388 



NA TURE 



[August 23, 1900 



gas light is more deleterious than a gas fire. That the 

 worst atmosphere exists at the top of a room where the 

 heated products of combustion accumulate is only 

 natural. That is the reason, it is to be presumed, why 

 the topsy-turvy method of ventilating at the floor level 

 with a coal fire is the one most generally in use. 



J. B. C. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Lamarckiens et Darwiniens ; Discussion de quelqiies 

 Theories sur la Formation des Especes. Par Felix Le 

 Dantec, Charge du Cours d'Embryologie gdndrale k la 

 Sorbonne. Pp. 191. (Pans: Felix Alcan, 1899.) 



This is a well-intended, but scarcely adequate, endeavour 

 to reconcile the Darwinian with the Lamarckian con- 

 ception of evolution. While admitting the principle of 

 natural selection as an important factor in organic 

 development, the author seeks to explain the origin of 

 species mainly on a Lamarckian basis. It may be 

 doubted whether his suggested compromise will com- 

 mend itself to either party. We are of opinion, pace 

 M. Le Dantec, that Darwin's estimate of Lamarck was 

 perfectly just ; and that if Lamarckian views are to 

 prevail, it must be by dint of facts and arguments other 

 than those adduced by Lamarck himself. The present 

 volume contains nothing approaching a demonstration 

 of the inheritance of acquired characters ; and until this 

 is forthcoming, the Lamarckian fabric must be held to 

 lack foundation. It is curious that the author, who has 

 undoubtedly grasped the principle of natural selection, 

 should not see how groundless is his hesitation in apply- 

 ing it. A reason for this failure is doubtless to be found 

 in his tendency to deal with cases of adaptation as if 

 they were ready made ; he has apparently not taken into 

 account the evidence of gradual approximation to the 

 completely adapted condition. How, he asks, can chance 

 have produced the aspect of Kallitna ? A study of allied 

 forms might have shown him that his question was wide 

 of the mark. On the crucial subject of mimicry and 

 protective resemblance, this strange reluctance to carry 

 an admitted principle to its legitimate end produces 

 especially unfortunate results. M. Le Dantec is con- 

 stramed, not only to suppose that the white of Arctic 

 animals may be a direct result of the colour of their 

 surroundings "as in Poulton's experiments on cater- 

 pillars," but to assume the conscious adoption of ap- 

 propriate habits on the part of protected organisms. It 

 would seem that not much is here gained by the abandon- 

 ment of the Darwinian standpoint. In the last few 

 chapters of the book the author expounds his " bio- 

 chemical" theory of heredity, but without throwing any 

 new light on the familiar difficulties of the subject. It is 

 open to any one to proclaim his faith in the essentially 

 chemical character of all kinds of protoplasmic activity, 

 but the fact remains that among these phenomena there 

 is a residuum which does not easily relate itself with 

 what is known of the properties of other kinds of matter. 

 This is where the problem was found by M. Le Dantec, 

 and this is where he has left it. F. A. D. 



Helen Keller : Souvenir. Pp. 65. (Washington : 



Volta Bureau, 1899.) 

 The achievements of Miss Helen Keller bear striking 

 testimony to what it is possible to accomplish in the 

 eduratipn of the deaf. Though totally blind, as well as 

 deaf, from infancy, she succeeded in passing the examina- 

 tion for admission into Radcliffe College, Harvard Uni- 

 versity, a year ago. In honour of this remarkable result, 

 the Volta Bureau, which exists for the increase and 

 diffusion of knowledge relating to the deaf, has published 

 this souvenir, containing an account of her career, con- 



NO. 1608, VOL. 62] 



tributed by Dr. A. Graham Bell, Miss A. M. Sullivan 

 and other instructors, and herself. 



Dr. Bell considers that the lesson taught by Miss 

 Keller's case is that books should be used at the earliest 

 stages of a deaf or blind child's education. " I would 

 have a deaf child read books in order to learn the 

 language," he remarks, " instead of learning the language 

 in order to read books." Miss Sullivan describes how 

 she gave Miss Keller books printed in raised letters 

 long before her pupil could read them. Words of par- 

 ticular shapes were associated with particular objects and 

 actions, and in a comparatively short time Miss Keller thus 

 acquiredan exceptional knowledge ofthe English language. 

 Miss Sullivan employed the manual alphabet exclusively 

 as a means of communication at the commencement of 

 the child's education. She adopted the method of talk- 

 ing to Miss Keller just as she would to a seeing and 

 hearing child, spelling into her hands the words and 

 sentences she would have spoken to her if she could have 

 heard, in spite of the fact that at first much of the 

 language was unintelligible to the child. Three years 

 after beginning to communicate by means of the manual 

 alphabet, Miss Keller began to try to imitate sounds. 

 Some deaf children are taught to speak by imitating the 

 movements of the lips of the teacher. Miss Keller could 

 not see these movements, but she could feel them by 

 touching her teacher's lips, and she was soon able to 

 reproduce the same sounds and articulate words. 



How Miss Keller was prepared for admission into 

 Radcliffe College, the entrance examination of which is 

 exactly the same as that of Harvard College, is described 

 by her instructors, and Miss Keller gives a simple chrono- 

 logical account of her studies. The whole statement 

 is a remarkable narrative, and will be of the deepest in- 

 terest to teachers of the deaf and students of psycho- 

 logical development. 



The Psychology of Reasoning. By Alfred Binet. Trans- 

 lated by Adam Gowans Whyte. Pp. 191. (Chicago : 

 Open Court Publishing Company. London : Kegan 

 Paul and Co., Ltd., 1899.) 

 This is a translation of the second edition of M. Binet's 

 well-known book, the main object of which is to show 

 the essential similarity of perception and reasoning, and 

 to illustrate the nature of the latter by our more com- 

 plete knowledge of the former, especially with reference 

 to the part played in perception by mental images. 

 When the " Psychologie du raisonnement " first appeared, 

 the more or less novel facts about mental imagery dis- 

 covered by Galton and Charcot were described in a clear 

 and interesting manner, and this feature remains with- 

 out alteration. In fact no appreciable alterations have 

 been made in the present edition, even when called for ; 

 thus Parinaud's evidence in favour of the central seat of 

 after-images is repeated, although generally acknow- 

 ledged to rest on a misconception ofthe relations be- 

 tween the two eyes. The book is full of interesting 

 psychological facts ; but unfortunately most of these are 

 drawn from hypnotic experiments, and Binet does not 

 yet appear to have recognised that, owing to the influence 

 of unconscious suggestion, it is very dangerous to found 

 psychological theories on such a basis. 



Nevertheless M. Binet's work should be very welcome 

 in an English form, and this the more so that the 

 translation has been very well done. 

 Electric Batteries: How to Make and Use Them. 

 Edited by P. Marshall. Pp. 63. (London : Dawbarn 

 and Ward.) 

 The principal forms of primary electric batteries are 

 described in this little book, and some serviceable details 

 are given concerning their working and use. The book 

 will be particularly helpful by amateur electricians ; and 

 students of electricity will find in it some information not 

 usually given in the text-books. 



