706 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 801 



tological and phylogenetie. He believes that 

 the last period extends to the present time, but 

 to the writer the interest in theories of verte- 

 brate descent, and the belief that the " law of 

 von Baer " can yield a fundamental conception 

 of the history of animal forms, seem to have 

 given place to the desire to understand the 

 principles of growth and of inheritance. 



The first chapter, upon the germ-cells, ma- 

 turation, fertilization and segmentation, is of 

 a general and comparative nature and includes 

 an exposition of the theories of the significance 

 of maturation and fertilization, and of the 

 problem of heredity. It does not contain, 

 however, any reference to Mendel's work or to 

 that of his successors. 



In order to have a consistent and continu- 

 ous description of the early stages of develop- 

 ment, Tourneus devotes a long chapter — 

 slightly more than one sixth of the text proper 

 — to a description of the history of the ovum 

 of the rabbit up to the time of the establish- 

 ment of the body-form. This account is very 

 clear and convincing, and is particularly ac- 

 ceptable because the author does not interrupt 

 its continuity by making a patch-work of 

 fragments of the history of the ova of many 

 vertebrates. 



The third chapter, which completes the first 

 part of the book, contains brief accounts of 

 many of the best preserved early human 

 embryos. 



The second part of the book is divided into 

 thirteen chapters, which may be subdivided 

 according to size into three groups : those upon 

 the digestive and urogenital systems are long, 

 having 79 and 74 pages, respectively; those 

 upon the nervous, locomotor and circulatory 

 systems, and the fcetal envelopes are of mod- 

 erate length, about 40 pages ; and finally, those 

 upon the respiratory system, suprarenal or- 

 gans, the skin and upon the organs of taste, 

 smell, sight and hearing are short. The treat- 

 ment of the digestive and urogenital systems 

 seems disproportionately long, and the section 

 upon the voluntary muscles, consisting of 

 about thirty lines in the chapter on the loco- 

 motor system, is ridiculously small. Other- 

 wise the discussion of the several organs and 



organ systems is excellently proportioned. 

 There is an index and an appendix upon the 

 length of the period of incubation or of gesta- 

 tion in several birds and mammals. 



The failure to adopt the Basle anatomical 

 nomenclature, and even the occasional omis- 

 sion, in an extensive series of synonyms, of 

 the name used in this nomenclature, seem to 

 the writer to be the great fault of the book. 



The figures, 248 in number, are well chosen 

 and are excellently reproduced. The use of 

 only a very few diagrams is commendable. 

 The book deserves a thorough success. 



Leonard W. Williams 



Broad Lines in Science Teaching. By F. 



HoDSON. New York, Macmillan Co. 1910. 



8vo, pp. xxxvi -1-267. $1.25. 



This book consists of a series of essays by a 

 number of writers, edited by Mr. F. Hodson, 

 of the Bedales School at Petersfield, England. 

 The papers all deal with the teaching of sci- 

 ence to boys and girls of secondary school 

 age ; and the editor's object has been " to 

 cover a wide field, to achieve, through variety 

 of the contributor's experience, a variety of 

 presentation, and so to convince the reader of 

 the many-sided human value of science in 

 modern education." 



The introduction is by Professor M. E. 

 Sadler, who calls attention to the necessity 

 for a more careful study of the methods of 

 teaching science. He says (p. xix) : 



Science has secured a place in the curricula of 

 the higher schools, a firm place and respectful 

 recognition; but scientific method and the spirit 

 of science have not yet influenced the whole of 

 the intellectual life of the schools, have not yet 

 remolded the ways of teaching in other than what, 

 in the narrower sense of the words, are called 

 scientific subjects. 



He then reviews the essays that follow, and 

 draws some general conclusions from the 

 study of the entire collection. As distinct 

 marks of successful teaching of science he 

 mentions four as being most essential — an 

 alert interest in things seen; patience and 

 exactitude in observing, verifying and record- 

 ing them; a disposition to brood over new 



