650 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 227. 



The book contains many tables compiled from 

 various sources. The data are generally given 

 in the form of curves so that a large amount of 

 information may be comprised in a single dia- 

 gram. The clear and judicial discussion of the 

 topics makes the book a model of its kind. 

 Especially praiseworthy is the absence of the 

 rash speculation so predominant in biological 

 literature of recent years. 



T. H. Morgan. 

 Beyn Mawe College. 



General Physiology. By Professoe Max Ver- 



WORN. Translated and edited from the 



second edition (1897) by Professor F. S. 



Lee. New York, Macmillau & Co. 1899. 



Pp. xvi+616. 28.5 figures. 



The subject-matter of this book is arranged 

 in five chapters with headings as follows : The 

 aims and methods of physiological research, 

 living substance, elementary vital phenomena, 

 the conditions of life, stimuli and their action, 

 and the mechanism of life. The English edi- 

 tion is very happily rendered, and is character- 

 ized by an extremely small residuum of Teu- 

 tonic idioms, while the privileges of the editor 

 have been very skillfully but sparingly exer- 

 cised. 



The book is chiefly concerned with the cell as 

 such and as organism, and it seems to the 

 writer that it hardly justifies the resounding 

 title of ' General Physiology, or the Science of 

 Life.' It is usually unfair to pass judgment 

 upon the nature of a work from any single 

 paragraph which may be required in a review, 

 but the closing sentences of the volume are 

 fairly indicative of the author's conception of 

 his subject. " The cell is the element of living 

 substance. All living substance exists in cells, 

 and all of the functions of living substance 

 originate in the elementary vital phenomena of 

 cells. Hence, if the task of the physiolo- 

 gist lies in the explanation of vital phenom- 

 ena, general physiology can be only cell- 

 physiology." These sentences are faultlessly 

 rhetorical, but they do not exhibit an unas- 

 sailable logic, at least from the point of view 

 of the botanist, or the physiologist interested 

 in the general properties of organisms. 



The work of investigators upon the physiology 

 and organization of the protoplasm of plants 



has been somewhat more uniformly developed, 

 and the results attained have been given a 

 wider interpretation than similar efforts in the 

 animal world ; hence the value of this volume 

 as a reactionary protest against the minute and 

 profitless specializations which have absorbed 

 so much of the energy of the animal physiolo- 

 gist is not so apparent to the plant physiologist. 

 The latter feels no need for a return to investi- 

 gations in cell-physiology, since his researches 

 upon all the more important activities of vege- 

 tal protoplasm have been extended to cover 

 material of the widest range of morphological 

 and physiological difterentiation, and have been 

 an investigation of principles rather than a 

 study of the functions of special tissues. 



Without reference to the above, the book is 

 a very valuable and welcome addition to the 

 library and laboratory accessories of the plant 

 physiologist, not for what it contains about 

 plants, for the paragraphs devoted to these or- 

 ganisms are teeming with errors and omissions, 

 or are badly antiquated, but for its comprehen- 

 sive treatment of the composition and elemen- 

 tary activities of protoplasm, and the metabolic 

 and directive reactions to stimuli, and the sec- 

 tions devoted to these subjects are well executed. 

 The historical sketch of the development and 

 methods of physiological research, as well as 

 the metaphysical discussions of the conditions 

 of life properly belong here, although they do 

 not constitute the most valuable or striking part 

 of the book. 



It appears to the reviewer that the physiolog- 

 ical aspects of the form and size of the cell are 

 but scantily touched upon ; that the role and dis- 

 tribution of inorganic matter in the cell does not 

 take into account the greater mass of the availa- 

 ble information on that subject, while secretion, 

 absorption and election of food do not receive 

 deserved attention. The fatuous distinction of 

 ferments into ' organized ' and ' unorganized ' 

 bodies bids fair to be immortal, since it is con- 

 tinued here and in many other prominent texts 

 recently issued, although yeast, the well-worn 

 example of the 'organized ferments,' has been 

 found to secrete definite enzymes, as is doubt- 

 less the case with all ferment organisms. It is 

 certainly antiquated to quote Sachs to the effect 

 that starch is the first ' visible product ' of the 



