May 20, 1 892. J 



SCIENCE. 



291 



graph, p. 155. in which, as I read it, he eludes and dodges the 

 question. 



More and more thought in the matter only convinces me in 

 greater degree that these words of mine '' The writer does not for 

 a moment combat the well-exhibited inheritance of peculiar ap- 

 pearance and traits of a man fiom his father or mother, his 

 grandparents or great-grandparents, or in rare cases from great- 

 great-grandparents, but beyond these lioiitsthe historian has little 

 to encourage him in his attempt beyond uncertain and traditionary 

 tales " (Rejoinder, p. 157) are safely within the truth. 



Considering that "Enquirer"' knows relatively nothing of 

 ^^tbV P®'' ^^°^ °^ '"s emigrant ancestors. I still frankly disbelieve 

 that be can locate traits or characteristics of John Doe the first, 

 in any living descendant, with truth. However dear a hobby 

 or theory may grow to a man, unless facts fully substantiate 

 the theory, and it be capable of proof, it is questionable honesty 

 and mistaken wisdom to give that theory currency as if it were 

 fact. 



As far as I can group and draw inferences from the facts, on 

 an average the maternal blood has almost, if not full as much, 

 influence in determining the traits and appearance of offspring as 

 the paternal, — this with reference to human beings. 



With some one hundred living descendants of a man (the man 

 and descendants included in four generations) I have had intimate 

 acquaintance, and neither in those bearing his surnauie, nor the 

 males by themselves, nor in all together, does there appear oue 

 common trait or characteristic, which state of things I consider 

 due to the great influence of new strains of blood brought in by 

 marriage. 



Being as yet too young, personally, to claim the experience 

 necessary to theorize concerning likenesses, I feel that my only 

 safety is in stating fact. I have made a specialty of gathering 

 the likenesses of my ancestors and close relations, and from oil 

 painting?, through silhouettes, daguerreotypes, and ambrotypes to 

 photographs, I honestly see as much in appearance derived from 

 the maternal blood as from the paternal. Photographs are of too 

 recent origin, however, to affect the argument I put forward. 



Could those who are interested in the matter alter their point of 

 ■view long enough to realize the blending, the existing cousinship, 

 to realize that the living child of old New England parentage has 

 relatives (sixth cousins and nearer) to easily populate Boston, 

 Mass.. and to spare, such a light will come to them as will widen, 

 enlarge, and much more than offset the narrow views now cher- 

 ished. "Veritas." 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 

 Helen Keller : Souvenir of the First Summer Meeting of the 

 American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to 

 the Deaf. Second Edition. Washington, Volta Bureau. 

 1893. Large. 4°. 



The great interest aroused in the education of the blind and the 

 deaf by the remarkable story of the life of Laura Bridgman is 

 destined to be eclipsed by the most astounding educational strides 

 of the twelve-year-old Helen Keller. Blind and deaf since her 

 eighteenth month, she receives her first instruction in language at 

 seven years, she learns in days what it required months for Laura 

 Bridgman to acquire, and within a year has a fund of knowledge 

 and a capacity for using it quite remarkable for an eight-year-old 

 child in full possession of the five senses. Her interest in her sur- 

 roundings, her retentive memory, and appreciative imagination, 

 her capacity to learn and reproduce are wonderful enough, but 

 they are outdone by her remarkably quick and, from all accounts, 

 remarkably exact acquisition of vocal speech. By placing her 

 hands upon the mouth, lips, and throat of the speaker, she learns 

 the position of the speech-making organs when uttering the dif- 

 ferent sounds; setting her own vocal organs in the same position 

 she reproduces the sound, correcting it according to the instruc- 

 tions (by the finger alphabet) of her teacher, — an acquisition ditfi- 

 cult enough when guided by the eye, but certainly marvelous for 

 one both blind and deaf. 



It is only natural that her story should excite interest every- 

 where, and the present memoir of her education tells the salient 



points of her life. It is admirably prepared, and contains an ex- 

 cellent portrait and facsimiles of her very remarkable letters. It 

 is to be hoped that all the details of her career will be carefully 

 noted and that the present is only an introduction to a fuller and 

 more complete account of Helen Keller. It is certainly proper 

 that the sympathy in her case should be used to excite an interest 

 in the education of the deaf and the blind, and the souvenir will 

 aid in this meritorious work. 



