BOOK REVIEWS. 



401 



psida (Lycopodiales) ; and (3) Pteropsida (Filicales, Pteridospermae, 

 Gymnospermae, Angiospermae). This scheme should provoke discussion 

 and lead to fresh investigations. 



The two volumes are well illustrated and good use has been made of 

 photographs of sections. 



" The Foundations of the Origin of Species." A sketch written in 

 1842, by Charles Darwin. Edited by his son, Frances Darwin, Hon. 

 Fellow of Christ's College. 8vo., 53 pp. (University Press, Cambridge, 

 1909.) 7s. Qd. net. 



A copy of this book was courteously presented by the Syndics of the 

 University Press to each delegate at the Darwin Centenary commemora- 

 tion. It contains an introduction by the editor of twenty-two, and the 

 writing of his father, of fifty-three pages. The latter is divided into 

 two parts. The first contains three sections : (1) On variation under 

 domestication, and on the principles of selection ; (2) on variation in a 

 state of nature, and on the natural means of selection ; and (3) on 

 variation in instincts and other mental attributes. 



Part II has two sections (4 and 5) on the Evidence of Geology ; 

 (6) Geographical Distribution ; (7 ) Affinities and Classification ; (8) Unity 

 of Types ; (9) Abortive Organs ; and (10) Eecapitulation and Conclusion. 



The greater part of these rough notes for his book will be found 

 developed in the " Origin " of 1859. But a feature which is profoundly 

 interesting is the change of view from what is now called " Ecology," to 

 that involving natural selection as a means in the " Origin of Species " which 

 followed his reading Malthus' " Essay on Population." Later in life, 

 i.e. from 1868, the date of his " Animals and Plants under Domestica- 

 tion," he again emphasized his original views, embodying them in the sixth 

 edition of the " Origin," and candidly admitted his " mistake " to Prof. M. 

 Wagner in a letter (" Life and Letters," iii., p. 159). 



" The Kecent Development of Physical Science." By W. C. D. 

 Whetham, M.A., F.R.S. 4th edit., 8vo., 347 pp. (Murray, London, 

 1909.) 5s. net. 



The first edition of this work appeared in June 1904. A second 

 edition was demanded in September, and a third in October cf the same 

 year. This success was due, partly to the sensational nature of the 

 advances in Science with which the book deals, and partly to the very able 

 way in which difficult subjects, such as the nature of radio-activity and 

 speculations as to the constitution of matter, were made plain to students 

 of science who were not specialists in Physics, and to persons who had 

 little definite scientific training, but who were, nevertheless, interested in 

 the more important conclusions of scientific thought. 



In this, the fourth edition, a few additions have been made to bring 

 the work up to date ; but since " no striking new branches " of Physics 

 have been developed, it does not differ materially from the third. 



For students of Botany and Horticulture, the chapter which deals 

 with the problems of solution, while too short for a complete survey of the 

 subject, should be sufficiently suggestive of thought to induce them to 

 extend their reading on this topic. The fundamental importance to the 

 vol. xxxv. E E 



