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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLIII 



mained entire. The hurrieane which had made such ravages in America 

 made itself felt even in Europe, where it had little trouble to demolish 

 the frail constructions of M. Nuel." 



The part sketched for the third actor in the plot is certainly 

 an unworthy one, but there is after all something dramatic about 

 figuring one's self, after Bohn, as a sort of demon that rides 

 upon the storm, carrying trouble to the poor creatures of earth; 

 so this, with the pleasure of seeing the ideas of the complexity 

 and modifiability of behavior in lower organisms for which I 

 have long worked, so completely triumphant in Bohn's book, 

 must perforce be my consolation. It is the traditional fate of 

 innovators to suffer condemnation that their work may prevail. 



But there remains the second point to consider; in the book 

 the author gives us a study not only of phenomena at the sea- 

 shore, which we can not test for ourselves, but of the work and 

 views of other investigators, which we can ourselves examine. 

 Here is a test for the accuracy, thoroughness and conscientious- 

 ness of his work, for his mental grasp and his freedom from 

 prejudice— a test for which we have above mentioned the need. 

 Does he stand this test in a way to set at rest the doubts that 

 have been expressed as to the trustworthiness of his scientific 

 results in difficult fields? 



For this test I naturally examined his presentation of my own 

 work, since that is the matter with which I am best acquainted; 

 furthermore I was of course curious to see why he presents me 

 as one of the powers of darkness, while I have welcomed him as 

 a support and ally. And here to my extreme disappointment I 

 found things which I think may again "surprise the Amer- 

 icans" and every one else that has any ideals as to scientific 

 accuracy. It would certainly be difficult for any author to 



tropwms only after seven years of constant work^durin^wMAtiL I^had 

 fn "tout ™ aDy P ' a > PerS ° n SUbjeCt ' 11 " m ° re dramatic t0 b " ng me 

 not allowed by Dr. Bohn to interfere^ with effecti™ meMntltioT'L^e shall 