Bacteriological Diagnosis : Tabular Aids for Use in Practical 

 Work. By James EiSENBERG, Ph.D., M.D., Vienna. Trans- 

 lated and augmented with the permission of the author from 

 the second German edition, by Norval H. Pierce, M.D., 

 Surgeon to the Outdoor Department of Michael Reese Hospi- 

 tal; Assistant to Surgical Clinic, College of Physicians and 

 Surgeons, Chicago, 111. F. A. Davis & Co., Philadelphia and 

 London. 1893. 



This is, without exception, the worst translation that has ever 

 fallen into our hands. Not only this, but it exhibits throughout 

 an utter ignorance of bacteriology on the part of the translator. 

 We cannot but express the greatest astonishment at the temerity 

 shown by the translator in attempting the task, deficient as he 

 evidently is not only in the knowledge of the German language 

 but also in the subject treated. To set forth all the errors would 

 be to write another book, so we will make hut a few quotations to 

 show that our condemnation is not too severe. 



Beginning with the first page, we find in the preface "a bac- 

 teria " occurring twice instead of " a bacterium," and " bacterise " 

 instead of " bacteria." In the index, Bacillus "sublilis" instead 

 of " subtilis " is seen, which might be an oversight if it were not 

 again misspelt at the head of the tabulated description (No. 14) 

 which deals with this organism. We will pass o^era vast num- 

 ber of comparatively small mistakes such as the translations 

 " pretty " for " schdn," " nourishing-ground" for " Nahrboden," 

 "faioffor •• matt '' (dull), " spirules " and " spirillse " for "spi- 

 rilla," •• flagellae " for "flagella," '-color-glass "for "Blende" 

 (diaphragm), "object-glass" for slide, " i^prouvette " for test- 

 tube, "whitish fimbria" for " weislichen Saum" (" whitish bor- 

 der " would be more the author's meaning), and " slim staves " or 

 "staffs" for " schlanke Slabchen " (we usually speak of "rods" 

 when speaking of bacilli). Wherever microscopic measurements 

 are given we find "m." (meters) instead of " /i." On pages 14, 

 15 and 57, minus signs are omitted from in front of temperatures 

 ranging from — 10° to — 30° C, thus taking all meaning out of 

 the translation. 



Serious errors would be represented by such translations as 

 these, taken at random : P. 17, where the growing out of the 

 Bacillus subtilis from spores is described " Slabchen sprossen 

 senkrecht auf die Langsachse derSporen aus," translated "Staves 

 sprout in the direction of long axis of spores." P. 34, " Hauf- 

 chen, die zu einer kernigen, brauner Masse mit abgerundeten 

 Ecken zusammenfliessen," translated " heaps, which amalgamate 

 into a seedy, brown mass." Same page, " Umfangreiche, scbnelle 

 Verfliissigung, vom ganzen Impfstich gleichmassig ausgehend; 

 gelbliche Verfarbung," translated " Growth elaborate, yellow, 

 and quickly liquefying. The growth spreads from the entire in- 

 oculation point." P. 53, " im Condensations wasser," translated 

 "in the water expressed in desiccation." P. 57, " Im Darminhalt 

 von frischen Choleraleichen und Stuhlentlerungen Cholera- 

 kranker," translated "In the intestinal canals of recently moribund 

 cholera patients and from the f»ces of the same." Same page, 

 " Am Anfang des Stichkanals bildet eich ein kleiner Trichter, es 

 tritt Verfliissigung langs des Impfstichs ein, an der Oberflache 

 entsteht luftblasenartige tiefe Eisenkung," translated " Liquefac- 

 tion begins slowly, commencing at the entrance of the puncture 

 around an inclosed air bubble." Same page again, " nach Unter- 

 bindung der Gallengangp," translated "after ligature of the in- 

 testine below the bile duct." On p. 63 one's astonishment is 

 somewhat increased by finding •• verschiedenartige Zeichnung" 

 translated "indifferent pictures." "Wasserstoff" (hydrogen) 

 translated " water " — " ohne Sauerstoffzufiihr "as " without ad- 

 dition of acid." On p. 73, " Schnittpraparaten " (sections) trans- 

 lated "excised preparations." On p. 79, instead of " Rausch- 



