April 11, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



359 



that are proposed. There is not this oppor- 

 tunity in science, although science is funda- 

 mental. 



The relative absence of scientific men from 

 the House of Commons is both a cause and a 

 symptom of the neglect of science in this coun- 

 try. The majority of members of parliament 

 fall into two classes. One of these consists 

 chiefly of representatives of the great work- 

 ing-class organizations, whose subscriptions 

 supply the necessary funds for contesting elec- 

 tions, and whose membership gives the requi- 

 site electoral backing. Even if a similar com- 

 bination were to be desired in the ease of sci- 

 entific workers — an extremely doubtful propo- 

 sition — their numbers are too few to make it 

 effective. The other great class consists chiefly 

 of persons who have inherited or acquired a 

 competence, and who have the money and the 

 leisure to woo an electorate. As matters are 

 arranged at present, it is almost impossible 

 for a man who devotes his life to scientific re- 

 search to acquire a competence. His life is 

 spent between the laboratory and the lecture- 

 room amid gray suburban or provincial sur- 

 roundings, with possibly a small retiring pen- 

 sion. He must be content, and for the most 

 part he is content, with the high adventures 

 of thought and with the appreciation of his 

 fellows. We suggest that this compulsory seg- 

 regation is bad for scientific researchers and 

 worse for the nation. — London Times. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Contrihutions to Embryology. Published by 

 the Carnegie Institution of Washington. 

 No. 1, 1915; No. 26, 1918. Volumes 1-8. 

 Every Amercan embryologist who does not 

 indulge in envj' may pardonably take pride in 

 the Contrihutions to Embryology issued by 

 the Carnegie Institution. They form an an- 

 atomical publication of unqualified distinction, 

 since all three factors needed for success have 

 fortunately been realized. First, there has 

 been a group of able contributors with beauti- 

 fully illustrated and important manuscripts; 

 further, there has been generous means for the 

 proper publication of whatever is accepted. 

 Finally, there has been an editor in charge. 



whose name does not appear in the title, but 

 whose impress is upon every page. It is not 

 by chance that tlie great journals of anatomy 

 have been edited by no less distinguished lead- 

 ers than Max Schultze, His and Virchow. 

 The Carnegie Contributions which thus far 

 rank so well with these are essentially Mall's 

 Archiv and one of his worthiest memorials. 

 Even though they are being so ably continued 

 by his junior colleague in the Carnegie Lab- 

 oratory, who may realize all that Mall had 

 planned, we can not repress deep regret that 

 the work was only well established — scarcely 

 more than begun — when it was left for others 

 to carry on. 



Why is the publication so attractive? Pos- 

 sibly because of the absence of " efficiency " 

 methods, so incompatible with scholarly and 

 artistic work. The contributions even appear 

 at irregular intert'als when something of mo- 

 ment has been completed and not because it is 

 time for a new issue. There are no rules for 

 preparing standard manuscript, no Procrustean 

 regulation that for every plate there must be so 

 many pages of text, and thanks to the Car- 

 negie Institution, no insulting request that 

 authors of accepted articles pay any part of 

 the cost of publication. If the editor finds a 

 contribution unworthy of a place, he may 

 decline it; but if accepted, it will be fittingly 

 published with the needed figures skilfully 

 and delicately reproduced. And because the 

 editor's judgment is sound, it becomes an 

 achievement to have an article appear in such 

 select company. Probably the Contributions 

 shed their enlightening rays in the far corners 

 of the earth, but it is not so announced. The 

 contributor, however, knows for himself that 

 wlierever human embryology is studied, these 

 publications will be sought for and treasured. 



The series of twenty-six papers thus far pub- 

 lished begins auspiciously with Mall's mono- 

 graph on the fate of the embryo in tubal 

 pregnancy, and Professor Mall has contributed 

 two others — on cyclopia and on the intra- 

 chorionie magma. Professors Van der Stricht 

 and Duesberg, who, during the occupation of 

 Belgium, became the welcome guests of Amer- 

 can anatomists, continued here their well- 



