Decembek lOj 1915] 



SCIENCE 



839 



Professor Webster has already discussed tiie 

 position of the work among the encyclopedias 

 of the world and has mentioned the excellence 

 of the short biographical sketches, as well as 

 touching on various phases of the biological 

 articles. As suggested by Professor Webster 

 in regard to mathematics, anatomists will be 

 keenly disappointed to find their science also 

 neglected, save in the introduction of anatom- 

 ical work into other branches of natural sci- 

 ence ; but the " Handworterbuch " will be 

 found extremely useful in certain lines, none 

 the less. One interesting feature, mentioned 

 by Professor Webster, is the up-to-dateness of 

 the various articles, illustrations from the 

 younger or more recent writers being chosen 

 in preference to time-honored cuts. Perhaps 

 this is partially due to the authors of the indi- 

 vidual articles, but it is also evidently the 

 policy of the editors to have the work as com- 

 plete as possible. The articles are, in general, 

 brief, some of them well illustrated, with the 

 chief sources of literature given at the end. 



It has been the privilege of the writer to use 

 this work extensively in a compilation of a 

 biographical nature, and it is a pleasure to 

 say that he has found the " Handworterbuch " 

 extremely useful. The biographical sketches, 

 of whieli there are a great many, are short, 

 without illustrations, and give at the close the 

 important sources of information concerning 

 the individual discussed. This feature is 

 very important in a historical study of biol- 

 ogy and is a great improvement over the En- 

 cyclopedia Britannica, for instance, where 

 sources of reference are mentioned only inci- 

 dentally. Many names are not included which 

 might justly belong in the work. Mendel is 

 inserted as an afterthought at the close of 

 volume ten. None of the more important 

 human anatomists are included, even those 

 who were engaged in zoological work. 



The special articles have been assigned by 

 the editors to prominent scholars in the vari- 

 ous lines of work. The recent Amphibia, for 

 instance, are treated in a very complete way 

 by Dr. J. Versluys, in an article covering 

 twenty-five pages. The illustrations might 

 have been better chosen, but they represent the 



general features of amphibian morphology. 

 The "Paleontology of the Amphibia" is 

 treated by J. F. Pompeckj, a writer well 

 known to students of paleontology. The ar- 

 ticle, covering nine pages, is weU illustrated, 

 the figures being chosen from among the 

 papers of Williston, Dollo, von Meyer, Moodie 

 and Zittel. The same subject is covered much 

 more fully in volume nine, under the heading 

 " Stegoeephalen." Friedrich von Huene is the 

 author of this article, which covers seven 

 pages, richly illustrated, with a good list of 

 recent literature at the end. It is rather tm- 

 fortunate to separate the discussion of Am- 

 phibia and Stegocephalia, since the present 

 writer is firmly convinced that they are both 

 members of the same groups; that is, all of 

 them are Amphibia. Other remarks and illus- 

 trations regarding the extinct Amphibia are 

 to be found under the various geological pe- 

 riods. Under " Karbonformation " the only 

 figured representative of the rich vertebrate 

 land fauna of the Coal Measures is the much- 

 worn and time-honored figure of Lepterpeton 

 Dohhsii, described by Huxley from the Coal 

 Measures of Ireland, but the discussion, by W. 

 Kegel, is well balanced. 



Paleontologists will find the work extremely 

 useful, and especially teachers of paleontology 

 will have a work to which their students can 

 refer for a discussion of general topics, which, 

 in general, have been brought weU down to 

 date. Some of the articles are especially re- 

 freshing in the presentation of new ideas. 

 Gustav Tornier's article on the paleontology 

 of the reptiles, covering forty pages, is an in- 

 stance of this. The article is very well illus- 

 trated; the figures being chosen from papers 

 by Broili, Broom, ITewton, Osborn, Fraas, 

 Tornier and Eaton. Tornier's original recon- 

 structions of Diplodocus and Stegosaurus, 

 have already attracted the attention of paleon- 

 tologists and have been discussed especially by 

 Matthew. It is rather startling to see our old 

 friend Triceratops sprawling on the groimd 

 like a horned toad, but such new ideas are 

 worth while in keeping our interests alert. It 

 is most unfortunate that, in a work of this 

 natiu^e, the important researches of Case and 



