Decembee 2, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



803 



which flies had free access, but no visible form 

 of life appeared within the meat in the closed 

 flasks, although an occasional egg or mag- 

 got was deposited upon the paper that covered 

 them. After a long digression Kedi continues 

 (p. 36) : 



I thought I had proved that the flesh of dead 

 animals could not engender worms unless the 

 semina of live ones were deposited therein, still, 

 to remove all doubt, as the trial had been made 

 with closed vessels into which the air could not 

 penetrate or circulate, I wished to attempt a new 

 experiment by putting meat and fish in a large 

 vase closed only with a fine Naples veil, that 

 allowed the air to enter. 



Under these conditions he found the meat 

 remaining free from maggots or other forms 

 of life visible to the unaided eye. The results 

 of these simple and homely experiments, to- 

 gether with the reasoning of Eedi, served to 

 change the belief in the occurrence of spon- 

 taneous generation of life. It is true that 

 after the discovery of microscopic organisms 

 the question had to be tested with especial 

 reference to these minute forms of life, but 

 the experiments of Eedi stand as the first 

 published ones to make a scientific onset 

 against the ancient dogma. The book is of 

 varied contents and, naturally, all parts of it 

 are not of equal interest and significance. 

 His long disquisition on the origin of bees is 

 discursive and tiresome. His letter embraces 

 observations and comments on the poison of 

 scorpions, on spiders, cheese worms, fruit 

 flies, frogs, grafting experiments, galls, silk- 

 worms, butterflies, lice, etc. In reference to 

 galls, he concludes that nature produces the 

 gall for the generation of the insect, and that 

 the fly that proceeds from the gall arises not 

 from an animal egg, but from the modified 

 tissues of the plant. One rather amusing cir- 

 cumstance is his testing on a human being 

 the effect of meat poisoned by the sting of a 

 scorpion. He says (p. 61) : 



Having had frequent proof that animals killed 

 by a snake's bite, or tobacco, which is a terrible 

 poison, can be eaten with impunity, I gave these 

 pigeons to a poor man, who was overjoyed, and 

 ate them with great gusto, and they agreed with 

 him very well. 



The book is well translated and the Italian 



is rendered into the equivalents of modern 

 science — as iossico, translated toxin (p. 48) 

 and uova, translated variously egg and pupa, 

 according to the context. The bibliographical 

 references to Kedi and his work are not espe- 

 cially well chosen. Even so brief a list might 

 be improved by making a few substitutions. 

 One misses especially reference to Guiart's 

 article on Eedi in the first volume of the 

 Archives de Parasitologie, and to Huxley's 

 analysis of Eedi's " Esperienze " in his ad- 

 dress before the British Association at Liver- 

 pool in 1870. These might be substituted for 

 the references to Cuvier and to Pouchet. 

 Guiart's article contains a very fine portrait 

 of Eedi. The fine edition of Eedi's works in 

 nine volumes, Milan, 1809-11, also contains a 

 well-written life of Eedi and an attractive 

 portrait. In this edition the " Esperienze 

 Intorno alia Generazione Degl' Insetti," al- 

 though essentially the same, is somewhat 

 fuUer than in the edition of 1688. It should 

 be noted, however, that in the edition of his 

 complete works, the illustrations of the " Es- 

 perienze " are engraved on a smaller scale 

 and do not in any sense equal the photographic 

 reproductions in the present volume. 



The growing interest in the historical 

 phases of biological investigation makes the 

 appearance of this volume timely and we 

 predict for it a deservedly wide circulation. 

 "William A. Locy 



EDUCATION A NATIONAL FUNCTION^ 



The condition of American education to- 

 day is in many respects a national reproach. 

 In no other nation claiming to be civilized is 

 there at the present time so large a popula- 

 tion in such educational degradation as the 

 American negro. No other population, 

 equally numerous, to be found within the 

 limits of any civilized nation so deprived of 

 educational facilities and opportunities. 



If there is any situation in our present 

 society, for which the nation as a whole is 

 responsible, surely the condition of the Amer- 



* Abstract of an address by Dr. Edmund J. 

 James, president of the University of Illinois, be- 

 fore Minnesota Teachers' Association in St. Paul, 

 Minnesota, November 3, 1910. 



