March 30, 1905] 



NATURE 



509 



NaCI, 762 MgCL (bischofite), 008 carnallite, and o 38 

 kieserite. 



Rock salt Kieserite Kainite Carnallite Bischofite 



(1) ... 95-4 ... - ... — ... - .. — 



(2) ... 4"42 ... 105 ... 202 ... — ... — 



(3) ■•• 0'03 ... 0-35 ... - ... 01 ... — 



(4) ... 0-I5 ... 0-38 .. — ... 008 ... 7-62 



100 00 



178 



2 -02 



018 



7 62 



38 2-2 7-8 



NaCl MgSOj KCl MgCI; 



Within the limits of a notice of this liind it is im- 

 possible to give an adequate account of so important 

 a vvorli. It is -hoped, however, that the above extract 

 wUl show that it has an interest for others as well 

 as for chemists. J. Y. B. 



EVOLUTION FOR BEGINNERS. 

 An Outline of the Theory of Organic Evolution; 

 with a Description of some of the Phenomena 

 which it Explains. By Dr. Maynard M. Metcalf, 

 Professor of Biology in the Woman's College of 

 Baltimore. Pp. .\xii + 204. (New York: The 

 Macmillan Company; London : Macmillan and Co., 

 Ltd., 1904.) Price 10s. 6d. net. 



THIS is one of the best popular accounts of the 

 theory of evolution that have come under our 

 notice. The author makes little or no claim to 

 originality, but he has on the whole succeeded in his 

 aim of providing a clear and intelligible statement 

 of evolutionary doctrine in most of its recent de- 

 velopments. Technicalities have been largely avoided ; 

 but, as the author truly says, " the subject is some- 

 what intricate, and cannot be presented in so simple 

 a manner as to require no thought on the reader's 

 part." With regard to controverted points, the posi- 

 tion taken is generally sound; Dr. Metcalf has no 

 difficulty in recognising the supreme importance of 

 natural selection, or in rating at their true value 

 the speculations of the Lamarckian school, whether 

 new or old. He rightly lays stress on the great 

 fact of adaptation as affording the most conclusive 

 evidence of the controlling power of selection ; 

 " adaptation," as he remarks, " is the key-note of 

 organic nature." To some readers his faith in the 

 beneficial character of certain modifications will seem 

 a trifle too robust; but for the most part he treats 

 this branch of the subject with sound judgment and 

 the force born of reasoned conviction. 



.^n excellent feature of the book is its wealth of 

 pictorial illustration. Many of the figures are already 

 well known, but it is of great advantage to the 

 ordinary reader to have them grouped together in 

 such a way as to throw fresh light on each other, 

 and thus materially to assist his comprehension of 

 the subject. Many of the reproductions of original 

 photographs are particularly good; to "find the 

 woodcock " in plate 1. makes an interesting puzzle. 

 The representation of the snow grouse in plate Ivii., 

 and of the sargassum fish in plate Ixv. are also 

 admirable, while the copies in colour of Tegetmeier's 

 figures of fancy poultry, though a little rough in 

 execution, are amply sufficient for their purpose. 

 NO. 1848, VOL. 71] 



A few points call for criticism. The author is 

 occasionally betrayed into a slipshod or unmeaning 

 expression, as when he speaks of the sun " moving 

 along its appointed daily course under the control of 

 gravitation." A sentence on p. 31 is entirely mis- 

 leading, unless the word "artificial" be substituted 

 for " natural." The factors to which special atten- 

 tion has been directed by Osborn, Baldwin and 

 Lloyd Morgan, though not ignored, are rather in- 

 adequately treated ; the author, moreover, falls into 

 some confusion between individual and specific plas- 

 ticity. On p. 134 Fritz Miiller's interpretation of 

 " synaposematic " reserhblances is erroneously 

 attributed to Bates. Indeed, the whole subject of 

 common warning colours, which is one of the most 

 interesting and complicated in the entire range of 

 evolution, deserves more extended and more accurate 

 treatment than it receives at Dr. Metcalf's hands. 

 On plate Ixxvi. Papilio merope {cacneae) is somewhat 

 uncritically assumed to be edible, and on plate Ixxvii. 

 we meet with the astonishing statement that the 

 male of Perrhybris (Mylothris) pyrrha is edible, and 

 " imitates the inedible Heliconidae," while the female 

 of the same species " is not a mimic "; the fact being 

 that it is one of the best mimics known, probably of 

 the Miillerian kind. The lettering of many of the 

 plates stands in need of revision. F. A. D. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Precis de Chimie physiologique. By Prof. Allyre 



Chassevant. Pp. iv+424; illustrated. (Paris: 



F^lix Alcan, 1905.) Price 10 francs. 

 This is a very excellent text-book of physiological 

 chemistry, and it presents the subject in an attractive 

 way. It treats first of the chemical substances found 

 in the body, then of the various liquids and tissues 

 of the organism, and finally of function. 



The work contains all the essential facts of this 

 branch of science, without going exhaustively into 

 details ; references are given throughout to the names 

 of investigators, but not, as a rule, to their writings. 

 The subjects treated most fully are the urine, the 

 milk, and diet, for the work aims at being not only 

 academic, but also of practical use to the clinical 

 investigator. 



The author is well known for his original work in 

 chemical physiology, and he will be personally known 

 also to many in London, as he was one of those who 

 joined in the recent visit of French medical men to 

 London. He possesses what is rarely absent in 

 French writers, a power of clear and lucid exposi- 

 tion. He is fully conversant with recent progress in 

 science, as evidenced by the way he deals with 

 questions in which physical chemistry is involved. 



The line between physiology and pathology is never 

 a well defined one, and thus we find in the book 

 subjects like immunity, serum diagnosis, and serum 

 therapy to the fore. It is inevitable that this should 

 be so, for a proper understanding of ferments and 

 anti-ferments, the prime factors in animal chemistry, 

 cannot be attained except through the knowledge and 

 new ideas which were in the first instance the out- 

 come of study in pathological fields. 



M. Chassevant is to be congratulated on his interest- 

 ing work. He has furnished the student, the 

 investigator, and the teacher with what will be useful 

 to all of them. W. D. H. 



