204 



NA TURE 



[June 27, 1901 



the limits of a species. They are thus a safer indication 

 of both hkenesses and differences in two faunas. Mr. 

 Sclater, some years ago, proposed the term of " lipo- 

 type"to express a negative state of affairs ; a genus or 

 species which was, as it were, unaccountably absent from 

 a given region was thus denominated. 



There is no doubt that this expression was wanted and 

 that it did emphasise important zoogeographical fact. 

 Nevertheless, it must be used with care, especially with 

 regard to smaller and less conspicuous creatures. The 

 Drs. Sarasin instance the case of the land planarians of 

 Celebes. It was written so recently as 1891 that not a 

 single species of this group of Platyhelminthes had been 

 found in Celebes. Now we are acquainted with quite a 

 number of forms, so much so that Celebes is the second 

 richest island of the whole Malayan archipelago in these 

 worms. We are glad to notice that the authors carefully 

 distinguish between artificial introduction of species and 

 introduction by natural means. To this matter attention 

 has not, perhaps, been sufficiently drawn, and the wide 

 range of many small creatures which has been used as 

 an argument for their antiquity and has been generally 

 made use of by the zoogeographer has not always the 

 real value that has been attached to it. After due sifting 

 of such fraudulent claimants to indigeneity the authors 

 are, roughly speaking, disposed to do what has been 

 mocked at — to demand a continent to explain the range 

 of a beetle. Avoiding exaggeration, we can assert that 

 the authors are not at all impressed by the floating log 

 (icus ex machina ; they think that similar inhabitants on 

 opposite sides of a sea generally imply a former land 

 connection. 



It will be noted from the few observations made that 

 the authors preface their detailed consideration of the 

 fauna of Celebes and neighbouring islands with some 

 remarks of a general nature, which might perhaps have 

 been rather more expanded if the work had not been of 

 so special a character. The animal groups made use of 

 by the authors are chiefly the molluscs, reptiles and 

 amphibians ; birds, mammals and land planarians are 

 not neglected. The fact that there are more peculiar 

 species of molluscs than of reptiles and amphibians is 

 commented upon ; this the authors attribute to the 

 greater mobility -of the two vertebrate groups. In dis 

 cussing all zoological characteristics of Celebes it must 

 be borne in mind, as is duly pointed out on p. 128, that 

 the island itself first rose from the waves after Eocene 

 times, for a great mass of the solid rock of which it is 

 built is Eocene chalk. The view of its subsequent history 

 which the fauna appears to indicate is that it first showed 

 itself above the water in the Miocene and that during 

 the Pliocene it was in connection with neighbouring 

 islands, from which it became subsequently and at 

 different times detached. It is justly described, there- 

 fore, as a "fragment of a Miocene continent." One im- 

 portant exception, however, exists to the statement that 

 Celebes has been in the past in connection with the other 

 islands of the surrounding seas. The authors point out 

 that there is not a single species of animal known to be 

 common to Celebes and Borneo and not at the same 

 time found in some of the other islands ; this, as is justly 

 inferred, seems to indicate that Celebes can never have 

 been connected by a land bridge with Borneo directly, 

 NO. 1652, VOL. 64] 



though, of course, it probably was indirectly by way of 

 Java, on the one hand, and possibly (though the authors 

 think not) the Philippines on the other. The Macassar 

 strait thus represents a tract of ocean which has been 

 water before and since the appearance of Celebes upon 

 the earth's surface. On the other hand, the supposed 

 deep channel on the south intervening between Bali and 

 Lombok is, as it appears from Prof. Max Weber's sound- 

 ings, to be given up, since the greatest depth then ascer- 

 tained to exist was merely 312 metres. This volume is 

 of extreme interest as a detailed attempt to reconstruct 

 from a comparison of faunas the past geological history 

 of a group of islands. It is abundantly illustrated with 

 maps, and concludes with an historical review of the 

 literature of the subject and a list of memoirs and books. 



F. E. B. 



ENGINEERING EDUCATION. 

 Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Society 

 for the Promotion of Engineering Education held in 

 New York City, July 2-3, igoo. Vol. viii. Pp. xxviii 

 -^oTl- (New York: Engineering News Publishing 

 Company, 1900.) Price 2.50 dollars. 



WHEN technical education is so much in the air, 

 and so many consider that it is a cure for all our 

 industrial troubles, it is interesting to see what another 

 nation thinks of its own system of education. In 

 America there exists a society for the promotion of 

 engineering education, and we have the pleasure of 

 reading their eighth volume of Proceedings — that 

 of last year. The members of this association are those 

 who are, or have been, engaged in responsible positions 

 in the work of engineering instruction. There is a 

 regular meeting for several days once every year, the 

 whole of the papers which are read dealing with educa- 

 tion as applied to industry. 



The association seems to be most prosperous, both 

 financially and in point of numbers ; it is clear that 

 meeting together of teachers is most useful to both 

 teachers and students, and it is to be hoped that in this 

 country a similar society may be formed, which would do 

 much to educate public opinion as to what technical 

 education exactly means. At present very few people 

 understand what is wanted to be taught and whom to 

 teach it to ; an individual, even of the most impressive 

 powers and personality, cannot speak with the same 

 authority as a society which has only one end, namely, 

 to improve our educational methods. 



The presidential address of Prof. Ira D. Barker, deal- 

 ing with the position of engineering education in the 

 United States at the end of the century, is most instruc- 

 tive in- showing what a strong hold technical instruction 

 has on the other side of the Atlantic. 



At the end of 1899 there were eighty-nine institutions 

 offering full courses in engineering, in some cases seven 

 different courses being open to students, the numbers 

 attending full courses being 9679 ; of these colleges no 

 less than 98 per cent, require the four years' course 

 before graduation. 



These schools must not in any way be considered as 

 falling into the same category as our technical schools, 

 which mainly address themselves to evening work for the 



