40 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXI. No. 520 



characteristics of animals brought about by the changes in con- 

 ditions surrounding thpm. The series of lectures is extremely in- 

 teresting and suggestive. It will be found to contain a most ex- 

 cellent summary of the important facts known in regard to vari- 

 ations and the conditions regulating variations in animals and 

 plants, and it will also be found to be full of suggestions to guide 

 further experiments in the future. The work perhaps shows some 

 trace of lack of sutBcient care and occasionally carelessness in 

 quotations from the authors cited, but on the whole we must re- 

 gard these lectures as an extremely valuable addition to our 

 knowledge of the doctrine of evolution and possibly as a stepping- 

 stone into a new department of investigation upon the doctrine 

 of evolution. Especially important are they as opening a new 

 field of research, which is so broad and yet so close at hand that 

 there is opportunity for all to work therein with strong confidence 

 in being able to obtain valuable results. 



Text-Booh of Elementary Biology. By H. J. Campbell, M.D. 

 London and New York, Macmillan & Co. $1.60. 

 The last few yeirs have seen the publication of several books on 

 elementary biology, and those already published very satisfac- 

 torily fill the need felt by schools for such works. One can but won- 

 der at the appearance of this new book by Dr. Campbell, especially 

 when we see that it covers practically the same ground as some 

 of the others and in no more satisfactory a manner. The book 

 is entitled Introduction to the Study of Elementary Biology, but 

 it certainly could never be used as such unless it were accom- 

 panied by a long course of lectures or by considerable assistance 

 in practical work. The text is too condensed, the subject too 

 crowded and everj'thing is treated in too concise a manner to be 

 intelligible to a student who is beginning to study elementary bi- 

 ology. In some places the text is scarcely more than a catalogue 

 of anatomical details perfectly unintelligible without a large 

 amount of outside assistance. The book is divided into two 

 parts, the first giving general biological truths and the second 



giving more detailed descriptions of a few types. The author ad- 

 vises the student to read the two parts together and not consecu- 

 tively, a precedure which most students would be sure not to fol- 

 low. The author also strongly advises a student to do a consider- 

 able amount of practical work in connection with the reading, 

 but nowhere in the book does he give any directions for such 

 practical laboratory work, any directions for obtaining material 

 or for using it, so that a student would be utterly unable to work 

 in the laboratory by the use of this book alone. In short, the 

 book as an introduction is impracticable unless it is accompanied 

 by considerable personal direction on the part of instructors. 

 Seemingly this book is designed chiefly for medical students, or 

 at least so one would judge from the apportionment of space al- 

 lowed to types. Of 160 pages which are devoted to types, over 

 55 are taken by the study of parasitic worms including leeches, 31 

 more with the unicellular organisms, leaving less than 30 pages 

 for all the rest of the animal kingdom, including invertebrates; 

 perhaps the most curious apportionment of space to be found in 

 any text-book. While for an elementary text-book it seems to 

 be not usable, the work does contain an interesting summary of 

 biological principles and facts which would be instructive and 

 pleasant reading to a person already acquainted with elementary 

 biology and wanting an outline summary of leading biological 

 principles. For such a purpose the book many be recommended, 

 and will be found readable and instructive. 



Physics. Advanced Course. By George F. Baekee, Professor 

 of Physics in the University of Pennsylvania. American 

 Science Series. New- York, Henry Holt & Co. 903 p. 8°. 

 This addition to the excellent series of scientific text-books 

 published by Messrs. Henry Holt & Co. will be welcomed by 

 teachers of physics both on account of Professor Barker's reputa- 

 tion as a teacher and as an investigator. 



In the preface the author states that the progress which has 

 been made in physical science within the past decade has com- 



CALENDAR OF SOCIETIES. 

 Chemical Society, Washington. 



Dec. 8. — Subject of Discussion, National 

 Chemical Society Plans. 



