Miscellaneous Intelligence. 479 



together may be confidently recommended as a complete and 

 practical presentation of the present status of orbit determination. 



w. L. E. 



2. Report of the United States National Museum under the 

 direction of the Smithsonian Institution for the year ending 

 June 30, 1904- Pp- xv b ^80\ with 66 plates and 142 text-figures. 

 Washington, 1906. — The Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, Mr. Richard Rathbun, gives in this volume a report 

 of the present condition of the U. S. National Museum and the 

 work done during the year named. This is supplemented by the 

 reports of the Head Curators. Part II contains the History of 

 American Geology by George P. Merrill, noticed on a preceding 

 page (p. 46V) ; also a description of the Howland Collection of 

 Buddhist Religious Art in the Museum by I. M. Casanowicz, and 

 of Flint Implements of the Faynm, Egypt, by H. W. Seton-Karr. 



3. The Dynamics of living Matter ; by Jacques Loeb. 

 Pp. 233. New York, 1906. (The Columbia University Press, 

 The Macmillan Company, Agents.) — The scope of this volume is 

 clearly indicated by the introductory paragraph: " In these lee-' 

 tures we shall consider living organisms as chemical machines, 

 consisting essentially of colloidal material, which possess the 

 peculiarities of automatically developing, preserving, and repro- 

 ducing themselves. The fact that the machines which can be 

 created by man do not possess the power of automatic develop- 

 ment, self-preservation, and reproduction constitutes for the pres- 

 ent a fundamental difference between living machines and 

 artificial machines. We must, however, admit that nothing con- 

 tradicts the possibility that the artificial production of living 

 matter may one day be accomplished. It is the purpose of these 

 lectures to state to what extent we are able to control the phe- 

 nomena of development, self-preservation, and reproduction." 



The present book presents the same broad views of the funda- 

 mental problems of physiology as have dominated the earlier 

 "Studies in General Physiology" and the "Comparative Physiol- 

 ogy of the Brain " by the same author. It is impossible to read 

 these comprehensive records, characterized as they are by the 

 author's remarkable familiarity with the literature of compara- 

 tive physiology and his unusual personal experience as an investi- 

 gator, without immediate profit. His treatment of biological 

 themes is as original as it is unique. The point of view may be 

 unusual at times, but it is always suggestive. One may not 

 always follow Professor Loeb with an enthusiasm equal to that 

 with which some of his more radical views are championed. 

 Nevertheless in such cases the critical reader will usually find 

 that the pursuit of the new ideas stimulates, even if it- fails to 

 convince him. 



To help in the construction of a mental picture of the make-up 

 of living matter, Loeb has drawn aid from the newer discoveries 

 of physical and chemical science. The topics: general chemis- 

 try of life phenomena, the general physical constitution of living 

 matter, the rdle of electrolytes, tropisms, fertilization, heredity, 



