670 

having a special theory of his own. According to 
the generally accepted interpretation the great 
movement of the ages has been in the direction of 
increasing complexity and control (differentiation 
and integration), always allowing for some simpli- 
fication in the case of parasites and other de- 
generates. But according to Dr. Marconi’s inter- 
pretation the historic movement has been in the. 
opposite direction. Mammals did not evolve from 
a Reptilian stock, but Reptiles from Mammals. 
Amphibians did not spring from a Piscine stock, 
but Fishes from Amphibians. The mistake that 
evolutionists have made in contemplating the 
stream of life is not a little one; they have actually 
mistaken the direction of the current! The author 
asks us to replace the evolution-idea by the invo- 
lution-idea. 
This arch-heresy has been suggested before, 
but it has never had, so far as we know, such an 
elaborate and beautifully printed presentation. 
The author is obviously sincere and in earnest, but 
he has not learned the humility of refraining from 
discussing questions, such as cell-division, which 
he has utterly failed to understand. What are we 
to say of this ingenuous and occasionally ingenious 
heretic? 
There was a time long ago when our earth was 
too hot to offer hospitality to any living creatures 
of the sort we know about, and it is useless to 
speak of others. Therefore, so far as the earth is 
concerned, “matter” antedated “life.” But it is 
open to anyone to defend the metaphysical thesis 
that in the world as a whole “life” is antecedent 
to ‘“matter.”” We would not quarrel with Dr. 
Marconi over a luxury of this sort. But when we 
remember the fact that according to the rock re- 
cord there were invertebrates before there were 
any vertebrates, and fishes before there were any 
amphibians, and reptiles before there were birds 
and mammals, and so on, we require arguments 
more cogent than Dr. Marconi’s to persuade us 
to become “‘involutionists.”” And as to the develop- 
ment of the individual, while we agree with the 
author that the recapitulation doctrine requires 
careful handling, we do not think that the life- 
history of a frog, for instance, offers any sug- 
gestion whatsoever of the reptilian origin of 
amphibians. 
We shall not discuss Dr. Marconi’s detailed 
arguments that cyclostomes sprang from gnatho- 
stomes, and ascidians from amphioxus, and 
echinoderms from enteropneusts, and the bran- 
- chial arch system of a dogfish from the thoracic 
skeleton of a mammal, for in truth what he says 
lacks zoological competence. It would have been 
profitable if Dr. Marconi had followed Dr. Dohrn 
and Sir Ray Lankester and restricted himself to 
NO. 2390, VOL. 95] 
NATURE 




[AuGUST 19, 1915 

illustrating the occasional occurrence of degenera- 
tive or involutionary changes in the history of 
animal life, but the author will have no half- 
measures. From an originally perfect manifesta- 
tion of life man has fallen; and the ape and the 
tiger, the mole and the bat are his descendants ! 
When we read the words “involution naturelle ” 
on the title-page we hoped that some light would 
be cast on Prof. Bateson’s recent hard saying: 
“We may as well see whether we are limited to 
the old view that evolutionary progress is from 
the simple to the complex, and whether after all 
it is conceivable that the process was the other 
way about.”” But while Dr. Marconi is convinced 
that it has been the other way about, he starts 
from a super-man, and we do not suppose that 
this expresses Prof. Bateson’s conception of 
primordial life. In one of Dostoievsky’s novels 
it is quaintly remarked of one of the characters 
that he was the only man in the company who 
could move about on his head. We think that 
the author of this extraordinary, topsy-turvy inter- 
pretation of the world must be similarly unique. 

ELECTRICITY FOR THE FARM. 
Electricity for the Farm. By F. I. Anderson. 
Pp. xxiii+265. (New York: The Macmillan 
Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1915.) 
Price 5s. 6d. net. 
HIS book is addressed particularly to 
American farmers who may not know how 
easy it is to make use of a stream of water in 
producing electric power and transmitting it for 
lighting and heating and mechanical purposes on 
a farm. It shows that the initial cost is usually 
small, that measurement of power is simple, that 
although the farmer must buy apparatus he can 
do this without employing an expert, and that he 
need have no difficulty in putting it up and getting 
it to work in such a way that it will give no 
trouble afterwards. 
The author knows his farmer well, and his ex- 
planations are obviously such as will be under- 
stood. How to compute the power required for 
so many lamps in rooms and out-houses; for so 
many heaters of various kinds; for so many motors 
doing small or large domestic or farm work. How 
to measure the amount of water flowing in a 
stream, and knowing the fall to calculate the 
power of the stream. The farmer or his son, 
who will probably become an enthusiast, is 
supposed to have much common sense and a 
knowledge of simple arithmetic; he will certainly 
in time get a good working knowledge of elec- 
trical engineering. The author makes remarks 
which may cause a physicist to smile; for ex- 
