670 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 569. 



The translation from the second German 

 edition has been executed with rare skill and 

 fidelity. The work of the publisher is also 



^"°^- W. E. Castle. 



Bacteria in Relation to Plant Diseases. By 

 Erwin F. Smith, in charge of Laboratory 

 of Plant Pathology, Office of Physiology 

 and Pathology, Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture. Volume 

 I., Methods of Work, and general literature 

 of Bacteriology exclusive of Plant Diseases. 

 Washington, D. C, published by the Car- 

 negie Institution of Washington. Septem- 

 ber, 1906. Pp. xii + 285. 4to. Publica- 

 tion No. 27. 



We are told in the preface that " the present 

 volume contains an ' outline of methods of 

 work' which was written up in substantially 

 the same form four years ago, in connection 

 with the investigations of the Laboratory of 

 Plant Pathology, Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 United States Department of Agriculture, its 

 publication having been delayed in order to 

 bring the rest of the manuscript into suitable 

 shape." In its present form it is now pub- 

 lished ' with the approval of the Secretary of 

 Agriculture.' This book has thu.s a quasi- 

 official authority, representing, as it does, the 

 high standards set by the scientific bureaus 

 of Washington. 



The author says that his monograph ' is 

 not intended to take the place of ordinary 

 text-books of bacteriology, but rather to sup- 

 plement them.' While primarily intended for 

 the plant pathologist, ' it is hoped that it will 

 be of value to physicians and animal patholo- 

 gists for purposes of comparison.' 



The principal topics touched upon in this 

 volume are the nature of disease, the mor- 

 phology, physiology and pathogenic character 

 of the organism, the preparation and use of 

 various kinds of culture media, economic as- 

 pects, methods of infection, methods of pre- 

 vention, location and equipment of the labora- 

 tory, methods of work, microscopes, nomen- 

 clature and classification, working formulae 

 etc. At the close of the book there is a classi- 

 fied bibliography including almost fourteen 



hundred titles, which must prove of the great- 

 est value to the bacteriologist. 



Turning to the section which deals with 

 nomenclature and classification, one reads with 

 a smile the crisp remarks of the author, as 

 when he says * the nomenclature of the bac- 

 teria is in a somewhat chaotic state, as might 

 be expected of a science which has been cul- 

 tivated so largely by medical men, and so 

 comparatively little by systematic botanists 

 and zoologists.' The designation of species 

 by numbers and letters is condemned, as also 

 the use of polynomials. Better descriptions 

 are strongly urged, and far more care in as- 

 sociating a particular organism with a certain 

 disease. The suggestion is made that the 

 starting point for species should be 1881, 

 when pure cultures became possible. The 

 suggestion is made, also, that the starting 

 point for genera should be 1872, the date of 

 Cohn's ' Untersuchungen iiber Bakterien.' 

 With some modifications the author adopts 

 Migula's plan of classification in his ' System 

 der Bakterien,' ' until some distinctly better 

 system makes its appearance.' 



On the question of the polymorphism or 

 fixity of bacteria Dr. Smith holds ' a sort 

 of middle grovind ' : 



There can be no doubt that the same organism 

 sometimes exists as a long filament in which no 

 septa are visible, and at other times as a short 

 or nearly isodiametric rod, but we are not thereby 

 compelled to consider the short form as a Micro- 

 coccus, i. e., as something very different from the 

 long form. Physical conditions probably have 

 much to do with bringing about these differences. 



We should like to quote further from this 

 very suggestive and helpful book, but must 

 refer the reader to the volume itself. The 

 value of this volume is so evident that we 

 look with great interest for the second, whose 

 publication it is hoped will not be long de- 

 layed. Charles E. Bessey. 



The University of Nebraska. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases 

 for November opens with a paper by D'Orsay 

 Hecht in which he reviews the literature of 

 dementia prsecox, frequently illustrating the 



