Supplement to '"Nature" October 19, 1905 



IX 



living- matter and accounts for its purposive behaviour 

 and development is lo resurrect the buried concept 

 of a nisus formativiis. To do this is quite gratuitous, 

 since Verworn supplies us with a guaranteed modern 

 concept of a " self-steering " metabolism — the " self- 

 steering '" quality depending, of course, on the laws 

 which physical chemistry has been revealing during 

 recent years. He also assures us that there are no 

 facts of organic being or becoming which warrant 

 us in losing faith in the sufficiency of the monistic 

 interpretation in terms of chemistry and physics. It 

 is true that the illustrious physiologist has not found 

 lime in this lecture to give us any illustration of how 

 any vital phenomenon may be formulated in terms 

 of "the principles of the inorganic world," but he 

 seems to have no doubt that it can be done. 



As to the second question, before which so many 

 have fallen away from monism — the question of 

 psychical life as distinct from bodily life — Verworn 

 finds satisfaction in boldly denying that any dualism 

 exists. The dualistic idea was born out of ignorance 

 fathered by desire, and it has been nurtured and re- 

 fined by philosophy. The material ghost that escaped 

 in articulo mortis has become a spiritual soul, but 

 both are fallacious abstractions. It is pathetic to 

 think of all the wrestlings with the problem of 

 dualism since Descartes's day, for dualism is but one 

 of man's many invention's with which he makes him- 

 self miserable. Just as the organism is a mere bundle 

 of metabolisms, so the " ego " is but a changeful 

 bundle of sensations, and perceptions, thoughts, and 

 feelings derived from these — a complex the com- 

 ponents of which are not continuously or simul- 

 taneously held in combination, though certain com- 

 ponents, e.g. sensations of our body, occur so 

 frequently and uniformly that the illusion of a 

 persistent personality is produced. The material for 

 the up-building of the " ego '" is the external world 

 or corporeal world — the world of sensations; the 

 " make-up " of the " ego " is the same as the 

 " make-up " of the world; the antithesis of soul and 

 body is " a fossil idea." " Either everything is body 

 in the world or everything is soul : however I like to 

 put it, the main fact is that there is only one kind of 

 thing." How a flux of sensations can give origin 

 to that unified outlook and inlook which is called 

 monism remains somewhat mysterious, but to think 

 of any mystical principle being involved is " a nega- 

 tion of scientific thinking." But which is mysticism 

 and which scientific thinking? J. .\. T. 



THE PL.iNT KINGDOM. 

 Das Pflansenreich. Regni vegetabilis conspectus. 

 Edited by Prof. A. Engler. (Leipzig : W. Engel- 

 niann ; London : Williams and Norgate.) 



AN account of the inception of this work was given 

 in Nature, October 30, 1902 (p. 657), with a 

 list of the earliest parts. Twenty-one volumes have 

 now been published, of which ten are devoted to 

 monocotyledonous orders. The late Dr. K. Schu- 

 mann has contributed, in addition to the Musaces, 

 two memoirs on the Marantaceee and the Zingi- 

 beraceas respective!}'. In both these orders there is 

 NO. 1877, VOL. 72] 



a large increase in numbers and a considerable 

 amount of change as compared with the account 

 given by Pedcrsen in the " Pflanzenfamilien." This 

 is explained by the fact that an enormous number 

 of new species have been made out of copious material 

 received from Indo-Malaya and tropical Africa. The 

 new species of Zingiberace^ described for Malaya 

 alone exceed a hundred. Dr. Schumann formulates 

 very definite arguments in favour of the changes 

 which he proposes in reviewing the history of the 

 orders, and also presents a comprehensive discussion 

 on the flower and on the relationships of the four 

 orders which compose the series Scitamine^. 



Many of the orders are obviously too large to admit 

 of their being treated in a single volume. The 

 Orchidaceae, as in the case of the " Pflanzenfamilien," 

 have been entrusted to Prof. Pfitzer, and the first 

 instalment contains the section Pleonandrae — formerly 

 called Diandra; — which consists mainly of the Cypri- 

 pediums as generally understood. A special feature 

 of this volume is the list of hybrids, both natural 

 and artificial. Similarly, the .\raceae require several 

 parts, and Dr. Engler, who undertakes this order, 

 begins with the tribe Fothoideae. Dr. Engler gives 

 a full description of the branching, and distinguishes 

 nearly 500 species of Anthurium. A short volume 

 includes the orders Scheuchzeriaceae, Alismataceae, 

 and Butomaceae, which are all worked out by Prof. 

 Fr. Buchenau. Dr. W. Ruhland is responsible for 

 the Eriocaulace^, and gives a detailed account of the 

 geographical distribution, taking up the origin, 

 evolution, and dispersal of the order. Owing to a 

 large influx of new specimens from Brazil, the 

 number of species of Eriocaulon now exceeds two 

 hundred, and the genus Psepalanthus, . after .being 

 shorn of many species that form three new generai 

 still shows a slight increase. 



The first volume dealing with a group of the 

 gymnosperms, that on the Taxaceae, has been written 

 by Dr. R. Pilger. The Taxacese are profoundly 

 interesting on account of the primitive forms which 

 characterise some of the genera, but, as is usually 

 the case with such genera, the number of species is 

 small, and no great increase may be expected', 

 although some new species may be looked for from 

 the unexplored areas of China and eastern Asia. 



Of dicotyledonous orders, the TropseolaceEe, by 

 Prof. Fr. Buchenau, appeared in 1902, and the 

 CistacesB, by Dr. VV. Grosser, and the Theo- 

 phrastacesB, by Prof. C. Mez, were issued in 1903. 

 Since that time a larger volume on the Lythraceae 

 has been contributed by Dr. E. Koehne, who has 

 gone very fully — in fact, more fully than seems 

 necessary — into the varieties and forms of the more 

 variable species. The genus Cuphea is amplified to 

 200 species, and the genus Rotala is extended to 

 include some species previously assigned to 

 .Ammannia. A list of plant collectors and their con- 

 tributions is added. One of the most complete and 

 interesting memoirs is that by Prof. H. Winkler on 

 ' the Betulacese. The general sketch contains sections 

 on the geographical distribution and the history of 

 the order. The fossil forms, which are numerous, 

 are enumerated without comment, but with references. 



