36o 



NATURE 



[December 3, 1914 



T 



always been that Venus in March of that year was 

 invisible, while she ought to be a morning- star in 

 Pisces, which she was twelve months later. But 

 it was pointed out six years ago that Dante very 

 likely took the position of Venus from a perpetual 

 Almanac compiled by a Jew. In the Hebrew ori- 

 ginal all the cycles begin in 1301, while in the 

 Latin translations they begin in 1300, except those 

 of Venus and the sun, which begin with 1301. It 

 is therefore quite possible that Dante took the 

 places of Venus for 1301, believing them to be for 

 1300, and Angelitti's tempting theory must there- 

 fore be abandoned, to the regret of the author of 

 the present work, in which we cordially join. 



J. L. E. D. 



FOUNDATIONS OF SYSTEMATIC BIOLOGY. 

 Abstammungslehre — Systematik — Paldontologie — 

 Bio geographic. Unter Redaktion von R. Hert- 

 wig und R. v. Wettstein. Pp. ix + 620. (Leipzig 

 and Berlin : B. G. Teubner, 1914.) Price 

 12 marks. 



'O no nation, except the German," says 

 General von Bernhardi, "has it been 

 given to enjoy in its inner self that which is given 

 to mankind as a whole. We often see in other 

 nations a greater intensity of specialised ability, 

 but never the same capacity for generalisation 

 and absorption." That is the German way of 

 expressing the German capacity for organisation 

 and compilation, which, w^hen it produces works 

 such as that of which the present volume is a 

 portion, performs a valuable service to the intel- 

 lectual world. The whole work, " Die Kultur der 

 Gegenwart," purports to be a systematic survey 

 of modern culture on a historical basis, portraying 

 the fundamental achievements of the diverse 

 centres of civilisation in their relation to the whole 

 as it exists now or promises to be developed here- 

 after. The division allotted to the organic natural 

 sciences comprises four volumes, of which this 

 is logically the last. Volume ii., the only other 

 as yet issued, was reviewed by us in April, 1914 

 (vol. xciii. , p. 107). 



In view of , the claim mentioned above, it is 

 interesting to note that the contributors are not 

 all German, for besides R. Hertwig, L. Plate, 

 A. Brauer, A. Engler, and K. Heider, there are 

 the Austrians, R. v. Wettstein and O. Abel, the 

 Dutchman, W. J. Jongmans, and the Dane, 

 J. E. V. Boas. It is, moreover, pleasing to 

 observe that these authorities do not neglect the 

 workers in other countries, but, by the lists of 

 leading books which they furnish, prove that in 

 this department, at all events, all nations take 

 their share, and that the fellow-countrymen of 

 NO. 2353, VOL. 94] 



Darwin have no reason to feel - ashamed. The 

 truth is that, though in art there must be nation- 

 ality, science has become absolutely international : 

 the observation made by a Dane to-day is checked 

 by a Japanese to-morrow, and an American then 

 carries it a step further. 



It would not be possible, even in several pages, 

 to give a critical summary of what is itself a 

 summary, and an admirably critical one, of the 

 whole world's work in that which, from a theoret- 

 ical point of view, is the most important branch 

 of biology. Few men could have written a more 

 lucid, a more just, or a more thought-compelling 

 account of the doctrine of descent than Prof. 

 Richard Hertwig. "It is," he concludes, "the 

 only possible theory . . . and the one that has 

 given the weightiest impulse to this science. The 

 crowd of exact investigations that has resulted 

 from Darwin's writings may seem to have gone 

 beyond or even away from him ; but these last 

 years show an unmistakable return to the views 

 of the great British naturalist." 



The articles on geographical distribution by 

 Profs. Brauer and Engler, on palaeontology by 

 Profs. Abel and Jongmans, on the classification 

 and phylogeny of plants by Prof, von Wettstein, 

 and on the phylogenies of invertebrate and verte- 

 brate animals by Profs. Heider and Boas, may 

 be open to criticism in details, but afford on the 

 whole admirable digests, made interesting by the 

 fact that the distinguished authors have taken 

 their own lines on disputed questions. It is, how- 

 ever, the chapter by Prof. L. Plate on the prin- 

 ciples of taxonomy with special reference to the 

 classification of animals that fills the most ur- 

 gently felt want. The mere description of new 

 species, as carried out by too many writers, is 

 far from being good systematic work, or even 

 scientific work at all. But the true systematist 

 has perpetually to exercise his mind with the 

 most complicated problems of his science, cannot 

 venture to eschew metaphysics, and has even to 

 rival the poet in his use of the imagination. All 

 systematists who would understand their own task 

 should read Dr. Plate's illuminating review of 

 modern methods and ideas. F. A. B. 



SCIENCE, METAPHYSICS. AND 

 EDUCATION. 

 (i) The Anthropology of the Greeks. By E. E. 

 Sikes. Pp. xii+ii2. (London: David Nutt, 

 1914.) Price 55. net. 



(2) The Mechanistic Principle and the Non-mech- 

 anical. By Paul Carus. Pp. 125. (Chicago and 

 London : The Open Court Publishing Company. 

 1913.) Price 45. net. 



(3) Transformisme et Creationisme. By Prof. 



