June 30, 19 10] 



NATURE 



5«9 



'"actual" g^eometry of space, and he would probably 

 assent to Poincare's dictum that the science of mathe- 

 matics is neither true nor false. 



There is one remarkable statement made which 

 deserves mention. Dr. Mannoury says that in Decem- 

 ber, 18 18, F. K. Schweikart sent to Gauss a note 

 asserting the existence of a geometry in which the 

 sum of the angles of a triangle is less than two right 

 -^les. and in which the altitude of an isosceles 

 mgle with a finite base has a finite upper limit. 

 This goes far to demolish the claim made for Gauss 

 that he was the first to assert the possibility of a 

 consistent system of geometry- distinct from that of 

 Euclid. G. B. M. 



THE PROTOZOA : AN IMPRESSIONIST 

 SKETCH. 

 Protozoology. By Pr%>f: Gary N. Galkins. Pp. 349. 

 (New York and Philadelphia : Lea and Febiger ; 

 (London : Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, 1909.) Price 

 155. net. 

 nrO attempt to condense our present knowledge of 

 J- the Protozoa into some three hundred pages is 

 — to anyone acquainted with the subject — to attempt 

 the impossible. This book, however, 



"does not aim at being an exhaustive treatise on 

 the Protozoa; it aims, rather, to give an introduc- 

 tion to the study of modern protozoology as seen 

 from the. author's point of view." 



It would therefore be unfair to draw comparisons 

 with Dotlein's recent masterpiece on the subject which 

 appeared almost simultaneously. 



As we differ fundamentally from the author in many 

 matters of interpretation — both as regards general 

 principles and detailed facts — we can here consider 

 only a few points which a perusal of the work has 

 suggested. 



\Mth regard to the tentative classification of the 

 Protozoa which is adopted, we can only say that it 

 is, perhaps, as good as any which has so far been 

 iadvocated. With our present knowledge, it is not 

 possible, we believe, to arrive at a satisfactorj- classifi- 

 cation of the whole group. At present there must 

 be many tadpoles among our fish. It may be noted, 

 however, that the author does not accept Hartmann's 

 group ■' Binucleata "—for tr}panosomes and their 

 allies and Hasmosporidia — and in this we heartilv 

 agree with him. It may be noted, further, that the 

 Spirochaets are classified (with some reservation) 

 among the Mastigophora ; the Mycetozoa are ranked 

 under the Rhizopoda ; the Opalinidae are placed among 

 the holotrichous Ciliata ; and the Mastigamoebae are 

 placed, in the order Monadida, with the Mastigo- 

 phora. Though these groupings are usual, they are 

 none the less, we believe, unjustifiable in the light 

 of recent work. 



In dealing with the trypanosomes, the author 

 adheres to Schaudinn's much-debated work, because 

 he finds 



"the schematic figures and categorical descriptions 

 of Schaudinn's original contribution are still the 

 most convincing of all such attempts to describe the 

 nuclear changes." 



NO. 2122, VOL. 83] 



The life-cycle of Paramecium is described as a 

 " typical " one. With this we cannot agree, because 

 we consider the Ciliophora to be very different from 

 all other organisms. Moreover,* we regret to find no 

 allusion to the recent important work of Enriques 

 and others in this connection. 



A remarkable account of autogamy in Amoeba 

 Umax is given, apparently from the author's own 

 (unpublished?) observations, though no indication of 

 this is given. Autogamy is again alleged to take 

 place in Amoeba proteus, though this has not been 

 by any means proved. It is disappointing to find no 

 reference, in this connection, to Prandtl's important 

 work on Cr>-ptodifiiugia (" Allogromia "). 



It seems to us that undue prominence has been 

 given to many ver\- questionable organisms, such as 

 " Cytorrhyctes variolae;' the " Negri bodies," &c. (de- 

 scribed, by the way, under "Parasitic Rhizopoda"), 

 whilst many important life-histories, e.g. Opalina. 

 Mastigella, Trichosphaerium, Stylorhynchus, &c., re- 

 ceive little more than passing mention. 



The remarkable form Aggregata is mentioned only 

 in the classification, where it is placed among the 

 cephaline gregarines 1 One can only suppose that 

 this is an oversight; and we regret to see that the 

 very doubtful work of Dallinger and Dr\^sdale has 

 found its way into yet another text-book. 



Throughout the book, generic names are often 

 written in ordinan." type, without a capital letter, 

 although in many cases the customary convention is 

 adopted— frequently in the same paragraph. We think 

 this is to be deplored, more especially so because 

 medical men— to whom, on account of the large 

 amount of space devoted to parasitic forms, the book 

 will specially appeal— are at present particularly prone 

 to write zoological names incorrectly. In addition, 

 the author's apparent dislike of diphthongs causes 

 him to adopt the spellings not only Paramecium (cor- 

 rectly), but also Ameba, Actinospherium, Spirocheta, 

 &c., and even Jenia (for Joenia), 



These criticisms are, however, of minor points. 

 The chief value of the book lies in the fact that it 

 gives us a unified picture of the many problems of 

 protozoology as they present themselves to a worker 

 who has devoted many years of original research to 

 his subject. Without doubt, the book will be wel- 

 comed bv many, because there exists no other modern 

 work in English which attempts to deal with the 

 present state of protozoology within the compass of 

 a single volume. C. Clifford Dobell. 



BEE-KEEPING IN AMERICA. 

 How to Keep Bees for Profit. By Dr. D. E. Lyon. 

 Pp. xii4-329. (New York: The Macmillan Com- 

 pany; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1910.) 

 Price 6s. 6d. net. 



THIS is a book on bee-keeping in the United States. 

 The author is a well-known bee-keeper, and 

 an entertaining writer; he has a happy way of briefly 

 explaining the chief operations of the apiary in a 

 personal style that does not weary the reader. Dr. 

 Lvon tells us that many years ago he acquired the 

 ■"bee fever," "from which he has never recovered, 



