236 SCIENCE. [Vol. XXI. No 534 



fourths of an inch. On this account the pieces to be preserved Him strictly to the world of life, excluding Him entirely from 



must not be too large. the vastly larger field of inorganic matter. In this vi'ay Dr. 



The beet formula for Mtiller's fluid known to me is : — Gould thinks that he accounts for the existence of evil, which is 



Bichromate of potassium 3 per cent due to the limited power of the Creator, whose goodness is thus 



Sulphate of sodium 3 " " saved at the expense of his omnipotence. Every living thing is 



Water 96 " '• an incarnation of Divinity, and man especially so. Man's duty 



Iq practice it is convenient and sufficiently exact to dissolve two consists in promoting the growth and fulness of life everywhere, 



grammes of each salt in 1,000 cubic centimetres of water. and especially the spiritualization of human life. On the ques- 



It will be, I am sure, a pleasure to raany naturalists in America tion of immortality. Dr. Gould expresses no decided opinion, 



to learn of an opportunity of rendering a service to Professor holding that God has not seen fit to reveal his design with regard 



Kolliber, to whom we all owe so much, and whose continued to man's future, and believing that information concerning it 



activity is perhaps the most remarkable instance of prolonged and would be of no use to us here if we had it. 



fully sustained mental power in the whole history of biological guch is Dr. Gould's religion; but, though it may find some 



science. "We must all feel confident that any material placed at favor among other biologists, we doubt if it wins acceptance any- 



his disposal will be the means of securing important additions to where, for religions and philosophies that deny the Divine om- 



knowledge. Charles SEDavsTECK Minot. nipotence have never proved congenial to the human mind, and 



Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. never will. His theory of the universe and its Author is evidently 



due to a too exclusive study of one science to the neglect of other 

 BOOK-Kii V it, W &. ^jjjj ^yjjg,, views, a mode of investigation peculiarly dangerous 

 The Meaning and the Method of Life : A Search for Religion in j^ theology. But whatever may be thonght of his positive doc- 

 Biology. By George M. Gould. New York, G. P. Putnam's trines, all true souls will symphathize with the sentiment ex- 

 Sons. $1.75. pressed in his introductory chapter, that "the bravest, noblest 



This book is a result of the unsettled and transitional state of attitude is that of unsatisfied longing, and the never stilled faith 



religious opinion. Feeling deeply the want of some religion, but that light will come into all of our darkness, and that the riddle 



dissatisfied with the religions of the past, Dr. Gould has sought gf our lives will be solved." 



in the phenomena revealed by his favorite science of biology the ^ , . , „ -, ^ , , „, , , ^^ ^. 

 basis of a new theology and a new religion. His views are some- Beitrdge zur Kenntniss der Baues imd Lebens der Flechten. II. Die 

 what singular. He holds that matter is eternal and independent Syntrophie. Von Dr. Arthes Minks. Wien, 1893. 

 of God, who is the author of life and mind only, using matter as Dr. Minks of Stettin, Prussia, is, or should be, known to all 

 the material of the living bodies that he forms, but having other- who are interested in the Lichens, and the controversy with re- 

 wise no control over it. Hence God is a limited and conditioned gard to them, as one of the strongest advocates of their autonomy, 

 being, and, though very wise and perfectly good, is very far from on grounds peculiarly his own. In various publications he has 

 omnipotent. This theory is somewhat like one that had some announced the result of arduous and long-conlinued investiga- 

 prevalence in ancient times, which also regarded matter as eter- tions, which are at least worthy of serious consideration. They 

 nal and the Creator as merely the workman who fashioned it; yet cannot be ignored, as is the fashion among those who adopt the 

 the doctrine of this book limits Him still more, since it confines ideas of the new school. 



CALENDAR OF SOCIETIES. 



Biological Society, Washington. 



Apr. 32. — O. F. Cook, Notes on the Natu- 

 ral History of Liberia ; J. N. Rose, Two New 

 Trees of Ec nomic Importance from Mexico; 

 V. A. Moore, Observations on the Distribu- 

 tion and Specific Characters of the Strepto- 

 cocci Group of Bacteria; Erwin F. Smith, 

 Peach Yellows and Plant Nutrition. 



Geological Society, Washington. 

 Apr. 36. — The first half hour will be de- 

 voted to continuing the discussion concern- 

 ing the Age of the Earth. Bailey Willis, 

 Interpretation of Sedimentary Rocks; M. R. 

 Campbell, The Influence of Post-Paleozoic 

 Deformation on the Drainage of the Central 

 Appalachians. 



Academy of Sciences, Biological Section, 

 New York. 



Apr. 10.— H. F. Osborn, on "The Evolu- 

 tion of Teeth in Mammalia in Its Bearing 

 upon the Problem of Phylogeny," reviewed 

 the recent researches and theories of Kiiken- 

 thal. Rose, and Tacker upon the formation 

 and succession of the dental series in mam- 

 mamalia, and pointed out that, especially 

 in marsupials, cetaceans, and edentates 

 (with other placentates), the existence of 

 two series of teeth was now abundantly 

 proven, as well as the fact that Homody- 

 namous forms were derived from early 

 Heterodont. He then showed that recent 

 discoveries demonstrated that in marsupials 



teeth of the second series might be inter- 

 posed in the first series — to explain the typi- 

 cal dentition of such forms of Didelphys. 

 This transposition enables a comparison of 

 dentition of marsupial with that of turassic 



,. / . 4 1 4 8\ T^ 



mammalia [ = x, -, c, -, », _, m, - l. it 

 V 4 l'-" 4 '8/ 



was further noted that the triconodont type 

 (as Amphilestes) was probably the hypo- 

 thetical point of divergence of placental 

 mammalia. As to the form of crowns, the 

 theory (Kiikenthal-RQse) that complex 

 mammalian types were made by concres- 

 ence of simple reptilian cusps was upon the 

 evidence of the turassic mammalia shown 

 untenable, as well as the converse theory 

 that cetaceans have derived homodynamous 

 form by the splitting of the cusps of tri- 

 conodont. Bashford Dean, in " Contribu- 

 tions to the Anatomy of Dinichthys," cor- 

 related the parts of this Devon- Lower Car- 

 boniferous Arthrodiran to those of Coccos 

 tens. Notes were made upon the (1) 

 disposition and character of the lateral line 

 organs, (3) pineal foramen, (3) nasal cap- 

 sules, (4) dentary plates (homologies), (5) 

 gingly moid articulation of lateral shoulder 

 plates, (6) character of shagreen, (7) prob- 

 able disposition of paired and unpaired fins. 

 N. L. Britton presented a "Note on the 

 Genus Lechea." This genus of CistincEe is 

 entirely American, and, from the investiga- 

 tions of Mr. W m. H. Leggett and Dr. Britton, 

 appears to consist of about fourteen species. 



Agassiz Scientific Society, Corvallis, Ore. 



Apr. 13. — C. D. Thompson, Relation of 

 Soils to Plant Growth. 



Mar. S.— Professor John M. Bloss, The 

 Early Lives of Some of Our Scientists. 



Beading Matter Notices. 



Ripans Tabules : best liver tonic. 

 Ripans Tabules cure jaundice. 



ACK NUMBERS and complete sets of leading Mag- 

 azines. Xaies low. AM. MAG. EXCHANGE, 

 Schoharie, N. Y. 



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