June 24, 1909] 



NATURE 



485 



on the main question with which it deals, or, in other 

 words. How stands the species question after passing 

 the ordeal of half a century? the answer must be that 

 the only theory of species formation which still holds 

 the field is that theory of natural selection which sug-- 

 gested itself to Darwin after reading Malthus in 1838, 

 and independently to Wallace in 1858. Before 1838 

 it may be said that Darwin was a convinced evolu- 

 tionist ; subsequently he became a selectionist. 

 Whether the reader of the present collection of essays 

 lakes the view that time has acted as an intensifying 

 or a reducing agent upon the validity of the funda- 

 mental doctrine enshrined in that work which is now 

 being commemorated, it is perfectly clear that the 

 historian who in the distant future — say at the next 

 Darwin jubilee — consults the present book in order to 

 ascertain what platform had been reached in the year 

 1909 cannot but arrive at the conclusion that at the 

 time of the publication of this memorial volume no 

 alternative theory of the origin of species had sur- 

 vived the test of scientific criticism. No more effective 

 mechanism of organic evolution than that offered to us 

 by Darwin fifty years ago has up to the present time 

 been suggested. We may degrade natural selection 

 from the position assigned to it by Darwin, or the 

 still higher position assigned to it by Wallace and 

 Weismann as the result of post-Darwinian discoverv ; 

 we may attach quite a small value to it as a factor, or 

 we may eliminate it altogether. If so, the other 

 factors remain to be discovered, and we must declare 

 that we are still without a theory of the origin of 

 species. The effects, direct or indirect, of the publica- 

 tion of the " Origin " upon lines of thought and of 

 work other than those centring round the main ques- 

 tion of species are sufficiently well known ; the 

 present volume bears living testimony to their far- 

 reaching importance. 



There is one other aspect of Darwin's work which 

 at this juncture it may be opportune to insist upon. 

 There is much talk in our time about " scientific 

 method, "scientific habit of thought," and so forth; 

 and yet it seems that there is a tendency among our 

 present workers to neglect the example set by the 

 great master, whose memory will ever be upheld with 

 undiminished reverence by those who had the privilege 

 of knowing him personally. It is he who, above any 

 scientific worker of his time, taught us the value of 

 ciiDiidative evidence in establishing a new theorv. 

 Of his own doctrine he wrote : — 



" Now this hypothesis may be tested — and this 

 seems to me the only fair and legitimate manner of 

 considering the whole question — bv trving whether it 

 ■explains several large and independent classes of 

 facts" ("Variation of .Animals and Plants," first 

 edition, 1868, p. 9). 



!s that canon faithfully followed now? We fear 

 not. With many workers, one or a few observations, 

 or the taking of a few measurements, combined with 

 the complete exclusion of " independent classes of 

 facts," suffice to provide a new theory of the universe. 

 The lesson conveyed by the revolution in scientific 

 thought effected in a comparatively short period by 

 one book is in danger of being overlooked bv the 

 present generation. R. Meldola. 



NO. 2069, VOL. 80] 



PROF. FISCHER'S INVESTIGATIONS ON THE 



CARBOHYDRATES AND ON FERMENTS. 

 Untersuchungen iiber Kohlenhydrate und Fermente 



(1884-1908). By Emil Fischer. Pp. viii + 912. 



(Berlin : Julius Springer, 1909.) Price 22 marks. 



pROF. EMIL FISCHER continues to put all 

 J- chemists under an obligation to him by the 

 re-publication, in collected form, of the series of re- 

 markable investigations by which he has made the 

 present Berlin school of chemistry famous for all 

 time. These contributions to chemical literature are 

 absolutely unique ; in extent, in character, in 

 originality and completeness, they are unparalleled. 

 Not even Liebig, in his most forceful and prolific 

 period, showed himself more able as a leader, more 

 fruitful in directive ability, or more inspiring as a 

 central controlling figure, than the present head of 

 the most celebrated chemical laboratory of the world. 

 The volume before us follows in quick succession 

 that on the amino-acids, polypeptides, and proteins 

 (1899-1906), and that on the investigations in the 

 purin group (1S82-1906). Collectively, these works 

 constitute a monument more enduring than brass, and 

 mark an epoch in the development of the science. 



In a sense, Emil Fischer is the Paracelsus of his 

 period — not, we hasten to add, in his mental habitudes 

 or in his methods of inculcating his doctrines, but as 

 the exponent and representative of a new phase in the 

 evolution of chemical thought. What Paracelsus and 

 van Helmont were to iatro-chemistry, Pasteur and 

 Fischer are to bio-chemistry. But the analogy is 

 onlv partial, and, indeed, soon breaks down. The 

 truculent, turbulent Schweizer added ideas to science, 

 but no new facts ; the bland and suave Berliner, dis- 

 tinguished in manner and courteous in bearing, has 

 enriched his science with innumerable facts and 

 illumined it with ideas as the logical outcome of 

 the facts. Other times, other manners. Nothing is 

 more reassuring than to compare the " Opera 

 Paracelsi," as turned out by Operinus, with the 

 " Opera Fischeri " as published by the house of Julius 

 Springer. Four hundred j'ears have certainly done 

 something for human civilisation. We may at least 

 lav that unction to our souls. 



The main significance of Fischer's work is in its 

 relation to physiology. That physiology and 

 chemistry are intimately connected and mutually 

 related goes without saying; the fact has been recog- 

 nised from the earliest times— certainly from the 

 period of Galen and Avicenna. But it is Fischer's 

 great merit that, after a comparatively arid and sterile 

 period in physiological chemistry, due largely to the 

 circumstance that the time and energy of the leaders 

 of organic chemistry were directed to the exploration 

 of other regions, he should have turned the force of 

 his genius to the elucidation of the constitution of 

 those substances which are dependent upon, or ob- 

 viously connected with, vital processes. The sugars 

 and the starches were among the earliest known of 

 so-called organic compounds. They have long been 

 recognised as among the most characteristic products 

 of the physiological activities of plants, and from time 

 immemorial they have been regarded as among the 



