NATURE 



THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 1919. 



BIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS. 



Medical Contributions to the Study of Evolution. 

 By Prof. J. G. Adami. Pp. xviii + 372. (Lon- 

 don : Duckworth and Co., 1918.) Price 185. net. 

 A BOOK attempting to throw light upon bio- 

 logical problems from a new point of view is 

 always likely to be interesting, and we therefore 

 welcome Prof. Adami'swork. Undoubtedly much 

 controversial matter is introduced, but a point of 

 view that sometimes challenges what is too often 

 taken for granted is, at any rate, stimulating. 

 Although in his letter quoted in the appendix Sir 

 •Ray Lankester protests that certain experiments 

 are well known to him, we venture to think that 

 many of the facts brought forward are unfamiliar 

 to biologists in general. 



The book is divided into three parts, with two 

 appendices. Parts i. and ii. will' be the most in- 

 teresting to the general biologist. The reprinted 

 papers in the latter parts of the book, however, 

 entail a great deal of repetition, while the style is 

 somewhat cumbrous and involved. The prepara- 

 tion of the book in war-time may be the excuse 

 for leaving many things as they were originally 

 written, later work being often referred to in foot- 

 notes, but the actual matter could, with advantage, 

 have been condensed into a much shorter book 

 without loss of clearness. A less unwieldy book, 

 too, might have been published at a lower price, 

 for we cannot say that the amount asked errs on 

 the side of cheapness. 



The first part of the book consists of the 

 Croonian Lectures for 1917 on "Adaptation and 

 Disease." Starting with an introductory chapter 

 upon variation and adaptation as the basis of 

 evolution, we get two chapters upon variation and 

 adaptation in the bacteria, followed by one upon 

 the corresponding adaptations in higher animals to 

 pathogenic agencies. The next chapter deals with 

 the inheritance of acquired conditions in the higher 

 mammals, quoting Carriere's work with tuber- 

 culin, and Stockdale's experiments upon the effects 

 of alcohol vapour, to show that influences acting 

 -upon the parents may affect the offspring in 

 ;the two succeeding generations. Kammerer's 

 work upon Salamandra maculosa is also quoted. 

 ChaD. vl. deals with the physico-chemical basis 

 of the subject, and the author brings forward a 

 conception of the constitution of living matter 

 based on the structure of the proteins. He recalls 

 the fact that in organic compounds generally the 

 mere position of a radical profoundly alters the 

 properties of the compound, and shows that with 

 a complex molecule such alterations may lead to a 

 multiplicity of different new properties. From 

 this he proceeds to the elaboration of a physico- 

 chemical conception of growth. The final chapter 

 is devoted to a recapitulation and review of the 

 conclusions reached. 



It is a pity that in such a work there is evinced 

 a spirit of animosity to certain leading biologists. 

 NO. 2576, VOL. 103] 



W'e may suspect the author of setting up a figment 

 for demolition in ascribing to Bateson the belief 

 that evolution occurs solely by the loss of factors. 

 We think also that nothing of importance is gained 

 by the republication of the controversy in Appen- 

 dix ii., the tone of which reflects credit upon 

 neither party. 



There are a few misprints and inaccuracies 

 requiring attention. On p. 18 Limulus is stated 

 to be "no crab, but an .AVthropod " ; this should 

 obviously be "Arachnid." The "intestinal 

 amoebee " of Musgrave and Clegg referred to 

 upon p. 46 are almost certainly coprozoic forms 

 aqd not true parasites ; nevertheless, the adapt- 

 abilitv to unusual forms of diet is interesting. The 

 allusion upon p. 240 to Loeb's work on chemical 

 fertilisation is out of date and should not have 

 been left as it stands. In the first place, it has 

 been shown conclusively that development is not 

 initiated by mere changes in tonicity. Moreover, 

 though active nuclear changes and cell division 

 may be set up by artificial means, they do not 

 always continue, but under certain conditions the 

 process may cease when the four- or eight-celled 

 stage has been reached, leaving the resting cells 

 susceptible each of fertilisation by a spermatozoon. 



The main value of the book consists in the insist- 

 ence upon the physico-chemical constitution of 

 living matter, and we welcome particularly the 

 author's onslaught upon Weismann's cut-and- 

 dried morphological conceptions of heredity. 

 Nevertheless, it should be borne in mind that the 

 work of Conklin and others shows the existence of 

 structure even in the egg. It may be pointed out, 

 however, that in chap. vii. we are somewhat in- 

 consistently presented with some purely morpho- 

 logical diagrams illustrative of the side-chain 

 theory. It is evident that a physico-chemical ex- 

 planation of such a theory must depend upon un- 

 satisfied or unsaturated linkages, which would be 

 just as easy to represent and would convey a truer 

 picture of the^ mechanism of protoplasmic reaction. 



On the whole, the book may be commended to 

 the attention of the general biologist. 



GENETICS FOR THE BOTANIST. 

 Plant Genetics. By J. M. Coulter and M. C. 

 Coulter. Pp. ix + 214. (Chicago: University 

 of Chicago Press ; London : Cambridge Uni- 

 versity Press, 1918.) Price 1.50 dollars net. 

 ''P HIS little book is one written by botanists for 

 A botanists. The authors state in their preface 

 that it is designed especially for the undergraduate 

 student in botany who wishes to obtain some 

 knowledge of what is being done in genetics with- 

 out desiring to specialise in the subject. They 

 have attempted, so far as possible, to present an 

 exposition of Mendelian, or neo-Mendelian, phe- 

 nomena illustrated by examples from the vege- 

 table world alone. .As to the advisability of this 

 there is likely to be some difference of opinion, 

 for many hold, and with some justice, that one 

 of the instructive features of genetics for the 



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