306 
ACOUSTICS AND BEYOND. 
Hyperacoustics. By J. L. Dunk. Division i., 
Simultaneous Tonality. Pp. vit311. (Lon- 
don: J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., 1916.) Price 
7s. 6d. net. 
HE title of the work of which the present 
volume is but the first division is thus dealt 
with in the preface: “Between the region of 
phenomena [undefined] comprised in the science 
of acoustics, and the experiences of music con- 
sidered as phenomena, there appears a great gulf, 
which invites attempts to bridge.’’ “The ‘gulf’ 
has two sides, and can be approached either by 
working forward from the material aspect of 
acoustics, or backward from the experiential 
aspects of music. However, in the present in- 
vestigation it is the purely scientific side that is 
emphatically insisted upon. Hence the name 
‘ Hyperacoustics’ may be proposed, as indicative 
not only of something beyond, but also of a pre- 
sumption requiring justification as to the existence 
_and rationality of something beyond the known 
facts of acoustics.”’ 
It is held that the subject may be considered 
under the divisions Tonality, Rhythm, Organisa- 
tion, and Significance. The present volume is 
restricted to the aspect of ‘‘Tonality,” the science 
of musical sound in pitch and quality. 
As to the treatment of the subject, whenever 
incidental references are made to the various 
intervals, whether in the just or equally tempered 
intonations, the author shows an accurate know- 
ledge of .the facts. But, immediately he steps 
beyond the facts themselves to any discussion of 
them, all seems on a different plane—a plane of 
pure fancy, or “‘hyperscience.’’ 
This treatment might conceivably exercise some 
fascination over certain minds inclined to the 
occult and esoteric; and in such matters the mere 
man of science is not competent to judge. It may 
be that a feeling of shrinking on the part of the 
ordinary reader is inevitable towards a work 
designed to bridge in this wise the gulf between 
physics and music. But, without doubt, the work 
is quite lacking in all appeal to either the physicist 
or the musician. Indeed, the scientific reader 
cannot help wondering whither it all tends or what 
it is supposed to establish. Every few pages sees 
the introduction of one or more terms of a strange 
character and vague import. These are then 
woven into the discussion, which again continues 
without any apparent advance. 
One. of the simplest and least fanciful parts of 
the work is that in which the intervals are likened 
to colours. Thus the perfect fourth is regarded 
as red, the major third as green, and the minor 
third as violet. Then, by composition, are 
obtained the following. The perfect fifth is green 
plus violet equals blue, the minor sixth is red 
plus violet equals mauve, the major sixth is red 
plus green. equals yellow. Again, the octave is 
red plus green plus violet equals white, and the 
unison is zero equals black. 
An illustration of the more general style of 
NQ. 2460, vor. 98] 
NATURE 
[DECEMBER 21, 1916 
the work is afforded by the following quotation 
(p. 221) :— 
“The fact that, acoustically, the Seriopolar 
aspect of the Matrix is only effective in the 
Fundamental Species, and that the approximation 
of the Tensor Heptad to the Hemicyclic type is — 
nearer than the Laxator Heptad, is evidently 
responsible for the recognition of a distinct chiral 
bias in progression denoted at an early date by 
the word ‘ Authentic.’ ” 
MORPHOLOGY: OLD AND NEW. 
Form and Function: a Contribution to the History 
of Animal Morphology. By E. S. Russell. 
Pp. ix+383. (London: John Murray, 1916.) 
Price ros. 6d. net. 
Oe and thoughtful book like this. 
makes one feel how much is lost to students 
of biology by lack of attention to the historical 
development of the science. Not only is the human 
interest missed, but also the educativeness of trac- 
ing the history of fundamental ideas. Moreover, 
for lack of historical discipline, the same mistakes. 
are made over and over again, and sound 
generalisations which have ceased to be prominent 
are unconsciously restated as new, it may be in a 
form far inferior to that given them by Cuvier, 
E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, von Baer, or some 
other outstanding thinker of older days. We wel- 
come, therefore, Mr. Russell’s contribution to the 
history of morphology, for it is based on many — 
years of first-hand study of the documents and is 
illumined by insight. It is true history, not 
chronicle; it displays the continuous endeavour 
from Aristotle until to-day to understand the forms 
of animals, both in their original establishment 
and in their individual reproduction in every life- 
cycle. 
_ The author distinguishes three main currents 
of morphological thought. The first he calls 
“functional or synthetic,” which interprets form 
as the manifestation of function or activity. It 
is ‘associated with the great names of Aristotle, 
Cuvier, and von Baer, and leads easily to the 
more open vitalism of Lamarck and Samuel 
Butler.” The second he calls “formal or tran- 
scendental,” which regards function as the result. 
of form—the outcome of organisation. “The 
typical representative of the second attitude is 
E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, and this habit of 
thought has greatly influenced the development of © 
evolutionary morphology.” The third he calls 
“materialistic or disintegrative,’ which was 
greatly influenced by the cell-theory. Hane 
The author’s general position is with the 
morphologists of the first school; he believes that 
attention should be concentrated ‘‘on the active 
response of the animal, as manifested both im 
behaviour and in morphogenesis, particularly in 
the post-embryonic stages.” He frankly adopts 
“the simple everyday conception of living things 
—which many of us have had drilled out of us— 
that they are active, purposeful agents, not mere 
complicated aggregations of protein and other 
, substances.” ‘ 
