BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE 



A Biological Text. — The task of covering the field of Biology has 

 been taken up from a new view point in the Biologj- prepared by Conn.^ 

 The author aims to add the consideration of the "broader fundamental 

 laws which should correlate the phenomena of life as one science" to 

 the elementary work in botany and zoology of the secondary schools. 

 As a matter of fact however the manner of treatment does not get rid 

 of the circumstance that plants and animals are different types of 

 organisms, although more emphasis is placed upon the physiological 

 principles common to both, than is frequently the case. After dis- 

 cussing the general field, and the position of unicellular organisms, 

 examples of multicellular plants and animals are taken up in an ascend- 

 ing order; the Castor Bean, Hydra, Lumbncus, and Rana being the 

 types selected. The morphology, and the physiology of these are dis- 

 cussed, then the two t}^es of organism — plant and animal — are con- 

 trasted in general and in respect to reproduction and developmental 

 histor}'. Finally, four chapters are given to theoretical discussion of 

 the questions related to the Source of Energy, the Living ^Lachine, 

 Origin of Organisms, and Evolution, with a final chapter on Classifica- 

 tion. 



The book has been prepared for college students, apparently of the 

 Sophomore year, in anticipation of specialization in either Botany or 

 Zoology later. But the text itself is not uniform in style, parts being 

 written as if for secondary students, and other parts as if for Junior 

 men with laboratory work. An enumeration of the numerous bones 

 in the limbs of the frog, does not have any added information beyond 

 that supposed to have been received in the secondary school course. 

 The advantage of short bones in a clasping or supporting organ, like 

 the hand or foot, is not mentioned, or hinted at. The details of chro- 

 mosome divisions in the maturation of the egg and sperm cells are given 

 as if for senior classes, but the relative size of the cells as finally formed 

 is lost through the faulty execution of the drawings intended to show 

 them. In an effort to cover two distinct fields, as in this case, one is 



* Conn, Herbert \V., Biology: An Introductory Study, for use in Colleges. 

 Pp. 425. Silver, Burdett and Company, New York, 1912 ($1.50). 



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