August 30, 1900] 



NA TURE 



411 



self at home. He repudiates Altmann's claims to priority 

 with regard to the importance of cell granules. The de- 

 scription of the different types of leucocytosis and leuco- 

 cyth.emia is exceedingly good, and perhaps constitutes 

 the most valuable section of the work. It is unfortunate 

 that the translator has not seized the opportunity, as he 

 has done in the case of Kanthack and Hardy's investi- 

 gations, of referring to the very important work done by 

 Muir on experimental leucocytoses and leucocytha?mia. 

 It is to him that we are indebted in the first place for the 

 recognition of the " leucoblastic " type of marrow in 

 experimental leucocytosis. 



Ehrlich's chemiotactic theories with regard to the 

 emigration of different cells from their seat of formation, 

 the marrow, into the blood, and from the blood into the 

 tissues, &c., are presented in a most interesting fashion, 

 although, unfortunately, it is still impossible to speak 

 about the etiology of medullary leucocythaemia in any- 

 thing but the most indefinite way. To Dr. Myers' trans- 

 lation one can only refer in terms of praise. Perhaps it 

 errs at places by being rather too literal. References to 

 Jenner's eosin-methylene blue mixture, and to Kanthack 

 and Hardy's work, are welcome additions made by the 

 translator and editor. Confirmation and amplification of 

 the very important investigations of Kanthack and Hardy, 

 and Hardy alone, on the solution of oxyphil granules 

 when cells containing the latter come in contact with 

 chains of B. anthracis, &c., would be heartily welcomed 

 by all who are interested in the subject of leucocyte 

 secretions. T. H. Milroy. 



BIOLOGY AT WOODS' HOLL, U.S.A. 



Biological Lectures from the Marine Laboratory at 

 Woods' Holl, U.S.A., for 1899. Pp. 282. (Boston : 

 Ginn and Co., 1900.) 

 T^HE present volume, like all its predecessors, is 



-•- replete with interest and full of testimony to the 

 activity and good work of the Whitman School. It con- 

 tains the reports of sixteen lectures, of which as many as 

 four are for the first time botanical ; and although among 

 the zoological writers we miss the names of Whitman 

 and one or two of the most tried among his earlier col- 

 laborateurs, the effects of their teaching and example are 

 all evident. More especially is this the case with the 

 lectures by C. M. Child on "The Significance of the 

 Spiral Type of Cleavage," and by E. Thorndike on 

 " Instinct," in which certain of Whitman's most famous 

 conclusions receive support. 



Conspicuous lectures are those by C. B. Davenport on 

 " The Aims of the Quantitative Study of Variation," and 

 by Jacques Loeb on "The Nature of the Process of 

 Fertilisation," each in extension of work for which these 

 investigators are now well known. The latter writer, 

 dealing with facts which show that the process of fer- 

 tilisation and development may be produced in the tg^ 

 cell by the action of certain salts, to an advanced stage, 

 would have us believe he has transferred the problem of 

 fertilisation from the realm of morphology into the realm 

 of physical chemistry. There is an important address by 

 Alphicus Hyatt on "Some Governing Factors usually 

 neglected in Biological Investigations," in which the 

 uniformitarian hypothesis receives a check and a defence 

 NO. 1609, VOL. 62] 



is set up of a law of " Tachygenesis " or " abbreviated 

 development " ; and there is incorporated in it a dis- 

 cussion on heredity, in its bearings on Ribot's argument 

 that it is a "specific memory," and that a form of 

 automatism is the link between memory and habit. 



T. H. Morgan continues to write on " Regeneration," 

 and among the lectures there are two which are note- 

 worthy as embodying full bibliographies, of service for 

 reference— viz. those by A. G. Mayer on " The Develop- 

 ment of Colour in Moths and Butterflies," and by G. N, 

 Calkins on " Nuclear Division in Protozoa." Interest 

 amounting to novelty is greatest as concerns the work of 

 C. H. Eigenmann on the breeding habits of the blind- 

 fishes, the Amblyopsidas, of the Mississippi Valley, in 

 which the discovery that the bleached condition is as- 

 sumed by the young even when reared in the light, is 

 brought forward as evidence of hereditary establishment 

 of an effect of the environment ; and as concerning a 

 lecture by H. S. Jennings on " The Behaviour of Uni- 

 cellular Organisms," in which, from the fact that a multi- 

 plicity of causes may bring about similar reactions, it 

 is argued that organisation and not the nature of the 

 stimulus determines the result of experiment. Of the 

 botanical lectures, that by D. H. Campbell on " The 

 Evolution of the Sporophyte" furnishes an argument 

 in favour of the abandonment of aquatic life having 

 had a potent influence in its higher development, while 

 another by D. P-. Penhallovv will be useful, as giving 

 a succinct account of the alteration and carbonisa- 

 tion processes undergone by vegetable organisms during 

 fossilisation. The remaining lectures are upon the 

 effects of temperature and currents of air upon distri- 

 bution, the significance of mycorrhizas, the associative 

 processes in animals, and the " Physiology of Secretion "; 

 and the tout ensemdle gives promise of increased at- 

 tention in the future to questions of cytology, in both 

 their experimental and physiological aspects, with a 

 leaning to those which involve philosophic principles 

 and abstract ideas. No doubt much of the biological 

 work of the next generation will be of this type, but in 

 view of the probability that that may stand in danger of 

 being overdone, and of the idea .that nothing remains 

 possible on the old lines, it may be said that in the very 

 book under review there is reached the conclusion that 

 "it is the individual which is the unit and not the cell." 

 In the future, when everything will need to be gone over 

 again under an advance in methods and a better under- 

 standing, the facts of mere anatomy — the value of which 

 there is a growing tendency to depreciate — will assuredly 

 prove as important and instructive as in the past. Our 

 American brethren may do well to bear this in mind. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Brief Guide to the Commoner Butterflies of the Northern 

 United States and Canada. Being an Introduction 

 to a Knowledge of their Life-histories. With Illus- 

 trations of all the Species. By Samuel Hubbard 

 Scudder. * Pp. xi -f- 210 ; 22 plates. (New York: 

 Henry Holt and Co., 1899.) 

 Our notice of the first edition of this work appeared in 

 Nature for August 10, 1893. This is not before us 

 while writing ; but as far as we can tell without actual 

 comparison, the present edition, as regards the letter- 



