Supplement to “ Nature,’ May 2, 1912. ix 
The book is, in spite of the merits it undoubtedly 
possesses, an irritating one to read on account of 
the excursions into other quite different fields of 
work into which its author not unfrequently irrele- 
vantly strays. For example, it is misleading 
to speak of the further production of syndiploid 
cells, when one of these pathological units divides 
and gives rise to its like, as an example of “in- 
heritance of acquired characters.” This latter 
phrase has a precise and definite technical mean- 
ing, and it is only rendered loose and obscure 
by such a perversion. 
In the latter half of the volume, where the results 
detailed in the first part are discussed in their rela- 
tion to other groups of facts, the author is often 
suggestive, even if one is unable to agree with 
him. It is, perhaps, possible that the fusion of 
the polar nuclei, and perhaps also the odd one from 
the pollen tube, is to be correlated with the large 
size of the complete embryo sac after the separa- 
tion of the other cells from it. But few persons, 
we imagine, would admit that these fusions are 
to be at once and directly compared to the patho- 
logical fusions which may occur after treatment 
with chloral hydrate. That they may be so com- 
pared is, of course, undeniable, but whether they 
can be usefully considered together, in the present 
exiguous state of our knowledge of the real 
agencies at work, is very much open to doubt. 
The chapters on the relation of the chromosome 
number to alternation of generations, the essentials 
of fertilisation, and the individuality of the cell 
in the tissue are well worth reading. The 
book is an important contribution to cytology, and 
not the less so because the author is often at 
variance with much that is elsewhere regarded as 
the expression of authoritative current opinion. 
eRe. E: 
AN AMERICAN MANUAL OF FARM 
LIVESTOCK. 
Manual of Farm Animals: A Practical Guide to the 
Choosing, Breeding, and Keep of Horses, 
Cattle, Sheep, and Swine. By Prof. M. W. 
Harper. Pp. xxv+545. (New York: The 
Macmillan Co. London:. Macmillan & Co., 
Ltd., 1911.) 8s. 6d. net. 
1 is a remarkable fact that, with three or four 
exceptions, all the important breeds of live- 
stock throughout the world are of British origin. 
Their present production and the degree of per- 
fection that they have reached have been the 
result of accumulated experience in breeding and 
rearing in a country where the general environ- 
mental conditions amid which stock are raised 
have varied but slightly during many generations. 
NO. 2218, VOL. 89] 
The amount of Government support which this 
important industry has received in Great Britain 
has hitherto been meagre, but America, on the 
other hand, has for some time past been provided 
with State-endowed experiment stations and other 
agricultural institutions, which may be supposed 
to compensate to some extent for the natural dis- 
advantages of a comparatively new country in re- 
gard to animal production. Nevertheless, in spite 
of these institutions, upon which very considerable 
sums are annually spent, Prof. Harper complains 
that the raising of farm animals does not receive 
due recognition. Moreover, we are told that not 
only are British livestock still generally superior, 
but that the breeders of Europe exercise a care 
and management which compare favourably with 
those shown by farmers in America. 
The object of the present volume is an ambitious 
one, for the author states that it has been written 
with a view to promote interest in the daily 
work with farm animals, in the hope that such 
interest may lead to the production of a better 
and more useful class of livestock. For this pur- 
pose he has confined himself mainly to a discussion 
of the management of animals, without giving 
descriptions of the breeds, though, as he points 
out, a knowledge of the latter is clearly indis- 
pensable. The first chapter is on how to choose a 
horse, and contains useful information on the de- 
tection of unsoundness. This is followed by 
general considerations on the feeding of farm 
animals, and a chapter on the feeding of horses. 
The fourth chapter is devoted to the breeding of 
animals, and is practical in character. An ex- 
position of Mendelism, or of scientific systems of 
breeding, would probably have been out of place 
in a manual for farm practice, but one fails to see 
any advantage in the re-statement of such theories 
as that “the male controls the external and the 
female the internal organs of the offspring ”— 
theories which the author himself apparently does 
not believe, for he afterwards says that “so far as 
is known, the parents play an equal part in their 
control of the characters of the offspring.” One 
misses any reference to telegony, which is surely 
a matter of practical importance, and in discussing 
sterility an allusion to the advantages in certain 
cases of artificial insemination might have been 
expected. The first part of the book is concluded 
by chapters on the breeding of horses and mules, 
the care and management of horses, and the 
diseases to which they are subject. Most of the 
breeds mentioned are British, but Percheron and 
Belgian horses are referred to in passing. 
The second, third, and fourth parts of the work 
are devoted respectively to cattle, sheep, and 
swine, and much useful and interesting informa- 
