OCTOBEE25, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



557 



(2.) Coccidse have scale-like larvx and live in 



plants. 

 (3.) A picture of a snail shows a sinistral shell, 

 so also does the figure of Lhnnsea stag- 

 nalis. The snail is labelled Helix pomaiia, 

 but the figure appears to represent Helix 

 aspersa. 

 And so on in other cases, although the bulk 

 of the zoological information seems correct. 



This morning Avas brought to me a little book 

 which the New Mexico Territorial Board of 

 Education have under their consideration for 

 adoption in the High Schools. It is called Zo- 

 ology for High Schools and Academies. (Ameri- 

 can Book Company, 1895, pp. 216.) The 

 authoress is Margaretta Burnet. I could not 

 very w"ell recommend its use, after reading in it 

 such things as the following : 

 (1.) p. 90. Scale insects belong to Aphididse. 

 (2.) p. 132. Daddy longlegs is an example of the 



Scorpions. 

 (3.) p. 59. Figures of three ' Fresh water snail- 

 shells. ' The middle figure is a Suc- 

 cinea. On p. 56 a Succinea is cor- 

 rectly figured as a land snail. 

 Yours truly, 



Theo. D. a. Cockeuell. 

 Messilla Paek, New Mexico. 



SCIENTIFIC LITEBATUBE. 

 Allgemeine Physiologic. Ein Grimdriss der Lehre 



vom Leben. Von Max Verwoen. Mit 270 Ah- 



bildungen. Jena, Gustav Fischer. 8vo. Pp. 



xi., 584. 



This work is a very acceptable addition to 

 the series of biological text-books issued by 

 Fischer of Jena, and takes its place worthiljr. 

 In size and general appearance it conforms to 

 the model adopted by the same publisher for 

 Hertwig's Embryology, Wiedersheim's Com- 

 parative Anatomy, Ziegler's Pathology, and 

 other familiar authoritative and important man- 

 uals. 



Verworn attempts to present a summary of 

 principles of physiology applicable to both plants 

 and animals generally. He covers, therefore, 

 somewhat the same ground as Claude Bernard 

 in his classic work of ' Les Phenomenes de la 



Vie communes aux Plantes et aux Animaux. ' 

 But whereas the French physiologist included 

 much original research in his work, his German 

 successor gives rather a collation of the results 

 hitherto attained. It is certainly unfortunate 

 that ' General Physiology' has been treated as 

 a stepchild of Biology and left pretty much to 

 shift for herself Verworn renders^ therefore, a 

 substantial service in his book by directing 

 attention rightly, and at the same time present- 

 ing many aspects of the subject in so compre- 

 hensive a manner as greatly to facilitate the 

 further pursuit of this neglected branch of bio- 

 logical science. Such an attempt, when first 

 made, must necessarily be partially successful 

 at the best, because the material to be brought 

 together is scattered in a great variety of mem- 

 oirs, and occurs often as an incidental part of 

 researches upon some problem of sjiecial physi- 

 ology, vegetable or animal. 



We must judge such a work by what it con- 

 tains, not by what it omits. The first chapter, 

 which occupies nearly sixty pages, seems to me 

 inappropriate, and not to add to the scientific 

 usefulness of the whole. It deals with ' the 

 ways and means of physiological investigation,' 

 according to the title chosen for it by the au.thor. 

 But ways and means do not signify to him 

 practical methods, but rather a series of philo- 

 sophical and metaphysical concepts, which 

 appear to me neither very profound nor original, 

 and which certainly lack any obvious bearing 

 on the rest of the work. The chapter, however, 

 includes a brief historical review of the progress 

 of physiology. This review is well done. 



The remaining chapters are properly physio- 

 logical ; their titles will indicate their chapters : 



Chapter II. On the living substance. 



Chapter III. On the elementary phenomena 

 of life. 



Chapter IV. On the general conditions of life. 



Chapter V. On stimuli and their action. 



Chapter VI. On the mechanism of life. 



In each chapter will be found many facts col- 

 lated, such as one cannot readily find elsewhere 

 brought into mutual relations. For example, 

 in Chapter IV. there are considered the present 

 conditions of life in the world, the origin of life 

 on the earth and the history of death, and in 

 Chapter V. the' general nature of stimuli, and 



