August i6, 1900] 



NATURE 



based on the study of Hydra and Obelia, with a con- 

 cluding chapter on classification. The book is novel in 

 conception, accurate, up-to-date, and thoroughly artistic 



execution. Biitschli on the " Schaumplasma," Boveri 

 ^on the Ascaris egg, Maupas on the Ciliata, Keuten on 

 Euglena, Hertwig on Actinosphierium, the mitotic pro- 

 cesses in Amoeba bi-nucleata, the immortality of the 

 Protozoa, are conspicuous among topics of the times 

 handled in a manner well calculated to arouse the 

 imaginative faculty, which, under our prevailing systems 

 of elementary biological training, is apt to be ignored. 

 Unlike many of its predecessors and contemporaries, the 

 book is written in choice English. It is in places even 

 racy ; and in such paragraphs as those in which the author 

 unfolds the points of dissimilarity between Vertebrate and 

 Invertebrate (dog, fish, and lobster), a perspicuity is notice- 

 able equal to that of a good French writer at his best. It re- 

 calls most nearly the irresistible charm of the late M. Paul 

 Bert's " Premiere Annde d'Enseignement Scientifique." 



The illustrations, fifty-three in number, are mostly 

 original and altogether admirable, and those of the 

 Hydra, based on the author's unpublished researches, 

 will unquestionably become popular — that of the median 

 longitudinal section of this animal being the best we 

 know. On p. 47 the author gives two new figures of the 

 frog's heart, which, as regards the detailed structure of 

 the pylangium and the ostia of the carotid and pulmo- 

 cutaneous arteries, are wholly unconventional. It is 

 explained in the preface that these are drawings of re- 

 constructional models from sections, and we dare not 

 doubt their accuracy. The question, however, arises 

 how far the facts they reveal may be true of but one 

 individual ; and the author would have done well to 

 have either intimated this or left the matter aside till 

 further investigated. Again, we regret the too forced 

 introduction of analogy to the inanimate, as, for example, 

 of the nervous system to the telegraphic apparatus. In 

 this, however, the author is but acting in the spirit of the 

 times. His book is simply charming and well worthy his 

 reputation ; and while its literary style should alone 

 ensure for it a wide circulation, it cannot fail to exercise 

 a leavening and humanising influence on the youthful 

 mind. It is to be followed by a second volume, dealing 

 with the Coelomate Metazoa, and the sooner this appears 

 the better for biological science and culture. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



The Ore Deposits of the United States and Canada. By 

 J. F. Kemp. Pp. xxiv -I- 462 ; index and 163 illustra- 

 tions. Third edition. (New York and London : The 

 Scientific Publishing Company, 1900.) 

 Of Prof. Kemp's industry as a compiler there can be no 

 question. The last edition of his work on ore deposits 

 is teeming with information, and his footnotes alone are 

 aproof of the thoroughness with which he has conducted 

 his search after facts. But it is not a book which ap- 

 peals to the elementary student, because he is launched 

 into a mass of details without sufficient preparation in 

 the introductory part, which is sadly lacking in wood- 

 cuts. And further, there is evidence of haste or want 

 of care in correcting the book for the press. Surely a 

 writer on ore deposits should be able to spell such names 

 as " Posepny," "Sjogren" and "Pribram" with strict 

 accuracy. Errors in spelling ordinary French and 

 German words are frequent, and when one notes as many 



NO. 1607, VOL. 62] 



as nine mistakes in seven consecutive lines, there are 

 fair grounds for complaint. It is not only in his spelling 

 that Prof. Kemp evinces carelessness. A mineralogist 

 would not speak of specular iron as " specular hematite" ; 

 the product of a zinc mine should not be called spelter, 

 as the word denotes the metal, not the ore. By one of 

 his sentences, one might infer that Prof. Kemp would 

 not admit sulphide of sodium among the metallic sul- 

 phides. It is not good English to say: '■'•Considerable 

 limonite has also resulted from the weathering of clay- 

 ironstone nodules." 



In spite of frequent and unpardonable minor blemishes, 

 which could easily have been avoided by employing a 

 careful proof-reader, the book will be found very useful 

 by those who require a summary of the innumerable 

 memoirs and papers describing American ore deposits. 



Prof. Kemp's conclusion that an amendment is needed 

 of the laws regulating the tenure of ore deposits in the 

 Western States will be warmly endorsed by most mining 

 men. C. L. N. F. 



Physiology for the Laboratory. By Bertha Millard 

 Brown, S.B. Pp. viii -h 167. (Boston : Ginn and Co., 

 1900.) 

 This little book sets forth, in twenty-two brief chapters, 

 certain practical directions for the study of the elements 

 of anatomy, histology and physiology of the vertebrate 

 body, and the first principles of bacteriology. Many of 

 the instructions given are in interrogatory form, and for 

 simple experiment and observation of the living in action, 

 in which lies the very essence of the^science of physi- 

 ology, the student is commendably referred to his or 

 her own body. Beyond this, however, there is nothing 

 in the book that is new, or which calls for comment in 

 these pages. The mode of treatment is begotten of a 

 conviction on the part of the authoress, that " there is 

 needed a radical change in the teaching of physiology " ; 

 and we read with astonishment the statement that while 

 the method of teaching botany, chemistry and other 

 sciences "has long been that of going first to the study 

 of the specimen and then to the text-book," this has not 

 been the case for " physiology " — that having apparently 

 been taught from the text-book alone. She is writing, 

 however, of State schools of America, and if the accusa- 

 tion be applicable to them generally, we wish her success 

 in her enterprise. 



Michigan Board of Agriculture. Annual Report 1 898 -99. 



Pp. 465. (Michigan : State Board of Agriculture, 1899.) 

 In this volume are included the thirty-eighth annual 

 report of the Secretary of the Michigan State Board of 

 Agriculture, and the twelfth annual report of the Experi- 

 ment Station of the State Agricultural College. Many 

 subjects of interest are dealt with in both reports, but 

 only a few can be referred to here. Experiments with 

 Indian corn, to test the influence of thickness of planting 

 upon the character of the crop, show that a gradual 

 increase occurs in the yield of dry matter and protein as 

 the distance between the rows and between individual 

 plants is increased. It appears that, to obtain the 

 greatest yield of valuable nutrients, Indian corn should 

 be planted in rows fully three and a half feet apart, and 

 the seeds six and nine inches apart in the rows. The 

 establishment of several large beet-sugar factories in the 

 State last year has caused increased attention to be given 

 to experiments in beet culture. An interesting detail of 

 some new experimental work, to which reference is made 

 by Prof. C. D. Smith, director of the Experimental Station, 

 is the breeding of bees with longer tongues. It is hoped 

 that, by selection and breeding, a variety of honey bee 

 will be developed capable of extracting nectar from the 

 blossoms of the clover grown in the State. 



Among the subjects of Bulletins published in the 

 report are : — forestry, strawberry culture, methods of 

 combating disease-producing germs and fruit-growing. 



