May is, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



791 



or during the time necessary to fill a vessel of 

 known capacity. From these readings the 

 average flow i>er second and the difference in 

 temperature can be determined and hence the 

 number of calories of heat carried off by the 

 water per second calculated. Knowing the 

 electric current and the resistance of the heat- 

 ing wire, the electrical energy in Watt seconds 

 can be calculated and the ratio of this to the 

 heat produced gives the value of J. In place 

 of knowing the resistance of the heating wire, 

 the drop across the calorimeter may be ob- 

 tained on a voltmeter. In our work the ordi- 

 nary 110-volt direct-current circuit is used 

 through a number of lamps, which may be 

 connected either alone or in parallel. Various 

 experiments may be performed with different 

 flows and different heating currents. An 

 alternating heating current may be equally 

 well employed when a suitable A.C. ammeter 

 or dynamometer is introduced. 



The value of the method lies in its direct- 

 ness and great simplicity. No corrections are 

 necessary for heat loss, provided the mean 

 temperature of the flow water does not differ 

 more than about 5 degrees from the tempera- 

 ture of the room, and even for larger dif- 

 ferences the correction is very small. The 

 object of the experiment, which is the measure- 

 ment of J, is not lost sight of by the ele- 

 mentary student in determining troublesome 

 corrections. A few values, taken at random 

 from the students' results, are as follows : 4.16, 

 4.20, 4.12, 4.25, 4.18 joules per calorie. These 

 were obtained with heating currents from 2 

 to 4 amperes. The rise of temperature ranged 

 from 6 to 12 degrees, and the water flow was 

 varied from 2 to 4 grams per second. 



Professor Ervin S. Ferry, of Purdue Uni- 

 versity, LaFayette, Ind., writes me of the suc- 

 cess attending the use of the calorimeter in 

 his elementary classes. He has included an 

 account of the apparatus and method in his 

 recent text-book of " Practical Physics," Vol. 

 1. The accompanying diagram shows the 

 general plan of the apparatus and connec- 

 tions. 



H. T. Barnes 



McGiii University 



EVOLUTION IN RHYME 



A LITTLE book has recently come into my 

 hands that may be as new to most of the 

 readers of Science as it is to me. It is called 

 " Das Neue Laienbrevier des Haeckelismus," is 

 in two parts, was published in 1878 in Berne 

 and Leipzig, and evidently enjoyed a consider- 

 able popularity in its day, as the first part is 

 marked, "3te Auflage." The first part is 

 called " Genesis, oder die Entwicklung des 

 Menschengeschlechts, nach Haeckel's Anthro- 

 pogenie in zierliche Eeimlein gebracht," while 

 the second is " Exodus, oder der Auszug des 

 Menschengeschlechts aus Lemurien, eine 

 kritisch-analytische Komodie." The author is 

 one Herr Eeymond, and the very effective 

 comic illxistrations are by Steub, a one-time 

 popular contributor to Fliegende Blatter. 



The book is a burlesque in rhyme of the de- 

 scent of man, and is introduced by a short 

 statement of the history and status of the 

 theory of organic evolution and an abstract 

 and general table of contents of Haeckel'a 

 " Anthropogenie." The parts of the Laien- 

 brevier are arranged exactly according to the 

 chapters and titles of the " Anthropogenie," 

 and the whole extremely clever tour de force 

 must have been received with great glee by 

 the anti-evolutionists, especially the anti- 

 Haeckelians. 



The contents of the book are arranged in the 

 general form of a play with the dramatis 

 personcB speaking rhymed dialogue and in- 

 troducing many songs in solo or chorus, the 

 melodies for these songs being mostly well 

 known folk, soldier, and especially student 

 songs. There are so many clever verses and 

 the whole performance is so well sustained 

 throughout the two volumes (the second was 

 only vTritten in response to the popular accla- 

 mation of the first) that in selecting a couple 

 of sets of verses to illustrate the character of 

 the Laienbrevier I have made no attempt at 

 particular choice but have taken practically 

 the first to attract my attention. Dissociated, 

 however, from the well-organized total per- 

 formance they give but little more than a 

 suggestion of the entertaining character of 

 this delightful bit of evolution literature. I 



