Decembee 26, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



927 



of the two degenerate digits. But I think the 

 evidence is not sufficiently conclusive to war- 

 rant his interpretation. The skeleton which I 

 have examined is more than two thirds com- 

 plete, much crushed, and but few of the 

 phalanges are articulated. It seems quite pos- 

 sible to interpret the phalangeal formula in 

 conformity with other Trachodont skeletons in 

 which the phalanges, being not only fully 

 articulated but enclosed within the web of the 

 skin, are not open to any possibility of error. 



In Plate II. showing what Mr. Lambe con- 

 siders the natural position of the elements the 

 terminal hoof of IV. is evidently 11.^ and V.^ 

 is not a terminal as I have determined by 

 examination. 



Barnum Brown 



American Museum op Natural History 

 November 20, 1913 



AGEO-DOGMATOLOGY 



In Science of October 3, 1913, there appears 

 under the title " The Bread Supply " a veri- 

 table vegetable cell containing a nucleus in 

 the form of a quotation from an address by 

 Professor Bolley; some cytoplasm of somewhat 

 alkaline reaction provided by Professor Hop- 

 kins ; chromatopliores for which various experi- 

 ments are called upon to furnish local color; 

 metaplasm containing a conglomeration of 

 non-essentials, incidentals and chemical 

 dogma; scarcely enough juice to fill even a 

 small tonoplast; an impermeable ectoplasm — 

 the whole cell suffering from extreme plas- 

 molysis resulting from the toxic fumes arising 

 from very decadent notions of " plant food." 



Professor ■ Hopkins refers with " deep 

 respect '^ to " the science of biochemistry, as 

 the chief means of making plant food avail- 

 able." With such a conception of its nature 

 it would be better to refer to biochemistry with 

 reverence — an attitude of mind often assumed 

 towards the unknown. The biochemist and 

 plant physiologist might well say to Professor 

 Hopkins, as did the Lord to Moses, " Put off 

 thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place 

 whereon thou standest is holy ground." 



We are told that Jensen devised a method 

 for " the destruction of fungous diseases some- 



times carried in seed grain." I do recall that 

 Professor Jensen developed the so-called " hot 

 water " method for the destruction of the 

 spores of certain fungi known to cause dis- 

 eases of certain cereals. When such simple 

 facts regarding plant pathology are available 

 in even our elementary text-books it is evident 

 that " no state in the union can afford ... to 

 have the minds of its farmers and land owners 

 befogged in relation thereto." 



In making analyses of commercial fertilizers, 

 soils, ores and similar materials the " analyt- 

 ical chemist " still plays an important role ; he 

 may even assist in prolonging human life by 

 detecting sodium benzoate in our canned 

 tomatoes, but no one seriously expects him to 

 fully comprehend, even " two or three cen- 

 turies after its discovery," the relation of the 

 plant to its environment. In " belittling " the 

 work of the analytical chemist in this connec- 

 tion even a hundred columns of words are 

 not so effective as a comparison with the actual 

 achievements of the biochemist and the plant 

 physiologist. 



E. Mead Wilcox 



University of Nebraska, 

 Lincoln, Neb. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Nervous and Mental Disease Monograph 

 Series. Edited by Drs. Smith Ely Jel- 

 LiFFE and Wm. A. White. Published by 

 the Journal of Nervous and Mental Dis- 

 ease Publishing Company, New York. 

 This series, it is announced, " will consist of 

 short monographs, translations and minor text- 

 books." To judge by the rapidity with which the 

 successive numbers have appeared and by the 

 promptness with which the editions have become 

 exhausted, the undertaking is certainly well 

 conceived. The first 15 numbers include 

 White's excellent " Outlines of Psychiatry," a 

 condensed text-book of 300 pages ; " Mental 

 Mechanisms " by the same author ; Franz's 

 " Handbook of Mental Examination Meth- 

 ods," and two other original papers, the re- 

 maining numbers being translations. Of 

 these, one of the most important is Kraepe- 

 lin's study of " General Paresis." There are 



