Apeil 15, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



535 



I could not discover that she hit upon anything tliat 

 "was connected with the handkerchief. 



John Teowbeidqe. 



Let me say that I have no firm mind about the 

 matter. I am curiously and yet absolutely uninter- 

 ested in it for the reason that I don't see how I can 

 exclude the hypothesis of fraud, and, until that can 

 be excluded, no advance can be made. 



When I took the medium's hand, I had my usual 

 experience with them, a few preposterous compli- 

 ments concerning the clearness of my understanding, 

 and nothing more. 



N. S. Shalee. 



Since writing the foregoing, I have gone over the 

 notes in detail, making a memorandum of successes 

 and failures. I am surprised to see how little is true. 

 Nearly every approach to truth is at once vitiated by 

 erroneous additions or developments. 



J. M. Peikce. 



On re-reading your notes I find absolutely nothing 

 of value. None of the incidents are correct, and none 

 of the very vague things hinted at are true, nor have 

 they any kind or sort of relation to my life, nor is 

 there one name correctly given. 



S. "Weie Mitchell. 



Truly, "we have piped unto you, but ye 

 have not danced." 



J. McK. C. 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 A Text-Book of Zoology. By T. Jbffbey Par- 

 ker, D.Sc, F.K.S., Professor of Biology in 

 the University of Otago, Dunedin, N. Z., aud 

 William A. Haswell, M. A., D.Sc, F.R.S., 

 Professor of Biology in the University of 

 Sydney, N. S. W. London, Macmillan & Co.; 

 New York, The Macmillan Co. 1897. 8vo. 

 Pp. XXXV + 779 (Vol. I.) + XX + 683 (Vol. 

 II.). Price, $10.60. 



Parker and Haswell's long awaited text-book 

 will be welcomed with pleasure and even with 

 gratitude that so admirable a work has been 

 placed within the reach of teachers and 

 students of zoology, but we cannot repress a 

 feeling of sadness that its gifted senior author 

 did not live to see the fruit of the immense labor 

 that he must have bestowed upon it. It was to 

 be expected that the author of the ' Elementary 

 Biology ' and of the ' Zootomy ' would produce 

 a work on zoology of high merit. This expec- 

 tation has not been disappointed and Professors 



Parker and Haswell have given us a book which 

 is sure to take and long continue to hold a 

 leading place among manuals of zoology. 



The book shows throughout the influence of 

 Parker's long experience as student, teacher 

 and author, in the teaching of elementary 

 biology by the method usually associated with 

 the name of Huxley, whose demonstrator he 

 was between the years 1872 and 1880. Hux- 

 ley's method was distinguished especially by the 

 prominence given to the ' type ' system, by 

 the stress laid upon physiological and morpho- 

 logical considerations as opposed to the minxdise 

 of botanical and zoological classification, and by 

 the effort to treat plants and animals, as far as 

 possible, as only two aspects of one fundamental 

 series of phenomena. It has often been criticised 

 — sometimes justly, sometimes through a mis- 

 conception of Huxley's theory of biological 

 teaching or a lack of acquaiutance with the con- 

 ditions of its practical application ; it has been 

 variously modified to meet special needs and 

 conditions, but there can be no question as to 

 the great stimulus that it gave to biological 

 studies or the vast improvement it has effected 

 in the teaching of botany and zoology in the 

 strict sense. 



The precise relation of elementary biology to 

 the subsequent study of zoology or botany has 

 not thus far found very definite expression in 

 the text-books. Parker and Haswell's book is 

 so arranged as to follow naturally after such an 

 elementary course, but despite its bulk it is 

 also skilfully adapted to the needs of the be- 

 ginner who has not had the advantage of the 

 preparatory work. The bopk takes its point of 

 departure from a brief account of Amceba, which 

 is prefaced to a general introductory study of 

 animal cells, tissues and organs and some of the 

 more important facts of animal physiology. 

 This introduction has wisely been made as brief 

 as possible, and the principal discussion of gen- 

 eral questions has been deferred to the end of 

 the book, where will be found excellent chapters 

 on distribution, the ' philosophy ' and history 

 of zoology, heredity, evolution and the like. 

 In the systematic treatment of the groups, form- 

 ing the main body of the book, the type system 

 is consistently followed throughout. While 

 fully aware of the limitations and drawbacks of 



