386 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. V., No. 118. 



of biology, the study of life, and said that modern 

 biological study began with Darwin's vMt to the 

 Galapagos Islands fifty years ago. "Activity of pro- 

 toplasm cannot be called life. Vital phenomena are 

 distinguished by what is done, not by the constituents 

 of the organism. There is no necessary connection 

 between life and protoplasm. The common charac- 

 teristic in all life is education. Life is education, 

 and education is life. Kick a stone and a dog: the 

 difference in tbe result is caused by education." He 

 then referred to examples of natural difference in life 

 as caused by education, and adjustment by education 

 to varied circumstances. "The common character- 

 istic in all these forms of life, from the highest to the 

 lowest, is education. If, then, life is education, in 

 seeking the latter we are advancing the former." 



At the close of the lecture, Dr. Brooks was tendered 

 a reception by the lyceum, at its building, Jackson 

 hall, where letters and speeches from old members 

 showed tbat their interest was still great. 



The lyceum is the only active college society in this 

 country which has its own building. It has now 

 about twenty working-members, and holds its meet- 

 ings every week, at which reports are given by mem- 

 bers appointed in advance, on the subject which they 

 are studying. Since Dr. S. F. Clarke took the pro- 

 fessorship of natural bistory in the college, a strong 

 interest in biology has been aroused in the society. 



Among the members who have devoted themselves 

 to science after graduation, the following are the best 

 known : Professor Addison Ballard, '42; Mr. William 

 H. Edwards, '42; Prof. W. D. Whitney, '45; Hon. D. 

 A. Wells, '47; Dr. P. A. Chadbourne, '48; Dr. William 

 Goodell, '51; Prof. Henry A. Ward, '55; Professor 

 James Orton, '55; Mr. Samuel H. Scudder, '57; Dr. 

 R. H. Ward, '58; Dr. E. W. Morley, '60; Prof. F. H. 

 Snow, '62; Dr. G. Stanley Hall, '67; Dr. W. K. 

 Brooks, '70; Dr. E. A. Birge, '73; and Mr. J. S. 

 Kingsley, '75. 



THE UNITED STATES AT THE FISH- 

 ERIES EXHIBITION. 



It is impossible to do much more than in- 

 dicate the contents of this immense volume 

 of over thirteen hundred pages. It is entitled 

 ' Descriptive catalogues ; ' but, as observed by 

 Mr. Goode, it really partakes of the character 

 of a report on the part played by the United- 

 States exhibit at the London fisheries exhibi- 

 tion, — not only that of the government, but 

 also that due to private American exhibiters. 

 A considerable part of the volume was printed, 

 and distributed to visitors, during the exhibi- 

 tion. 



There is a short introduction b} T the com- 

 missioner, followed by some data from the 

 census ; a list of forty-two gold, fifty-five silver, 



Report upon the exhibit of the fisheries and fish-culture of the 

 United States, made at the London fisheries exhibition, 1883. 

 Prepared under the direction of G-. Brown Goode. (U. S. 

 nat. mus., bull. 27.) Washington, Government, 1884 [1885]. 8°. 



and thirty bronze medallists ; beside some^fifty 

 other awards to American exhibiters, followed 

 by a report on the collective exhibits of the 

 U. S. national museum and the U. S. fish- 

 commission. It is needless to sa}^ that every 

 branch of the subject is thoroughly presented j 

 either hj specimens, models, illustrations, or 

 literature. There is included under these a 

 useful series of catalogues b}^ Messrs. Rathbun 

 (Economic invertebrates, except mollusks), 

 Ridgwa}' (Water-birds), Winslow (Economic 

 mollusks), Brown (Whale-fishery), Bean 

 (Fishes, and illustrations of fishes), Rathbun 

 (Scientific appliances for deep-sea investiga- 

 tion), True (Aquatic mammals), Capt. Collins 

 (Vessels and boats), Earll (Fishing-tackle 

 and appliances) , Clark (Fishery products) , and 

 Earll (Fish-culture). 



The catalogues of birds and fishes are of 

 particular interest and value, apart from their 

 present connection, to all interested in those 

 departments of biology. The catalogues of 

 mollusks and other invertebrates are necessarily 

 much less complete, and are expanded and 

 improved from the centennial catalogues of 

 Messrs. Dall and Rathbun, prepared for 

 Philadelphia. 



The volume is a monument of well-system- 

 atized labor, but would probably have been 

 more convenient for reference if it had been 

 divided into two volumes. The anthropolo- 

 gist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, fisherman, or 

 manufacturer can hardly fail to find useful and 

 welcome information in these pages ; while, by 

 the staff of the commission and museum, the 

 book can hardly be contemplated without a 

 feeling of thankfulness that the period of 

 extraordinary drudgery, apart from their usual 

 and regular duties, which the volume com- 

 memorates, is at last entirely over. 



PHYSICS OF THE EARTH. 



This is an admirable book. Dr. Gunther, 

 whose thoroughness has been well shown in 

 his earlier writings, makes many physicists, 

 mathematicians, and geographers his debtors 

 by preparing so able a work on the subjects 

 where they meet on common ground ; and, if 

 all teachers of physical geography and geology 

 had the good fortune to possess the advanced 

 training that this volume gives and requires, we 

 should hear less from the classical men of the 

 insufficient discipline afforded to the scholars 

 in our secondary schools by their natural-his- 



Lehrbuch der geophysik und physikalischen geographie. 

 Von Siegmund Gunther. Band 



10+418 p. 8°. 



Stuttgart, Enke, 1884. 



