MR. C. T. DRUERY'S translation 

 of Father Karl Frank's work on 

 The Theory of Evolution in the 

 Light of Facts * is rendered un- 

 necessarily difficult of reading for 

 ordinary persons by a rather too 

 close adherence to the idiom of 

 the original as, for example, in 

 the use of " also " where not re- 

 quired by English construction. 

 There are also misleading trans- 

 lations which should be corrected 

 in a second edition, such as " inter- 

 uterine " where " intra-uterine " 

 is intended (p. 29 note) and 

 "physician" for u physicist " (p. 

 83 note). After these slight 

 criticisms we hasten to say that 

 the work itself is interesting and 

 useful, and worthy of careful study 



by all interested in biological 



problems. Its author deals, inter 



alia, with the question of vitalism 



which has recently been so much 



before the public, and shows, as 



others have done before him, that 



! the chemical explanation of life 



I is in no sense a complete expla- 



I nation : 



" Is a chemical formula imaginable 

 which can express 'inheritance' ? What 

 formula has conscience, and what struc- 

 ture and organization can present it 

 graphically ? All that, however, belongs 

 to 'life' and should be explained" 

 (p. 101). 



He further considers the theories 

 of Lamarck and Darwin, and those 

 of the so-called neo-Lamarckians 

 and neo- Darwinians and shows 

 their weak points. That evolution 

 takes place in classes, he agrees ; 

 but that animals and plants, for 

 example, have a genetic relation- 

 ship he does not admit : " the 

 question of the origin of animals 

 from plants forms no problem of 

 the hypothesis of evolution." 

 The polyphyletic theory of evo- 

 lution, held by his brother Jesuit, 

 Fr. Wasmann, who contributes a 

 I section on ants and termites and 

 their commensals a subject on 

 which he is the leading authority 

 commends itself also to Father 

 Frank. 



