412 



NATURE 



[September 3, 1896 



therapeutical uses of massage in affections of the skin, 

 of the muscles, in rheumatism, sprains, dislocations and 

 fractures, disorders of digestion, an;i;mia, obesity, nervous 

 affections, insomnia, heart diseases, and in many other 

 maladies in which mechanical manipulations, intelligently 

 and skilfully employed, have been proved to be efficacious 

 after other means of treatment have failed. 



The author yives, throughout his work, succinct and 

 practical directions, which will prove of the greatest use 

 to those practitioners who have had no experience of a 

 treatment which is now generally accepted in the medical 

 profession as one of the most useful in therapeutics. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Catalogue of the Fossil Bryosoa in the Department of 

 Geology, British Museum {Natural History). The 



furassic Bryozoa. By J. W. Gregory, D.Sc, F.G.S., 



F.Z.S. Pp. 239 ; pi. xi. (London: 1896.) 

 This catalogue is a valuable addition to the twenty-two 

 monographs which have already been devoted to the 

 various groups of fossils preserved in the Geological 

 Department of the Natural History Museum. The 

 Trustees of the British Museum have earned the grati- 

 tude of paheontologists, and of naturalists generally, by 

 bringing together such a wealth of information upon the 

 fine collections under Dr. Henry Woodward's care. 



In an introduction, Dr. Gregory discusses the problem 

 of tubular fossils, the affinities, and the structure of 

 Bryozoa, the terminology of the shells of the Cyclosto- 

 mata and Trepostomata, and the value of generic 

 divisions in the latter order. In this section, the 

 differences of opinion between those who attribute 

 generic value to trivial differences, and those who prefer 

 to restrict the number of genera, are described. The 

 discussion of transitions traced in groups of Cyclosto- 

 mata, leads to the examination of the question whether 

 there are really genera and species among Cyclosto- 

 matous Bryozoa. Taking'^ the genera Diastopora and 

 Berenicea as exemplifying the real value of zoarial cha- 

 racters in the order, they seem to support the admission 

 that " there are no true genera among Cyclostomata, but 

 only certain convenient, but artificial, groups of species. 

 ... I therefore accept the terms Stoinatopora, Pro- 

 boscina, &c., as names for convenient groups, which are 

 not altogether artificial, but which are not genera in the 

 sense in which that term can be used among Echinoidea 

 and Mammals. They could be better described as circuli 

 than as genera." 



From the subject of generic divisions. Dr. Gregory 

 passes to specific groups and individual variations. The 

 comparison of the forms of Bryozoa that lived in suc- 

 cessive geological periods, appear not to lend support to 

 Mr. Bateson's views as to discontinuous variation. "The 

 general evidence of the fossil specimens," says Dr. 

 Gregory, " and the great difference of opinion as to the 

 range of specific %ariation between those who multiply 

 species indefinitely, and those who place Silurian and 

 recent individuals in the same species — tend to show that 

 most of the forms of Cyclostomata have arisen by slow, 

 imperceptible, continuous variation." 



With the exception of two species (both members of 

 the order Cheilostomata), all the Jurassic Bryozoa belong 

 to the order Cyclostomata. This order is classified by 

 Dr. Gregory into four sub-orders, viz. : I. Articulata ; 

 II. Tubulata ; III. Dactylethrata ; IV. Cancellata. The 

 first of these groups is not represented in the Jurassic, 

 and species of the fourth group do not appear until the 

 Cretaceous period. The names of the second, third, 

 and fourth groups are based upon zooecial structure, 

 while the subdivisions of the groups depend upon 

 zoarial characters. 



NO. I4OI, VOL. 54] 



From the foregoing outline of the teachings of Dr. 

 Gregory's examination of the Bryozoa of Jurassic times, 

 it will be concluded that the catalogue furnishes facts of 

 distinct value in working out the evolution of the class. 

 Eleven plates, containing many admirable drawings of 

 the species described, have been prepared for the 

 catalogue by Miss G. M. Woodward. These, with the 

 careful determinations and critical introduction, make the 

 catalogue not only most acceptable to all paleontologists, 

 but also of the greatest interest to systematic zoologists. 

 Water Supply [considered principally from a Sanitary 

 Standpoint). By Wm. 1'. Mason. Pp. 504. (New 

 York ; John Wiley and Sons. London : Chapman 

 and Hall, Ltd., 1896.) 

 Thi.s is an unusually interesting treatise on a technical 

 subject, about which so much has been already written, 

 and the author is to be congratulated on the large 

 amount of new information which he has succeeded in 

 compressing into a comparatively small volume without 

 rendering it heavy and unreadable. The book is full of 

 facts gathered from the most varied sources, so that 

 even the expert in this department of knowledge will 

 find it a convenient work of reference, whilst it may also 

 be perused with great profit by that large and ever- 

 increasing body of laymen who, as medical men, members 

 of local boards, landlords, and the like, are supposed to 

 have some acquaintance with this subject, and whose 

 responsibilities in this connection are generally out of all 

 proportion to their knowledge. Prof. Mason has collected 

 the results of the principal investigations bearing on the 

 sanitary aspects of water supply, made both in Europe 

 and .\merica, and European readers should be specially 

 grateful to him for the lucid and concise manner in which 

 he has summarised and abstracted the important trans- 

 atlantic labours in this direction, and the original de- 

 scription of which is only to be found in comparatively 

 inaccessible and exceptionally voluminous writings of an 

 official character. There are many points in connection 

 with the sanitary aspects of water supply, on which, as is 

 well known, the most conflicting opinions are prevalent 

 amongst experts, and not the least commendable feature 

 in this work is the impartiality and fairness with which 

 the author has marshalled and reviewed the evidence 

 adduced by the contending parties. 

 Botany for Beginners. By Henry Edmonds, B.Sc. Pp. 



117. (Longmans, Green, and Co., 1S96.) 

 The author hopes that this little botany primer "'may 

 be the means of exciting an interest in the subject in the 

 minds of the young." He is a teacher, and should there- 

 fore know that a multitude of new names is the reverse 

 of exciting to young students, yet this is how the 

 definitions are crowded in on page 3 : " They [certain 

 leaves] are spoken of as radical leaves (Latin, radix, a 

 root). Others are attached to the stem, and are described 

 as cauline (Latin, caulis, a stem 1. The radical and 

 lower cauline leaves possess a stalk, or, as it is called, a 

 petiole. This attaches the flattened part, or blade, to 

 the stem. The upper cauline leaves have no such stalk, 

 the blade being immediately attached to the stem, or 

 sessile." .A-nd again on page 5 : " Each of these is called 

 a carpel, while the group of carpels is termed the pistil. 

 Each carpel consists of a swollen portion, the ovary ; on 

 top of this there is a little head, the stigma." This is all 

 very well, and the language of botany must, of course, be 

 learned at some stage or other ; but, at the same time, the 

 designations follow- one another so closely, that the pupils 

 who use the volume as a reading-book will get bevyildered. 

 The book is not, however, without its good points. It 

 is liberally illustrated, the descriptions refer to common 

 British flowers, and a few simple experiments are intro- 

 duced to exemplify the functions of the different organs of 

 plants. A good teacher may make the lessons in the book 

 interesting, but of themselves they are not very inspiring. 



