846 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1041 



be accepted as we find it; and why it exhibits 

 certain apparently innate potentialities and 

 modes of action which have caused it to evolve 

 in a certain way is a question which reaUy lies 

 beyond the sphere of natural science. Such 

 considerations, if they do not exactly remove 

 the vitalistic dile mm a, yet separate sharply 

 the scientific problems which organisms pre- 

 sent from the metaphysical questions to which 

 the phenomena of life — more than any others 

 — give rise. If we consider the organism 

 simply as a system forming a part of external 

 nature, we find no evidence that it possesses 

 properties that may not eventually be satis- 

 factorily analyzed by the methods of physico- 

 chemical science; but we admit also that those 

 peculiarities of ultimate constitution which 

 have in the course of evolution led to the ap- 

 pearance of living beings in nature are such 

 that we can not well deny the possibility or 

 even legitimacy of applying a vitalistic or 

 biocentric conception to the cosmic process 

 considered as a whole. 



Although disagreeing with the author's 

 main contentions, the reviewer wishes to recog- 

 nize the merits of the book as an interesting, 

 enthusiastic and ingenious contribution to the 

 literature of its subject. We have noted some 

 errors in matters of biological detail, but these 

 are not such as to affect the main argument. 

 The brief account of certain physiological 

 processes seems somewhat out of date; the ac- 

 count of the nerve impulse is unsatisfactory, 

 and certainly few physiologists now hold that 

 a muscle is a thermodynamic machine in the 

 sense conceived by Engelmann; there is some 

 evidence of unfamiliarity with biochemistry; 

 the term " animo-acid " instead of amino-acid 

 recurs a number of times, a mis-spelling per- 

 haps appropriate to a book which is really a 

 modern plea for animism. 



Ealph S. Lillie 



Clark University, 

 October 12, 1914 



THE COMMITTEE OF ONE BVNDEEB ON 

 SCIENTIFIC SESEABCH 

 On the invitation of the chairman of the 

 executive committee of the Committee of One 



Hundred on Scientific Research of the Amer- 

 ican Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence, there was held at his house on the even- 

 ing of November 28 a meeting of the executive 

 committee and of some members of the sub- 

 committees and of the general committee resi- 

 dent in or near Boston. There were present 

 Mr. Charles W. Eliot, president of the asso- 

 ciation and chairman of the committee, Mr. 

 E. C. Pickering, chairman of the executive 

 committee, and Messrs. E. W. Brown, J. Mc- 

 Keen Cattell, W. T. Councilman, Charles R. 

 Cross, Eeid Hunt, Eichard C. Maclaurin, A. 

 A. ISToyes, Theodore W. Richards, Elihu Thom- 

 son and Arthur G. Webster. 



Plans for the work of the committee were 

 discussed, and preliminary reports were pre- 

 sented from four of the subcommittees, as 

 follows: Eesearch funds, by Mr. Cross; re- 

 search work in educational institutions, by 

 Mr. Cattell; the selection and training of stu- 

 dents for research, by Mr. Brown, and im- 

 proved opportunities for research, by Mr. 

 Eiehards. 



In addition to the subcommittees whose 

 membership has been announced, the com- 

 mittee on improved opportunities for research 

 has been completed, and consists of Messrs. 

 Theodore W. Eiehards, chairman, W. T. 

 Councilman, Eichard C. Maclaurin, T. H. 

 Morgan and E. H. Moore.' The subcommittee 

 on the selection and training of students for 

 research has also been formed, and consists of 

 Messrs. E. W. Brown, chairman, Eoss K. Har- 

 rison, George A. Hulett and W. Lindgren. 

 Subcommittees have been authorized on re- 

 search institutions, research in industrial labo- 

 ratories, research under the national govern- 

 ment, research on the Pacific coast and re- 

 search in the south, but these committees have 

 not yet been completely organized. 



Eeports from subcommittees will be pre- 

 sented at the meeting of the Committee of One 

 Hundred, which will be held in the Houston 

 Club, University of Pennsylvania, Philadel- 

 phia, at 2 o'clock, on the afternoon of Decem- 

 ber 28. J. McKeen Cattell, 



Secretary 



