142 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 369. 



pioneers would be most valuable to science. 

 Although Professor Chittenden attempts to 

 reconcile his views in regard to antipeptone 

 with modern investigations, in an addendum 

 to 'a chemico-physiological study of certain 

 derivatives of the proteids/ page 321, still we 

 think he fails to make his point very clear. 

 John A. Mandel. 



Primitive Man. By Doctor Moeiz Hoernes. 



Translated into English by James H. 



LoEWE, London, 1900. Dent and Co. Pp. 



136, Figs. 48. 



This handy little 16mo volume forms the 

 twenty-third nvimber in the series of Temple 

 Primers designed by the publishers to furnish, 

 for a shilling a copy, the best and latest results 

 of scholarship to the average reader who can- 

 not afford the costly encyclopedias. Begin- 

 ning with the subject of man's place in nature 

 the author sums up the characteristics of cul- 

 ture, the earliest traces of man, the ages of 

 stone, bronze and iron; and the primitive his- 

 tory of the Aryans and Semites. Small space 

 is given to the "Western Hemisphere, but that 

 is fortunate in two ways, for some wild guess- 

 ing has been done on that topic, and, secondly, 

 American readers will be glad to have a handy 

 little guide book to European archeology. Not 

 one American authority is mentioned in the 

 bibliography and no European work later than 

 1894. 



0. T. Mason. 



Anleitung zur mikroskopischen Uniersuch- 

 ung der vegetabilischen Nahrungs- und 

 Genussmittel. By Dr. A. F. W. SChimper, 

 o. Professor der Botanik an der Uni- 

 versitat Basel. Second revised edition. 

 Jena, Verlag von Gustav Fisher. 1900. 

 A melancholy interest attaches to the con- 

 sideration of this book owing to the recent 

 death of Dr. Schimper in the prime of life. 

 Here in a space of 150 pages we have a very 

 attractive and useful introduction to the mi- 

 croscopic appearance of ilours, starches and 

 their adulterants ; of coffee and its adulterants ; 

 cocoa, chocolate, tea, tobacco, pepper, cloves, 

 allspice, red pepper, mustard, saffron, cinna- 

 mon, vanilla, cardamon, nutmeg, mace, ginger 

 and turmeric. There is also a chapter on the 



adulterants of fruit jellies, and one on honey. 

 The book contains a good index and 134 fig- 

 ures, which are well drawn and very attrac- 

 tive. Among the substances used for adulter- 

 ating coffee Schimper mentions the following: 

 Chickory, beets, carrots, figs, various cereals, 

 lupin seeds, acorns, carobs, dates, vegetable 

 ivory, potatoes. These are described in a 

 space of twenty pages with seventeen illus- 

 trations. Under fruit jellies, we learn that 

 agar-agar is frequently employed for their 

 adulteration and that this substance may be 

 detected readily by means of the microscope, 

 owing to the fact that these seaweeds always 

 have numerous diatoms clinging to their sur- 

 face, as any one may determine readily by 

 burning a small quantity of agar-agar in a 

 platinum dish, adding to the ashes a few drops 

 of water rendered acid by HCl and then ex- 

 amining under high powers of the microscope. 

 When jellies are suspected of adulteration with 

 agar-agar, the author recommends that the 

 mass of jelly be boiled with about five per 

 cent, dilute sulphuric acid, and then that a 

 few crystals of permanganate of potash be 

 carefully added. The previously suspended 

 diatom shells now fall to the bottom and form 

 a more or less rich sediment, which may be 

 examined without any further preparation. 



In this age of haste to be rich at any cost, 

 the extension of the adulteration of food prod- 

 ucts has become very great, and the knowl- 

 edge contained in books of this kind increases 

 yearly in importance, not only to the special 

 worker, but to the general public. The mod- 

 erate price of four Marks in paper covers, or 

 five Marks, bound, puts the book within the 

 reach of every one. 



Eewin F. Smith. 



Vse-Inheritance illustrated hy the Direction 

 of Hair on the Bodies of Animals. By 

 Walter Kjdd, M.D., F.Z.S. London, Adam 

 and Charles Black. 1901. 

 This is an interesting contribution to the 

 dynamic or Lamarckian principles of evolu- 

 tion. Dr. Kidd has first treated of the forma- 

 tion of whorls in the hairy coats of mammals; 

 and second, the slope of hair in certain 

 selected regions of the bodies of animals and 



