May 7, 1903) 



NATURE 



le contained an interesting historical rdsumd of the i 

 divelopment of milling processes, which in turn is j 

 loUowed by a detailed description of wheat-storing 

 buildings, silos, elevators and the like. The whole 

 process of wheat cleaning, both by dry and wet 

 methods, is described. In the next place, there is an 

 account of the reduction of grain to flour, both by the 

 old mill-stone process and the more modern one of 

 .gradual reduction by means of roller mills. The plan- 

 -ittpr and other methods of separating flour from bran 

 iiid germ next occupy attention. Having thus traced 

 the whole operation from the raw grain to the finished 

 tlour, the authors devote a concluding chapter to flour 

 analysis, modes of preservation, and a description of 

 the channels through which, as a matter of commerce, 

 it reaches the consumer. Of particular interest in 

 this connection is the description of the " Twelve 

 Marks " Market of Paris, and its mode of classifying 

 and valuing flour according to a carefully selected 

 standard of quality. 



That M. Girard did not live to see the completion of 

 his work is a matter sincerely to be regretted, but Al. 

 Lindet is to be congratulated on having produced, 

 from the materials placed at his disposal and his own 

 researches, a work of the keenest interest to chemists, 

 and one that should prove of great value to the milling 

 industry. William Jago. 



PHYSIOLOGICAL RESULTS. 

 Ergehnisse der Physiologic. Erster Jahrgang, II. 



Abteilung. Biophysik und Psychophysik. Pp. 



xviii + 926. (Wiesbaden : Bergmann.) Price 25 



marks. 

 T N the present day, when the man of science is be- 

 J- coming more and more overwhelmed by the ever- 

 increasing flood of literature, any methods which can 

 assist him in some degree to surmount the flood may 

 cordially be welcomed. Year-books and Central- 

 blatter are useful in affording abstracts of current 

 literature, but such abstracts, necessarily disconnected, 

 are apt to engender disconnection and incompleteness 

 of thought in their readers. Moreover, mixed frag- 

 ments of literature are exceedingly difficult to assimi- 

 late, in comparison with connected and critical surveys 

 extending over a definite range of some stated subject. 

 We must therefore express our warm approval at the 

 publication of the first volumes of this new physio- 

 logical annual. As the name might imply, this 

 " Ergebnisse der Physiologie " is comparable in 

 character to the well-known " Ergebnisse der Anatomie 

 und Entwickelungsgeschichte," which has proved of 

 great service to zoologists, and to the no less valuable 

 " Ergebnisse der allgemeinen Pathologic." In the 

 words of the editors (L. Asher and K. Spiro), the 

 present " Ergebnisse " will consist of original and 

 critical essays upon various subjects or special points 

 in physiology, which as the result of fresh research 

 have acquired an especial interest. As the " Ergeb- 

 nisse " will appear annually, they hope that in course 

 of time as far as possible every branch of the science 

 will receive its due attention. 



NO. 1749, VOL (58] 



With this commendation, we may perhaps be per- 

 mitted to offer some little criticism as to the range of 

 subjects which the editors propose to include within 

 their jurisdiction. Dealing only with what they term 

 "Biophysik" and "Psychophysik," with which the 

 volume under review is alone concerned (and which 

 represent only half the complete annual), it appears 

 that in addition to purely physiological matters, the 

 editors intend to include essays covering a wide range 

 of general physiologv. The physiology of protoplasm 

 is, of course, quite rightly included, but it is distinctly 

 open to question whether biological problems such as 

 inheritance and adaptation had not better be omitted. 

 The present volume of " Ergebnisse," for instance, in- 

 cludes a very long article on Regeneration, although 

 this subject is dealt with regularly every year in the 

 aforementioned " Ergebnisse der Anatomie." Again,, 

 the editors intend to include articles on physiological 

 psychology {e.g. simple psychical processes, reaction 

 time, sleep, hypnotism). All these extraneous subjects 

 go to swell the size of the volumes, and render them 

 unwieldy. Thus this first year's issue runs to two 

 volumes of about 900 pages each, or double the bulk 

 of the anatomical " Ergebnisse," which in its earlier 

 numbers much more reasonably confined itself to a 

 single volume of about 700 pages. There must be 

 many a working physiologist who would gladly sub- 

 scribe to a volume of this character, but who would 

 be deterred by the bulkiness and expense of the present 

 issue. Moreover, it is difficult to see how the multi- 

 plication of articles in the present " Ergebnisse " can 

 be kept up in the future, unless special ooints be dealt 

 with in wholly unnecessary detail. So great is the 

 total amount of ground covered that it almost seems 

 as if one or two more years' issues would include 

 the whole range of physiology. Subsequent essayists 

 would accordingly have to rely almost entirely on new 

 work, or their articles would practically resolve them- 

 selves into year-book abstracts. It is to be hoped,, 

 therefore, that the editors may see fit in future years 

 to curtail the size of their volumes. This should be 

 done, not only by diminishing the number of articles,, 

 but by diminishing their length. Many of the essays 

 in the present volume, as, for instance, those of Prof. 

 Tigerstedt on intracardial pressure, of Prof. Starling 

 on the movements and innervation of the alimentary 

 canal, and of Prof. Hensen on the physiology of 

 hearing, are of a moderate and most convenient 

 length ; but others, such as those of C. v. Monakow 

 on cortical localisation (132 pages), of A. Tschermak 

 on adaptation of the eye to light, and the function 

 of the rods and cones (106 pages), and of F. B. 

 Hofmann on vision as affected by strabismus (46 

 pages), must be regarded as unnecessarily detailed, 

 admirable as they may be in themselves. On the other 

 hand, one or two articles err on the side of brevity, 

 especially that of H. Boruttau on the innervation of 

 respiration (6 pages), and to a less extent that of 

 H. Meyer on nerve and muscle poisons (15 pages). 



Another matter deserving of criticism is one which 

 in future issues will doubtless to some extent be recti- 

 fied. It concerns the lack of uniformity in the treat- 

 ment of their subjects observed by the various essayists. 



