June 27, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



989 



being more nearly intermediate between red 

 and yellow. 



The last of the 53 color plates gives two 

 series of tones of gray, one obtained by mix- 

 ing white and black on the color wheel, the 

 other by mixing lamp black and Chinese 

 white. Plates XXII. and XXIV. are extras, 

 from one of several series made during the 

 progress of the work, given because they show 

 a number of important intermediates of the 

 present series that are very useful. Both 

 these plates fall in the first series of broken 

 colors. 



Every one of the 1,115 specimens of color 

 shown on the plates is given a name. The 

 method used in selecting these names is given 

 in considerable detail. An excellent index of 

 color names is given on pages 29 to 40, with 

 references to the corresponding specimens in 

 the plates. 



Not the least valuable feature of the book 

 is the list of definitions of color terms on 

 pages 15 to 20. The list of dyes and pigments 

 used in the preparation of the Maxwell disks 

 representing the 36 colors of the fundamental 

 series is given on pages 26 and 27. The text 

 ends with a list of a few of the modern books 

 on the subject which the author found most 

 useful in his work. 



It is perhaps too much to say that this 

 monumental work is the final solution of the 

 problem of color standards, but it is doubtful 

 if any one so competent as Ridgway in mat- 

 ters relating to color will in the near future 

 devote a very important portion of his work- 

 ing life to the subject as Ridgway has done. 

 He has certainly produced a usahle set of 

 standards. 



W. J. Spillman 



U. S. Department of Agriculture 



Microles and Toxins. By E. Buenet. Trans- 

 lated by C. Beoquet and W. M. Scott. G. 

 P. Putnam's Sons. 1912. 

 When Professor Metchnikoff was asked by 

 the publishers of the Bibliotheque de Phi- 

 losophic Scientifique to prepare for that li- 

 brary a book on microbes and toxins he turned 

 the task over to one of his younger colleagues. 



Dr. Etienne Burnet. An English translation 

 has promptly been prepared and makes a vol- 

 ume of some 300 pages. There are four intro- 

 ductory chapters — on the carbon and nitrogen 

 cycles, on the presence of microbes on the sur- 

 faces of the human body, on the morphology, 

 and on the physiology of the microbes — and a 

 concluding chapter on chemical remedies for 

 microbic disease (sleeping sickness and syph- 

 ilis). The other ten chapters forming the bulk 

 of the book deal directly with the problems of 

 infection and immunity. 



The book is a little diificult to place. Ac- 

 cording to Professor Metchnikoff's preface it 

 appears to be intended for general reading. 

 " It is time," he says " for bacteriological sci- 

 ence to leave the laboratory and the lecture 

 theater and to take its place before the great 

 public, in order that its benefits may receive 

 the widest and readiest application." It takes 

 a mature mind and a special gift, however, to 

 produce a really popular and yet valuable book 

 upon a technical subject. The present volume 

 is crammed with minute details and discus- 

 sion of controversial points and seems to the 

 reviewer quite unsuited for the general pub- 

 lic. Even for a student's text-book, there is 

 more detail than is desirable. On the other 

 hand, the treatment is by no means suiSciently 

 full and complete to serve as a reliable work 

 of reference for the advanced worker. 



Its greatest value perhaps lies in the fact 

 that it presents very fairly the position of the 

 Pasteur Institute headed by Professor Metch- 

 nikoff; and the important part played by this 

 school in the development of our knowledge 

 of immunity makes such a " brief," if it may 

 be called so, a valuable contribution to the 

 history of bacteriology. The problems of in- 

 testinal bacteriotherapy in Chapter II., of 

 phagocytosis in Chapters VI. and X., and of 

 the mechanism of immunity in Chapter XI., 

 for example, are of special interest. 



The view is of course always that of Pro- 

 fessor Metchnikoff and his associates rather 

 than a well-rounded presentation of generally 

 accepted opinion; and doubtful points are 

 often dismissed with what one is tempted to 



