668 
been ravaged and defiled by the invader, and in 
its simple eloquence appeals irresistibly on behalf 
of those for whom relief is asked. ‘La Basilique- 
Fantéme,” by Pierre Loti, translated by Sir Sidney 
Colvin, under the title of “‘The Ghost of a Cathe- 
dral,” is a remarkable word-picture of the present 
state of the cathedral of Rheims, composed with 
that charm of expression and wealth of imagery 
which we have learned to associate with the work 
of its eminent author :-— 
“Oh, to think of the gross and dastardly and 
brainless brutality of hurling those canisters of 
scrap-iron in volleys against the fretwork, delicate 
as lace, which for centuries had reared itself 
proudly and confidently in air, and which so many 
battles, invasions, and whirlwinds had never dared 
to touch! . . . for all their shameless denials, it 
was the very heart of ancient France they were 
bent on here destroying. It was some super- 
stitious idea which drove them to it, not merely 
their natural instinct as savages; and they worked 
fiercely at this particular piece of destruction.... 
“The most irreparable disaster is that of those 
great stained windows composed by the mys- 
terious artists of the thirteenth century in their 
devout dreams and meditations, and depicting 
men and women saints assembled by the hundred 
with their translucent draperies and luminous 
aureoles. There, again, the great bundles of 
German scrap-iron came stupidly volleying and 
crashing. Masterpieces that no one can repro- 
duce showered down their fragments never to be 
sorted again, their wonderful golds and reds and 
blues, of which the secret has been lost, upon the 
pavement stones. Gone for ever those rain- 
bow transparencies, gone for ever those companies 
of saints with the charm of their simple attitudes 
and pale, ecstatic little faces. Those innumerable 
precious cuttings of painted glass, which in the 
course of ages had acquired an iridescence like 
that of opals, lie strewn on the ground, and 
shattered as they are still gleam there like gems.” 
Madame Duclaux’s ‘Les Coulisses d’une 
Grande Bataille,” which she translates under the 
title of “The Background of a Victory,” is a 
charming description, of mingled pathos and 
humour, of the events of September, as they pre- 
sented themselves in the fields of the high- 
lying rolling plains that reach from the Marne 
to the Seine. She tells of the horror of the 
women of Melun at the sudden apparition of the 
Highlanders. “Ce sont maintenant les Alle- 
mands,” they cried, as the squealing pipers 
tramped into the old market-square. She has 
something to say, too, of the imperturbable 
humour of Tommy and his invincible optimism. 
““ Are we getting the best of it?’ she inquired of 
one. “Is there much danger?’ ‘ Well, miss,’ 
said he, ‘it’s like this: the place is full up with 
Generals; and I don’t know how it is, but I’ve 
no. 2340, vot. 95 | 
NATURE 



[AUGUST 19, 1915 
always noticed where there’s so many Generals 
there’s not much danger! ’”’ 
She spoke to a douce, demure young High- 
lander, taking his Sunday afternoon’s walk as 
quietly as if he had been in Glasgow: “ How are 
things going? Do you think the Germans are 
coming?” “I’ve been hearing, Matam, that the 
Chermans will have been hafing a pit of a set- 
back,” said he. And this was how Madame 
Duclaux first heard of the victory of the Marne. 
Space will not permit us to dwell further upon 
this most interesting and most admirable work. 
It is in every respect creditable to all engaged in 
its production, and eminently worthy of the good 
cause which evoked it, and as such we commend 
it to all who sympathise with the stricken folk ot 
the invaded Departments. Its price is well within 
the means of even the poorest of book-lovers, and 
in purchasing it they will have the satisfaction 
of knowing that they are not only contributing 
their mite towards the relief of those who sorely 
need it, but that they are acquiring possession of 
what they will come to treasure as a beautiful 
souvenir of a never-to-be-forgotten time. 
T. E. THORPE. 
CENOTHERA AND MUTATION. 
The Mutation Factor in Evolution, with Particu- 
lar Reference to Ocnothera. (Macmillan’s 
Science Monographs.) By Dr. R. R. Gates. 
Pp. xvi+353- 10s. net. (London: Macmillan 
and Co., Ltd., 1915.) 
INCE the publication of de Vries’s classic 
work the CEnotheras have attracted more 
attention than almost any other plant or animal. 
So extensive a literature has already grown up 
about them that a critical guide to this great mass 
of papers would be cordially welcomed by every 
student of genetics. To some extent Dr. Gates 
has attempted the task, and if he has not been 
entirely successful this must be put down more 
to the immense difficulties of reducing the motley 
mass of facts to reasonable order, than to any 
lack of diligence and enthusiasm on the author’s 
part. His book will certainly prove of service 
to those who wish to obtain some general idea 
of the problems offered by this famous genus, 
and have neither the leisure nor the inclination 
to wade through the thousands of pages, largely 
in foreign tongues, that have been written 
upon it. 
The principal features of the genetic behaviour 
of the GEnotheras are brought out, and the author 
has included a chapter dealing with the cyto- 
logical. side with which he is probably more 
familiar than anybody else. The book is well 

