792 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. Ko. 675 



the theory of their formation, structure and 

 decomposition. A student who has mastered 

 this book should^ find it an easy matter to 

 gradually enlarge his knowledge by study of 

 some larger book and by reading chemical 

 literature and journals. 



That the book is thoroughly revised and 

 brought up to date is shown by the references 

 to the work of Baeyer and Villiger and Collie 

 and Tickle on oxonium compounds, of Thiele 

 on partial valence, of Ciamieian on pyrrol, 

 of Emil Fischer on amino acids, and by the 

 application of physical chemistry where it 

 serves to explain reactions, as in the formation 

 and saponification of esters. 



The reviewer feels no hesitation in recom- 

 mending this book as one of the best text- 

 books — perhaps it is tlie best — extant for 

 those students for whom it was written, stu- 

 dents of chemistry. It is not suited to stu- 

 dents in high schools or colleges or to medical 

 students who are " taking a course " in organic 



chemistry. 



E. Eenouf 



Die Spiele der Here. Karl Grogs. 2 Aufl. 



Jena, G. Fischer. 1907. Pp. viii + 341. 



This new edition is apparently different 

 from the first chiefly in the changes that were 

 necessary to make it appeal to the lay reader. 

 This impression is given by its appearance 

 in German type, and the omission of a consid- 

 erable amount of theoretical discussion. The 

 anecdotes and instances cited are almost iden- 

 tical with those of the first edition. The only 

 important change in theoretical standpoint 

 is with reference to imitation. In the former 

 edition Groos followed James Mill and cur- 

 rent tradition in regarding imitation as an 

 instinct. In the present edition he takes the 

 ground that it must rest upon individual ac- 

 quirement and presupposes practise based on 

 experimentation. Instincts imply definite re- 

 actions to definite stimuli, while imitative 

 movements are essentially variable in response 

 to many different stimuli. The tendency to 

 imitate, however, is made to rest upon an in- 

 herited disposition. The only considerable 

 change in text is found in the concluding 

 chapter, which has been reduced about three 



quarters, by the omission of all controversial 

 matter and expository statement of theories. 

 In this edition the author limits himself to 

 the statement of his conclusions, that play is 

 a form of experimentation, derives its pleasure 

 from the feeling of power in seK-activity, or 

 from self -exhibition, and is closely related to 

 the esthetic impulses of mankind. 



W. B. PiLLSBURY 



University or Michigan 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 

 The New York Zoological Society has issued 

 the first of a series of papers which will ap- 

 pear from time to time and give the results 

 of the scientific work carried on by members 

 of its staff. The title of the publication is, 

 or was to have been Zoologica, but by an error 

 it appears as Zoologia. This reminds one of 

 the German University that proposed to issue 

 an absolutely perfect Festschrift, and did issue 

 it with a glaring error on the title page. A 

 somewhat similar mistake recently occurred in 

 a number of the Bulletin of the American 

 Museum of Natural History, where the name 

 of the author was misspelled. 



The Museums Journal of Great Britain for 

 October contains articles " On Preparing Arti- 

 ficial Ground-work for Mounting Individual 

 Specimens, Economic Sets, etc., in Spirit," 

 and " A Method of Utilizing Small Wall-areas 

 in Museums for Spirit Preparations," by F. G. 

 Pearcey, and " The Aims and Objects of Mu- 

 seums," and especially the Western Australian 

 Museum, by B. H. Woodward. 



A Bulletin on " Unutilized Fishes and their 

 Relation to the Fishing Industries," by Irving 

 A. Field, has just been issued by the Bureau 

 of Fisheries. This contains some important 

 observations on the food of the smooth dogfish, 

 Mustelus canis, and horned dogfish, Squalus 

 acanthias, showing that one is extremely de- 

 structive to lobsters and the other to the more 

 important food fishes. Incidentally, attention 

 is called to the fact that the numbers of edible 

 fishes have been greatly lessened, nothing has 

 been done to destroy their enemies, which have 

 increased. 



