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  Scientific 
  Intelligence. 
  

  

  4. 
  Secrets 
  of 
  Animal 
  Life; 
  by 
  J. 
  Arthur 
  Thomson 
  ; 
  pp. 
  vi, 
  

   325. 
  New 
  York, 
  1919 
  (Henry 
  Holt 
  & 
  Co.).— 
  "The 
  aim 
  of 
  this 
  

   book 
  of 
  short 
  studies 
  is 
  to 
  interest 
  thoughtful 
  readers 
  in 
  the 
  

   multitudinous 
  problems 
  of 
  animal 
  life 
  as 
  they 
  present 
  them- 
  

   selves 
  to 
  the 
  modern 
  biologist. 
  Some 
  of 
  them 
  deal 
  with 
  old 
  

   problems 
  which 
  have 
  reasserted 
  themselves 
  in 
  new 
  guise 
  ; 
  others 
  

   deal 
  with 
  new 
  problems 
  which 
  recent 
  research 
  has 
  brought 
  into 
  

   prominence. 
  Most 
  of 
  them 
  are 
  confessedly 
  appreciations 
  of, 
  and 
  

   reflections 
  on, 
  the 
  investigations 
  of 
  other 
  naturalists." 
  "The 
  

   first 
  ten 
  studies 
  deal 
  with 
  individual 
  animals 
  ; 
  the 
  next 
  six 
  have 
  

   to 
  do 
  with 
  the 
  web 
  of 
  life; 
  the 
  ten 
  that 
  follow 
  raise 
  problems 
  

   of 
  development 
  and 
  behavior 
  — 
  two 
  subjects 
  more 
  intimately 
  

   related 
  than 
  appears 
  at 
  first 
  sight; 
  the 
  remaining 
  fourteen 
  

   studies 
  may 
  be 
  grouped 
  round 
  the 
  concept 
  of 
  evolution." 
  

  

  These 
  forty 
  brief 
  essays 
  show 
  great 
  literary 
  skill 
  and 
  present 
  

   in 
  most 
  attractive 
  manner 
  much 
  that 
  is 
  well 
  worth 
  knowing 
  

   about 
  the 
  lives 
  of 
  animals 
  and 
  biological 
  phenomena 
  in 
  general. 
  

   It 
  is 
  seldom 
  that 
  nature's 
  secrets 
  are 
  revealed 
  in 
  so 
  charming 
  a 
  

   guise. 
  w. 
  R. 
  c. 
  

  

  5. 
  The 
  Unity 
  of 
  the 
  Organism, 
  or 
  The 
  Organismal 
  Concep- 
  

   tion 
  of 
  Life; 
  by 
  William 
  Emerson 
  Ritter. 
  Two 
  vols. 
  ; 
  vol. 
  1, 
  

   pp. 
  xxix, 
  398; 
  vol. 
  2, 
  xv, 
  408. 
  Boston, 
  1919 
  (Richard 
  G. 
  

   Badger). 
  — 
  The 
  most 
  fundamental 
  discoveries 
  in 
  biology 
  in 
  

   recent 
  years 
  have 
  been 
  made 
  by 
  the 
  experimental 
  methods 
  of 
  

   research, 
  but 
  the 
  majority 
  of 
  such 
  advances 
  have 
  been 
  limited 
  

   to 
  certain 
  narrow 
  fields 
  in 
  which 
  only 
  a 
  single 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  innu- 
  

   merable 
  attributes 
  of 
  the 
  organism 
  has 
  been 
  the 
  subject 
  of 
  study. 
  

   Too 
  often 
  the 
  investigator 
  fails 
  to 
  realize 
  that 
  the 
  results 
  of 
  his 
  

   laboratory 
  experiments 
  may 
  not 
  hold 
  good 
  in 
  nature 
  itself 
  and 
  

   is 
  even 
  more 
  likely 
  to 
  lose 
  sight 
  of 
  the 
  bearing 
  of 
  his 
  subject 
  on 
  

   the 
  organism 
  as 
  a 
  whole. 
  

  

  The 
  author's 
  basic 
  proposition 
  is 
  that 
  the 
  living 
  organism 
  "in 
  

   its 
  totality 
  is 
  as 
  essential 
  to 
  an 
  explanation 
  of 
  its 
  elements 
  as 
  its 
  

   elements 
  are 
  to 
  an 
  explanation 
  of 
  the 
  organism." 
  With 
  this 
  

   idea 
  in 
  mind 
  he 
  reviews 
  the 
  most 
  recent 
  advances 
  in 
  all 
  fields 
  of 
  

   biology 
  and 
  shows 
  that 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  modern 
  biological 
  concep- 
  

   tions 
  are 
  inadequate 
  for 
  a 
  full 
  understanding 
  of 
  nature 
  in 
  that 
  

   they 
  mainly 
  deal 
  only 
  with 
  the 
  constituent 
  parts 
  or 
  elements 
  of 
  

   the 
  organisms. 
  He 
  criticizes 
  the 
  so-called 
  elementalist 
  school 
  

   of 
  biology 
  for 
  assuming 
  that 
  the 
  whole 
  organism 
  results 
  from 
  the 
  

   sum 
  of 
  its 
  parts, 
  whereas 
  in 
  his 
  view 
  the 
  parts 
  are 
  explained 
  

   only 
  by 
  the 
  consideration 
  of 
  the 
  organism 
  as 
  a 
  whole.. 
  

  

  Part 
  I 
  consists 
  of 
  a 
  critical 
  survey 
  of 
  the 
  elementalist 
  concep- 
  

   tion 
  of 
  the 
  organism 
  and 
  deals 
  with 
  the 
  chemical 
  and 
  physical 
  

   composition 
  of 
  the 
  living 
  individual 
  and 
  the 
  production 
  of 
  indi- 
  

   viduals 
  by 
  other 
  individuals. 
  

  

  Part 
  II 
  sets 
  forth 
  the 
  constructive 
  side 
  of 
  the 
  organismal 
  con- 
  

   ception, 
  dealing 
  with 
  growth 
  integration, 
  chemico-functional 
  

  

  