340 



NATURE 



[August 7, 1890 



seventeenth century to the present day. In the second 

 essay the relations that should exist between the State and 

 biology are considered, and there can be little doubt but 

 that as a result of this address to the Biological Section of 

 the British Association at Southport, followed by the fifth 

 essay, which gives an outline of the scientific results of 

 the International Fisheries Exhibition, held in London in 

 the same year (1883), we are in great measure indebted 

 for the valuable help given by our Government towards 

 the establishment of the Laboratory at Plymouth belong- 

 ing to the Marine Biological Association of the United 

 Kingdom. 



The third and sixth essays, on Pasteur and hydrophobia 

 — or rabies, as we would prefer to call this formidable 

 disease — and on centenarism, are full of interest, and while 

 in the former the author has to content himself with a 

 narration of the chief results of Pasteur's invaluable 

 labours, in the latter we find an account of a subject 

 which has been critically worked out by himself. 



Three of the essays relate to the subject of Darwinism, 

 and possibly will be found the most interesting in the 

 volume. The first is on the subject of " Degeneration, a 

 chapter in Darwinism," and was delivered as one of the 

 evening lectures at the British Association meeting at 

 Sheffield, in 1879. In it Prof. Lankester calls attention 

 to the fact that degeneration, or the simplification of 

 the general structure of an animal, may be due to the 

 ancestors of that animal having taken to one of two 

 habits of life, either the parasitic or the immobile Other 

 new habits of life appear also to be such as to lead to 

 degeneration. Let us suppose, for example, a race of 

 animals fitted and accustomed to catch their food, and 

 having a variety of organs to help them in this chase ; 

 suppose such animals suddenly to acquire the power of 

 feeding on the carbonic acid dissolved in the water 

 around them, just as green plants have. This would lead 

 to degeneration ; for they would soon cease to hunt their 

 food, and would bask in the sunlight, taking food in by 

 the whole surface, as plants do by their leaves. Another 

 possible cause of degeneration appears to be the indirect 

 one of minute size. And so, as is well shown, this 

 hypothesis of degeneration enables very numerous cases 

 of animal structure to be accounted for. The second of 

 this set, forming the seventh of the collected series, is on 

 parthenogenesis, and in it we find the fascinating accounts 

 given to us by the painstaking zeal of von Siebold of the 

 habits and manners of the little wasps belonging to the 

 genus Polistes — a story both wonderful and romantic. 

 The third of these, the eighth of the whole set, treats of 

 Haeckel's theory of heredity, in which the transmission 

 of acquired characters by heredity is discussed, but this 

 phase of belief Prof. Lankester will no longer insist upon, 

 and he points out that Weismann's essays on this question 

 should be carefully studied by naturalists. 



The last essay to be alluded to is the fourth, on examina- 

 tions. The author claims that but few have had a wider or 

 a more continuous experience in examinations than he 

 has had. On this somewhat vexed question he has a 

 good deal that is to the point to say, showing that the 

 use of examinations in schools and Universities is different 

 from their use as a test of fitness for entrance into a pro- 

 fession, or a post in the Home or Indian Civil Service, 

 NO. 1084, VOL. 42] 



or as a means of deciding a question of relative 

 merit. 



We feel sure that as each of these essays originated 

 in a desire to promote the interests of science, so the 

 author, in collecting the present series, will be found to 

 have had the same aim in view. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Agenda du Chimiste. Par MM. Salet, Girard, et Pabst. 



(Paris : Hachette and Co., 1890.) 

 In this volume will be found a most complete and ex- 

 haustive compilation of facts and numerical tables of use 

 to the chemist. The first edition was published in 1877 

 by M. Wurtz, and in subsequent editions the work has 

 been thoroughly brought up to date. It is now published 

 annually as a chemical year-book, the publication of each 

 year containing a few special articles called for by the 

 events of the past twelve months. This year the fol- 

 lowing are among the special articles contributed : "The 

 Progress of the Industry of Colouring Matters," " Review 

 of the Exhibition of 1889 " as regards matters of chemical 

 interest, and "Views of the International Chemical Con- 

 gress concerning Nomenclature." The numerical data 

 included in the book are most full, and ought to be of 

 great service in the reduction of observations. The col- 

 lection of them represents an immense amount of labour, and 

 the accompanying descriptions of experimental methods 

 are very clear and concise. A most useful portion of the 

 work is that in which all the known physical constants of 

 the elements and numerous compounds are given. Special 

 care appears to have been taken in collecting the pub- 

 lished thermo-chemical data, with the result that the 

 chapter upon this subject is one of the most valuable in 

 the book. The tables for use in quantitative analysis, 

 and especially those referring to commercial methods, 

 will doubtless be fully appreciated for the saving of time 

 and arithmetical labour which their use will effect. It is, 

 moreover, of no mean advantage that all formulas are 

 given according to the ordinary nomenclature, and not 

 according to the old notation still retained by many 

 French chemists. The volume is small and handy in 

 spite of its five hundred pages, and cannot fail to be of 

 service in the laboratory. A. E. T. 



The Philosophy of Clothing. By W. Mattieu Williams. 



(London : Thomas Laurie, 1890.) 

 Mr. Williams is a somewhat eccentric writer, and by 

 most people some of the notions set forth in this little 

 book will be regarded as " fads." He is generally able, 

 however, to give a good reason for the opinions he 

 advances, and much of his advice, although opposed to 

 the rules of fashion, is sound and practicable. The 

 subject is one which occupied the close attention of 

 Count Rumford ; and of his researches Mr. Williams, as 

 he himself says^ has made " free use." 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers op, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. ] 



The Zoological Affinities of Heliopora cerulea, BI. 

 The remarkable blue coral, Heliopora cerulea, of Blainville, 

 represents, I believe, one of those species that, in common with 

 Stylaster, Millepora, and other allied genera, have been recently 

 relegated to the Hydrozoic subdivision of the Coelenterata. So 

 far as I remember, however, and without having present access 



