DECEMBER 13, 1918] 
ergotism, and of Denys, who performed transfu- 
sion of the blood in Paris in 1667. Descartes, 
who was chiefly known in other  scien- 
tifie connections, did some useful work on vis- 
ual accommodation, and Lavoisier made a con- 
tribution to the chemistry of respiration. He 
spoke next of Laénnec, of Magendie, who was 
probably the first experimental pharmacologist ; 
of Le Gallois, who worked on the vagus nerve; 
of Flourens, who first used chloroform in ex- 
periments on animals; of Claude Bernard, 
who studied the action of the pancreas in 
diabetes and worked also on the nervous sys- 
tem, and of Paul Bert, his pupil, who organ- 
ized the teaching of natural sciences in 
France; of Duchenne, the originator of elec- 
trotherapy; of Broca, Charcot, Achard, Das- 
tre, Carrel and others. The work of Pasteur 
was dealt with in a previous lecture. In con- 
cluding, the lecturer referred to the cordial ex- 
change between British and French science 
which had been maintained for three centuries, 
save for the interruption of the Napoleonic 
wars, and said that whenever French scien- 
tists had been persecuted by religious bigots 
they had always found a refuge in England.— 
British Medical Journal. 
SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
Medical Contributions to the Study of Evolu- 
tion. By J. G. Apvamit. New York, The 
Macmillan Co. 1918. 
Professor Adami has brought together in 
this volume his Croonian Lectures delivered 
in 1917 and a number of more or less cognate 
articles and addresses written or delivered at 
various times from 1892 onwards. The Croon- 
ian Lectures, entitled “ Adaptation and Dis- 
ease,” form the piéce de resistance of the vol- 
ume and present evidence drawn from bac- 
teriological and medical sources, which, in the 
lecturer’s opinion, indicate that variation in 
organisms is something “ primarily acquired, 
proceeding from without,” rather than some- 
thing “primarily inherent, proceeding from 
within.” The evidence submitted consists (1) 
of the effect of changed environment in pro- 
ducing structural or, more especially, physio- 
SCIENCE 
601 
logical modifications in unicellular organisms, 
such as bacteria and (2) the effects of im- 
munization in producing physiological modi- 
fications of organisms, shown by their in- 
creased powers of resistence. In both these 
classes of cases definite conditions primarily 
external produce definite modifications and 
these may therefore be regarded as acquired. 
In collating data on the origin of variation 
from sources that are not always familiar to 
those whose studies lie in other fields Pro- 
fessor Adami has done good service, but un- 
fortunately he combines with this a vigorous 
criticism of biologists in general for having 
failed to recognize the direct action of toxic 
substances on the germ cells or that of the en- 
vironment on unicellular organisms. Far 
from being “shocked” at the suggestion of 
such ideas biologists have all along accepted 
them, even Weismann, who seems to be re- 
garded as the fons et origo of “academic” 
biology; indeed, Professor Adami in an ad- 
dress of 1892, reprinted in the present volume, 
cites from Weismann a statement as to the 
effect of the environment on protozoa, which 
might well have been repeated in the lectures. 
Nor should the implication that zoologists 
have established a conspiracy of silence re- 
garding Professor Gaskell’s theories as to the 
origin of vertebrates be allowed to pass un- 
disputed. Dr. Adami has apparently forgot- 
ten that a symposium upon these theories was 
held as one of the regular meetings of the 
Linnean Society, Professor Gaskell’s work 
being thus accorded a recognition and an 
honor granted but rarely. Zoologists have 
been by no means unappreciative of the merits 
of Gaskell’s observations even though they 
may have declined, for reasons that seemed 
to them sufficient, to accept his theories, and 
the insinuation that they acted the part of 
the Levite because Gaskell was a physiologist 
intruding in their territory is as unjust as it 
is incorrect. 
A chapter on the significance of immuni- 
zation as an example of a direct adaptation 
contains much that is of interest to biologists 
in general and this is followed by a chapter 
