November 8, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



733 



used, althougli not to the extent so familiar 

 in similar German manuals. Practically all 

 synonyms are omitted, and this, while incon- 

 venient for some iisers of the book, is no doubt 

 the better policy in a compact manual. In this 

 the author follows the wise example of Gray's 

 'Manual.' Synonymy, with all its confusing 

 diflSculties, need not be brought to the begin- 

 ner's notice, and for the older botanist, anything 

 short of full citations (impossible in such a 

 manual) is of little or no use. 



Students will be interested in noticing that 

 ' Order ' and ' Family ' are not identical groups, 

 but that they stand in their proper relation in 

 this book, as in zoological manuals. The full 

 citation of authorities for species, including 

 double citation where necessary, and the cita- 

 tion of the author of each family name, are 

 welcome novelties in an American botanical 

 manual. As to the nomenclature used, the 

 statement is made in the preface that "the 

 principles adopted by the botanists of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science at a meeting held in Rochester, N. Y., 

 in 1892, and in Madison, "Wis., in 1893, supple- 

 mentary to the Code of Nomenclature adopted 

 by the International Congress of Botanists held 

 in Paris, France, in 1867, have been followed." 

 Accordingly, we have here a manual in which 

 the much-discussed ' Rochester Rules ' are in 

 force, and from this time forward young botanists 

 will be taught this nomenclature from the first. 

 There will henceforth grow up a generation of 

 botanists for whom the names here given are 

 orthodox. 



This book must at once find its way into the 

 schools and colleges, to which it may be com- 

 mended for the students in systematic botany. 



It remains to be said that the publisher has 

 met' and successfully solved the difficult task of 

 bringing so large an amount of matter within 

 the compass of a book not too large for easy 

 carrying into the field. It might easily have 

 been made still smaller and lighter by the use 

 of still thinner paper, and a little closer trim- 

 ming of the margins. As compared with the 

 pocket edition of Gray's 'Manual' this is a much 

 larger and heavier book ; if printed on the same 

 paper and trimmed as closely, this book would 

 weigh but twenty ounces, instead of thirty as 



it does now. We suggest that in future editions 

 the printer and binder try to make some im- 

 provement in this respect. 



Charles E. Bessey. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The American Naturalist for October contains 

 the third and concluding part of W. M. 

 Wheeler's ' Compound and Mixed Nests of 

 American Ants,' the three forming an excellent 

 compendium of our knowledge on the subject. 

 Bashford Dean presents some interesting ' Notes 

 on Living Nautilus ' and Chai'les C. Adams has 

 an article on ' Base-leveling and its Faunal 

 Significance,' with illustrations taken from the 

 topography and distribution of mollusks in the 

 southeastern United States. The balance of 

 the number is taken up with numerous reviews 

 of scientific literature. 



The Journal of Comparative Neurology for 

 October. ' The Cranial Nerves and Cutaneous 

 Sense Organs of the North American Siluroid 

 Fishes,' by C. Judson Herrick. This is a de- 

 tailed exposition of the components of the 

 cranial nerves of the catfish and of the structure 

 and innervation of the cutaneous sense organs. 

 Of the latter there are four types, three classed 

 as neuromasts (Meikel's NervenhiJigel) and one 

 as terminal buds (Endknospen), the former in- 

 nervated by lateralis nerves, the latter by com- 

 munis. ' The Psychological Theory of Organic 

 Evolution,' by H. Heath Bawden, is an attempt 

 to put some meaning into the term mental evo- 

 lution without falling into the error of talking 

 about unconscious mental states. Natural 

 selection may in some instances be a survival of 

 the fittest among accidental variations, but in 

 many cases natural selection takes place in and 

 through the conscious adaptation of means to 

 ends. The condition of consciousness is organic 

 tension. The evolution of consciousness has 

 followed the path of critical stress in adaptation 

 of organic forms. Hence the criterion for the 

 presence of consciousness is not simply adapta- 

 tion of means to ends, but adaptation under con- 

 ditions of organic tension, i. e., the ability to vary 

 the use of means in the attainment of an end. 



The Popular Science Monthly for November has 

 for frontispiece a portrait of Charles Darwin 



