SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 28; 



that he will be well taught who follows this bulky manual faith- 

 fully through. The work has been thoroughly revised, largely re- 

 written, and very much increased in size, by Professor RoUeston's 

 collaborator and successor, Mr. W. H. Jackson. For the benefit of 

 those who are not familiar with the former edition (and there are 

 comparatively few students in recent years in America who are fa- 

 miliar with it), a few words relative to the scope of the volume may 

 be given. The first part of the volume is essentially a laboratory 

 guide, illustrated by plates, of the anatomy of various selected types 

 of animal structure ; the second and larger part contains systematic 

 morphological descriptions of the classes and higher divisions of 

 the animal kingdom, with briefer discussions of the different or- 

 ders, both fossil and recent. The descriptions are very compre- 

 hensive, essentially comparative, and modern. Not the least valu- 

 able part of the work are the bibliographies appended, in both 

 parts, to type or class, and so arranged as to open up to the stu- 

 dent special lines of study in any direction he may select. 



The work is alike valuable to the special student and teacher of 

 comparative anatomy, and will be scarcely less useful to the pale- 

 ontologist and college teacher of zoology, as well as forming an ex- 

 cellent adjunct and continuation to Huxley and Martin. To the 

 undergraduate, or even non-specialist post-graduate, almost its 

 only service will be that of a work of reference. As Professor 

 Rolleston says, the distinctive character of the book " consists in 

 its attempting to so combine the concrete facts of zootomy with the 

 outlines of systematic classification as to enable the student to put 

 them for himself into the natural relations of foundation and super- 

 structure." But no student can appreciate or grasp the broad mor- 

 phological principles underlying classification until he has first fa- 

 miliarized himself with the details upon which those principles are 

 based. In Huxley and Martin's ' Biology ' the other extreme is 

 taken, and facts, only, presented ; in the present work we believe 

 that a much more thorough acquaintance with the actual structure 

 of animal bodies is needed than is presented in the first part, l^efore 

 the student can avail himself of the more systematic morphological 

 portion. The work is not complete in itself : it needs and will be 

 supplemented by others ; nevertheless it is one that no zootomist 

 or zoologist can afford to be without. 



A Course of Elenieniary l7isi7-uctioii in Practical Biology. By T. 



H. Huxley. Revised and edited by G. B. Howes and D. H. 



Scott. London and New York, Macmillan. i6°. $2.60. 

 Huxley and Martin's ' Practical Biology ' has long since won an 

 enviable place as a text-book in our best institutions, and the pres- 

 ent edition contains many important improvements that will meet 

 the approbation of teachers. In size, the present is nearly twice 

 that of the former edition, and its arrangement has been materially 

 changed. Especially do we approve of the principle, that has al- 

 ready been accepted by other authors in similar treatises, of start- 

 ing the student in on work that is more familiar to him, and grad- 

 ually leading him to less familiar fields, rather than the adherence 

 to a more logical and systematic but less practical view of living 

 structure. In the present edition the arrangement has been so 

 changed that the student is first taken through a careful study of 

 the frog, and then follows successively the study of the cray-fish, 

 earth-worm, snail, mussel, polyps, animalcules, yeast, protococcus 

 Spirogyra, bacteria, moulds, stoneworts, fern, and bean. Even 

 with the present arrangement, we believe that the student's interest 

 would be sharpened, and his skill increased, by a preliminary study 

 of the best-known and most familiar of all structures, the human 

 body. The portion devoted to the frog has been most largely in- 

 creased ; and the additions of the earth-worm, snail, and Spirogyra 

 add to the value of the book. The appendix is a happy addition to 

 the work, and is a good, fresh, and succinct account of microscopic 

 material and technique. 