Jan. 12. — Ninth Annual Meeting. Officers 

 elected : President, Dr. F. P. Dewey ; vice- 

 presidents, Mr. Cabell Whitehead. Mr. K. 

 P. McElroy ; treasurer. Dr. E. A. de Schwei- 

 nitz: secretary. Dr. A. C. Peale ; additional 

 members of executive committee. Professor 

 H. W. Wiley, Pi-ofessor F. W. Clarke, Dr. 

 Thomas Chatard, and Professor R. H. War- 

 der. Papers were read as follows : On Some 

 Old Vegetable and Animal Oils, by K. P. 

 McElroy and W. D. Bigelow. An examina- 

 tion had been made of thirteen oils that had 

 formed part of the exhibit at the Centennial 

 Exposition of 1876, with the view of deter- 

 mining the effect of age. The conclusion 

 reached was that age diminishes the iodine 

 number of oils and fats but increases the 

 ether and free acid members. On Some 

 Problems of Physical Chemistry, by Robert 

 B. Warder, who submitted the following as 

 some of the open problems. 1. What is the 

 real nature of matter in atoms and in mole- 

 cules, in elements and compounds, and in 

 the several states of aggregation? 2. How 

 far can the properties of each kind of matter 

 be exposed as a function of the atoms (or 

 other constituents) of which it is composed ? 

 3. What are the mechanical possibilities and 

 limitations of chemical change? Subject 

 discussed. What May We Hope to Gain 

 from the Congress of Chemistry at Chicago 

 Next August. 



New York Academy of Sciences, Biologi- 

 cal Section. 

 Jan. 9. — A. A. Julien, Suggestions in Mi- 

 croscopical Technique, including (a) a car- 

 rier of cover impressions (mycoderm blood), 

 utilizing as clamps a coil of brass wire 

 moulded in a phial. The same device with 

 a platinum coil serves as a convenient stain- 

 ing phial for cover- glass preparations, (b) 

 A suggested medium for mounting deli- 

 cately intractile protoplasmic objects, (c) 

 Devices for avoiding inclusion of air-bubbles 

 in mounts, (d) Balsam-parafiSne as a ring 

 varnish. O. S. Strong, On the Components 

 of Cranial Nerves of Amphibia. In the sev- 

 enth a dorsal root was shown to pass off 

 into brain, representing Ophthalmicus, Su- 

 perficialis, Facialis, and Buccalis of fishes, 

 and innervating the lateral sense-organs of 

 the head. In vagus a root of similar inter- 

 nal origin passes into the R. laterales, in- 

 nervating the lateral sense-organs of the 

 body. Another component of the facialis 

 is the fascicalus communies of Osborn, which 

 was believed to represent the lobus vagi of 

 fishes. This passes oflf into the palatinus 

 and mandibulaie9»internus, innervating the 

 mucous epithelium of the oral cavity ; while 

 in the glosso-phangugrus and vagus similar 

 components derived from this fasciculus 

 innervate in like manner portions of the 

 alimentary canal and its appendages. There- 

 latio^of the results to segmentation of head 

 was discussed. N. L. Britton, A Review of 

 the N. A. Species of Lespedeza, With Com- 

 ments on the Eleven Native Species, Shown 



to be Divisible into Two Groups, (a) those 

 producing both petalous and apetalous 

 flowers, and (&) those in which the petalous 

 flowers are de^'cloped. Of the two natural- 

 ized species, one, in the south-eastern part 

 the United States, L. striata (shrug) H. and 

 A., is a native of eastern Asia, appearing 

 (about 1848) in Georgia. 



Society of Natural History, Boston. 



Jan. 18— W. M. Davis and students in 

 geological field-work in Harvard University, 

 Report on a Study of Glacial Sand-Plains in 

 Eastern Massachusetts (illustrated by lan- 

 tern slides). 



Society for the Advancement of Science, 

 Las Graces, N.M. 

 Jan. 12.— C. H. Tyler Townsend, Presi- 

 den's Annual Address : The Present Status- 

 of Science in New Mexico. 



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