Reviews and Book Notices. 445 



Woz'ls, by J. Carlill. Hull : A. Brown & Sons. 118 pp., i/- net. 



We learn that ' the contents of this book is copyright ' ; nevertheless, 

 it contains a number of exceedingly humorous and original stories in East 

 Yorkshire dialect. They refer to aspects of village life, and each one has 

 a moral. There is a useful glossary. 



The Origin of Vertebrates, by Walter Holbrook Gaskell. Longmans 

 Green & Co. 537 pp., 21/- net. 



Amongst the wealth of literature now being produced under the head 

 of ' Natural Science,' there now and then appears a volume which is a 

 distinct and original contribution to science, which contains the honest 

 and detailed researches of a truly qualified writer, and one which, whether 

 the whole of the theories therein propounded are accepted or not, takes a 

 permanent and prominent place in the great structure of Truth, which all 

 scientific workers are, or should be, helping to erect. Such a volume was 

 Bower's ' Origin of a Land Flora,' recently noticed in these columns. 

 And side by side with it, and occupying a similar position, is ' The Origin 

 of Vertebrates,' recently published. It is twenty years ago since Dr. 

 Gaskell, as a result of his work in the physiological laboratory at Cam- 

 bridge, produced the first of a lengthy series of papers dealing with this 

 question, but these do not appear to have been either supported or con- 

 demned ; in fact, criticism of the question seems to have been withheld. 

 Dr. Gaskell thei'efore now brings forward his theory in a volume, and we 

 trust that his honest and laudable desire, viz., that it shall be discussed 

 and criticised, and any flaws in his arguments exposed, will be carried out. 

 The matter, however, is not one which will be accepted or rejected in a 

 short time. In the first place, the number of specialists who are qualified 

 and able to deal with the matter fully, is not large. But unquestionably 

 as time goes on, workers will consider the theory on its merits, and whilst 

 we should not like to say that all Dr. Gaskell's conclusions will be accepted, 

 he will doubtless have the satisfaction of finding that his work is appre- 

 ciated, and that he has most substantially contributed towards this fas- 

 cinating and important subject. 



During his investigations, the author states that he could not help 

 being struck by the force of the comparison between the central nervous 

 systems of Vertcbrata and Appendiculata as put forward again and again 

 by the past generation of comparative anatomists, and wondered why it 

 had been discredited. There in tlie infundibulum was the old oesophagus, 

 there in the cranial segmental nerves the infracesophageal ganglia, there 

 in the cerebral hemispheres and optic and olfactory nerves the supra- 

 oesophageal ganglia, there in the spinal cord the ventral chain of ganglia. 

 But if the infundibulum was the old oesophagus, what then ? The old 

 oesophagus was continuous with and led into the cephalic stomach. What 

 about the infundibulum ? It was continuous with and led into the 

 ventricles of the brain, and the whole thing became clear. The ventricles 

 of the brain were the old cephalic stomach, and the canal of the spinal 

 cord the long straight intestine which led originally to the anus, and stilT 

 in the vertebrate embryo opens out into the anus. Not having been edu- 

 cated in a morphological laboratory, and taught that the one organ which 

 is homologous throughout the animal kingdom is the gut, and that therefore 

 the gut of the invertebrate ancestor must continue on as the gut of 

 the vertebrate, the conception that the central nervous system has grown 

 round and enclosed the original ancestral gut, and that the vertebrate 

 has formed a new gut did not seem to him so impossible as to prevent his 

 taking it as a working hypothesis, and seeing to what it would lead. 



From this the author takes us on, step by step ; each chapter being 

 remarkably clear, and as it is followed by a concise summary, it is possible 

 to easily grasp his meaning. His concluding remarks are : — ' Throughout, 

 from the dawn of animal life up to the present day, the evidence given in 

 this book suggests that the same law has always held. In all cases, upward 

 progress is associated with a development of the central nervous system. 

 The law for the whole animal kingdom is the same as for the individual. 

 Success in this world depends upon brains." 



1909 Dec. I. 