The work is undoubtedly accurate : the authors' names are not 

 needed as a guaranty of this. The omission of figures and plates 

 is objectionable to some ; but the true use of the work, that of a 

 guide to the student in the examination of specimens for himself, 

 neither requires nor desires such. It is too advanced for the gen- 

 eral undergraduate student, but is excellent for post-graduate work 

 in preparation for medical studies. Some day, though we fear it 

 may be far in the future, such preliminary work as this will be re- 



quired of all medical students : it would go far towards mitigating 

 the very just opprobrium under which most medical colleges of our 

 country now suffer, — that of being the most unscientific of all sci- 

 entific schools. The work would be improved by a more compar- 

 ative morphological treatment. But little is said of the general 

 principles underlying structure, and the relations of the general 

 types are not made apparent, as they should be. 



A Popular Zoology. By J. DORMAN STEELE and J. W. P. 

 JENKS. New York and Chicago, Barnes. 12". $1.40. 



First Lessons in Zoology. By A. S. PACKARD. 2d ed. New- 

 York, Holt. 12°. %\. 



Both of the above text-books are by well-known authors, com- 

 ing simultaneously from Brown University, and both are worthy of 

 commendation ; but both are not of like merit in all respects, nor 

 adapted for the same class of pupils. Steele and Jenks's book is 

 designed to interest and instruct ; Packard's, to instruct and inter- 

 est. The former is more elementary and popular ; the latter, for a 

 somewhat older grade of pupils, and is more scientific. The one 

 deals with the familiar forms of life more fully, — there is an undue 

 amount on birds, — and is rather too much after the style of Ten- 

 ney ; Packard's work is more philosophical, and treats of principles 

 rather than of details. 



If is very difficult in a text-book on zoology, especially one in- 

 tended for young pupils, to hit the happy mean between meaning- 

 less details and a dry, uninteresting compendium of comparative 

 anatomy. Furthermore, the value of an elementary zoology de- 

 pends upon who the teacher is. If he is, as is too often the case, 

 one who knows as much about the principles of zoology as he does 

 of those of the Aztec language, then no book will be of much value ; 

 if he is a good zoologist himself, he does not rely very exclusively 

 upon any text-book. For the pupil who must depend largely upon 

 himself, Steele and Jenks's book, with its numerous good illustra- 

 tions and anecdotal style, can be recommended ; but, for the more 

 scientific yet interesting application of the principles of animal life 

 and its classification by a qualified teacher, the excellency of Pack- 

 ard's work cannot be gainsaid. The additions in the present edi- 

 tion of the last work are confined to the Insccta, Ctenophores, and 

 the horseshoe crab. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



In 1887 an association was formed in Ireland for the promo- 

 tion of silk-culture in the south of the island. The hope was to 

 utilize land now devoted to very unproductive crops. The Journal 

 of the Society of Arts states that the river-valleys of Munster are 

 especially suited for the growth of the mulberry-tree. The present 

 effort to introduce silk-cultivation divides itself into two parts, — 

 first the cultivation of the^ mulberry-tree, and next the rearing of 

 cocoons. To accomplish these objects of the association it is pro- 

 posed, and is actually being done on a small scale, to distribute 

 mulberry-trees among those who last year reared such silk as to 

 " equal any Italian or other silk." Count Dandalo, in his Italian 

 work on the silkworm, says that Ireland, from many circumstances, 

 appears peculiarly favorable to the cultivation of silk. The experi- 

 ment of rearing silkworms is being tried by about thirty families, 

 but large results are not expected at once, as the imported mul- 

 berry-trees will not leaf well in the first year. It is remarked, that, 

 it the re-afforesting of Ireland be desirable, some of the trees should 

 be the useful mulberry. Another part of the scheme is to intro- 

 duce reeling-machines, which can be used by ladies in their own 

 homes. Sericulture has been in every country rather an occupa- 

 tion for the family than for the factory, which gives it a special 

 claim to attention, at a time when those whose circumstances for- 

 bid them from seeking employment outside their own homes are 

 suffering keenly from the general depression. 



— The Society of Science of Harlem has just published Volume 

 I. of the works of the illustrious Huygens. This is a volume which 

 will be of special value to the physicists and historians, and we can 

 but commend this republication of the wOrks of the pioneers in 

 science. The Physical Society of France has done a similar piece 

 of service in republishing the works of Coulomb and Ampere. 



