottish Moors and Indian Jungles. By Captain J. T. 



Newall. (London ; Hurst and Blackett, 1889.) 

 Many years ago, in India, Captain Newall was unfor- 

 tunate enough to suffer from an accident by which the 

 spine was fractured. To some extent he recovered his 

 health, but he has never since been able to walk or even 

 to stand. Yet he has contrived — by an ingenious device 

 which enables him to be carried about in a chair, in an 

 easy position, by several men— to obtain a good deal of 

 wholesome exercise in the open air. In the year 1880, in 

 conjunction with his brother, he took the little shooting 

 of Scaliscro, in Lewis ; and in the first part of this 

 volume he describes the incidents of sport and out-door 

 life there during the seasons of the following four years. 

 The second part of the volume is devoted to a record of 

 rnore or less exciting sporting experiences in India at a 

 time when the writer had full use of his limbs. The book 

 may be read with pleasure not only by sportsmen but by 

 others, for it is written in a bright and attractive style, 

 and Captain Newall is always careful to give as vivid a 

 picture as possible of the surroundings in the midst of 

 which the incidents of his narrative took place. His 

 account of autumn life in Lewis is particularly fresh and 

 interesting. There are twelve very good illustrations from 

 sketches by the author. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents . Neither can he undertake 

 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 communications.'\ 



The Inheritance of Acquired Characters. 



Will you allow me to say, in reference to Prof. Hartog's 

 interesting letter, that there is no ground for regarding the word 

 " Lamarckism " as a nick-name? There can be no desire to 

 " nick " him or anyone else, should it appear that the views 

 they advocate are to be classified with those of Lamarck. 

 Lamarckism is as reputable a denomination as Darwinism, and 

 no reasonable man can possibly regard with anything but respect 

 and sympathy the attempt to bring forward solid evidence in 

 support of Lamarck's fundamental assumption, viz. that acquired 

 characters are transmitted by heredity. 



It is not unusual for children to rest the head on the left fore 

 arm or hand when writing, and I doubt whether much value 

 can be attached to the case described by Prof. Hartog. 'J'he 

 kind of observation which his letter suggests is, however, likely 

 to lead to results either for or against the hypothesis of trans- 

 mission of acquired characters. An old friend of mine lost 

 his right arm when a school-boy, and has ever since written with 

 his left. He has a large family and grandchildren, but I have not 

 heard of any of them showing a disposition to left-handedness. 



E. Ray Lankester. 



45 Grove End Road, N.W. 



It would be difficult to overrate the importance of the instance 

 given by my friend Prof. Hartog in the last number of 

 Nature (p. 462) of the inheritance of a character acquired by 

 habit ; but the explanation which he offers of the non-inheritance 

 of characters produced by mutilation, so far from being flat 

 Lamarckism, appears to me to flavour of ultra-Darwinism, and 

 the following hypothesis, resting more directly on mechanical 

 principles, might be suggested. It is well known that many of 

 the lower animals possess a remarkable power of regenerating 

 lost parts. The garden snail offers a familiar instance : if the eyes 

 be snipped off from their tentacles, they are in a short time repro- 

 duced, usually with a structure as perfect as that of their pre- 

 decessors, as may be proved by a histological examination of 

 thin slices. This power appears to be possessed to an unlimited 

 extent, for one of my former pupils, Mr, Trevor Evans, performed 

 the experiment twenty times in succession on the same snail, and 

 the last eye was as perfect as the first ; he then relinquished the 

 research, being persuaded that the power of regeneration would 



