March 8, 1906] 



NA TURE 



455 



the English Channel ; and he discusses the value of 

 this discovery from the point of view of the Swedish, 

 Danish, and German eel-fisheries. We await with 

 considerable interest the further account of these 

 remarkable investigations. 



The other reports are also of considerable interest. 

 Mr. A. C. Johansen writes on the life-history of the 

 young post-larval eel. Mr. A. S. Jensen contributes a 

 paper on the occurrence of the otoliths of Gadoid fishes 

 in the bottom deposits of the polar seas between the 

 Faeroes, Jan Mayen, and Scotland. Samples of mud 

 obtained from the sea-bottom in these regions fre- 

 quently contained otoliths derived from various Gadus 

 species. Nevertheless, the trawling operations of the 

 Michael Sars showed that the cod does not live 

 at the bottom of these seas. The occurrence of Gadus 

 otoliths is therefore to be explained by the horizontal 

 migration of these fishes from the shore grounds near 

 the surface of the sea. Some observations made by 

 Mr. T. Scott on the occurrence of whiting otoliths in 

 the stomach of the porpoise show also that these 

 structures may be distributed over wide areas of sea- 

 bottom, since whiting are eaten in large numbers by 

 the porpoise and the otoliths may be evacuated in an 

 undecomposed condition. This is presumably the case 

 also with other of the smaller gadoid fishes. 



The remaining papers include a study of the post- 

 larval stages of Gadus, spp., and of Brosinius brosme 

 by Mr. J. Schmidt, both notable additions to the 

 literature of the subject, and a description of several 

 new Peridinians by Mr. O. Paulsen. 



Jas. Johnstone. 



THE EVOLUTION OF BIOLOGY. 

 Geschichte der biologischeu Theorien, seit dem Ende 

 des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts. Teil i. By Dr. Em. 

 Radl. Pp. vii + 320. (Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 

 1905.) Price js. net. 



ALTHOUGH biology is now permeated by the 

 evolution idea, and has continually before it the 

 ideal of giving a genetic description of the present 

 phase of the animate world, there is some reason to 

 fear, as Dr. Radl indicates, a growing apathy towards 

 the study of the evolution of the science itself. 

 Whether it be that many workers share Nietzshe's 

 view that the study of history paralyses the intelli- 

 gence, or that they feel it their primary business to 

 make history, not to read it, or that they regard 

 historical inquiries as the philosopher's task, not 

 theirs, it seems certain that too little attention — in our 

 investigations, theories, and teaching alike — is paid 

 to the historical evolution of the science. A notorious 

 example may be found in the biological work of 

 Herbert Spencer, who, though he had almost acci- 

 dentally found inspiration from a slight acquaintance 

 with the work of von Baer, deliberately set his face 

 against looking for more. He preferred to think for 

 himself. But all cannot be excused as we excuse 

 Spencer, and even his work suffered from his 

 peculiarly detached independence of outlook. Whether 

 we will or no, the past lives in the present, and he 

 who thinks himself most emancipated from all scien- 



NO. 1897, VOL - 75] 



tific tradition may be a signal instance of the re- 

 habilitation or recrudescence of doctrines which 

 characterised his unknown intellectual ancestors. It 

 is not as if scientific discoveries were successive special 

 creations which had their day and ceased to be, giving 

 place to others unaffiliated to them. On the contrary, 

 as Dr. Radl's book, and any other piece of careful 

 historical work, shows, biology is an evolution. 

 Generalisations grow and vary, there is an amphi- 

 mixis of ideas, there is an adaptation to the social 

 environment, there is a struggle for existence and a 

 survival of the fittest. 



Without much discussion of the factors which 

 brought about the scientific renaissance, Dr. Radl 

 begins by showing how the influence of Aristotle per- 

 sisted in men like Cassalpinus, Harvey, Glisson, and 

 Redi. The second chapter shows how the mechanical 

 modes of interpretation, vindicated by the physicists, 

 began to insinuate themselves into biology, through 

 Descartes, Borelli, Fr. Hoffmann, and Dr. Willis. 

 The advent of the microscope is then discussed, and 

 an interesting account is given of the work and in- 

 fluence of Malpighi and Swammerdam. A reaction 

 from Cartesian mechanism found expression through 

 the genius of Leibnitz, and vitalism its first thorough- 

 going exponent in Stahl. 



The fifth chapter deals with the first half of the 

 eighteenth century, with the successors of Malpighi 

 and Swammerdam, and with the early preform- 

 ationists, such as Bonnet, Haller and Buffon. Then 

 follows an account of Linne's systematic work. 

 Wolff is the central figure of the next chapter, which 

 deals with the foundation of the epigenetic theory. 

 Gradually the conception of individual development 

 expanded into that of racial evolution, but even more 

 in the minds of philosophic thinkers than of natural- 

 ists. The ninth chapter gives us the history of the 

 rise and progress of morphology, illustrated especially 

 with reference to Cuvier and Etienne Geoffroy St. 

 Hilaire, Jussieu and P. De Candolle. After a brief 

 chapter on Bichat as representative of vitalism at the 

 end of the eighteenth century, the author passes to a 

 more detailed study of the German " Naturphilo- 

 sophie," as illustrated by Herder, Kant, Fichte, and 

 Schelling among philosophers, by Kielmeyer, Goethe, 

 Oken, Blumenbach, and Treviranus among biologists. 

 The present volume merely begins the story of the 

 evolution of evolution theory, the two last chapters 

 being devoted to Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck. 



Having indicated the scope of this valuable historical 

 treatise, we must now express our high appreciation 

 of the author's workmanship. He shows a first-hand 

 acquaintance with the works with which he deals, and 

 yet he has not allowed himself to be overwhelmed by 

 his scholarship. He has a keen selective instinct and 

 a rare terseness, and although he has written in what 

 was to him a foreign language, his style is lucid 

 and often vivid. One cannot but be impressed in read- 

 ing the interesting history with Dr. Radl's calmness 

 and independence of judgment ; he is neither depre- 

 ciative of men like Oken nor eulogistic of men like 

 Lamarck; he states their case with justice, and gives 

 chapter and verse for his judgments. In some cases, 



