^04 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 346 



the Wimbledon Sewage Works, England. The principle underly- 

 ing this plan of dealing with sewage is the employment of " amine " 

 salts in combination with milk of lime. At Wimbledon, herring 

 "brine is used, and on mixing with the lime a very soluble gaseous 

 re-agent is evolved, to which the inventor has given the name of 

 " amerinol." This re-agent possesses a peculiar briny odor, and 

 when introduced into sewage is said rapidly to extirpate all micro- 

 •organisms capable of causing putrefaction or disease. The effect 

 is almost instantaneous. By the action of the lime, violent floccu- 

 lation is caused, and subsidence takes place in about half an hour, 

 the putrid smell of the sewage being replaced by the peculiar briny 

 ■odor. According to Dr. Klein, the destruction of micro-organisms 

 is absolute. The total cost per annum of treating London sewage 

 by this method is put at $625,000. Should the residue prove to 

 possess any value for agricultural purposes, its sale would tend 

 still further to reduce the expense. 



Vaccination in Japan. — Vaccination, according to Medicai 

 J^ews, has been obligatory for some years in Japan, and every in- 

 fant is required by the police to be vaccinated. The value of the 

 procedure is, however, well recognized by the people themselves, 

 and the government hospitals in every town are always thronged 

 with applicants on the weekly " vaccination day." In 1886 there 

 ■were 1,531 vaccinations to each 10,000 inhabitants. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



Benjamm Franklin. By JOHN T. MORSE, Jun. Boston, Hough- 

 ton, Mifflin, & Co. 12°. $1.25. 



This is the latest issue in the American Statesmen Series, and 

 is well worthy of its place. It treats Franklin exclusively as a 

 statesman, his scientific discoveries being only incidentally alluded 

 to, and his business life very slightly sketched. His early years, 

 too, are passed quickly over, the author thinking that Franklin 

 himself has recounted his early life so admirably that no one else 

 can successfully deal with it. Accordingly, with the third chapter 

 we find our hero despatched on his first mission to England, and 

 all the rest of the book is devoted exclusively to his public ser- 

 Tices. Mr. Morse shows perfect mastery of his subject, and his 

 style is clear, refined, and dignified ; and these qualities make the 

 book interesting throughout. His account of Franklin's labors in 

 England is sufficiently full, and shows why in the main they failed. 

 The dispute between the people of Pennsylvania and the proprie- 

 taries of the province was one that could not be settled, and in 

 fact was not settled, until the people had the entire government in 

 their hands. But Franklin's efforts on behalf of Pennsylvania 

 first, and afterwards of all the Colonies, form a very interesting 

 chapter of American history, which is well set forth in this book. 

 The most important of Franklin's public services, however, were 

 rendered in the capacity of minister to France, and it is this part 

 of his work that Mr. Morse has most elaborately treated. Frank- 

 lin's labors were by no means confined to securing the alliance of 

 France, but included also the difficult task of borrowing, or beg- 

 ging, money in France and everywhere else where it could be got, 

 together with a great variety of services besides. He had for a 

 time two colleagues, but neither was of much use, while one was a 

 mischief-maker of the first order, so that the whole burden virtu- 

 ally fell upon Franklin ; and Mr. Morse probably does not exag- 

 gerate when he affirms that Franklin's services to the national 

 cause were only less arduous and important than those of Wash- 

 ington. 



With regard to the character of his hero, our author expresses 

 himself with some enthusiasm. " Intellectually," he maintains, 

 " there are few men who are Franklin's peers in all the ages and 

 nations. . . . He illustrates humanity in an astonishing multiplicity 

 of ways at an infinite number of points. He, more than any other, 

 seems to show us how many-sided our human nature is." This 

 may be somewhat exaggerated, but it is substantially true ; for few 

 men in history have been great at once in such widely separated 

 departments as politics, science, and literature. With regard to 

 his moral character, Mr. Morse, while not extenuating his faults, 

 prefers to dwell on his excellences, which were undeniably of a 

 high order. " As a patriot, none surpassed him," and " the chief 



motive of his life was to promote the welfare of mankind." " It is 

 not worth while to deify him, or to speak with extravagant rever- 

 ence, as if he had neither faults nor limitations. Yet it seems un- 

 gracious to recall those concerning one who did for his fellow-men 

 so much as Franklin did. Moral, intellectual, and material boons 

 he conferred in such abundance that few such benefactors of the 

 race can be named, though one should survey all the ages." This 

 is high praise, but it is in the main well deserved ; and now, when 

 disinterested patriotism is rare among us, Franklin's example 

 ought to be kept before our eyes, and we hope that this book will 

 be widely read. 



