410 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. YoL. LII. No. 1348 



proves no more than the Difference of Time does 

 in an (the) other. 



Edwards, about to become president of tlie 

 College of New Jersey, and at tbis date writ- 

 ing as a missionary to tbe Indians ; "Pastor of 

 tbe Cburcb in Stockbridge," bas in tbe same 

 chapter, tbese Prineetonian tbougbts on evo- 

 lution suggested by Sir Isaac Newton's " Laws 

 of Motion & Gravitation." 



Let us suppose two Bodies moving the same 

 Way, in strait Lines, perfectly parallel one to 

 another; but to be diverted from this Parallel 

 Course, and drawn one from another, as much as 

 might be by the Attraction of an Atom, at the 

 Distance of one of the furthest of the fix'd Stars 

 from the Earth; these Bodies being turned out of 

 the Lines of their parallel Motion, will, by De- 

 grees, get further and further distant, one from 

 the other; and tho' the Distance may be imper- 

 ceptible for a long Time, yet at Length it may be- 

 come very great. So the Revolution of a Planet 

 round the Sun being retarded or accelerated, and 

 the Orbit of it's Revolution made greater or less, 

 and more or less elliptical, and so it's Periodical 

 Time longer or shorter, no more than may be by 

 the Influence of the least Atom, might in Length 

 of Time perform a whole Revolution sooner or 

 later than otherwise it would have done; which 

 might make a vast Alteration with Regard to 

 Millions of important Events. So the Influence of 

 the least Particle may, for ought we know, have 

 such Effect on something in the Constitution of 

 some human Body, as to cause another Thought to 

 arise in the Mind at a certain Time, than other- 

 wise would have been; which in Length of Time 

 (yea, and that not very great) might occasion a 

 vast Alteration thro' the whole "World of Man- 

 kind. 



Thus tbe describer of tbe Ballooning Spiders. 

 Einstein, Conklin; Bebold your Ejng! 



J. M. C. 

 ALBA^fT, N. Y. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Heredity and Evolution in Plants. By C. 



Stuart Gager. Pbiladelpbia, 1920. P. 



Blakiston's Son and Go. Pp. xiii -f 265. 



Pigs. 113. 



This very readable book is in part a re- 

 print of certain sections of tbe author's 



" Fundamentals of Botany " but with con- 

 siderable new matter added and much of the 

 old recast. An accotmt of the life history 

 of tbe fern lays the foundation for a dis- 

 cussion of cell structure and the funda- 

 mentals of cell behavior in reproduction and 

 at the critical periods of fertilization and 

 reduction. Then comes a chapter on heredity 

 followed by a consideration of results from 

 experimental studies of Mendel, Johannsen, 

 and others. 



Chapters entitled "Evolution," "Darwin- 

 ism " and " Experimental Evolution " give 

 the views of Lamarck, Darwin, Wallace and 

 de Vries. The statement of the mutation 

 theory of de Vries is excellent but there is 

 nothing to indicate to the reader how difficult 

 it is to distinguish between mutations and the 

 results of segregation in impure species the 

 breeding behavior of which is complicated by 

 tbe presence of lethal factors. There is no 

 reference to the remarkable genetical compli- 

 cations which are known for (Enothera mate- 

 rial rendering it among the most interesting 

 and puzzling under investigation although 

 correspondingly less favorable for the demon- 

 stration of mutations. 



The latter half of the book considers the 

 evolutionary history of the plant kingdom 

 from evidence supplied by comparative mor- 

 phology and life histories, geographical dis- 

 tribution, and paleobotany. In this section is 

 brought together much scattered information 

 which together with the discussion is likely 

 to prove of particular interest to the general 

 reader not familiar with geographical botany 

 and with tbe striking contributions of recent 

 years from studies of ancient plant remains. 



Bradley M. Davis 

 TJniveksitt of Michigan 



NOTES ON CLIMATOLOGY AND 

 METEOROLOGY 



aerological work in the united states 



Meteorology, imtil recent years, has been 



largely a two-dimensional science. Indeed, so 



strongly has the conception become rooted in 



the minds of meteorologists, that now, when 



