NOVEMBEK 1, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



595 



increased in size and became soft, slender, 

 conical protuberances of bluish color, and 

 about five eighths of an inch in length. These 

 became the framework of a growth of a moss- 

 like gill structure, that covered them com- 

 pletely. "When these changes were complete, 

 the " water-dog " had assumed the form fa- 

 miliar to the writer, and known, to be the 

 axolotl. This animal he had regarded as dis- 

 tinct from the " water-dog," and the apparent 

 identity of the two animals impressed him 

 greatly. Later he secured a publication con- 

 cerning this, to him, amazing transformation; 

 but the transformation therein described was 

 of the reverse order, or from the axolotl form 

 to that of the "water-dog." As the writer 

 shortly after removed to the east, he had no 

 opportunity of repeating the experiment, and 

 finally dismissed the matter from his mind. 

 If the facts here detailed have not been 

 hitherto recorded, it would be interesting if 

 some one would repeat this experiment, which 

 is a too distant memory to be submitted as a 

 scientific demonstration. 



E. D. O. Johnson 



NOTE ON THE LIFE HISTORIES OF THE FERN RUSTS 

 OP THE GENUS UREDINOPSIS 



Under Peridermium halsameum Peck the 

 writer^ described experiments and observa- 

 tions which indicated that the fern rusts be- 

 longing to the genus Uredinopsis are heteroe- 

 cious, having their secial stage on Abies 

 ialsamea (L.) Mill. Artificial infection ex- 

 periments carried on during the present season 

 by the writer have established the conclusions 

 there stated. These experiments have shown 

 that Uredinopsis Osmundw Magn., TJ. Struthi- 

 tpteridis Stormer, U, Phegopteridis Arthur, U. 

 mirabilis (Peck) Arthur, and U. Athinsonii 

 Magn. have their secial stages on Ahies hal- 

 samea (L.) MiU. The secia are the white 

 spored forms that have passed as Peridermium 

 ialsameum Peck. A detailed description of 

 the experiments will be published soon. 



W. P. Eraser 



Macdonald College, 

 Quebec 



^Mycol., 4: 189, 1912. 



" PAWLOW " 



I NOTE with interest Professor Halsted's 

 protest^ against the spelling of Lobachevski's 

 name with a "w," a sort of scientific Weller- 

 ism which Teutonic influence has foisted upon 

 the English language. Is it too much to hope 

 that some day we may find American physiol- 

 ogists referring to Pavlofi instead of to Paw- 

 low, or is it true that in such mixed crosses, 

 as the heredity experts would say, German 

 pedantry is prepotent over common sense? 



J. P. Abbott 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Non-Euclidean Geometry. A critical and his- 

 torical study of its development. By 

 EoBERTO BoNOLA. Translated by H. S. 

 Carslaw. Chicago, The Open Court Pub- 

 lishing Co. 1912. 



To Dr. Paul Cams the world is greatly in- 

 debted for making this book accessible in the 

 universal language, English. 



There are two ways of envisaging the com- 

 ing of non-euclidean geometry; either as a 

 gradual development or as a saltation. The 

 first attitude is taken in my article, " The 

 non-euclidean geometry inevitable " ;* the sec- 

 ond in the introductions to my translations of 

 Lobachevski and Bolyai, where I say Lo- 

 bachevski was the first man ever to publish a 

 non-euclidean geometry, though Bolyai's 

 marvel of genius went perfect to the printer 

 in the same year, 1839, the most extraor- 

 dinary two dozen pages in the whole history 

 of thought. 



Bonola's book takes the developmental view- 

 point, and the first 83 pages give a just and 

 adequate account of the forerunners of non- 

 euclidean geometry, with whom belong Schwei- 

 kart. Gauss and Taurinus, though far great- 

 est of whom was Saccheri. 



The inadequacy of the book is in the 30 

 pages, out of 268, devoted to the real founders 

 of non-euclidean geometry, John Bolyai and 

 Lobachevski, whose very names Carslaw has 



> Science, May 10, 1912, p. 736. 

 1 Monist, 4, 483-493. 



