538 



NATURE 



[October 27, 1910 



one in wliich the benefit of any possible doubt should 

 not be given to the individual examined, but to the 

 persons who may possibly be carried in a ship or a 

 train placed under his control. It follows that the 

 evidence on which a re-examined man has been 

 accepted is of far more public importance than that 

 on which he has been rejected ; and it is to be hoped 

 that, in the next report upon the subject, this aspect 

 of the question will be borne in mind. 



Of the 71 rejections for colour-blindness, 35 were on 

 account of red-blindness (complete in 20, incomplete 

 in 15), and 36 on account of green-blindness (com- 

 plete in 23, incomplete in 13), so that the several de- 

 fects are practically of about equal frequency. No 

 case of monocular colour-defect is recorded. 



The last paragraph of the report announces that, 

 after January i, 1914, the standard of form vision 

 in the mercantile marine will be raised, and that 

 candidates will be required to possess full normal 

 vision in one eye, and " at least " half normal vision 

 in the other. It will probably be news to most of our 

 readers that less than this very modest standard has 

 hitherto been required; and ophthalmologists generally 

 will, we think, 

 agree vi-ith us that 

 the possession i>l 

 only half vision , 

 in one of his eyes, 

 by a young or 

 middle - aged 

 mariner, is a cir- 

 cumstance which 

 would f u 1 1 \ 

 justify his being 

 submitted to 

 periodical re- 

 examination. 

 "Half - vision " 

 would in many 

 cases indicat<' 

 disease, often ot 

 a character likeh 

 to be progressive. 



time over his book — it is scholarly, up-to-date, 

 and clear, and commands our warmest admira- 

 tion. It deals with the individual organism and the 

 processes of its life — such as movement and feeling, 

 nutrition and reproduction. There is nothing remark- 

 able in the mapping out of the subject; it is the 

 working-out that is remarkable in its thoroughness 

 and lucidity. In treating of reproduction, the 

 author necessarily gets beyond the individual, 

 and leads on towards the second volume, in 

 which Prof. Doflein is to deal with the rela- 

 tions of organisms with one another and to environ- 

 mental influences. 



The book is illustrated with quite remarkable 

 generosity and skill. It is not merely that the illustra- 

 tions are very numerous and beautiful, but they are 

 peculiarly fresh and interesting, and there is a de- 

 lightful intellectual flavour about them. They not 

 only adorn the tale, they tell a story by themselves. 

 Dr. Hesse's emphatically distinctive book has been 

 well treated by the publishers, and we hope the result 

 will be a great success. We have no counterpart of 

 it in Britain. 



Episode in "Courtship" of Crested Ne 



STELICTVRK 



AND 

 FUNCTIONS 



nPHE aim of 

 ■*■ this stately 

 book is to show- 

 how the various 

 types of animals 

 have solved the 



fundamental problems of life, and how their struc- 

 ture is to be interpreted in terms of their functions and 

 environment. The keynote of the book is to keep the 

 animal alive and to study its adaptations. We must con- 

 gratulate the author on the success of his endeavour, 

 for he has written a worthy successor to the once- 

 famous, now forgotten " Anatomischphysiologische 

 Uebersicht des Tierreiches," by Bergmann and 

 Leuckart. The outstanding merit of the achievement 

 is in its unified or synthetic presentation of the facts — 

 it is at once anatomical and physiological, cecological 

 and evolutionist. This general biological outlook is 

 very useful for the analytic student. 



Dr. Hesse has evidently worked for a long 



^ "Tierbau iind Tierleben in ihrem Zusammenhang betrachtet." By 

 Prof. R. Hesse and Prof. Fran z Doflein. B«nd i. Der Tierkorper als 

 selbstandiger organisnius. By Prof. Ricliard Hes.se. Pp. xv\i + -jig. 

 Leipzig and Berlin : B. G. Teubner, igio.) Price 20 marks. 



From He: 



nd Doflein's *' Tierbau und Tierlebei 



NO. 2139, VOL. 84] 



RECENT INVESTIGATIONS ON PELLAGRA. 

 'T^HE visit of Dr. Louis Sambon to Italy to investi- 



■*■ gate the cause of pellagra has proved eminently 

 successful. Dr. Sambon was sent out by the Pellagra 

 Investigation Committee in March, igio, in conse- 

 quence of his having advocated for some time that 

 pellagra was not caused by the consumption of 

 diseased maize, as has been thought to be the case 

 hitherto. Dr. Sambon was of opinion that pellagra 

 was due to a protozoal infection, and that the disease 

 was conveyed by an insect in much the same way as 

 several other ailments are transmitted, such as malaria, 

 sleeping sickness, kala-azar, filariasis, &c. The mem- 

 bers of the Pellagra Investigation Committee, finding 

 Dr. Sambon's idea was based on sound scientific 

 reasonings, proceeded to collect money for the purpose 

 of enabling him to proceed to Italy and pursue inves- 

 tigations on the spot. 



