316 
NATORE 
[ FEBRUARY 4, 1904 
East,’’ our author endeavours, in chapter xi., to build 
up a theory of permanent unity on the commingling 
of diverse races in every portion of the union. But 
will the ethnographic product of these races, when 
immigration has been stopped by law, necessarily re- 
main the same under all this variety of geographical 
conditions? If Sergi, to quote an extremist, is correct, 
the widespread Mediterranean race has _ already 
blossomed out into many ‘‘ nations,’’ with aspirations 
and rivalries of their own. It may hereafter be no 
loss to the great continent that diverse States, united 
ia a federal peace, shall rival one another in an equal 
diversity of arts, an equal diversity of mental atti- 
” 
tudes. Observers in Europe, who recognise the in- 
dividual insight of the Latins, and the collective 
solidarity of the Slavs, may not regret, with Prof. 
Brigham (p. 329), ‘the decline of the ‘Teutonic 
stream,’’ and the growth of these two elements. 
England would be a poor country if the Teutonic 
stream had dominated her thought, and France owes 
her laws and manners to the Latins, and much of her 
early solidity to the Burgundian savages whom she 
absorbed upon the east. ‘‘ The pervasive leaven of 
our American land and our Americanism ’’ may be 
trusted to adapt the crudest strangers to their new 
geographical environment. If America has overcome 
the spirit of Cotton Mather, she will overcome the 
exuberance of a few Italian bandits, and the depression 
of the Poles, who are still seeking for a fatherland. 
In conclusion, Prof. Brigham’s book, allowing for 
some expressions in American, would be an admirable 
one for the higher classes of our schools. Read with 
a good map, and with reference to histories and 
encyclopedias during hours of preparation, it would 
provide our youth with a fine lesson in federal ex- 
pansion, to lay beside those absorbed from, let us say, 
the intensities of Rudyard Kipling. 
GRENVILLE A. J. COLE. 
OUR BOOK SHELF. 
A New Theory of Organic Evolution. By James W. 
Barclay (of Glenbuchat). Pp. vi+174. (Edinburgh 
and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1903.) 
Price 3s. 6d. net. 
Tue purpose of this work, in the words of its author, 
is ‘‘ to test by the common-sense that Huxley says is 
science, whether the Darwinian doctrine, that the 
evolution of life (sic) on our planet was brought about 
by natural selection and other secondary causes, 
accords with ascertained facts, or satisfactorily 
accounts for the natural phenomena it professes to ex- 
plain, and, also, to submit a new theory that will 
explain satisfactorily the admitted facts of evolution.”’ 
Mr. Barclay’s fitness for the task he has undertaken 
may be judged by the following particulars. In a 
chapter on ‘‘ Phases of the Embryo and Fragmentary 
Organs,”’ he speaks of ‘* the transformation of gills, 
visible at an early stage in the embryo of mammals, 
into lungs.’’ In a subsequent chapter he asks, with 
reference to the whales, ‘‘ Is it possible to conceive that 
transformations so great—one pair of legs into fins 
and the other pair into a tail—could have been brought 
about by natural selection, accumulation of beneficial 
differences, use or disuse, or changed conditions of 
existence? How, then, does Darwin’s theory explain 
NO. 1788, VOL. 69] 
these changes? ’’? We confess that we are not pre- 
pared with an answer to this question; probably, how- 
ever, the author here intends his words to bear some 
other than their obvious meaning. When we find, a 
little further on, a reference to ‘‘ Professor Weissman 
in his ‘ Germinal,’ ’’ it is easy to form a conjecture as 
to the author and treatise intended; but one may be 
pardoned for not at once recognising the co-discoverer 
with Darwin of natural selection under the designation 
of ‘Mr, Alexander Wallace.’? The author’s ‘‘ new 
theory ’’ is simply the outworn hypothesis of special 
creation in a peculiarly irrational form. 
No one thinks of editing a classical text without 
some knowledge of the language. But it seems that 
there are persons who are quite ready to publish their 
views on evolution without having mastered the 
alphabet of the subject. Ide ely ID); 
Guide du Calculateur. (Astronomie, Géodésie, Navi- 
gation, &c.) By J. Boccardi, Privat-docent A 
l’Université, Chef de Service A l’Observatoire de 
Catane. Part i., pp. x+78; part ii., pp. viii+147. 
(Paris: A. Hermann; Catane (Italie): J. Pastore.) 
Tue author takes for his motto a sentence of Liagre, 
“Les plus grands géometres de |’Allemagne, Gauss, 
Jacobi, Encke, Bessel, &c., n’ont pas dédaigné de 
descendre dans de minutieux détails de calcul.’’ Part 
i. deals with rules for calculations in general, degree 
of exactitude necessary, choice of tables, discussion of 
various tables of logarithms, the use of Gauss’s sum 
and difference logarithms, tables of squares, quarter 
squares, &c. It also deals with practical hints to 
computers, the use of graphic methods and the slide- 
rule, and points out the desirability of commencing 
addition and subtraction at the left. Chapter viii. ends 
with the excellent piece of advice, ‘‘ Enfin, c’est une 
régle générale de ne pas se presser.’’ The last chapter 
treats of the detection of errors. Part i. may be con- 
fidently recommended to all computers. Part ii. com- 
mences with remarks and exercises on interpolation, 
then follow examples of the method of least squares, 
astrenomical calculations of frequent occurrence, the 
ephemeris, determination of an orbit from _ three 
observations, parabolic orbits, correction of an orbit by 
differential coefficients, and perturbations. The bulk 
of this part thus appeals to the astronomer. The last 
chapter describes some geodetic problems, but they 
are mainly not of a type used by British geodesists. 
The Process Year-book, 
Gamble. (London : 
Penrose’s Pictorial Annual. 
1903-4. Edited by William 
A. W. Penrose and Co.) 
Once again it must be said that there is nothing but 
praise to be bestowed on the present issue, the ninth, 
of this beautifully got up volume. Paper, printing, 
letterpress, illustrations, cover and binding are all alike 
in excellence, and it seems difficult to conceive how the 
book could in any way be improved. 
The editor, however, is not of the same opinion, for, 
speaking of the standard of process work, he says 
““we do not consider it is by any means so high as it 
might be.’’ We learn from him, further, that ‘‘ the 
methods by which these processes are worked are by 
no means the most exact, nor the most careful, and 
process work is yet but a young industry, which has 
hardly yet shaken off the trammels of haphazard ex- 
periment and rule of thumb work which must 
necessarily precede the settled conditions of sound 
practice based on good theory.”’ 
It is gratifying, therefore, to know that higher 
things may yet be attained, but nevertheless he who 
wishes to make himself acquainted with the present 
