28 



SCIENCE 



[ISr. S. Vol. XL. No. 1018 



forms ttia service most effectively for the 

 bulk of our people is the Christian church. 



Nearly all Americans will agree that the 

 separation of church and state has been to the 

 advantage of both and that it is not the func- 

 tion of a state university to teach religion. 

 At the same time the faculties of our state 

 universities ought to be in the heartiest sym- 

 pathy veith those who are carrying on religious 

 work among the students and as individuals 

 they should take an active part in work of this 

 character. 



W. A. NOYES 



TJniversitt op Illinois 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Handhuch der Vergleichenden Physiologic. 



Herausgegeben von Hans Wintersteest. 



Jena, Gustav Fischer. 1910 et seq. Each 



part contains about 100 pp. Price unbound 



5 Marks. 



In Science, August 12, 1910, p. 211, there 

 appeared a notice of the publication of the 

 earlier parts of Winterstein's comprehensive 

 " Handbuch," begun in 1910. Since that time 

 numerous parts have continued to be issued 

 until at the present moment more than 42 are 

 available. For reasons which are doubtless de- 

 fensible on the part of the editor and publisher, 

 but not obvious or convincing to the subscrib- 

 ers, the text is being issued in fragments, pre- 

 pared successively or simultaneously by dif- 

 ferent authors on quite unrelated topics. In 

 this way a great delay ensues until the indi- 

 vidual monographs are completed; and still 

 more time elapses before the volumes can 

 finally be bound in the form intended for them. 

 These are drawbacks which seriously impair 

 the usefulness of any book of reference, espe- 

 cially at a period when the literature of the 

 natural sciences is growing with leaps and 

 bounds. 



It would be futile for a reviewer to attempt 

 any detailed reference to a cyclopedic work of 

 this character, even if one individual com- 

 petent to offer critical opinions upon so great 

 a diversity of topics were available for the 

 task. The best indication of the scope and 

 importance of this scientific-literary under- 



taking is afforded by the mention of the many 

 well-known biologists and physiologists who 

 are cooperating in it. The list of collabora- 

 tors now includes the following: E. Babak 

 (Prag), S. Baglioni (Sassari), W. Bieder- 

 mann (Jena), R. du Bois-Eeymond (Berlin), 

 F. Bottazzi (Naples), E. v. Briicke (Leipzig), 

 E. Burian (Naples), R. Ehrenberg (Got- 

 tingen), L. Frederieq (Liege), E. F. Fuchs 

 (Breslau), S. Garten (Giessen), E. Godlewski 

 (Krakow), C. v. Hess (Munich), J. Loeb (New 

 York), E. Mangold (Freiburg), A. Noll 

 (Jena), H. Przibram (Vienna), J. Strohl 

 (Ziirich-Naples), E. Tigerstedt (Helsingfors), 

 E. Weinland (Erlangen), 0. Weiss (Konigs- 

 berg), H. Winterstein (Eostock). 



Among the completed volumes is one 

 (III. 2) upon the metabolism of energy and 

 the physiology of changes in form, in which 

 chapters upon animal heat (Tigerstedt), the 

 production of electricity (Garten), the pro- 

 duction of light (Mangold), animal form (H. 

 Przibram), and reproduction (Godlewski, Jr.) 

 are included. Volume IV. deals with the phys- 

 iology of irritability, conductivity, etc. — phe- 

 nomena of the nervous system. For this a 

 chapter on tropisms has been prepared by 

 Jacques Loeb. The first half of Volume II. is 

 devoted to the classic compilation of Bieder- 

 mann upon the ingestion, alimentation and 

 absorption of food by the invertebrates. This 

 alone is a most extensive monograph, the ex- 

 haustive character of which is represented in 

 nearly a thousand pages, with 200 illustrations 

 and about 1,200 references. Volume I. is 

 to deal with the fluids and tissues, and with 

 the comparative physiology of respiration. 



The foregoing comments give a very imper- 

 fect idea of the contents of many hundreds of 

 pages of illustrated text — an invaluable cyclo- 

 pedia in a field which has hitherto not afforded 

 any such elaborate systematic compilation. 



Lafayette B. Mendel 

 Sheppield Scientipic School, 

 Tale UNivERsiTy 



EristalTberechnung und Kristallzeichnung. 

 By B. Gossnee. Leipzig und Berlin, Wil- 

 helm Engelmann. 1914. Pp. Tiii + 128; 



