1900] CURRENT LITERATURE 65 
The Cell. 
THE first edition of Professor Wilson’s work2 on the cell, which appeared in 
1896, met a hearty welcome from biologists everywhere; it was reprinted 
the next year with the addition of an appendix which summarized the recent 
literature, and was again reprinted in 1898 with a similar appendix, but the 
literature of the subject had increased so much and the aspects of important 
problems were changing so rapidly that something more than an appendix was 
needed to bring the book up to date. Accordingly the entire work has been 
thoroughly revised, and over one hundred pages and fifty figures have been 
added. The problems of the centrosome, cell division, and fertilization, have 
been materially changed, some of the sections having been entirely rewritten. 
Recent experimental work in these subjects and in regeneration have received 
special attention. Changes and additions, however, are not confined to these 
subjects, but are found upon almost every page. 
The treatment, as in the previous edition, is historical, and the careful 
citation of specific authority which enables the reader to weigh for himself 
the statements of the text makes the book indispensable to cytologists, 
whether they be zoologists or botanists. 
The book, though still confessedly weak in the field of botanical cytology, 
ws a decided improvement over the previous edition, especially in the 
jects of cell division, spermatogenesis, and fertilization. It is helpful to 
botanist to get a view of his own problems from a zoological standpoint. 
It is of special interest to botanists to note that the author regards the 
blepharoplasts of Gingko, Cycas, Zamia, Marsilea, etc., as genuine centro- 
Somes, although he believes that Webber and Ikeno have produced 
@pparently strong evidence that they arise separately and de novo in the 
cytoplasm. 
He hesitates to accept Shaw’s statement that in Marsilea the ‘blepharo- 
P lastoids” have no relation to the blepharoplasts which appear later; a 
decision is also withheld in regard to Webber's conclusion that in Zamia the 
sho 
sub 
the 
open the possibility that centrosomes may occur, their apparent 
eing possibly due to lack of staining capacity or similar conditions 
their demonstration difficult. 
on . = the two maturation divisions give rise to the four primary 
ari ne he enc : and these two divisions undoubtedly correspond to 
Fa eration divisions in animals. In the female only one of the 
'N§ cells gives rise to the egg, the other three corresponding to the 
sag *WILson, E. B.: The cell in development and inheritance. 2d edition, revised 
enlarged, 
8vo., . i — . i 
1900. $3.50, PP. xxi+ 483, figs. 79g. New York: Macmillan ‘Company 
absence b 
rendering 
