May 12, 1887] 



NATURE 



27 



to the summary of their distribution, we find that, while 

 the 300-fathoms line marks approximately the boundary 

 between what may be called the deep-sea and the shallow- 

 water species, yet there is no trace of any zone of 

 depth that has not its Isopod fauna. From 345 fathoms 

 down to 2740 fathoms, species were dredged con- 

 tinuously ; there was nowhere a break of more than 100 

 fathoms. In passing from the lesser to the greater 

 depths, there is evidently a decreasing number of 

 species that are common to these depths and to shallow 

 water ; but it is impossible to draw an absolute line of 

 division which would separate an abyssal from a shallow- 

 water fauna. Of the seven species found at a depth 

 of 2000 fathoms and upwards, two range into lesser 

 depths, another (perhaps two) into shallow water, leaving 

 only three distinctly abyssal forms. 



One of the most important results of these investiga- 

 tions has been to show that ocean regions cannot be 

 marked out with anything like the same definiteness as 

 can the terrestrial areas. Among the Isopods the same 

 genus, and even the same species, is often to be found in 

 the most widely separated areas : thus, Eurycope fragilis, 

 found in the North Pacific, near Japan, ranges as far 

 south as lat. 60° S., close to the Antarctic ice-barrier and 

 to the neighbourhood of the Crozets. It would also seem 

 that the deep-sea Isopods are distributed very unevenly 

 over the floor of the ocean. In long stretches of ocean 

 — occurring, for instance, along the whole of the Cen- 

 tral and Southern Atlantic^ and the Central and 

 Western Pacific — no species were found ; but in draw- 

 ing conclusions from such negative evidence, the im- 

 perfection of the record must be borne in mind. Among 

 the Isopods thirty-four of the deep-sea species were found 

 to be totally blind, and three others, unfortunately only 

 represented by fragments, may in all probability be added 

 to the list. In four more the eyes were evidently de- 

 generate. On the other hand, in eighteen species, there 

 were well-developed eyes. It must not be forgotten that 

 certain shallow-water species are blind. Possibly, the 

 author thinks, the explanation of these anomalies is to be 

 sought for in the length of time that has elapsed since 

 the migration of the different species into the abyssal 

 regions of the ocean. This excellent Report is illustrated 

 by twenty-five plates. 



The second memoir in this volume is a Report on the 

 Brachyura, by Mr. Edward J. Miers. We learn from the 

 very modest preface to this really important contribution 

 to the natural history of the brachyurous Crustacea that 

 the groups richest in new genera and species were the 

 Oxyrhyncha (Maioidea) and the Oxystomata (Leucos- 

 oidea), and to these belong most of the new forms col- 

 lected at depths exceeding 100 fathoms. No brachyurous 

 crab was found at a depth exceeding 2000 fathoms and 

 but very few at depths exceeding 500 fathoms. The 

 localities furnishing the greatest proportion of new or 

 interesting forms were the stations at, among, or near the 

 islands of the Malaysian archipelago, and at the Fijis. 

 An atlas of twenty-nine plates accompanies the Report. 



The third Report is by the late Mr. George Busk, F. R.S., 

 and is on the Polyzoa, being Part 2, treating of the 

 Cyclostomata, the Ctenostomata, and the Pedicellinea. 

 With this memoir we propose to deal in a separate 



article. 



THE ELEMENTS OF ECONOMICS. 

 The Elements of Economics. By Henry Dunning 



Macleod, M.A. Two Vols. (London : Longmans, 1886.) 

 '1 1 TE should have been disposed to speak more kindly 

 * V of this work upon a much troubled subject — a 

 subject, nevertheless, affecting the happiness of the whole 

 of human society — if we had not read in the letter of dedica- 

 tion that the author claimed to offer to his Right Reverend 

 patron " a new inductive science ; a new body of pheno- 

 mena brought under the dominion of mathematics ; a 

 new order of variable quantities brought under the theory 

 of variable quantities in general : the great science of 

 analytical economics." Since recently it was an accepted 

 theory among its students that at present there is no 

 " science " of political economy, we were prepared to find 

 a new revolution-working theory of the whole subject, and 

 were surprised to find that the title sufficiently expressed 

 the general contents of the book. The writer goes to 

 the very elements of the science, building up from the 

 beginning in the clearest of language, and illustrating by 

 means of the derivation of words and of many legal 

 phrases and customs, both ancient and modern, English 

 and foreign, "the great science of economics." Mr. 

 Macleod fiercely assails the opinions of Ricardo and other 

 writers, but much of the error he attacks is only apparent . 

 In economic language, there is no such thing, perhaps, 

 as intrinsic value ; nor does cost in all cases fix value, as 

 every proprietor of superseded machinery, or of goods 

 gone out of fashion, knows too well ; yet it is misleading 

 to teach that the fixing of value by cost may not be 

 accepted as a fair working rule. In the ordinary state of 

 any trade, 95 per cent., say, of the price will be fixed by 

 the cost, and 5 per cent, by the state of the market ; and 

 if some such proportions as these are exceeded, increased 

 or decreased production will soon restore them. 



Mr. Macleod urges the claims of perpetual copyright, 

 but we cannot see his distinction between property in 

 that and in a patent. If patents are inconvenient for those 

 whom they restrain, copyright is also inconvenient to men 

 wanting cheap literature. An excellent argument to show 

 how much (market) " value" arises from demand is drawn 

 from this commodity : " Writers of the most learned 

 works do not earn the wages of a day-labourer, whereas 

 the writers of trashy and ephemeral novels may earn a 

 fortune." 



The practical remarks upon supply and demand and 

 the folly of subsidising a trade so as to increase the 

 supply where it is already too great for the demand (Vol. 

 II. p. 213), and those upon the errors of the Socialists (p. 

 215), are good ; and the old balance-of-trade error is fully 

 exposed. But we do not see the mistake in the quotation 

 from Mill (p. 76) : a banker's credit would be small if he 

 had not capital ; and surely it is worse than a paradox to 

 say that the policies of an Insurance Company are its 

 capital ; as well might the name be given to the money 

 owing for raw material by a manufacturer ! 



In an attack upon writers of well-known ability, such 

 as we have here, a critic should be careful of his own 

 expressions. On p. 181, Vol. I., in lines 8 and 9 from 

 the bottom, there is a reversal of the important 

 words " debtor " and " creditor," which, though cor- 

 rected in the next paragraph, adds to the puzzledom ot 



