160 



KNOWLEDGE 



[July. 1902. 



whidi Prof. Morgan deals ; and in the acciimulution of it, he 

 and his pupils takr a foremost place. Everything relating to 

 regeneration, whether in egg, embryo, or adult, is of significance 

 in connection with theories of evolution ; and it is only hy the 

 accumnlation of knowledge of the ])henomena that accurate 

 views of the course of development can he understood. We 

 cannot pretend to show here that this is the case, or to describe 

 the luany investientions recoi'ded in the volume under notice, 

 but the following conclusion referring to regenerative changes 

 which are for the good of the organism must be regarded as a 

 statement of the ]>rc8eiit position of the discussion of the 

 subject : — " The phenomena of regeneration are not processes 

 that have been built uji by the accumulation of small advances 

 in a useful direction ; they cannot be accounted for by the 

 survival of those forms in which the changes take place better 

 than in their fellows, for it is often not a question of life or 

 death whether or not the process takes place, or even a question 

 of leaving more descendants. On the contrary, it seems highly 

 ]>robable that the regenerative ])rocess is one of the fundamental 

 attributes of living things, and that we can find no explanation 

 of it as the outcome of the selective agency of the environment. 

 The phenomena of regeneration appears to belong to the general 

 category of growth phenomena, and as such are characteristic 

 of organisms. Neither regeneration nor growth can be explained, 

 so far as I can see, as the result of the usefulness of these 

 attributes to the bodies with which they are indissolubly 

 associated. The fact that the process of regeneration is useful 

 to the organism cannot be made to account for its existence in 

 the organism.' From these conclusions it will be gathered 

 that Prof. Morgan is not attached to the Darwinian or the 

 Lamarckian schools of biological thought : and he provides both 

 of them with much material for consideration. 



"Atlas of Practical Elementary ZooTOiMY.'' By G. B. 

 Howes, LL.D., F.R.S., &c. (London : Macmillan & Co. 1902.) 

 ^This volume is a revised edition of the zoological portion of 

 the "Atlas of Practical Elementary Biology,'' a book well known 

 and highly valued by all the elementary students of biology for 

 the past seventeen years. Little therefore need be said of this 

 revised section. Those, however, who, possessing the complete 

 atlas, imagine that they have no need for the new supplement 

 will make a mistake ; for the plates have been increased to 

 twenty-four in number, and are most exquisitely reproduced. 

 Furthermore, Prof. Howes points out in his preface, the contents 

 of this book have been so modified "as to render it more useful 

 to the teacher than hitherto.'' The author in his preface makes 

 some pertinent remarks on the relation of lectures to the work 

 in the laboratory, which will doubtless, coming from so weighty 

 an authority, command the attention of all those engaged in 

 biological teaching. 



We have received from Messrs. W. & A. K. Johnston a copy 

 of their New Century Globe, a twelve-inch Terrestrial Globe, 

 showing the Ocean currents, Date line, and Isothermal lines, 

 and having a metal semi-meridian marked in degrees. The 

 (ilobe is turned out in the good style we always find in Messrs. 

 Johnston's work, and if we resent the discovery of a new island 

 in the North Pacific Ocean as an advertising station for the 

 l)ublishers, it is only because we feel that the same end could 

 be attained without such a disfigurement. 



BOOKS EECEIVED. 



Aids in Practical Geolor/i/. By Grenville A. J. Cole, M.E.I. A., 

 F.o.s. (Chiis. GrifEn & Co ) Illustrated. 10s. 6d. 



Problems in JSlectricili/. By Eobert Weber, D.sc. Translated by 

 Edward A. O'Kceffe, U.K., m.i.e.e. (Spon.) 7s. Od. net. 



Mammalia. By Frank Evers Beddard, M.A., r.H.s. (Macmillan.) 

 Illustrated. 17e. net. 



JNonoeffian North Polar Expedition, 1893-1896, Scieniijlc Sesults. 

 Edited by Fridtjof Nansen. Vol. III. (Longmans.) 32s.net. 



Science of Mechanics. By i)r. Ernst Mach. (Kegan Paul.) 

 Illu.-trated. 9s. 6d. net. 



