.December 13, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



827 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



The Physiology of Reproduction. By Dr. F. 

 H. A. Maeshall. Preface by Professor E. 

 A. SCHAFER, and contributions by Dr. W. 

 Ceamee and Dr. J. Lochhead. London, 

 New York, Longmans, Green & Co. 1910. 

 Pp. svii + Y06; 154 illustrations. Price 

 $6.00 net. 



Some branches of science are extensiyely 

 intertwined with very many and very diverse 

 branches of other sciences. The physiology of 

 development is a notable example, since the 

 data upon which it rests lie entangled in 

 broad and widely different aspects of zoology 

 and anatomy, obstetrics and gynecology, 

 physiology and agriculture, anthropology and 

 statistics. 



Probably it is just this bewildering place- 

 ment and variety of fact that has hitherto 

 proved so effective a discouragement to au- 

 thorship in this field. At any rate, the subject 

 is here presented in a complete form for the 

 first time. The physiology of nerve and 

 muscle, of secretion and digestion, have long 

 been systematically studied and the results 

 have been many times brought together; too, 

 studies in practical breeding, gametogenesis, 

 and genetics have long been pursued, and the 

 state of knowledge in each has been frequently 

 epitomized. It is only very recently, however, 

 that physiologists have begun to be impressed 

 with the important relations which processes 

 of reproduction bear to many other life proc- 

 esses; and only in the immediate present, in 

 the field of heredity, is it becoming evident 

 that the physiology of reproduction must help 

 to solve many a problem heretofore attacked 

 only from a very different standpoint. But, 

 the breadth, vigor and thoroughness of Dr. 

 Marshall's pioneering treatise are as satisfac- 

 tory as the need of such a work was pressing. 



Though the author has collected data of 

 many kinds from very many different sources, 

 his volume is much more than a digested ab- 

 stract of the scattered literature; his ovpn re- 

 searches during several years on many of the 

 important topics of reproduction have given 



the insight which alone can produce so unified 

 and clear a volume. 



Perhaps the greater number of pages of the 

 work bear mostly upon the morphological side 

 of the subject. This is probably both neces- 

 sary and advantageous in the present state of 

 the science. A solid structural basis is espe- 

 cially required where and when so many ele- 

 mental questions are unsolved and still tremb- 

 ling in the balance. Chapters U., HI. and 

 IV., dealing with the oestrous cycle and 

 changes in the ovary are notably of this char- 

 acter; largely morphological also are Chapters 

 VII. and X. concerning the accessory repro- 

 ductive organs of the male, and the placenta. 

 The first chapter treats of the breeding sea- 

 son of animals; all of the invertebrate phyla 

 being considered as well as the several classes 

 of vertebrates. Other important chapters treat 

 of the ovary and testis as organs of internal 

 secretion, changes in the maternal organism 

 during pregnancy, fertilization, lactation, fer- 

 tility and the determination of sex. A rather 

 too condensed but excellently written chapter 

 on the biochemistry of the sexual organs will 

 be welcomed by many. Besides other things 

 it brings together for the first time most of the 

 data now at hand on the new and promising 

 subject of the energetics of development. 



In many of these chapters the data and 

 theories presented are criticized in the light 

 of the author's own researches. In this way 

 are presented some excellent treatments of 

 such subjects as, the internal secretory func- 

 tion of the ovary and the testis; Mendelism; 

 the influence of domestication, feeding, etc., 

 upon the recurrence of the cestrous cycle and 

 upon fecundity; fertility, and ovulation and 

 the ovarian changes. We may note the point 

 of view in only one or two of these cases. The 

 internal secretions of the reproductive organs . 

 are attributed a scope and role not accorded 

 by some recent investigators; and the connec- 

 tion between the ovary and uterus is consid- 

 ered as exclusively chemical, not nervous. 

 Again, we note that the author is not led by 

 the study of the physiology of reproduction to 

 accept some of the important conceptions of 

 Mendelism. " To the physiologist therefore a 



