830 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 937 



enhanced by frequent and exact citation of 

 authorities. 



Concerning the specific treatment of the 

 large number of topics discussed by Professor 

 Ellwood little can be said in a brief review. 

 Concerning the adequacy of the book . as a 

 whole, however, a few words of comment may 

 not be out of place. In the preface Professor 

 Ellwood himself modestly refers to the volume 

 as an introduction to the psychological theory 

 of society. That this correctly characterizes 

 it, however, is true only in the sense that 

 every work that attempts to deal with so large 

 a field must leave the major part of the task 

 undone. 



The chief thing, however, which Professor 

 EUwood leaves undone is to bring abstraction 

 to the test of inductive verification and to 

 make concrete application of theory to history 

 and to current events. To require him to 

 have thus tested and applied all the theories he 

 discusses, however, would be to demand of him 

 the completed results of the task which sociol- 

 ogy is just beginning. The fault perhaps lies 

 more with the present status of sociology than 

 with Professor Ellwood. Nevertheless, in the 

 present reviewer's opinion the author could 

 have improved his book very greatly by con- 

 densation of abstract discussion, by more fre- 

 quent appeal to fact and more frequent illus- 

 tration of the practical value of theory in 

 meeting the broad problems of public policy. 



To have systematically reviewed in a single 

 volume, however, the various positions taken 

 by the most important writers on the long list 

 of topics mentioned above is a service ; to have 

 done so with the insight and care shovsTi by 

 Professor Ellwood is an achievement. 



A. A. Tenney 



Columbia IlNnrEBSiTT 



A VOTE ON TEE FBIOHITY BULE BY THE 



AMEBICAN SOCIETY OF ZOOLOGISTS, 



CENTBAL BBANCH 



At the April meeting of the Central Branch 

 of the American Society of Zoologists at 

 Urbana, the Committee on Nomenclature in 

 its report to that body requested authority to 

 ask from the membership of the Central 



Branch an expression of opinion on the fol- 

 lowing question : " Do you favor the strict 

 (inflexible) application of the ' priority rule ' 

 as the latter is now interpreted by the Inter- 

 national Commission on Nomenclature ? " 



This request was granted by the adoption 

 of the report by the Central Branch on April 

 5, 1912. 



The chairman of the conamittee then en- 

 tered into correspondence with the other four 

 members in order to reach an agreement as 

 to the manner of taking such a ballot, and this 

 correspondence was terminated just before the 

 commencement season of 1912, too late for a 

 satisfactory ballot to be taken during that col- 

 legiate year. 



On September 20, 1912, a letter was ad- 

 dressed to each member of the Central Branch 

 showing the authority under which the vote 

 was taken, quoting the " priority rule " with- 

 out comment and asking a prompt return of 

 the enclosed ballot in an addressed and 

 stamped envelope furnished with the vote. 



Practically a month was given for the re- 

 turn of the ballots, and then the chairman of 

 the committee requested the two nearest mem- 

 bers to meet with him at Chicago on October 

 19 to open the ballots and decide on the form 

 and medium of publication of the result of 

 the vote. 



The follovnng members voted in favor of 

 the strict (inflexible) application of the pri- 

 ority rule as now interpreted by the Interna- 

 tional Commission on Nomenclature: 



J. F. Abbott, professor of zoology, Washington 



University. 

 C. H. Eigenmann, professor of zoology, Indiana 



University. 

 Harrison Garman, professor of entomology and 



zoology, Kentucky State University; and state 



entomologist. 

 Harold Heath, professor of invertebrate zoology, 



Stanford University. 

 S. J. Holmes, associate professor of zoology, Uni- 

 versity of California. 

 W. J. Moenkhaus, professor of physiology, Indiana 



University. 

 S. E. Meek, assistant curator of zoology, Field 



Museum of Natural History. 