Leihtiiz. — Discourse on Metaphysics. Introduction by Paul Janet. 

 Translated by Dr. George K. Montgomery. (Kegan Paul ) 



Aslroiioniy with an Opera Glass. By Garrett P. Serviss. 

 (liii-sihlVld'.) Illustrated. 6s. net. 



First Steps in Photo-Microf/rapht/. By F. Martin Duncan, r.it.n.s. 

 (Hazoll.) illustrated. Is. net. 



Face of Nature. By Kev. C. T. Ovenden, D.n. (Murray.) 29. 



The Primrose and Darwinism. By A Field Naturalist, M.A.(CAlin ). 

 (Ornnt liiclianls.) (is. net. 



Phi/siolofficat and Pathological Chemistry. By G. Bunge. (Kcgnn 

 Paul.') IGs. 



Theolofli/ and Fthirs of the ]Irl,rews. By Archibald BufT, M.A., 

 i,i..i)., B.i). (The Semitic t-cries) (Ninimo.) 5s. net. 



Karly Historii of Syria and Palestine. By Lewis Bayles Fatnn, 

 run. (The Seuntie Seiics). (Ninniio.) ■'js.net. 



F.lectrical Installations. By Rankin Kennedy, C.E. (Caxton 

 riil)lisbing Co.) Illustrated. 9s.net. 



First Course of Chemistry. Bv J. II. Leonard, B sc. (Murray.) 

 Is. (id. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 1312, 1313, 1314. (Wash- 

 ington : Smithsonian Institution.) 



Recognition of the Fourth Dimension. By C. H. Hinton. (Wash- 

 ington : Pliilosophieal Soeioty of Washington.) 



Pioneers of Evolution from Thales to Huxley. Bv Edward Clodd. 

 (VValts & Co.) (id. 



Toronto Astronomical Society : Transactions and Annual Report, 

 1901. Edited by Arthur Harvey, F.K.8.C. (Toronto: Z. M. Collins.) 



Der Untergang der Erde and die kosmischen Katastrophen. By 

 Dr. M. Wilhebn Meyer. (Berlin : Allgemeiner Verein fur Deutsche 

 Litteratur.) 



Thorntoa-Pickard Photographic Specialties. Catalogue, 1902. 



Catatuffne of Photographic Apparatus. (Sanders & Crowhurst. ) 



Astronomical. — Oiae of the most strildng features in 

 the spectra of new stars in their earlier stages is the 

 presence of dark lines on the violet sides of the principal 

 bright ones, one explanation being that which supposes 

 the bright lines to be given out by one body, and t he dark 

 ones by another which ha.s a relatively rapid motion 

 towards the earth. The enormous velocity thus indicated, 

 however, has led some astronomers to believe that the 

 pairs of lines are due to other causes. In experiments on 

 the spectra of electric sparks between metallic electrodes 

 under water, Dr. Wilsing found some time ago what he 

 considered to be similar pairs, and suggested that the 

 phenomena were due to pressure. Sir Xorman Lockyer 

 has recently repeated the experiments, and iu place of 

 the appearances described by JJr. Wilsing he found, among 

 other things, that some of the metallic lines were reversed ; 

 that is, in place of an ordinary bright line there was a 

 broader bright line with a dark one down the middle. 

 These reversals, however, were unsymmetrical, the less 

 refrangible part of the bright line being usually brighter 

 than the part towards the violet, so that in an under- 

 exposed photograph the appearances noted by Dr. Wilsing 

 might be reproduced. There is, accordingly, no certain 

 evidence of any connection between the pairs of lines in 

 the spectra of new stars and those described by Dr. 

 Wilsing. Similar experiments made by Prof. Hale appear 

 to yield reversals as the principal phenomena. 



lleports from Stonyhurst College Observatory indicate 

 that up to February last the spectrum of Nova Persei 

 continued to show the characteristics of a nebula, but 

 whereas the lines in a nebula are sharply defined, those 

 of the nova are in some cases quintuple, and extend over 

 as much as thirty tenth metres. 



In a continued study of the nebula surrounding Nova 

 Persei, Mr. Kitchey, of the Tcrkcs Observatory, finds 