Darwinism : An Exposition of the Theory of Natural Selection, 

 with Some of its 'Applications. By ALFRED RUSSEL WAL- 

 LACE, LL.D. London and New York, Macmillan. 12°. $1.75. 



Darwin, in the greatness of his unselfish candor, receded some- 

 what from the claims of his theory of natural selection, yielding to 

 certain adverse criticisms; and now Dr. Wallace, who had inde- 

 pendently originated the same theory, shows anew his own mag- 

 nanimity in coming to the rescue in a volume entitled " Darwin- 

 ism." The book is opportune, and worthy of its distinguished 

 author, who is a recognized authority. Addressing all intelligent 

 readers, it surveys the whole subject, confining this for the most 

 part, however, to Darwinism pure and simple, which, as given in 

 the title of Darwin's first enunciation, is the "origin of species;" 

 namely, from pre-existing species by natural selection. Dr. Wal- 

 lace has the advantage of reviewing the subject " after nearly 

 thirty years of discussion, with an abundance of new facts and the 

 advocacy of many new and old theories," especially from the pens 

 of noted investigators and leading evolutionists. 



This limitation to evolution of species, in twelve of the fifteen 

 chapters, avoids many perplexing questions, and gives simplicity 

 and unity to the argument. The author regards the main proposi- 

 tion, in its application to existing or comparatively recent species, 

 as all that can be proven, every thing beyond that lying in the re- 

 gion of probable conjecture. The difficulties, popular or scientific, 

 relate chiefly to the origin of the larger divisions of the organic 

 kingdom, the first development of complex organs, and the like. 

 All this is too remote and too imperfectly recorded to be entirely 

 solved ; yet he believes that the generic and ordinal differences 

 among plants and animals are of the same nature as those found 

 in many groups of species, only greater in amount. As we rise to 

 classes and sub-kingdoms, the difficulty is much increased, and we 

 may reasonably doubt whether a radically distinct plan of structure 

 is due to the action of the same laws that have developed species. 



In the second chapter, 00 the struggle for existence, old and 

 new facts are presented, ending with an ethical vindication of na- 

 ture. In the third the variability of species is illustrated by statis- 

 tical diagrams and otherwise, showing that it superabounds and 

 offers always and everywhere material that is plentiful for natural 

 selection, rather than slight and rare, thus obviating one of the 

 common objections to transmutation of species. After discuss- 

 ing in further chapters the subjects of artificial and natural selec- 

 tion, and after meeting certain objections (the utility of all specific 

 characters being especially asserted, with some qualification, and 

 the swamping effects of intercrossing denied), the author treats of 

 infertility of crosses, and sterility of hybrids, and opposes the 

 " physiological selection" of Romanes. Going a step further than 

 Darwin, he regards infertility as beneficial under certain circum- 

 stances, and increased by selection. Four chapters are given to 

 color, exhibiting the author's well-known views as to its origin and 

 its uses, re-enforced by Alfred Tylor's observations on structural 

 decoration. Darwin's theory of sexual selection of the ornamental 

 is rejected, there being, for example, no evidence, except to the 

 contrary, " that slight variations in the color or plumes, in the way 

 of increased intensity or complexity, are what determines the 

 choice." 



The concluding chapters consider geographical distribution ; the 

 geological evidences of evolution ; certain fundamental problems of 

 variation and heredity, with criticism of the recent speculations of 

 Spencer, Cope, Karl Semper, and Geddes, referring particularly to 

 the improved Lamarckian doctrine, lately revived, that acquired 

 characters are inherited ; and, finally, Darwinism applied to man. 



