314 



NA TURE 



[February 2, 1905 



types of architecture have some personal fascination 

 for us, but they must be caviare to the general. 



To illustrate more concretely the general tenor of 

 the " Wonders of Life," we may refer, for a moment, 

 to the first two chapters, on truth and on life. In 

 the chapter on truth we are introduced to the 

 " phronema," the organ of knowledge, a definite and 

 limited part of the cerebral cortex, consisting of 

 association-centres, the innumerable cells of which are 

 the elementary organs of the cognitive process, the 

 possibility of knowledge depending on their normal 

 physical texture and chemical composition. How this 

 august possibility depends on the organisation of the 

 " phronetal cells " remains entirely obscure, and no 

 amount of " bluffing " will lessen this obscurity. As 

 to life in general, its phenomena are determined by 

 the physicochemical organisation of the living matter ; 

 metabolism has its analogue in inorganic catalysis ; 

 reproduction is analogous to the " elective multipli- 

 cation " of crystals; and sensation is a general form 

 of the energy of substance, not specifically different in 

 sensitive organisms and irritable inorganic objects 

 (such as dynamite). It is unfortunate, however, for 

 this view of things that we cannot at present interpret 

 even the simplest vital phenomenon in terms of physical 

 and chemical formulae. But we must remember that 

 while " there is no such thing as an immaterial soul," 

 a " soul " in the atom " must necessarily be assumed 

 to explain the simplest physical and chemical pro- 

 cesses." It seems to us six of one and half a dozen 

 of the other whether we recognise the soul at the top 

 or at the bottom. In Aristotelian language, there is 

 nothing in the end which was not also in the 

 beginning; in plain English, we put into the beginning 

 what we know to be in the end. In fact, when we 

 pass from the descriptive, formulative, interpretative 

 task of science to philosophical explanation — whether 

 monistic or dualistic — we load our intellectual dice. 

 The only alternative is positivism, which is not 

 amusing, and refuses to play. Haeckel's monism, we 

 are bound to confess, appears to us to be dualism in 

 disguise. He predicates for his " substance " — which 

 is from everlasting to everlasting — a trinity of funda- 

 mental attributes, matter, energy, and sensation. 



It is one of Haeckel's pastimes to coin new words, 

 and now and again he has hit on a term which has 

 been really useful, and has come to stay. In his 

 " Wonders " his verbose inventiveness is still manifest. 

 For the sciences which deal with inanimate nature a 

 term is needed, and we are invited to choose between 

 abiology, anorganology, abiotik, and anorgik, each 

 of which seems worse than its neighbour. " Erg- 

 ology " we might digest, but when it comes to 

 perilogy, metasitism, trophonomy, tocogony, gonima- 

 tology, plasmodomism, and metaplasmosisms, the 

 suggestion of an emetic is so obvious that we cannot 

 swallow them. 



We wish to make a remark in regard to the trans- 

 lation. Haeckel's preface is dated June 17, 1904, and 

 this means that the translation has been accomplished 

 with quite remarkable rapidity. It is on the whole 

 clear and vigorous, but it betrays inexpertness. Thus 

 we would point out the undesirability of calling 

 NO. 1840, VOL. 7 l] 



Acanthocephala " itch-worms," or Cirripedia " creep- 

 ing-crabs " or " crawling crabs," or Arion " our 

 common garden snail," or Holothurians " sea- 

 gherkins," and we could add to this list considerably. 

 There seems something wrong, too, in calling repro- 

 duction " transgressive growth," and we wonder what 

 " wonder-snails " can be, or " the actinia among the 

 tunicates. " In regard to the articulation of the lower 

 jaw in mammals, we learn that " this joint is temporal 

 and so distinguished from the square joint of other 

 vertebrates." " Square " is a quaint way of referring 

 to the quadrate bone ! The translator has not the 

 vaguest idea what he is translating. Defective proof- 

 reading introduces us to a number of strangers, such 

 as an early microscopist " Crew " in England and a 

 prominent modern biologist who is always referred tO' 

 as " De Bries." We are interested also in a renowned 

 physiologist called Felix Bernard, and in what Wilhelm 

 Preyer did " for the plant." Such is fame! Beside 

 these, misprints like Cecidomyca, Ichtyosauri, and 

 diatomes are trivial. It is a very unusual proceeding 

 to print every technical name of class, genus, or species 

 in italics without capitals. 



In conclusion, while we entirely disagree with 

 Haeckel's treatment of philosophy, and believe that 

 he has not justly realised what its office is, while we 

 also disagree with some of Haeckel's science, e.g. 

 the transmission of acquired characters, we desire to 

 point out that this book expresses the sincere con- 

 victions of a veteran who has done much for biology, 

 and that its aim is to help towards including " all the 

 exuberant phenomena of organic life in one general 

 scheme, and explaining all the wonders of life frorr» 

 the monistic point of view, as forms of one great 

 harmoniously working universe — where you call this 

 Nature or Cosmos, World or God." As Browning 

 said, our reach should exceed our grasp, " else what's 

 Heaven for? " 



A USEFUL BOOK FOR FRUIT GROWERS. 

 The Culture of Fruit Trees in Pots. By Josh Brace. 

 Pp. x+iio. (London: John Murray, 1904.) 

 Price 55. net. 



IT is nearly half a century since the late Thomas 

 Rivers built glass structures for the protection of 

 his fruit trees in pots. He was led to do this because in 

 several successive seasons the hardy fruit crops were 

 almost destroyed by severe frosts, which occurred when 

 the trees were in flower — a very critical stage in the 

 growth of the trees. Mr. Rivers was convinced that 

 in order to be certain of obtaining crops of first-rate 

 fruit of peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, cherries, 

 and even apples and pears, it vv-as necessary to have 

 large glass structures to protect the trees at that 

 period. These early houses were not provided with 

 means of heating them artificially, because it was then 

 thought that the extra expense this would have en- 

 tailed was unnecessary ; but subsequent experience 

 proved that a flow and return hot water pipe in each 

 house not only provided additional security against 

 frost, but the slight heat thus obtainable, if employed, 

 in bad weather while the trees are in flower, has a 



