May 25, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



821 



statue, and to do so in the name of the 

 Trustees of the British Museum, of whom 

 I have the honor to be one. I have not 

 forgotten that 15 years ago I performed a 

 similar duty in connection with the fine 

 statue of the celebrated Charles Darwin, 

 which is at the top of the stairs, that was 

 similarly handed over to the British Mu- 

 seum. "We have heard to-day most elo- 

 quent and interesting speeches with refer- 

 ence to the illustrious man of science and 

 the great thinker, Professor Huxley. It 

 would therefore be both superfluous and I 

 may even say unbecoming of me to sound 

 his praises in the presence of so many men 

 of science, who know far more about all 

 his work than I do. I can only on my own 

 part endorse everything that has fallen 

 from the lips -of those gentlemen who 

 have spoken, and I beg only to repeat 

 what great pleasure it has given me for 

 the second time to have performed the 

 interesting ceremony of taking over the 

 statue of another great and illustrious man 

 of science. 



The statue is of marble and represents 

 Huxley seated with his head somewhat 

 bent, his right hand grasping the end of 

 the chair, and his left clenched, as though, 

 perhaps, to enforce an argument. He wears 

 a gown and hood to indicate the honors of 

 which, in more than one university, he was 

 the recipient. The bushy eyebrows and 

 the characteristic combativeness of his 

 strong face are well realized, though in 

 matter of likeness some who knew him well 

 were not altogether satisfied. The work is 

 of great beauty and finish, especially in the 

 decoration of the chair. But it is per- 

 missible to doubt the suitability to a great 

 personality not trained in a university or 

 the inheritor of traditional methods, of the 

 sitting posture and the academic attire. A 

 great champion of the causes he espoused 

 and formidable opponent of what he re- 

 garded as oatworn theories, a standing at- 



titude and such simple drapery as Owen 

 wears before him might have better repre- 

 sented the man as he was in the flesh. But 

 the work unquestionably possesses great 

 artistic merit. The statue bears the in- 

 scription— 



Thomas Henky Huxley, 

 Born May 4, 1825. 

 Died June 29, 1895. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 



A Manual of Zoology. By T. Jeffrey Parker 

 and William A. Hasavell. Eevised and 

 adapted for the use of American schools and 

 colleges. New York, The Macmillan Co. 

 1900. Pp. XXV+ 563; 327 figs. Price, $1.60. 

 This useful manual has been abridged from 

 the well-known larger Text-booh of Zoology by 

 the same authors, with the intention of meet- 

 ing the needs of students in the higher classes of 

 schools. The book retains many of the merits 

 that won so favorable a reception for the larger 

 work. It is concise, clearly written, well illus- 

 trated and abreast of the times. It may never- 

 theless be questioned whether the ' Manual ' is 

 as well adapted to its purpose as the ' Text- 

 book.' However widely teachers of zoology in 

 the schools diflfer in regard to the plan and scope 

 of work, most of them will probably agree that 

 a text-book satisfactory for their purpose is 

 hardly to be made by simple abridgement of a 

 larger technical work, as has been done in this 

 instance. By following this method the authors 

 have produced a work which, despite many ad- 

 mirable features, is too largely a mass of tech- 

 nical anatomical detail, some of which might 

 well have been sacrificed to make room for 

 fuller accounts of the general natural his- 

 tory and relationships of animals, of physi- 

 ological principles and of broader biological 

 questions. 



We fear that the American teacher v/ho reads 

 in the prefacejthat this edition has been ' adap- 

 ted for the use of American schools ' will hardly 

 feel himself fairly treated when he searches in 

 the text for the basis of this statement. Here 

 and there reference is incidentally made to char- 



