290 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [10:7— Oct., 1914 



the problem of juvenile delinquency and crime, of alcoholism and 

 prostitution, and of pauperism. Chapter two discusses the relia- 

 bility of the data. The author seems to be quite conscious of the 

 fact that the method of investigation and the material that he is 

 dealing with necessarily make the conclusions tentative and yet, as 

 he says, "It is aU a matter of probability. It is true that the 

 probability may be made so high that it amounts to what we call, 

 practical certainty. In all of the material presented in this book 

 we have aimed at that high degree of probability." 



While the data obtained do not seem to be free from doubt, 

 because of failure to eliminate such other possible causes as vene- 

 real diseases, yet the mass of them must impress anyone as making 

 the author's conclusions at least sufficient for tentative eugenic 

 procedure. He considers that the eugenic programme, so far as the 

 feeble-minded are concerned, should consist in their colonization 

 and sterilization. He emphasizes the necessity of recognizing the 

 levels of intelligence as a basis for the treatment of those feeble- 

 minded who are at present in the hands of the law. 



The book is abundantly illustrated with diagrams of various 

 families, pictures of the individual cases, and samples of writing 

 and drawing of feeble-minded individuals. Withal, the book is 

 one that every student of social conditions will feel repaid for read- 

 ing. It is an excellent type of the sort of investigation that we 

 need in dealing with such social problems as are here involved. 



Guide to the Study of Animal Ecology. By Charles C. Adams, 

 Ph.D., pp. xii +183. The Macmillan Company. $1.25. 



This book is very largely a bibliography. The author briefly 

 discusses the main content and point of view, value and method, of 

 ecological surveys, field studies, collection and preservation of 

 specimens, all in the first four chapters of some fifty-four pages. 

 Chapter five is on references to scientific technique ; chapter six is 

 on important sources of information on the life history of insects 

 and allied vertebrates, and these are purely lists of books and 

 references. Chapter seven states the laws of environmental 

 change briefly and then cites literature. Chapter eight deals with 

 the laws of internal change. Chapter nine is headed ''Process of 

 Adjustment". 



The book is valuable to the student of ecology as an excellent 

 source of information regarding the bibliography that is constantly 

 growing more extensive on the subject. 



