No. 510] NOTES AND LITERATURE 



:;s8 



equally ingenious and persistent student of this good old en- 

 during problem of acquired characters. 



V. L. K. 



Paris, March, 1909. 



DE VRIES'S SPECIES AND VARIETIES 



Species and Varieties. — About two years ago De Vries's 

 " Species and Varieties: their Origin by Mutation" was trans- 

 lated into German. A translation 1 of the same work has now 

 appeared in French and no doubt it will ere long find a place 

 in the literature of a number of other tongues. 



As the first book which presented in a popular form the dis- 

 tinction between fluctuations and mutations, the world-wide cir- 

 culation of this book means much for the advancement of modern 

 biological conceptions. This is particularly true because a 

 just delimitation of these two kinds of variations has been made, 

 and can be made, only through the application of experimental 

 methods. The result of the enlarged circulation of this work 

 must be to stimulate the use of these methods among the biol- 

 ogists of every country in which it is made accessible. 



The French edition was translated by Dr. L. Blaringhem, who 

 is already well known because of his numerous studies on varia- 

 tions apparently induced by traumatism. He was a student of 

 the well-known French biologist, the late Professor A. Giard, 

 and to the memory of the latter, the French edition is dedicated. 

 Professor Giard was to have written a preface to + his edition, 

 but illness which later resulted in his death rendered this im- 

 possible. A very brief prefatory note by the translator and 

 one by the author are the only additions to the text of the 

 English edition. 



Already some subjects considered in this book could ad- 

 vangeously receive a somewhat different treatment, but it is 

 perhaps better to allow the book to stand as it was originally 

 written, so to take its position as a classic, retaining a historical 

 value when its current biological value shall have been eclipsed 

 by other works presenting the results of subsequent experimenta- 

 tion. This is evidently the attitude assumed by the author and 



*De Vries, H. "Espdces et varietes: leur naissance par Mutation," 

 Traduit de 1' Anglais par L. Blaringhem, pp. viii + 548, 1909. Paris: 

 Felix Alcan. 



