October 20, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



451 



by international cooperation. — Tlie London 

 limes. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Readings in Evolution, Genetics and Eugenics. 



By Horatio Hackett Newman. Chicago, 



1921 : The University of Chicago Press. 



Pp. XVIII pins 523. 



Doubtless every college teacher who gives a 

 general course in organic evolution has at times 

 wished for the presentation in a single text- 

 book of the materials he has found it necessary 

 to have his students glean from numerous vol- 

 lunes. This need has been met by Professor 

 Newman in the present book. The work is 

 drawn up on much the lines of the "source 

 books" in history which have become popular 

 in recent years, and it will doubtless fulfill a 

 similarly useful function for courses in evolu- 

 tion, genetics and eugenics. The wide range of 

 matter necessary for such courses has been se- 

 lected from the books and papers of many 

 authors and reprinted in their own words, but 

 the whole has been deftly knit together by 

 means of occasional brief comments and pas- 

 sages written by the compiler himself. 



One's preconception of such a presentation 

 is that it ipust inevitably be a patchwork, but, 

 as a matter of fact, Professor Newman, by 

 judicious selection, has achieved a surprising 

 unity. Another inherent difficulty in such a 

 collection of articles and excerpts is the impos- 

 sibility of touching out in otherwise excellent 

 older accounts what, in the light of our more 

 recent knowledge, are minor mistatements or 

 contradictions; but here again, through careful 

 choice, the defect has been reduced to a mini- 

 mum. 



The typographical errors observed by the re- 

 viewer are few. In line 6, page 294, this is 

 should read that is; the numeral in line 16, 

 page 365, should be 18 instead of 19; figures 

 87 and 88 on pages 434 and 435 have been ex- 

 changed. 



The thirty-seven chapters (512 pages) are 

 divided into five main parts: (1) Introductory 

 and Historical (pp. 3 to 53); (2) Evidences 

 of Organic Evolution (pp. 57 to 182); (3) 

 The Causal Factors of Organic Evolution (pp. 

 185 to 283); (4) Genetics (pp. 287 to 456); 



and (5) Eugenics (pp. 459 to 512); Since the 

 historical survey in Chapter II plunges one 

 into the midst of genes, x-chromosomes, selec- 

 tion, orthogenesis, heterogenesis, Mendelism, 

 biometry, etc., the general reader could find 

 his way through this maze far more readily if 

 a full glossary of scientific terms were ap- 

 pended. Such a glossary would also be very 

 helpful in relation to other parts of the work. 



In many colleges and universities the work 

 in genetics and in organic evolution is given as 

 separate courses. The reviewer, in fact, has 

 used the volume under discussion in a practical 

 way only as a 'text for a course in evolution. 

 For such a purpose it would be advantageous 

 to have the sections dealing with variation 

 introduced before or along with the discussion 

 of the causal factors of organic evolution. It 

 is probable also that many teachers would, as 

 does the reviewer, prefer to have the evidences 

 from morphology presented before those from 

 paleontology, but there is, of course, no reason 

 why the user of the book may not take the 

 various sections in this order if he so chooses. 

 While to the initiated the chapters on Neo- 

 Mendelian Heredity, Sex-linked and Other 

 Kinds of Linked Inheritance, and Linkage and 

 Crossing-Over a«'e clear, succinct accounts, it is 

 questionable if the beginner would gSt far with 

 them without considerable additional elucida- 

 tion on the part of the teacher. 



In the opinion of the reviewer. Professor 

 Newman has, in this series of readings, pre- 

 pared for the general student the most com- 

 plete and acceptable one-volume account of or- 

 ganic evolution and allied subjects in print. 



M. F. GUYER 



University of Wisconsin 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 

 STATIC DEFLECTIONS OF THE VACUUM 

 GRAVITATION NEEDLE, IN 1921 AND 1922 

 To obtain a comparison, it will be necessary 

 to measure the distance apart, Aj/ {y being the 

 telescopic scale reading, with the needle at rest), 

 of the equilibrium curves corresponding to the 

 two opposed positions of the attracting 



1 Advance note, from a Report to the Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington, D. C. 



