June, 1912. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



243 



teeth in the embryos of modern birds. From time to time 

 since Geoffroy St. Hilaire, it has been announced that in 

 embryos of parrots and terns, and some other birds, traces of 

 tooth-germs occur on the jaws. Dr. Ihde has recently re- 

 investigated some of the alleged cases and with quite negative 

 results. Distinct papillae sometimes occur, but they are in 

 no sense tooth-germs. They show no hint of dentine, and 

 they do not develop as teeth do. The "dental ridges" 

 described by Rose have to do with the development of the 

 horny bill ; they are not comparable to the true dental ridges 

 of mammals. 



MEMORV IN FISHES.— Mieczyslaw O.xner has experi- 

 mented with the sea-perch. Serrantis scriba, in the following 

 fashion. He hung in an aquarium a red and a green cylinder 

 by silk threads of similar colour, and put food in the red one 

 only. For the first two days the fish did not approach the 

 cylinders : on the third day. after fifteen minutes, it entered the 

 cylinder and ate the food : on the fourth day it did this after 

 five minutes; on the fifth day after half a minute; from the 

 si.xth to the tenth day it rushed in at once. On the eleventh 

 day it entered a fresh red cylinder which had no food, and 

 waited there for three minutes. An association had been 

 established between the colour and the food. The fish 

 rushed into the empty red cylinder on each of the succeeding 

 six days, and when M. Oxner dropped in some food a little 

 was taken. On the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth 

 days, the fish would not eat the food. Even in the absence 

 of appetite, the fish seemed unable to resist rushing into the 

 red cylinder. In other experiments the colours were altered, 

 but the same general results were obtained. There is no particu- 

 lar attraction in the red colour. What is established is first 

 an association, and eventually something almost like a reflex. 



BODV-POISON OF SPIDERS.— It has been known for 

 some time that extract of mashed spiders contains a poison — 

 arachnolysin — which has a destructive action on blood 

 corpuscles. Robert Levy has recently shown that the body- 

 poison is confined to adult females, is particularly localised in 

 the ovary, and is got rid off in the eggs. It is readily obtained 

 from the eggs of the garden spider, for instance. From the 

 eggs the arachnolysin passes on into the young spiders, but 

 then it disappears — altogether in the males, and until maturity 

 approaches in the females. This body-poison and egg-poison 

 is not to be confused with the poison which all spiders have in 

 their poison-glands. Levy's facts doubtless form a contribu- 

 tion to the physiology of sex, but it is diflficult to discern their 

 significance. There are analogous facts in regard to some 

 other animals. Thus Phisalix found that in female toads the 

 toxins normally secreted by the cutaneous glands are localised 

 in the ovary and pass into the spawn. They disappear, how- 

 ever, in the tadpoles. 



SENSITIVENESS OF BLOW-FLV.— It is well known 

 that the blow-fly tCalliphora voiiiiforia) has an extraordin- 

 arily keen sensitiveness to the odour of flesh, detecting it from 

 a distance. Xavier Raspail has made some observations on 

 the rapidity with which the flies find a bird that has just died 

 and he maintains that they do not alight a second before that. 

 .\n apoplectic pigeon that looked dead, but was not, was left 

 unvisited. A moribund magpie, lying beside two others which 

 had just been killed, was left unvisited though the flies were 

 on the dead birds just beside it. The instinct not to lay eggs 

 in anything not (juite dead seems to be strongly developed. 

 But Raspail goes on to draw the hazardous conclusion that in 

 the article of death an animal gives off a volatile something of 

 infinite subtletv which serves as a clue to the fly. 



REVIEWS. 



ASTROLOGY. 



Chaldean Astrology. — Second edition. By G. Wilde. 

 150 pages. Numerous illustrations. 8j-in.X6J-in. 

 (T. W. Laurie. Price 6 - net.) 

 This is one of a series of books on Psychical Research with 

 which we have no sympathy. For the elevation and preser- 

 vation of the mental character and respect of mankind we 

 would rather this useless subject of horoscopes and its allies 

 were as dead as the ancient Aramaic race which inhabited the 

 mountain regions near Ararat. We would also have preferred 

 to have let the printing and dissemination of astrological 

 works, except as an exercise in exposing the mythological 

 origin and its close associations with witclacraft. sorcery, and 

 similar abominations, cease with those ingenious concoctions 

 published in the sixteenth century, with which we are 

 acquainted. In the regeneration of the Chinese nation it is 

 most earnestly desired that one of their greatest errors — their 

 continued addiction to astrological notions — may be swept 

 away for ever, and that a wholesome knowledge of the 

 heavenly bodies may occupy their attention instead of the 

 practice of this "' occult science." The writer of the preface 

 says " it is not intended to denounce or discourage the pursuit 

 of occult studies ' — of course not. or away would go the profits 

 derived from such books as this — " but simply to insist that 

 they have nothing to do with astrology, which is a physical and 

 verifiable science or it is nothing." It is nothing but a 

 delusion. 



The preface also says': " The author possesses as much 

 experience, as much ability, and what is equally important, as 

 much candour and love of truth as will easily be found in any 

 contemporary astrologer." We have no doubt whatever upon 

 this point. We would like to emphasize this and add "or 

 from the time of the tablets of Sargon I of Agadi, B.C. 3800." 

 No, this would not be quite true. The poor ancient folks 

 only had the sun. moon, and five major planets with which to 

 work out their schemes. It is quite alarming to meditate upon 

 the enormous amount of niisconception, misinterpretation, 

 inefficiency, and disturbance upon human hves in the horo- 



scopic prognostications of the period previous to the discovery 

 of Uranus in 1781 by the non-horoscopic Herschel, and by 

 the discovery of Neptune in 1846. It will be interesting to 

 watch the re-arrangement of the " houses " when a new lord 

 of the ascendant, " significator," is discovered as the ninth 

 major planet, also how it will act as a " promittor." We offer 

 a suggestion. -As the seventh major planet was discovered 

 with a telescope, the eighth by mathematical calculation, will 

 the horoscopists discover the ninth by deduction from the 

 falsities, anomalies, and inexplicabilities in their present fore- 

 casts, and indicate to astronomers where we niay see that 

 planet ? We might " horoscope " its name as " Horoscopia." 

 When we first perused this book we thought of conjuring 

 our horoscopes according to the accommodating data given — 

 passing thoughts make us think of some of the well-known 

 patent medicines which cure or soothe opposite ailments — but 

 we have come to a definite decision, that as we believe we are 

 greatly controlled and our lives influenced by the ninth 

 planet we must reluctantly wait until its discovery (by 

 horoscopy, preferably). When one has an horn- or more to 

 waste it is an interesting book to read, as one can readily 

 find something to satisfy for the moment, and dissatisfy for 

 longer periods. It is astonishing that any but heathens and 

 atheists can believe such stuft'. So long as there are people 

 with time and money, so long will such books be inflicted upon 

 us. .•V short time ago a " prophet " named Voigt. wrote and 

 published a work predicting the end of the world. He was 

 justly prosecuted and heavily punished by the Berlin police 

 for "spreading pernicious literature." Would that we had such 

 a law enforced. p ^ 3 



EVOLUTION. 



Evolution in the Past.— By Henrv R. Kxipe, F.L.S. 



242 pages. 56 full-page illustrations. lOi-in. X 7J-in. 



(Herbert & Daniel. Price 12/6 net.) 



.\n immense amount of care and trouble has been expended 



in order to ensure that this book shall be at once attractive 



and reliable. The introduction gives a very clear and con- 



