Mabch 17, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



431 



termine the fact from this English text. 

 There is left in the mind of the student a 

 series of chapters from the story-book of living 

 things, each complete in itself and bearing 

 only remotely upon what precedes or follows. 

 The clever student will find the thread, but 

 only he. 



At the present time, no text has been written 

 from the point of view of the Sedgwick-Wil- 

 son method, although there is in progress a 

 book which will embody this idea, the types 

 being somewhat different. Therefore it can 

 not be assumed that this method is being 

 abandoned, as judged by the production of 

 texts representative of it. 



The text of Professor Needham, referred to 

 above, must be classed separately. As we have 

 already said, principles are considered in the 

 light of selected examples, which are described 

 in so far as the matter in hand demands. If 

 this point be borne in mind by the reader of 

 the book, he will scarcely urge the criticism 

 that the treatment is superficial. The illus- 

 trations, many of which are original, are 

 supplemented by photographs, and the quality 

 of book-making is such that the figures, al- 

 though inelaborate, are ample. The absence 

 of time-honored pictures is refreshing. The 

 attempt to bring into the book the results ob- 

 tained in the laboratory of the investigator of 

 the present is happily accomplished. The 

 work of the American school of cytologists 

 and the experimental or analytical school in 

 general is covered, briefly, it is admitted, but, 

 in the mind of the reviewer, logically and 

 sufficiently clearly to be appreciated by the stu- 

 dent. Much of the data of the volume con- 

 cerns the insect world and this is readily 

 understood when the principal interest of the 

 author is considered. It may be said that there 

 is little material discussed in the book which 

 is not readily placed in the hands of the stu- 

 dents of any institution. 



The beautifully illustrated little book of 

 Dr. Kraepelin^ is moulded in a manner simi- 

 lar to the text of Needham. Professor Need- 

 ham's book may be used as a laboratory guide 



° " Einfuhrung in die Biologie," Teubner, Leip- 

 zig, 1909. (Stechert.) 



and field companion, and in this respect it 

 diifers from all other texts mentioned here, 

 with the possible exception of the one of 

 Hegner. It is a matter much to be regretted 

 that the students of American institutions of 

 learning, even after they have passed two or 

 three years in the work, are unable to use 

 books written in foreign languages. There is 

 no English volume which can approach this 

 German book in wealth of text-figures, some 

 of which are colored. The text itself is well 

 in keeping with the book-making, and in the 

 experience of the writer the book as a whole 

 is inspiring to the student who can master the 

 written word, little as it may be. The futility 

 of presenting a book of the quality of Kraepe- 

 lin's to English students is readily seen when 

 one attempts to translate the book into Eng- 

 lish and put it upon the market at a German 

 standard, still maintaining the selling price of 

 the original (four Marks). Some cooperation 

 may sometime be possible between the depart- 

 ments of Romance and Germanic languages 

 and the scientific departments of our universi- 

 ties and colleges which may be beneficial to 

 both. 



McEarland's"" book can scarcely be called a 

 text, but rather a reader. As such it will be 

 useful, although the illustrations are poor 

 throughout, many of no value whatsoever and 

 the language is at least the limit of possibili- 

 ties for the average student of beginning 

 biology. He will be found clamoring for 

 Anglo-Saxon words when he opens the first 

 chapter to read: 



To study the problems of life apart from their 

 cosmic relations is to lose much of their signifi- 

 cance. It is only by an appreciation of the end- 

 less changes — integrations and disintegrations — 

 that pervade the imiverse that one comes to 

 realize that those qualities by which we recognize 

 living substance more or less closely correspond 

 to the qualities of all substance and those forces 

 by which it is animated to those forces by which 

 the universe itself is controlled. 



The medical side of the book is evident in 

 the later chapters of the volume, such as 



' " Biology, General and Medical," Saunders, 

 Philadelphia, 1910. 



