JlLY 3, 1!I03.] 



SCIENCE. 



15 



evidently the peculiarity of the process is 

 to be sought in other causes. 



Friedrich Jliiller fii-st studied autolysis 

 of the lung in croupous pneumouia, and 

 described in detail its occurrence and the 

 chemical products, among which are lysin, 

 leucin, tyrosin, purin bases and phosphoric 

 acid, of the digestive process. I have 

 found that it is in the stage of gray he- 

 patization that autolysis takes place quickly 

 and perfectly, while in the stage of red 

 hepatization it is very imperfect— a fact 

 that can, I think, be attributed to the small 

 number of pus cells present in the latter 

 condition. But if the lung in unresolved 

 pneiuiionia is exposed to conditions favor- 

 ing autolysis, the process is slow and in- 

 complete as compared with what takes 

 place in gray hepatization. In gray hepat- 

 ization, autolysis after death is a mark of 

 the tendency during life of the exudate to 

 become absorbed ; in unresolved pneumonia 

 the absence or reduction of autolj'sis is 

 equally an indication of the future fate of 

 the exudate, namely, during life to under- 

 go organization. 



I am, therefore, inclined to view unre- 

 solved pneumonia as an acute lobar pneu- 

 monia in which the inflammatory exudate, 

 either because of some disproportion be- 

 tween the leucocytes and other constitu- 

 ents, or other cause as yet unknown, failing 

 to autolyze perfectly, can not be absorbed, 

 and hence undergoes organization. 



Simon Flexner. 



University of Pennsyxvakia. 



SCIEXTIFIC BOOKS. 



A Revision of the Lepidopterous Family 

 Sphingidw. By the Hon. Walter Rotii- 

 scniLD, Ph.D., and Kj\rl Jordan, M.A.L., 

 Ph.D. Novitates Zoologicfe, Vol. IX., Sup- 

 plement. Issued at the Zoological Museum, 

 Tring, April, 1903. Pp. cxxxv + 972 ; plates 

 I-LXVII. 4to. 

 This great work, based upon the splendid 



collections contained in the museum at Tring, 



and also upon all the other large collections 

 ill Europe as well as those in America, which 

 have been carefully consulted, has occupied 

 the learned authors fully eight years in its 

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 On every page it gives evidence of the most 

 painstaking and minute research, and is the 

 first really satisfactory attempt to collate and 

 bring into systematic review what has been 

 done during the past one hundred and fifty 

 years in relation to the large and interesting 

 family of insects with which it deals. 



The work falls into three parts: The Intro- 

 duction, covering one hundred and thirty-five 

 pages ; the descriptive portion, occupying eight 

 hundred and thirteen pages ; and a Synonymic 

 Catalogue of the Sphingidae of the AVorld, to 

 which one hundred and sixty-seven pages are 

 allotted. Sixteen of the plates are devoted to 

 figuring hitherto little-known or hitherto un- 

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 in photo-colortj'pe, or by the half-tone process. 

 The remaining fifty-one plates, which are 

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 to the illustration of anatomical details. Evi- 

 dently neither labor nor expense has been 

 spared in making the treatise one of the most 

 satisfactory pieces of monographic work which 

 have ever issued from the press. 



The introduction has value not merely for 

 the lepidopterist, but for all students of the 

 biologic sciences, inasmuch as the laws and 

 methods of procedure, which should govern 

 ill systematic work, are taken up and dis- 

 cussed at length. The statements which are 

 made as to the principles of nomenclature 

 are especially worthy of study, and the con- 

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 command the respect and win the adherence 

 of all those who are sufficiently well versed 

 in this subject to appreciate the position taken 

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The hawkmoths are divided into two great 

 groups, the Sphingida? Asonianophorie, includ- 

 ing the subfamilies Acherontiina; and Am- 

 bulicina?; and the Sphingidie Semanophone, 

 including the subfamilies Sesiinop, Philampel- 

 ina?, and Ch<rrocampina>. The ' law of pri- 

 ority ' has been strictly applied in ascertain- 

 ing the generic names, which should be used. 



