Dfxembek 24, 1908 I 



NA TURE 



219 



suitable tor cultivation in beds and borders, whilst 

 others may be used for adorning pergolas, arches, 

 pillars, summer-houses, or other structures. Direc- 

 tions are given for cultivation and propagation, the 

 process of budding being explained fully and illus- 

 trated with appropriate cuts. Those who are not familiar 

 with the varieties will find the selections of roses 

 for different purposes of great assistance in choosing 

 those which will be most suitable for their particular 

 gardens. 



The text is large, bold print, and this being upon 

 parchment paper, the convenience of the reader has 

 been obviously studied. The coloured plates have 

 been prepared from paintings of well-known artists, 

 and many of them are pleasing, but others are too 

 impressionist in character, particularly that represent- 

 ing a Dorothy Perkins rose growing upon old trees. 

 The effect of the rosy crimson flowers is depicted, 

 but one cannot in the least trace any rose foliage, and 

 even the plant itself takes no shape, and, therefore, 

 cannot be distinguished. 



The second part contains the concluding portion ol 

 the letterpress on roses, and the remaining pages are 

 devoted to bulbous plants. The third part is a con- 

 tinuation of the matter concerning bulbs. It contains 

 excellent coloured plates of Lilium speciosuvi, " Christ- 

 mas Roses and Glory of the Snow," and " Madonna 

 Lilies and Roses." These are the best plates in the 

 third part, and the figure of a church as the back- 

 ground to the last-mentioned picture is an agreeable 

 and appropriate feature. 



The Pliilosophical Basis of Religion; a Series of Lec- 

 tures. By Dr. J. Watson. Pp. xxviii-l-485. (Glas- 

 gow : J. MacLehose and Sons, 1907.) Price 8s. 6d. 

 net. 

 Prof. Watson, who is already well known to philo- 

 sophical students by his work on Kant, has, by the 

 publication of this collection of lectures, laid a still 

 larger circle of readers tinder an obligation. The 

 recent congress at Oxford gave sutificient evidence of 

 the present widespread interest in religion as a social 

 phenomenon — an interest largely independent of any 

 attitude towards its claims upon the individual. There 

 will be many scientific students who will turn with 

 profit to Prof. Watson's addresses — admirably lucid 

 as they are, and agreeably free from technicalities — 

 for a treatment of the subject that forms an entirely 

 necessary complement to the comparative method. 



The author presents his argument as an attempt 

 to solve the problem of re-building upon a basis of 

 reason the theological beliefs which (he holds) no 

 longer rest securelv upon their ancient foundation of 

 authority. The solution he develops takes the form 

 of a " constructive idealism " based upon " the prin- 

 ciple that the world is rational and is capable of being 

 comprehended by us in virtue of the rationality which 

 is our deepest and truest nature." The fulfilment of 

 this programme necessitates an examination, first, of 

 typical views on the nature and functions of dogma 

 (such as those of Newman, Loisy, and Harnack), and, 

 secondlv, of certain current philosophical doctrines 

 (personal idealism, the " new realism," and prag- 

 matism) that offer solutions of the author's problem 

 which for one reason or another he is unable to 

 accept. 



The lavman will find Prof. Watson a fair-minded, 

 an interesting, and, on the whole, a trustworthy 

 guide in all these matters, as well as in the lectures 

 on theological history which follow in somewhat loose 

 connection with the rest. He should be warned, how- 

 ever, that the account of the " new realism " given 

 in the fifth lecture contains elements that most of 

 the supporters of that doctrine would repudiate. 



NO. 2043, VOL. 79] 



Every reader of the book will be grateful (or the 

 excellent summaries of the preceding argument which 

 appear at the beginning of most of the lectures. 



.1 Manual of Bacteriology, Clinical and Applied. By 



Prof. R. T. Hewlett. Third edition. Pp. xii + 638. 



(London : J. and A. Churchill, 1908.) Price los. 6d. 



net. 

 The publication of Prof. Hewlett's manual in its new 

 edition serves to remind us of the enormous strides in 

 our knowledge of bacteria which have been made 

 within the last ten years. Bacteriology in its early 

 days meant little more than the study of the 

 morphology of the newly-discovered causes of disease 

 and the search for those undiscovered. Then came 

 the investigation of the poisons manufactured by the 

 organisms ; and now the bacteriologist is largely con- 

 cerned with the substances whereby the organisms 

 are controlled and defeated. Much of the new know- 

 ledge of bacteria has come with the discovery that the 

 organisms once believed to be unique are in many 

 cases only members of groups which number dozens 

 or scores of individuals ; and the aid of organic chem- 

 istry has been invoked to differentiate the members of 

 these groups. 



With this constantly widening field of work it has 

 become increasingly diflicult to give within a moderate 

 compass an account of our present state of knowledge, 

 and we can therefore all the more congratulate Prof. 

 Hewlett on his success. Within the 600 pages of his 

 hook he has contrived to give an adequate account of 

 the methods used in bacteriological research ; of the 

 morphology, appearances in culture, and distribution 

 of the chief pathogenic bacteria ; of bacterial toxins ; 

 of immunity, and the various methods by which it is 

 sought; and, lastly, of the details of disinfection, and 

 the examination of water, air, soil, and milk. He has 

 wisely omitted many of the details of the more com- 

 plicated methods, but wherever he has done so he has 

 been careful to give a full reference to a source where 

 the reader can obtain the information. In his treat- 

 ment of some of the more recent work in bacteriology 

 he, in our opinion quite properly, reserves his judg- 

 ment of its value, while stating fully and fairly the 

 claims advanced. Thus, for example, he still hesitates 

 to accept without reserve the Treponema pallidiuni as 

 the specific organism of syphilis, but adds that the 

 majority of observers hold the opposite opinion 

 strongly. 



The illustrations are for the most part reproductions 

 of actual photomicrographs, and are particularly well 

 chosen and clear in outline. The only fault that we 

 have to find with Prof. Hewlett is an occasional 

 obscurity of language; in most instances the context 

 removes any doubt as to his meaning, but in a few 

 cases it is difficult to comprehend. Thus on p. 343 the 

 language seems to imply that there were two dead 

 men who recovered, and though, of course, that is not 

 the meaning, the whole sentence remains obscure, even 

 after the obvious correction has been made. 



Ticks. A Monograph of the Ixodoidea. Part i. 



(.'Vrgasidae). (London : Cambridge University Press, 



1908.) Price 5s. net. 

 The study of parasitic and disease-producing Protozoa, 

 which has received such a great impetus of recent 

 vears, has caused much attention to be paid also to 

 those groups of animals which, hv their blood-sucking 

 habits, are instrumental in transmitting the parasitic 

 organisms from one vertebrate host to another. Ever 

 since Smith and Kilborne first made known the r6le 

 of ticks in transmitting Texas-fever in cattle, much 

 attention has been directed to this group of arachnids. 



