OCTOBEE 13, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



491 



diversions which to men occupying less re- 

 sponsible positions might be occasionally al- 

 lowable if not always permissible. 



No more hateful spectacle confronts ad- 

 vancing civilization than a beer-sipping, wine- 

 bibbing college or university professor. He 

 is hateful because he is incongruous. More 

 than that, he is hateful because of the havoc 

 he works as an iconoclast in the beautiful 

 temple of youthful ideals. It is a safe pre- 

 diction in the near coming day when the 

 American saloon is only a historic tradition, 

 that the college professor who drinks in pub- 

 lic or in private will not be tolerated beyond 

 the meeting of the board of trustees next suc- 

 ceeding his discovery, and I should say to you 

 in perfect candor at this time, in order that 

 there may be no misunderstanding from the 

 beginning, that I will not serve on a teaching 

 body with any man who uses intoxicating 

 liquors in any form whatsoever. My responsi- 

 bility to young manhood and womanhood for 

 character ideals is too great to permit me to 

 attempt to bear the burden of responsibility 

 which I could not escape for a colleague who 

 leads an immoral life. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 The Mutation Theory. Volume II. The 

 Origin of Varieties by Mutation. By 

 Hugo de Vries. English translation by 

 Professor J. B. Farmer and A. D. Dae- 

 BiSHiRE. Pp. viii 4- 683. Six colored plates 

 and 149 text-figures. Chicago, The Open 

 Court Publishing Co. 1910. 

 In May, 1910,' the writer had the honor of 

 reviewing Volume I. of the English transla- 

 tion of " Die Mutationstheorie." The inspira- 

 tion which this volume brought to a large 

 circle of readers made the appearance of vol- 

 ume two doubly welcome. The careful study 

 of the first volume introduced many workers 

 for the first time to the author's own state- 

 ment of the essentials of the mutation theory, 

 and these essentials, together with a brief 

 summary of de Vries's many important and 

 positive contributions to theoretical and prac- 

 tical biology, through this and his numerous 

 » Science, XXXI., 740-743, 1910. 



other related writings, were given in the 

 above mentioned review. 



Of volume two of the translation. Part I. 

 includes Band I., Abschnitt 4, of the original, 

 treating of The Origin of Horticultural Va- 

 rieties, with chapters on The Significance of 

 Horticultural Varieties in the Theory of Se- 

 lection, Latent and Semi-latent Characters, 

 The Different Modes of Origin of New 

 Species, The Sudden Appearance of and the 

 Constancy of New Varieties, Atavism, Ex- 

 perimental Observation of the Origin of Va- 

 rieties, Non-isolable Eaces, and Nutrition and 

 Selection of Semi-latent Characters. 



Part II., The Origin of Eversporting Va- 

 rieties, includes, from the original. Band II., 

 Abschnitt 2, IV., The Origin of Eversport- 

 ing Varieties, with four chapters on: I., Tri- 

 cotylous Races (the title of the German orig- 

 inal is " Kreuzung tricotyler Eassen"), omit- 

 ting § 24 (Kreuzung der Mittletassen mit den 

 Halbrassen) and § 25 (Kreuzung trieolyler 

 Eassen von verschiedenen Arten) ; II., Syn- 

 cotylous Eaces (Kreuzung syncotyler Eassen), 

 omitting § 31 (Kreuzungsversuche) ; III., The 

 Inconstancy of Fasciated Eaces (= Band 

 II., Absch. 5, IV.), and IV., Heritable Spiral 

 Torsions (=Band II., Absch. 5, IV.). 



Part III. includes Band II., Aschnitt 6, 

 treating of The Eelations of the Mutation 

 Theory to other Branches of Inquiry, em- 

 bracing four chapters : I., The Conception of 

 Species According to the Theory of Mutation ; 

 II., The Eange of Validity of the Doctrine of 

 Mutation; III., The Material Vehicles of the 

 Heredity Characters; and IV., Geological 

 Periods of Mutation. 



Those portions of the original work treating 

 of hybridization (including § 31 mentioned 

 above, and Band II., Abschnitt 1, and Ab- 

 schnitt 2, I.-III.) have been omitted from the 

 first two volumes of the English translation. 

 Thus the second volume is not merely a trans- 

 lation of volume two of the original. It covers 

 largely the same ground as de Vries's English 

 lectures, published under the title of " Species 

 and Varieties, their Origin by Mutation," but 

 has the advantage of illustrations, which were 

 lacking from " Species and Varieties." 



