ULY 14, 1904] 



NA TURE 



245 



in timo, through the action of superstition and myth, 

 with a religious garb, and thus the marriage system 

 would come under their influence. The theory seems 

 to me very nearly, if not quite, to solve the mystery of 

 totemism. There is also some good criticism of recent 

 views, such as the origin of totemism from the 

 " external soul," or from magical cooperative societies 

 for the control of food. 



The value of the book is increased by a clear exposi- 

 tion and sane criticism of the chief theories and sugges- 

 tions which have been put forward in the study of 

 tc5temisni, exoganu', and primitive marriage. 



Ernest Cr.\\\I-Ev. 



OVTl BOOK SHELF. 

 Immune Sera. Haemolysins, Cytotoxiiis, and Pre- 

 cif>itins. By Prof. A. \\'assermann, M.D. Trans- 

 lated by Charles Bolduan, M.D. Pp. ix + 77. (New- 

 York : John Wilev and .Sons; London: Chapman 

 and Hail, Ltd., 1904.) 

 The subject of immune sera has not in this country re- 

 ceived as much attention from the medical profession as 

 its importance and interest deserve. This is not so 

 much due to the inherent difficulties of the subject as to 

 the complicated wav in which it has usually been ex- 

 pounded, and to the fact that the nomenclature intro- 

 duced bv different authors and experimenters has been 

 found bewildering. The difficulties have been increased 

 bv the introduction b)' various experimenters of dif- 

 ferent terms for the same entities, and often ones 

 which suggest the function or properties of the sub- 

 stance, according to the inventor's particular views. 



This neglect is the more to be regretted, as inves- 

 tigations upon hsemolysins, cytotoxins, and precipitins 

 which at first seemed to possess merely scientific in- 

 terest, have become of the greatest importance, owing 

 to the close analogv which has been found to obtain 

 between these phenomena and those of natural and 

 acquired immunitv. These studies have indeed occupied 

 an important and striking position in the development 

 of our knowledge of the mechanisms whereby an 

 animal protects itself, or is protected, against the in- 

 vasion of the micro-organisms of infectious diseases. 



This little book of seventy-five pages is an English 

 translation of one of the " Clinical Lecture " series, 

 edited bv von Bergman. The treatment of the sub- 

 ject is intended for medical men generally, and is not 

 addressed to specialists. That Prof. Wassermann is 

 the author is sufficient guarantee that the matter has 

 been judiciouslv selected, and the manner in which it is 

 presented could hardly be improved upon, so that it 

 forms a clear and interesting account of the subject. 

 The main facts and principal conclusions, including a 

 brief but adequate resume of Ehrlich's development of 

 his side-chain theory to apply to anti-bodies in general, 

 are given, but all unnecessary controversial matter is 

 omitted. .\t the end is a very select bibliography, to 

 which the reader is from time to time referred for 

 fuller information. 



The translation is excellent, and we confidently re- 

 commend this little book to the attention of all medical 

 men, or others, desirous of acquainting themselves w'ith 

 the essential and most significant facts on the subject 

 of immune sera. Ch.arles J. M.'vrtin. 



The Flora of the Parish of Halifax. By W. B. Crump 

 and C. Oossland. Pp. lxxiv + 316. (Halifax 

 .Scientific Society, 1904.) Price Jos. 6d. net. 

 The question arises. Why should the records of a 

 parish be amplified into a book containing 300 odd 

 pages? in replv to which the authors explain at the 



N'o. 1 S r I , vol . 70] 



outset that the parish of Halifax covers 129 square 

 miles, and corresponds to a natural geographical 

 division, through which flows the River Calder. But 

 although the area is circumscribed and the vertical 

 range is not great — the altitude varies between 500 and 

 1500 feet — the number of plants found within the dis- 

 trict forms a good list, which has been worked up into 

 an attractive historical and ecological account, and in 

 addition, owing to the cooperation of other w-orkers, 

 it has been possible to include lists of all the crypto- 

 gamic plants. Looking at the plant associations, the 

 mixed deciduous woods are the habitat of the globe- 

 flower, the bird's nest orchid, the helleborine and the 

 daffodil, while among the rare species of the heather 

 moors are reckoned the bog-bell, the winter greens, 

 and the bear berry. The bryologist, too, will find a 

 good hunting ground, for, in addition to a fairly rich 

 flora, the parish has yielded a new variety of Philonotis, 

 the first record in Yorkshire for Amblystegium 

 Juratzkae, and one of the few stations in the British 

 Lsles for Jubula Hutchiiisiae. With the botany of 

 Halifax is inseparably bound up the name of John 

 Bolton, painter and naturalist, who in 1785 published 

 " Filices' Brittanicse," with thirty-one copper plates all 

 drawn bv himself, and in 1791 completed " An History 

 of Fungusses," also provided with plates, and the 

 extent of his collections can be gauged from the 

 numerous records which are given in the book. 



While this " Flora " must naturally prove most 

 useful to those who can traverse the parish, the 

 ecological account and the records will serve for 

 guidance and reference to a larger number of 

 naturalists. 



Chemisches Praktikiim. By Dr. A. Wolfrum. H. 

 Teil. Priiparative und Fabrikatorische Ubungen. 

 Pp. xii + 580. Price15i-.net. Atlas, Part ii. Atlas, 

 price i/. net; together, price i?. 85. net. (Leipzig: 

 Engelmann, igov) 

 We gather from the preface to the first part that the 

 author's intention in compiling this w-ork w-as to pre- 

 sent the student w-hose aims lie in the direction^ of 

 chemical technologv with a course of practical exercises 

 especially fitted for his future career. The first volume 

 dealt with analytical work, and here the student is 

 introduced to preparative chemistry. 



The first chapter is devoted to a discussion of general 

 matters, such as the treatment of materials for pre- 

 parative and technical purposes, the general conditions 

 of chemical reaction, and the separation, purification, 

 and testing of reaction products. In the second 

 chapter of 150 pages, the methods of preparation of 

 a large number of inorganic and organic substances 

 are described. Fifteen pages form the third chapter, 

 which deals with the dvnamics of chemical reactions, 

 and the last two chapters are devoted to matters of 

 a specially technical nature — descriptions of furnaces, 

 autoclaves, filter-presses, air-pumps, condensers, 

 centrifuges, &c., the fitting up of factories, book- 

 keeping'^^ patent laws, and, finally, exercises in con- 

 nection with large scale technical processes are given. 



Such is the programme arranged by the author for 

 the future w-orks chemist. It must be admitted that 

 in many cases the practical courses provided at the 

 universities and higher technical institutions for such 

 chemical students might be with advantage consider- 

 ablv modified; in most cases the chief difinculty con- 

 fronting such change is to be found in the greatly 

 increased cost of laboratory equipment and upkeep. 

 Without such equipment it is questionable whether 

 the " Chemisches Praktikum " can be advantageously 

 used bv the technical student. The preparations are 

 well chosen, but the working details would have been 

 far more intelligible to the average student if 



