2l8 



NA TURE 



[August 19, 1909 



produce order and certainty -u-here uncertainty and 

 chaos — as regards the identification of species and the 

 determination of their synonymy — previously prevailed 

 to no inconsiderable extent. 



Littoral forms of fish-life occupy a considerable por- 

 tion of the part now before us, although a section is 

 devoted to flying-fish and other pelagic types ; but the 

 deep-sea fishes do not come within the purview of the 

 work. Coral-fishes, or coral-wrasses, of the family 

 Labridae, are treated in the commencement of the 

 present part, and the brilliant hues and remarkable 

 colour-patterns of these gorgeous fishes are most ad- 

 mirably rendered in the accompanying plates. Our 

 sole regret is that the author appears to have made no 

 attempt to explain the mutual relationships and special 

 purpose of these varied markings. Ichthyologists will 

 greatly appreciate the author's careful revision of the 

 large number of species of flying fishes inhabiting the 

 South Seas ; but students of the habits of animals 

 will perhaps regret that Dr. Giinther has maintained 

 a cautious reserve with regard to the n^anner in which 

 these fishes perform their aerial flight. Both the 

 " aeroplane " and the " vibration" theories are men- 

 tioned, with references, but the author does not give 

 even a suggestion as to which he considers to be the 

 more probable explanation. 



With the bare mention that no new species are 

 described, we repeat our congratulations to Dr. 

 Giinther on the completion of his long-deferred task. 



R. L. 



Oim BOOK SHELF. 



Further Advances in Physiology. Edited by Leonard 

 Hill, F.R.S. Pp. vii + 440. (London : E. Arnold, 

 1909.) Price 155. net. 

 This is the second volume of original articles issued 

 under the editorship of Mr. Leonard Hill. The first 

 appeared about three years ago, and was reviewed in 

 Nature, May 3, 1906. That the publishers have seen 

 fit to issue a second volume is an indication that the 

 first was a success. The present volume treats of a 

 number of interesting and important questions which 

 have recently been subjects of research among physio- 

 logists, and the senior student is thus provided with 

 a summary of the latest views which otherwise it 

 would have been impossible for him to have obtained 

 without much labour and exploration in many 

 journals. The idea of the book is thus excellent; 

 one's only fear is that in the presentation of a good 

 deal of controversial matter even the best of students 

 may sometimes lose himself and wish there was more 

 agreement among physiological workers. In some of 

 the articles more attention is paid to points of differ- 

 ence than to points of agreement, and general con- 

 clusions to help the reader in the maze are not always 

 forthcoming. On the other hand, from the point of 

 view of the researcher, the descriptions given of recent 

 work are too fragmentary in some cases to be of any 

 real help, though perhaps this may be wise, for any- 

 thing which tempts the original worker to neglect 

 reading the actual writings of his predecessors on the 

 same road is to be deprecated. 



The articles contained in the book are the follow- 

 ing : — Prof. B. Moore opens with a consideraton of 

 the equilibrium of colloid and crystalloid in living 

 cells ; Mr. M. Flack comes next with an article on the 

 heart, in which, inter alia, he discusses the pros and 

 cons, of the myogenic and neurogenic theories; Dr. 

 NO. 2077, VOL. 81] 



T. Lewis deals with pulse records in relation to the 

 events of the human cardiac cycle ; the editor advances- 

 his heterodox views on the part played bv blood- 

 pressure on such phenomena as lymph production and' 

 secretion ; Dr. .\. Keith contributes an anatomico- 

 physiological article on the mechanism of respiration ; 

 and Dr. M. S. Pembrey an extremely useful essav on 

 the physiology of muscular work ; the problems of 

 growth and regeneration of nerve, and the nature of 

 the nerve impulse, are then considered bv Dr. N. 

 Aleock ; Dr. J. S. Bolton treats of cortical localisation, 

 and Marie's views on Broca's aphasia are described;- 

 and the volume concludes with an article bv Mr. M. 

 Greenwood on visual adaptation and colour vision. 



The mers enumeration of the subjects treated indi- 

 cates the wide-reaching interest of the book, and the 

 names of the authors are a sufficient guarantee that 

 the work is well done. 



Weltsprache und M'isscnschaft. Gedankcn iibcr die 

 Einfiilirung der intcrnationalen Hilfsprache in die- 

 'n'isscnschaft. By L. Couturat, O. Jespersen, R. 

 Lorenz, W. Ostwald, L. Pfaundler. Pp. iv+83. 

 (Jena : Gustav Fischer, 1909.) Price i mark. 



That an international language for scientific com- 

 munication is desirable no one will question ; that an 

 artificial language will ever be generally adopted for 

 such a purpose is more than doubtful. If success in- 

 this direction is to be attained, it will probably be on 

 the lines indicated in the present pamphlet, which is 

 a kind of unofficial manifesto of the " Dflegation pour 

 I'adoption d'une langue auxiliair? Internationale " ap- 

 pointed in 1900. A commission including scientific 

 and linguistic experts of different rationalities is more 

 likely to devise an acceptable language than any in- 

 dividual, who of necessity suffers from the prejudice 

 of his mother-tongue and a comparatively limited' 

 knowledge of the requirements of the new medium. 

 After seven years' deliberation, the international dele- 

 gation has adopted most of the principles of 

 Esperanto, but with great modifications in detail. 



For Europeans and Americans the fundamental re- 

 quisites of a common artificial language are :. — (i) a 

 simple phonology and alphabet, only such sounds being 

 admitted as are in actual use amongst all the prin- 

 cipal European peoples (exclusion of English w and' 

 th, German modified vowels, French nasals) ; (2) a 

 vocabulary composed, as far as may be, of words 

 comprehensible at sight to cultivated Europeans ; (3) as 

 little grammar as possible. These principles are 

 generally followed in the new lauguage " Ilo," the 

 Slavonic peculiarities of Esperanto (e.g. the circum- 

 flexed consonants and absurd terminal j's) being care- 

 fully avoided. The vocabulary has a distinctly 

 Romanic appearance, and grammar is reduced to 

 small proportions, which might with advantage be 

 smaller still. Word-formation from stems by means 

 of prefixes and suffixes is systematic, but needlessly 

 complicated. Why should we, for example, have the 

 prefix 60- to indicate relationship by marriage? 

 " Father-in-law " = 6o/>afro is not a necessary word; 

 " wife's father " or " husband's father " is equally 

 simple and more definite. Again, to use -isto for 

 " professional " and -era for " amateur " is making a 

 rather superfluous distinction. It may be convenient 

 occasionally to distinguish between fotografisto and 

 fotografero, but in the case of, say, dcntisto and 

 dentcro the necessity is not so obvious. 



Notwithstanding its shortcomings, " Ilo " is a great 

 advance on its predecessors, and men of science who 

 are interested in the general scheme may be cordially 

 invited to join the " Uniono di I'amiki di la lingua 

 internaciona." But for the general adoption of the 

 language much enthusiasm will be needed, and it is- 



