January 1, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



27 



five years ago to begin regular instruction in 

 the subject to small classes in the Massachu- 

 setts Institute of Technology, and both of the 

 undersigned have now been teaching the his- 

 tory of science in collaboration for the last 

 ten years or more. Like Professor Libby we 

 have keenly felt the need of a text-book, and 

 faute de mieux have now in hand the first of 

 two volumes entitled " Outlines of the History 

 of Science " designed expressly for the use of 

 our own classes. Next summer we hope to 

 have ready Volume I., dealing with the rise 

 and progress of science and the scientific spirit 

 to the fall of the Roman Empire. Volume II., 

 treating of the development of science in medi- 

 eval and modem times, should be ready a year 

 later. 



The course at the Massachusetts Institute 

 of Technology is now an elective for all stu- 

 dents in the third (junior) year and consists 

 of one hour (lecture) and two hours (prep- 

 aration) in the first half year, and two hours 

 (lecture) and three hours (preparation) in 

 the second half. W. T. Sedgwick, 



H. W. Tyler 



Mass. Institute of Technology, 

 November 27, 1914 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Paul Ehrlich, Bine Darsiellung seines Wissen- 



schaftlichen Wirlcens. Festschrift zum 60. 



Geburtstage des Forschers (14 Marz, 1914). 



Mit I Blidnis. Gustav Fischer, Jena, 1914. 



Thirty-seven authors join their efforts in 

 this book of 668 pages to present a summary 

 of the investigations of Paul Ehrlich. The 

 contributions of Ehrlich himself and of his 

 immediate coworkers only are considered pri- 

 marily, and according to the bibliography (up 

 to February 1, 1914) at the end of volume, 

 it concerns, in addition to several books and 

 monographs by Ehrlich, no less than 612 sepa- 

 rate scientific articles. 



The book opens with an interesting biog- 

 raphical introduction by A. von Weinberg. 

 In the gymnasium Ehrlich excelled in mathe- 

 matics and Latin. In the university he early 

 was recognized as of unusual ability and orig- 

 inality. While still a young medical student 



he became interested in problems presented by 

 the selective affinity of lead for certain tissues, 

 an interest which soon extended to the prob- 

 lems of protoplasmic affinity in general and 

 thus really determined the main scope and 

 nature of his later work. 



The main part of the book is divided into 

 five sections covering difl^erent phases of Ehr- 

 lich's investigations. The first section is de- 

 voted to work that especially concerns the his- 

 tology and biology of cells and tissues. Here 

 is included Ehrlich's early work. Among the 

 more notable results discussed in the seven 

 articles of the section, the introduction to 

 which is by Professor Waldeyer, of Berlin, may 

 be mentioned: important discoveries in bac- 

 terial staining methods, now in daily use every- 

 where, in the working out of which Ehrlich 

 cooperated with Koch; the mierochemieal 

 differentiation of leucocytes; the demonstra- 

 tion of the methylene blue reaction of living 

 tissues; and the development of new concep- 

 tions of the structure and function of proto- 

 plasm (Ehrlich's "Das Sauerstoffbediirfniss 

 des Organismus," 1885), which form the basis 

 of the celebrated sidechain theory advanced in 

 the nineties to further the understanding of 

 reactions in immunity. 



The next and the largest section deals with 

 Ehrlich's contributions to the study of immu- 

 nity. It contains fifteen articles by well-known 

 workers in the field in question. The side- 

 chain theory, in the course of the proving of 

 which so much of the work now considered 

 was carried out, is discussed by Wassermann, 

 Of the other subjects dealt with in this section 

 may be mentioned the technical methods em- 

 ployed in the investigation of immunological 

 problems, toxins, antitoxins and other anti- 

 bodies, hypersusceptibility and the working 

 out under the guidance of the side-chain 

 theory of a practical method of standardiza- 

 tion of diphtheria antitoxin. From the read- 

 ing of these articles one is deeply impressed 

 with the great usefulness of Ehrlich's theory 

 of the constitution and affinities of protoplasm 

 in promoting fruitful investigation of the 

 complex problems in chemical biology presented 

 by the phenomena of immunity. The imme- 



