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SOME NEW BOOKS ON EVOLUTION. 



The recent commemoration of the Centenary of the birth of Charles 

 Darwin, and of the fiftieth anniversary of the pubhcation of The Origin 

 of Species has resulted in the appearance of a number of treatises on 

 Evolution, some of which have already been noticed in these columns. 



To the Cambridge University Press, however, is due the credit of pro- 

 ducing the most valuable, most complete, and we may say the most gener- 

 ally interesting volume. It is entitled Darwin and Modern Science, and 

 is edited by Prof. A. C. Seward. (595 pp., 18/- net), We should like first 

 to record our thanks to Prof. Seward for being so instrumental in placing 

 before the world this magnificent work ; not only has he edited the volume, 

 but he has translated some of the articles which were written in German. 



Darwin and Modern Science is the outcome of a suggestion made by 

 the Cambridge Philosophical Society to publish a series of essays as a 

 record of the celebrations, and in the twenty-nine chapters contained in 

 this volume is certainly the most authoratative and comprehensive survey 

 of the influence of Darwin's work that has ever been made. Each essaj^ 

 has been specially written, and in most cases, the services of the very best 

 person has been secured. An idea of the variety and scope of the volume 

 can be ascertained from the following essays selected aphazard. ' The 

 Selection Theory,' Prof. Weismann ; ' Variation,' Prof. Hugo de Vries ; 

 ' Chas. Darwin as an Anthropologist,' Prof. Ernest Haeckel ; ' The Influence 

 of Darwin on the Study of Animal Embryology,' Prof. Sedgwick ; ' The 

 Value of Colour in the Struggle for Life,' Prof. Poulton ; ' Geographical 

 Distribution of Plants,' Sir William Thisel ton-Dyer ; ' Geographical 

 Distribution of Animals,' Prof. Hans. Gadow ; ' Darwin and Geology,' 

 Prof. Judd ; ' Mental Factors in Evolution,' Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, and 

 ' Evolution and the Science of Language,' by Mr. P. Giles. Amongst 

 other contributors we find Sir Joseph D. Hooker, Prof. J. Arthur Thomson, 

 Prof.W. Bateson, Prof. E. Strasburger, Prof. G. Schwalbe, Mr. J. G. Eraser, 

 Prof. W. B. Scott, Prof. W\ H. Scott, Prof. G. Klebs, Prof. J. Lock, Mr. 

 Francis Darwin, Prof. Goebel, Prof. H. HolTding, Prof. G. Bougie, the 

 Rev. P. N. Waggett, Miss Jane Ellen Harrison, Prof. J. B. Bury, Sir George 

 Darwin, and Mr. W. C. D. Whetham. 



What could be a more fitting monument to the memory of Darwin than 

 the collected tributes of these well-known writers ? And what could be 

 more welcome to the professor or to the layman than this summary of the 

 present attitude of our leaders in scientific thought with regard to Darwin's 

 teaching ? We are glad to learn that any profits from the sale of this 

 volume are to be handed over to a University Fund for the Endowment of 

 biological research ; the best wish we can express is that the volume may 

 meet with the success it deserves. 



Life and Evolution, by F. W. Headley. Duckworth & Co., 272 pp., 

 5/- net. The fact that this volume has reached a second edition speaks 

 for itself. It is the outcome of a series of lectures delivered by the author ; 

 the style is pleasant, and the illustrations are numerous, and for the most 

 part good, though some are rather crude. The book is in nine sections, 

 viz.. Plants and Animals ; The Sea and its Inhabitants ; Gills and Lungs ; 

 Reptiles and their Kin ; from a Reptile to a Bird ; The Flight of Birds ; 

 The Minds of Man and Animals ; The Struggle for Existence, and Natural 

 Selection. The sections dealing with birds and their flight, etc., are 

 especially complete, and seem to indicate that the author is pei'haps 

 most ' at home ' with that part of the subject. Tlie book is Avell pro- 

 duced, and is certainly very cheap. 



The Transformations of the Animal World, by Charles Dep^ret. Kegan 

 Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co., 360 pp., 5/-. We are delighted to find that 

 the well-known International Scientific Series is to have a new lease of life, 



Nali'ralist, 



