DECEMBER 3, 1897. ] 
unexpected and the unfathomable. But the 
magic of to-day bears quite as conspicuously as 
many of the applied arts and crafts the marks 
of the laboratory and the research room. Nine- 
teenth century magic reflects the evolution of 
nineteenth century science and can look back 
with an air of condescending amusement or 
curious interest upon its old-time antecedents, 
much as the modern chemist reads the annals 
of alchemy or the superbly equipped astronomer 
contemplates the vagaries of the medzeival as- 
trologer. 
There is, indeed, much to interest the student 
of science in the elaborate performances of the 
prestidigitateur and the illusionist ; and the in- 
terest is two-sided, physical and psychological. 
The physical interest centers in the descrip- 
tion of the true modus operandi of the tasks and 
the accompanying paraphernalia; the psycholog- 
ical interest in the method of arousing false 
perceptions and inferences and producing the 
conviction that the impossible has happened. 
The student of the psychology of deception takes 
his place with the audience and observes how 
readily their attention is diverted at critical 
moments, how easily they overlook the appar- 
ently insignificant but really essential settings 
of the trick, how the bewilderment increases 
and the critical faculties lapse as one bit of 
sleight-of-hand succeeds another. The student 
of the curious and intricate applications of sci- 
ence must be stationed behind the scenes and ob- 
serve at times how simple a contrivance evades 
detection, or, again, how an elaborate com- 
bination of mechanical principles is ingeniously 
applied to produce a startling effect. The main 
lesson which the psychologist takes away is the 
importance of the attitude in creating belief, 
the dominance of cleverly suggested expectation 
in our sense experience, the readiness with 
which we substitute inference for observation 
and go away convinced and deceived. The 
physicist or the mechanician is quite certain to 
be impressed with manifold possibilities of mys- 
tification which the rapid increase of science 
brings in its train. 
This ably compiled volume will appeal to both 
types of readers as well as to the more popular 
interest in mysteries and the processes of decep- 
tion. It is wide in scope, treating of conjuring 
SCIENCE. 
851 
tricks of all varieties; of jugglers and fire-eaters; 
of puppetsiand shadow dances; of ventriloquism 
and second sight ; of the application of science 
to stage effects and cycloramas and fireworks ; 
of automatic and scientific toys; of the kineto- 
scope and the vitascope, and the varied appli- 
cations of photography ; and in addition to all 
this some interesting information upon the con- 
juring tricks and performances of olden times. 
The tone of the descriptions is clear and the 
volume is well adapted to satisfy the needs of 
the somewhat heterogeneous class of readers 
who are likely to consult it. Moreover, the 
book is distinctly modern, and avoids both the 
unnecessarily popular and frequently irrelevant 
style of much of this kind of literature. It 
comes as nearly within the pale of science as any 
book with this kind of a purpose can be expected 
to reach. A valuable bibliography and index 
add much to its usefulness. 
JOSEPH JASTROW. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES—SECTION 
OF BIOLOGY—NOVEMBER 8, 1897. 
THE meeting was called to order by Professor 
Wilson, the Chairman. Twenty-two persons 
present, After reading the minutes of the pre- 
vious meeting, the following program was pre- 
sented : 
Mr. Matthews reported on analyses of sper- 
matozoa in Kossel’s laboratory, Marburg. Sperm 
of Arbacia, herring, pig and bull were examined. 
Herring sperm heads were separated from the 
tails by Meischer’s method, and made free from 
albumen. They consisted of protamin nucleate, 
haying the formula C,,H.,N,,PsO»,, CyHs,NiOg. 
The nucleinic acid appeared identical with that 
of salmon sperm (Meischer), although the pro- 
tamin differed from salmon protamin, asshown 
by Kossel. The sperm tails consisted chiefly of 
a combination of lecithin, cholesterin and albu- 
men, similar to, but not identical with, similar 
constituents of salmon sperm tail. The tails con- 
tained no nuclein. The heads contained no leci- 
thin nor cholesterin. Arbacia sperm contained 
nucleinic acid, but no protamin, instead of which 
a histon-like body was present. It is probable 
that Arbacia sperm chromatin is an histon nu- 
