August 5, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



tions occur in accordance with the law of " effort and absti- 

 nence." 



As to whether acquired characters are inherited, Mr. Syme 

 offers no definite opinion; and hence the most important question 

 in this connection remains unanswered. For, if modifications 

 resulting from the response of an organism to new influences affect 

 only the passing generation, it is difficult to understand how they 

 can become fixed, as they certainly do. 



It should be stated further that Mr. Syme avows a belief in the 

 existence of " vital force," which is the cause of the phenomena 

 of life and is inherent in the living cell. He asserts that Lewes's 

 ridicule of this idea was due to his misunderstanding the questions 

 involved. 



Our space does not admit of more than a brief mention of Mr. 

 Syme's objections to the theory of natural selection, but many of 

 them deserve serious attention. The case of the relation of hum- 

 ble-bees to clover may be cited as an example. Darwin states 

 that " humble-bees alone visit red clover, . . . hence we may in- 

 fer as highly probable that if the whole genus of humble-bees be- 

 came extinct or very rare in England, . . . the red clover would 

 become very rare, or wholly disappear" (Origin of Species, Ed. 

 1880, p. 57). On this point Mr. Syme remarks: "Darwin says 

 that T. pratense will not produce seed unless it has been visited 

 by humble-bees. . . . But this is quite a mistake. Red clover 

 seed had been grown and exported from New Zealand long before 

 the humble-bee was introduced there; and I am informed by one 

 of the leading Melbourne seedsmen that he has been supplied with 

 this seed, grown in the western district of Victoria, for the last 17 

 years; although no humble-bees have ever been introduced into 

 that colony" (p. 112). It does not seem possible that both these 

 statements can be true. 



Many similar facts regarding the relation of insects to the color 

 and form of flowers, the results of cross-fertilization, and the sig- 

 nificance of secondary sexual characters, are cited by Mr. Syme 

 in his endeavor to prove the falsity and insufficiency of the theory 

 of natural selection. F. W. T. 



The Apodidm. A morphological study. By H. M. Bernard. 

 Nature Series. Loudon and New York, Macmillan & Co. 



8". $2. 



This is an extremely interesting study of the Phyllopod crusta- 

 ceans, Apus, Lepidurus, etc., with the view of using them as a 

 key to solve the problem as to the origin of the Crustacea and the 

 true affinities between the different groups. His study has led 

 the author to the conclusion that Apus is derived from a carni- 

 vorous annelid, whose five anterior segments have become ven-" 

 trally bent over. He believes he has shown the trunk of Apus to 

 be a true link between the many segmented annelids and the crus- 

 tacean fewer-segmented body, that it exhibits a gradual trans- 

 formation of the annelidan cuticle into the crustacean exo-skele- 

 ton, while the annelidan parapodia are shown to be capable of de- 

 veloping every form of crustacean limb, Apus supplying the clue. 

 In short, he regards Apus as affording an almost ideal transition 

 form between the annelids and Crustacea. Further, he shows 

 that if this is true for Apus, the long-contested Limulus or horse- 

 shoe crab and the Trilobites must have had a similar origin. He 

 concludes that while only one group of modern Crustacea admits 

 of derivation from the Trilobites, all the rest except Limulus can 

 be deduced from the Apodidce. 



Whether this hypothesis be finally accepted or not, the author's 

 discussion throws light on many contested points, and cannot 

 fail to have a beneficial influence on future discussions and theo- 

 ries of classification of the animals to which it relates. 



Lessons in Elementary Biology, By T. Jeffrey Parker. Lon- 

 don, Macmillan & Co. 8°. $2.25. 



Professor Parker, a well known pupil of Huxley and profes- 

 sor of zoology in the University of Otago, New Zealand, has en- 

 deavored in this work to give an account of the structure, physi- 

 ology and life history of a series of typical organisms in the order 

 of their increasing complexity. He begins with the unicellular 

 organisms Amoeba, Hcematococcus, Heteromitu, Euglaena, Proto- 

 myxa, Mycetozoa, Saccharomyces, and Bacteria. He then takes 



up those unicellular forms in which there is an increasing com- 

 plexity, such as Paramoccium, Foraminifera, Diatoms, and 

 Mucor. 



