210 



SCIENCE 



vs. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 815 



political system. But it is not on the basis of 

 an abstract doctrine of democracy that criti- 

 cism of this one-man-power system rests. The 

 position of a college professor, and even of the 

 younger college teachers, should be a position 

 of dignity, independence and the fullest meas- 

 ure of self-respect. In most of our colleges 

 ■we have fallen into the habit of elevating co- 

 ordination, discipline, " harmony " in the fac- 

 ulty, to a position of utterly factitious impor- 

 tance. What is wanted is not these things — 

 or at least a very little of them is quite suffi- 

 cient — but dignity, spontaneity, independence, 

 intellectual self-assertion. In no way could 

 President Foster more magnify his office than 

 by belittling it. A college faculty does not 

 need a boss; its efficiency is neither to be 

 attained nor to be measured by the methods 

 that apply to a factory or a department store. 

 If what the college needs in its professors is 

 men who are real men and true teachers, it 

 must not treat them as wheels in a big ma- 

 chine. There is a vast difference in this 

 regard between some of our colleges and 

 others; but there is a fine opening for a new 

 college to show what a college can be in which 

 the idea of personal domination by the presi- 

 dent is wholly abandoned, and that of a com- 

 pany of gentlemen and scholars working to- 

 gether, with the president simply as the effi- 

 cient center of inspiration and cooperation, 

 substituted in its stead. — New York Evening 

 Post. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 General Biology. A Booh of Outlines and 



Practical Studies for the General Student. 



By James G. Needham. Ithaca, N. T., The 



Comstock Publishing Co. 1910. Pp. xiv -f 



542 ; 287 figs. Price $2. 



Dr. Needham's " General Biology " is not 

 merely a treatise on botany and zoology, as are 

 so many books of a similar title, but it is a 

 work whose primary aim is to teach funda- 

 mental biological facts and principles, draw- 

 ing upon both plant and animal kingdoms for 

 the material best suited for this end. In the 

 first chapter on The Interdependence of Or- 

 ganisms are discussed three typical cases of 



the interrelation of organisms: (1) the rela- 

 tions between flowers and insects, (2) galls 

 and (3) the relations between ants and aphids. 

 There are directions to guide the student in 

 collecting material and making observations 

 on each of these subjects. Enough of descrip- 

 tion of the structure of plants and insects is 

 given to enable the student to appreciate the 

 biological relations of these organisms. This 

 done, the study of structure is discontinued. 



After this introduction to the ways of the 

 living world the author proceeds to give the 

 student a general notion of what the living 

 world is. In the second chapter on The 

 Simpler Organisms there is a brief descrip- 

 tion of several types of lower plants and ani- 

 mals with some suggestions for their collec- 

 tion and study in the laboratory. The prin- 

 cipal forms treated are Closterium, Spirogyra, 

 Nitella, Ammba, Paramwcium, Stentor, Vorti- 

 cella, yeasts, molds, bacteria, slime molds, 

 flagellates and a gregarine, in the order 

 named, and there are sections on protoplasm, 

 the chemical constituents of the cell, nutri- 

 tion, fission and sexual reproduction. 



Chapter III., on Organic Evolution, com- 

 prises about one third of the volume. It be- 

 gins by continuing the general survey of the 

 organic world begun in the previous chapter, 

 describing an ascending series of type forms 

 of both kingdoms. These include Oonoceph- 

 alus, a fern, and some phanerogams in plants, 

 and Hydra, the earthworm and the salamander 

 in animals, with a brief account of the embry- 

 ology of the last type. This very general 

 survey is followed by a discussion of homol- 

 ogies, with practical exercises for the student 

 in tracing out homologous parts, the paleon- 

 tological record, the relation of ontogeny and 

 pliylogeny, and other topics which commonly 

 fall under the rubric of " evidences for evolu- 

 tion." Natural and artificial selection, ortho- 

 genesis and segregation are treated in a final 

 section on " attempted explanations." 



The various forms of reproduction, meta- 

 morphosis, regeneration and grafting are 

 treated in a chapter on the Life Cycle. 

 Chapter VI., on The Adjustment of Organ- 

 isms to their Environment, is one of the 



