April 10, 19U3.] 



SCIENCE. 



585 



tion of certain substances is found to take 

 place. Neither is any retarding or paratonic 

 effect to be seen as a result of this continuous 

 illumination." 



The chapter on the theories as to the nature 

 of etiolation is curious and interesting. The 

 theories of the earlier investigators quite 

 naturally were very crude, and it is not too 

 much to say that something of this crudity 

 continues even to the present day. Appar- 

 ently we are not yet ready to formulate a 

 satisfactory explanation of the action of a 

 plant when grown in darkness. The ' adapt- 

 ive theory ' of Boelim (1886) as elaborated 

 by Godlewsky (1889) appears to be the one 

 most favored by botanists just now. It in- 

 terprets etiolation as a direct adaptation, and 

 assumes that ' the attenuation or elongation 

 of axial organs is a means of lifting chloro- 

 phyll-bearing organs past theoretical obstruc- 

 tions.' Of this the author says, however, that 

 * the forms presented by the shoots of a greater 

 majority of the species examined do not ex- 

 hibit any beneficial adjustments by which the 

 plant might free itself from encompassing 

 darkness, and lift its leaves and reproductive 

 organs past the obstruction that intercepts the 

 rays.' 



We should like to refer to the chemical 

 composition of etiolated plants, the rate and 

 mode of growth of such plants, the stimula- 

 tive influence of light, etc., taken up in this 

 most interesting book, but space forbids fur- 

 ther discussion at this time. The author is 

 to J)e congratulated upon having added so 

 valuable a book to the growing list of his 

 publications. 



Charles E. Bessey. 



The University of Nebraska. 



International Catalogue of Scientific Litera- 

 ture, first annual issue, B — Bacteriology. 

 Published for the International Council by 

 the Royal Society of London. London, 

 Harrison and Sons, 45 St. Martin's Lane. 

 Vol. VnL December, 1902. Pp. xiv -f 

 314. 



This is a comprehensive bibliogTaphy of 

 books and other contributions to bacterio- 

 logical literature which appeared during 1901. 



Author and subject lists are given, the latter 

 arranged according to a decimal system. The 

 plan and essential features of this underta- 

 king, which is an outgrowth of the ' Catalogue 

 of Scientific Papers ' formerly published by 

 the Royal Society of London, have already 

 been described in Science, N. S., Vol. XIV., 

 p. 861. Ill the present issue there are 2,206 

 titles indexed under the authors index and 

 presumably the same are grouped under the 

 subject classes. To cover the literature of 

 any scientific subject in all languages is a 

 stupendous task, and for those who use the 

 catalogue it will doubtless be found a valuable 

 aid. While it is always easier to criticise 

 than to construct, yet there are certain fea- 

 tures of the present volume to which atten- 

 tion deserves to be called. 



Exception could be taken to the admission 

 of articles on malaria, Texas fever, surra, 

 fungus and nematode diseases, etc., as well 

 as many other titles that are even more re- 

 motely connected with the subject of bac- 

 teriology, but particular attention at this time 

 is desired to a single feature. 



One at all acquainted with the literature 

 of the subject is at once struck by the paucity 

 of reference to articles published in the 

 United States. A careful examination of 

 the contents of the volume revealed but about 

 eighty titles of books, addresses, magazine 

 articles, etc., nineteen different periodicals be- 

 ing represented in the list. The Journal of 

 the Boston Society of Medical Sciences is 

 first in the list with fifteen references, followed 

 by Popular Science Monthly with nine, the 

 Journal of the American Medical Association 

 with six, and the Philadelphia Medical Jour- 

 nal with the same number, the others having 

 from four to a single title indexed. None of 

 the publications of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture nor of any of the Experiment 

 Stations are mentioned, although during 

 1901 there were published from these institu- 

 tions many articles relating to the bacteriol- 

 ogy of plant diseases, dairying and veterinary 

 science. For the sake of confirming the cata- 

 logue references a number of publications of 

 1901 were examined to see if they were prop- 