Next come organisms, in which complexity is attained by cell 

 multiplication, though with little differentiation, fungi, and algse; 

 then solid aggregates in which differentiation is a marked factor, 

 such as Hydra and Porpita. From these he proceeds to poly- 

 gordius, mosses, and ferns. About fifteen pages are given to the 

 higher types, starfish, crayfish, mussel, and dogfish, and to the 

 higher plants, and special discussions on cells and nuclei. Biogene- 

 sis, homogenesip, origin of species, etc., are discussed in special 

 chapters. In general, little criticism is suggested by the facts 

 stated. For the teacher it may be said to be wholly unfit for 

 elementary work, properly so-called. The author revels in a truly 

 Lankesterian pollysyllabic vocabulary, which the 13-page double- 

 column index by no means fully explains. A very dispropor- 

 tionate amount of space is given to a few low types, and the pupil 

 cannot obtain any general idea of the animal kingdom from the 

 book without an amount of knowledge, insight, and study not to 

 be expected of beginners. We should think the book well adapted 

 to deter any student who was obliged to use it from taking any 

 further interest in the study of biology, though an accomplished 

 teacher might find it suggestive of what to avoid in his work. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



The Duke of Argyll will publish in the fall a book called 

 " The Unseen Foundations of Society," which is described as an 

 examination of the fallacies and failures of economic science due 

 to neglected elements. 



— The New York History Co., 132 Nassau St., N. Y., have 

 just ready the second volume of the "Memorial History of the 

 City of New York." 



— Harry de Windt has written a book entitled " Siberia as It 

 Is," which appears to be a defence of the Russian system of 

 prison management, and is intended to be a reply to Mr. George 

 Kennan and other travellers and writers who have attacked that 

 administration as a system of " cruelties and atrocities which is a 

 disgrace to a civilized country and to the nineteenth century." 



— It is thought that it may be possible to bring out additional 

 volumes of Freeman's " History of Sicily," so large is the mass of 

 MSS. left by the historian. The MS. referring to the Norman con- 

 quest is practically complete, and would form a volume by itself. 

 Besides all this. Freeman left more or less complete materials for 

 a history of Rome down to the time of Mithridates ; considerable 

 fragments of a history of Greece ; a work on King Pippin ; a frag- 

 ment of Henry I. ; and some other manuscripts. 



— W. B. Saunders, 913 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, have just 

 ready "A New Pronouncing Dictionary of Medicine," by Dr. 

 John M. Keating and Henry Hamilton. The work is a volumi- 

 nous haudbook of medical, surgical, and scientific terminology, 

 containing concise explanations of the various terms used in 

 medicine and the allied sciences, with phonetic pronunciation, 

 etymology, etc. 



— The F. A. Davis Company, Philadelphia, have just ready a 

 new edition (the tenth) of the ' ' Book on the Physician Himself, 

 and things that concern his reputation and success," by Dr. D. W- 

 Cathell, of Baltimore. The Davis Company will publish early in 

 September " The New Pocket Medical Dictionary," compiled by 

 Dr. David BradenKyle from the latest authorities, and containing 

 words recently introduced into medicine; also, addenda of abbre- 

 viations, affixes, list of diseases known by proper names, list of 

 poisons and their antidotes, etc. 



— The Clarenden Press has just issued a collection of the prin- 

 cipal speeches delivered during the French Revolution, edited by 

 Mr. H. Morse Stephens, the English historian of that period. The 

 orators chosen are eleven in number, including Mirabeau, Barere, 

 Danton, Robespierre, and St. Just. Prefixed to each is a life and 

 explanatory comment; while a general introduction deals with 



