18 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 366. 



covery that fei'inentation, putrefaction and 

 iinally, that many diseases are due to micro- 

 organisms, stimulated studies which led to 

 the establishment of the science of bacteriol- 

 ogy. The revival in the nineteenth century of 

 the question of spontaneous g'eneration is 

 mentioned, and the great triumph of Pasteur 

 in demonstrating the falsity of the position of 

 the heterogenists. Here also one notes an- 

 other omission — no reference is made to the 

 luminous researches of Tyndall on this subject 

 with optically pure air. The great inflvience 

 of embryology as founded on the work of Pan- 

 der and von Baer is sympathetically although 

 briefly treated. The facts that all animals be- 

 gin as single cells, and show every gradation 

 between that simple condition and the more 

 complex one of the adult, and that ontogeny 

 is in a sense an epitome of phylogeny, are 

 sufficiently striking to endue this subject 

 with unusual interest. Lastly, the influence 

 of the establishment of the theory of evolution 

 is spoken of. 



In physiology the fundamental importance 

 of experiment is pointed ovit — what the mi- 

 croscope is for anatomy, experiment is for 

 physiology. Among the greatest advances 

 mentioned in the first half of the century are 

 the demonstration of Bell's law and the elabo- 

 ration of the theory of specific energy by 

 Johannes Miiller. The development of phys- 

 iology along the respective lines of chemical 

 and physical physiology is discussed, together 

 with the opposition aroused by these researches 

 to the old theory of vitalism. The observa- 

 tions as to the action of chemical substances 

 within the bodies of lower animals were turned 

 to practical account in medicine. While phys- 

 iology was being developed along chemical 

 lines by one school, represented by Claude 

 Bernard Pettinkofer, Voigt, Pfliiger, Heiden- 

 hain and others, it was being advanced along 

 physical lines by Eobert Meyer, Helmholtz, 

 Ludwig, Dubois-Eeymond and others. With 

 the latter school came exact methods of meas- 

 uring and recording physiological activities, 

 as with the kymograph, myograph, etc. The 

 greatest triumph of the chemical and physical 

 methods was in demonstrating that physio- 

 logical processes are chemico-physical rather 



than vital. But this conception has been car- 

 ried too far ; some physiologists look upon life, 

 with all its complex manifestations, as being 

 entirely chemical and physical. This is as far 

 wrong as the old theory of vitalism. The re- 

 lation of the physicist to biological questions 

 is similar to that of the chemist. Physiologi- 

 cal questions can not be ex].)lained on purely 

 chemical and physical grounds. We can not 

 find out the role played by albumin in vital 

 processes by study of its chemistry, but by 

 direct study of the protoplasm in living cells. 

 We must return to an anatomico-biological 

 basis and let it be modified by the chemico- 

 physical conception. The material world must 

 be united by biological studies with the mani- 

 festations of the inunaterial world of life. 



William A. Locy. 

 Comparative Physiology of the Brain and 



Comparative Psychology. By Jacques 



LoEB. The Science Series. New York, G. 



P. Putnam's Sons. 1900. Pp. x + 309. 



$1.50. 



Professor Loeb's book forcibly calls atten- 

 tion to the importance of the comparative 

 method in physiology and psychology. The 

 present work is a translation, with additions 

 and changes, of the German edition of 1900 by 

 Mrs. Loeb. The book has been made into 

 English with singular skill. It is clear, con- 

 cise, scientifically accurate in statement, and, 

 withal, readable. Of it may truthfully be 

 said 'every words counts.' Whether one agrees 

 or disagrees with any or all of the conclusions 

 reached, the discussion is valuable, for it 

 pleads for opposition, contradiction, investiga- 

 tion. There are not so very many physiolo- 

 gists, we fancy, who will fully agree with all 

 the theories which Professor Loeb seeks to 

 maintain ; fewer still are the psychologists who 

 will find themselves in sympathy with his 

 attitude, and among ethical thinliers scarcely 

 any will come to the support of the new scien- 

 tific construction whose possibility, nay, neces- 

 sity — for our author is evidently a man of 

 strong convictions — is hinted at. But opposi- 

 tion is needed for the testing of the theories 

 in which the book abounds, although we doubt 

 not that in the main the author's position is 

 a safe one. Nothing is clearer than the seri- 



