906 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 939 



suggestions is likewise given for laboratory 

 work, but in no sense detailed laboratory di- 

 rections; tbey concern hints for handling ma- 

 terial which is not everywhere used for study. 

 One of the most important things about the 

 book is the etymological explanations of the 

 meaning of technical terms, to be found 

 throughout the text, while at the back is a 

 well-selected glossary-index in one. There are 

 some minor errors here and there, as the 

 spelling of Robert Hooke's name as Eobert 

 Hooker, amyolitic for amylolytic, but these 

 are few. The reviewer parts company with 

 the author in regard to the prominence of 

 amitosis in the light of the work of recent re- 

 search in hydroid, cestode, pathologic and 

 other departments; I do not believe that it is 

 sufficiently emphasized that nutrition is the 

 same in photosynthetic forms as in holozoic 

 organisms, but that the difference is in the 

 obtaining of nourishment, the one from inor- 

 ganic substances, the other from foods ready 

 formed. In the chapter " The Relations of 

 the Chromatin to Heredity," the author 

 thinks that it is " almost incredible that there 

 can be in such a small compass the traits of 

 characters which an individual transmits to 

 its offspring." I think likewise and I do not 

 believe that such is the case, but that the 

 chromatin is a determiner of these traits, in 

 the sense of Johanssen; unless this matter is 

 presented to the beginning student in clear 

 epigenetic terms, the whole matter will auto- 

 matically reduce itself to a reductio ad absur- 

 dum in his mind. 



The book is a strong argument for the bio- 

 logical Monroe Doctrine — biology for the biol- 

 ogy classes. The discovery that animals and 

 plants are built upon the same general plan 

 and are in reality different aspects of the 

 same thing is nearing a century in age, yet 

 we teach the subject as if plants and animals 

 were entirely disparate, and that there are no 

 phenomena in common. The introductory 

 course in physics and in chemistry aims to be 

 general and to treat the science as a whole. 

 It is as logical for the chemist to introduce 

 his beginning students to organic chemistry, 

 as for the biologist to make his elementary 



course mere botany or zoology. It is as futile 

 to argue that no man can teach biology be- 

 cause he can not be a good botanist and a 

 good zoologist at the same time as to assert 

 that the teacher of physical chemistry can not 

 be successful because he can not be both 

 physicist and chemist: the point is that he is 

 neither, he is a physical chemist, as the biol- 

 ogist should be a biologist. Professor Conn 

 has given ammunition to the advocates of 

 courses in general biology for beginning stu- 

 dents. -, -,. 



M. M. 



Handhooh of Mental Examination Methods. 



By Shepherd Ivory Franz, Ph.D. New 



York, 1912. Nervous and Mental Disease 



Monograph Series No. 10. 



Dr. Franz's volume adds another to the 

 several recent handbooks of psychological 

 methods and, as from a psychiatric angle, an 

 addition quite worth making. It is an ac- 

 count of the simpler experimental methods 

 to be used in the study of mental affections. 

 The ground covered is the usual field of psy- 

 chological experimentation, with a few special 

 chapters, as one on Speech and Aphasia. The 

 experimental methods described are taken 

 somewhat from the literature, but are also 

 largely the author's own, and in some of these 

 latter instances it appears as though the field 

 should have been more thoroughly gone over 

 with reference to the work of others along 

 similar lines. As to the single experiments 

 described, the critic will appreciate that some 

 experience with them is necessary to estimate 

 their value for clinical purposes. Under Sen- 

 sation are described the simple procedures 

 with which most of us are familiar, though 

 the methods of pain-measurement seem to be 

 regarded as more objective than is the case. 

 The reflexes and automatic acts are nearly 

 passed over in the chapter on movement, 

 though Franz has himself contributed to our 

 knowledge of their pathology. Only the 

 simpler methods are described for the observa- 

 tion of motor speed, accuracy, etc. The chap- 

 ter on aphasia does not deal with experimental 

 methods, but aims at sound guidance to clin- 



