76 



NA rURE 



[May 23, 1 90 1 



predestined, times in particular places, and only there 

 and out of certain cells alone ? The simplest answer, 

 and that long made the basis of almost all embryological 

 research, has been that out of three primary layers of 

 cells the embryo and all its parts take their origin. The 

 working out of the details has largely been the labour 

 of embryological investigation of the past fifty years. 

 The wealth of observation contained in the present 

 memoir furnishes ample evidence that after all progress 

 has been exceedingly slow. 



We still do not know why a certain cell becomes a 

 gland-cell, another a ganglion-cell : why one cell gives 

 rise to a smooth muscle-fibre, while a neighbour forms 

 voluntary muscle. The prolonged researches of Prof 

 His, often of far-reaching import, and always carried out 

 with exceeding care, afford typical instances of inves- 

 tigation on the lines of development by epigenesis. The 

 author himself states that as a solution of all, or even 

 many, of the great problems of histogenesis they have 

 disappointed his hopes. 



It would appear to be quite possible that numbers of 

 embryological problems incapable of any fundamental 

 solution may exist. The range of human mental 

 vision may have been reached with the limitations of 

 microscopic lenses. However that may be, it is daily 

 becoming more apparent that epigenesis with the three 

 layers of the germ furnishes no explanation of develop- 

 mental phenomena. 



" There is no coming into being I " — " Es giebt kein 

 Werden " — wrote Haller long ago. And this is em- 

 phasised bv Weismann when he informs us that an 

 epigenesis is an impossibility. But there is an evolution 

 or unfolding. Development, even in lowly forms of 

 animal life, is a complicated study. With three germ- 

 layers as its basis no advance in its interpretation is 

 possible. Nothing like all the cells present at the close 

 of the egg-cleavage are destined to share in the forma- 

 tion of the future embryo. Many of them — often the 

 majority of them — are merely larval or transient in 

 character. Still others, the greater number of those 

 remaining, are charged with the duties of handing on 

 the " stirp," in Gallon's sense, to future generations. 



The chain of life from generation to generation is of 

 exceeding intricacy. The unravelling of the tangle and 

 the true interpretation of the many important links in it 

 both serve to increase the magnitude of the embryolo- 

 gist's task. The day is not yet when this approaches 

 completion. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 The Scientific Memoirs of Thomas Hc?iry Huxley. 

 Vol. iii. Edited by Sir Michael Foster and E. Ray 

 Lankester. Pp. xi-(-622. With thirty plates, maps 

 and text illustrations. (London : Macmillan and Co., 

 Ltd., 1901.) Price 30^-. net. 

 This magnificent volume will be to the working naturalist 

 the most welcome of the three now published. It contains 

 38 memoirs, papers and addresses, covering, in all, 608 pp., 

 as against 50 with 508. and 37 with 591 for volumes i. and 

 ii. respectively. It embodies the scientific work of Huxley 

 at his best. As memorable maybe cited the great memoir 

 on the bird's palate, which marked an epoch in com- 

 parative osteology ; and that on the ossicula auditus, in 

 which recent research has discovered a hidden treasure, 



NO. 1647, VOL. 64] 



and of which one of the leading conclusions, viz. that of 

 the primary nature of the union between the hyoid and 

 the columella auris, has but lately been shown (long 

 opposition notwithstanding) to be developmentally con- 

 firmed. Particularly noteworthy are the series of memoirs 

 and papers upon the Dinosauria, and the series of 

 addresses and philosophic memoirs on the ethnology, 

 archaeology and distribution of mankind in various parts 

 of the globe, which will ever rank among their author's 

 best achievements. 



As regards the general get-up of the book, the editors 

 have spared no pains to render perfect their labour of 

 loyal devotion. One or two of the plates are, perhaps, a 

 little lacking in sharpness — printed, in the copy before us, 

 a little lightly — but all that is important is definable. 



It is with a feeling of considerable relief that we note 

 the incorporation of the Geological Survey memoir upon 

 the Structure of the Belemnitida; ; for this, in respect to 

 certain details, contains the most accurate description 

 to-day available, and will ever hold its original high place 

 in the literature of zoology. Our expression of relief is 

 due to the fact that this great essay, together with five 

 of those afore-mentioned in anthropology, the two 

 papers upon the lowly plant organisms which close the 

 present volume, and one or two other items, were entirely 

 omitted in the first-published table of "contents," put 

 into circulation on the announcement of the work. The 

 reason for this is not difiicult of demonstration, and 

 while we would convey to the editors our gratitude for 

 having, as their labour advanced, made perfect the 

 definitive list up to the period embraced by the present 

 volume, we would remind them that, so far as the said 

 " contents" table affects the volume to come, the great 

 Survey Memoir on the Elgin Crocodilia, the Rede Lecture 

 on Animal Forms, delivered at Cambridge in 1883 and 

 duly reported at some length in our own pages (N.\TURE, 

 vol. xxviii. p. 187), with the "Further Notes on Hypero- 

 dapedon" {<2iia>'f. Joitrn. Gcol. ."^oc, vol. xliii., which was 

 the last zoological paper that issued from Huxley's hands, 

 were similarly not included. 



In the production of this monumental series of volumes, 

 publishers and editors are incurring a debt of gratitude 

 on the part of the present and future generations, and 

 carrying out a labour of love in a spirit becoming in its 

 dignity the original memoirs themselves. 



Fact and Fable. By Effie Johnson. Illustrated by Olive 

 Allen. Pp. 117. (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 

 I go I.) Price (iS. 



This is a pleasingly-written and attractive little book, 

 containing a series of short tales and sketches, the first 

 and largest of which relates a boy's visit to an ant-hill, 

 his adventures, and what he found there. Another tale 

 relates the adventures of a young bee ; while most of 

 the others consist of allegorical or symbolical presenta- 

 tions of various phases of human life. As the authoress 

 admits, the descriptions of the events in ants' nests are 

 taken from different species, and the large queen is a 

 Termite. But the story may serve to interest young 

 readers in ant-life and lead them to read other books on 

 the subject. 



Science and Mediaeval Thouiilif. By Prof T. Clifford 

 Allbutt, F.R.S. Pp. 116. "(London: C. J. Clay and 

 Sons, 1 901.) 2S. bd. net. 

 The brilliant character of the Harveian oration delivered 

 before the Royal College of Physicians last October by 

 Prof Clifibrd Allbutt could be judged by the abridg- 

 ment which we published a few days after the delivery 

 of the address (vol. Ixii. p. 630, October 25, 1900). The 

 complete address is given in the volume before us, with a 

 few additions and notes, and we cordially commend it to 

 every one who desires to read an inspiring account of 

 the evolution of medisval into modern thought. 



