Nov. 11, 1869] 
NATURE 
53 
the beautiful 47. grandiflora. He has been at consider- 
able pains to examine for himself the curious changes 
undergone by the ovule in maturation, publishing an 
account of it in “ Comptes Rendus,” Ixvi. 700, apparently 
ignorant of Prof. Asa Gray’s exceedingly clear and de- 
tailed account of the same, given twelve years ago in the 
Journal of the Linnean Society, ii. 106. The old genera 
Talauma, Manglietia, and Michelia are all sunk in JZag- 
nolia, which genus, with Lzrzodendron, constitutes the 
series Magnoliez. The three former genera are very 
briefly disposed of, and whether specimens of each have 
been examined, is by no means clear. After describing 
successively the structural features of each Series, M. 
Baillon gives us a short historical summary of the Natural 
Order, then he discusses the points in which all, or nearly 
all, of the genera agree. The only three absolutely con- 
stant characters are: the woody stem, the alternate 
leaves, and the presence of albumen in the secds. 
A triad, equally constant, we may remark, in many other 
Natural Orders, just as flour, suet and salt, may be 
common to every different sort of pudding. Eight 
characters are generally prevalent, the exceptions being 
few or solitary; these refer to the form of the 
receptacle, concave only in two genera, which same pair 
are the only exceptions to the otherwise constantly double 
perianth ; polypetaly ; direction of the micropyle of the 
ovule ; apocarpy and placentation ; stipulation. These 
we might speak of as the currants, and peel, and spices, 
and brandy, and what not, which, judiciously blended with 
the constituents afore-named, give special character and 
pre-eminence to plum-pudding. Technical diagnoses of 
the five Series follow. Then we have the histology of the 
wood and bark; a discussion of the affinities of the 
order ; a paragraph on its geographical distribution ; an 
account of the properties and uses of various species ; 
and lastly, technical descriptions in Latin, of each genus, 
as maintained by M. Baillon. These technical descrip- 
tions, if given at all, should be accompanied by a 
distinct generic synonymy. It is too much to expect 
every one to turn back to pages so and so, and unravel it 
for himself, where the mention of it may read as merely 
incidental, D. OLIVER 
FICK ON THE TRANSFORMATION OF FORCE 
Die Naturkrafte in threr Wechselbezichung. By Adolf 
Fick. (Wurzburg, 1869. London: Williams and 
Norgate.) 
PROFESSOR FICK, who has recently been moved from 
Zurich to Wurzburg to fill the chair of Physiology there, 
vacant through the untimely death of Von Bezold, is well 
known not only to physiologists by his many excellent 
researches, but also to a far wider circle through the 
now well-known experiments on muscular physics carried 
out by himself and Wislicenus. In these six popular 
lectures he attempts to carry an intelligent and at- 
tentive audience, not possessing special scientific know- 
ledge, swiftly through the great story of the transformation 
of force, showing them, in a quiet, lucid way, how the 
parts are played on those two great stages, the macrocosm 
of the universe and the microcosm of the human body. 
The first four lectures are given up entirely to the 
consideration of the correlation of purely physical forces. 
Starting from simple facts about heat, the author works 
his way through heat as a mode of motion, through con- 
crete conceptions of molecular movements in changing 
bodies, to the general doctrine of the transformation of 
force and the numerical relations between one force and 
another. , 
In his fifth lecture, treading upon his own ground, he 
shows that the microcosm is but a stage where forces 
shift and change; and that no exact researches have at 
present in any way shown the necessity of believing that 
in the living body there exists any new force besides those 
at work in the world around. He is careful to point out 
that no thoroughly satisfactory balance sheet of the forces 
that come to and go out from a living body has yet been 
shown, so difficult is the task; but, though the details 
have yet to come, the general principle gains daily confirma- 
tion. Human force is but a transformation of chemical 
force, and man steals oxygen to do his work. Plants 
unburn what the animal burns ; and so the heat of the 
sun brings back oxygen to the world. 
And this leads the lecturer in his last lecture to the 
uestion, How does the sun get his heat? After quotin 
2) eA : =e GI s 
and discussing Mayer’s hypothesis of the feeding of the 
sun with meteors, and pointing out the next question, 
“Whence comes the force which drives the meteors?” he 
finishes by dwelling on Clausius’ theory of the constant 
loss of force in the shape of heat that cannot be weaned 
back to any other mode of motion, and on the general 
conclusions that may be drawn from it. These we prefer 
to give in his own words :— 
If, then, when mechanical force passes into heat, some of that 
heat can never be brought back to be mechanical force, and if 
the change from mechanical force to heat be ever going on, 
all the force in the universe must at last take on the form of 
heat. But if that be so, then at last all differences of tempera- 
tures must disappear, and everything end in a universal Death. 
The whole chain of Cosmic events must therefore be looked upon 
not as formed of cycles, so that, cycle sweeping round upon 
cycle, the universe stands for ever the same, but as being a process 
of Evolution striving towards an End. 
We are come to this alternative: either in our highest, 
our most general, our most fundamental scientific abstractions, 
some great point has been overlooked ; or the universe will have 
an end and must have hadabeginning ; could not have existed from 
Eternity, but must at some date not infinitely distant have arisen 
from something not forming part of the chain of natural causes, 
z. ¢. must have been created. 
M. FOSTER 
OUR BOOK SHELF 
Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, for Schools, Colleges, 
Candidates for University Examinations, &c. By 
R. Wormell, M.A., B.Sc. (London; Groombridge 
and Sons.) 
WE are glad to see London University graduates recruit- 
ing the ranks of educational writers. Mr. Wormell states 
in clear and concise language the principles of elemen- 
tary Statics and Dynamics, in close accordance with the 
syllabus of requirements for passing the examinations for 
the B.A. and B.Sc. degree at the London University. He 
gives hardly more nor less than this, but avoids at the 
same time an error into which most of our writers on the 
subject fall, viz. the overcrowding of their books with prob- 
lems, which the purely didactic portion of the book does 
not enable even the gifted student to solve. Mr. Wormell 
adds to his test a great variety of really instructive solved 
problems, which will go far to help the student in finding 
the solutions of those given with the numerical answers 
