918 The American Naturalist. [October, 
Origins of Inventions.°—This volume is an expansion of the 
principles laid down by Prof. Mason in a paper on the Birth of Inven- 
tion written in 1891. Briefly stated, the author’s views are to this effect. 
Invention is stimulated by human wants. In its broad sense the terms 
covers not only things, but languages, institutions, æsthetic arts, philoso- 
phies, creeds and cults. Invention is based on change. This change 
is in both structure and function, and proceeds from simple to complex, 
and is also always a change from the natural to the artificial. Prof. 
Mason finds that these changes follow a definite law of evolution which 
he states at length. In each culture-area of the earth such styles of 
invention have been elaborated as to confer upon ihe people thereof 
their local or tribal traits. 
The book is one of the Contemporary Science Series and conforms 
in appearance with the other volumes of that series. 
A Pretty Book on Plants and Insects.°—Professor Weed 
has shown, in this little book, that it is possible to write a popular 
work which does not contain the usual preponderance of error and 
false statement. One is sometimes tempted to say that whenever a 
popular and readable book appears on a scientific subject, it will cer- 
tainly turn out to be bad so far as the science is concerned, and too 
often in the end one is justified in making this severe statement. 
Here, however, we have an attractive book which is very readable— 
in fact, popular—and yet it is not full of error. Let any one read the 
succeeding chapters on the glaucous willow, mayflower, spring beauty, 
purple trillium, Jack-in-the-pulpit, showy orchis, pink lady’s-slipper, 
fringed Polygala, Canada lily and common thistle, and he will have 
learned much about plant structure and reproduction, as well as much 
about the habits of insects, especially their manner of visiting flowers 
in search of honey. In each chapter the plant named is the starting 
point from which the author leads the reader out on long botanical 
and entomological rambles, thus very greatly increasing the scope of 
the book. The beautiful illustrations add much to the value and at- 
tractiveness of the work. It should, and doubtless will be, widely read. 
—CHARLES E. Bessey. 
5 The Origins of Inventions. A Study of Industry among Primitive Peoples. 
By Otis T. Mason. London, 1895. Imported by Charles Scribner’s Sons. 
ê Ten New England Blossoms and their Insect Visitors. By Clarence Moore 
Weed. Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1895; 142pp. 
