50 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES 
RELATING TO 
ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY 
(principally invertebrata and cryptogamia), 
MICROSCOPY, Etc. 
Including Original Communications from Fellows and Others * 
ZOOLOGY. 
VERTEBEATA. 
a. Embryology* t 
Mechanics of Development.^ — Dr. Albrecht gives an account of the 
present state of the controversy between Hertwig § and Roux || as to the 
value of the “ mechanical *' method in the study of development. Hert- 
wig’s criticism of Roux is directed, firstly against the philosophical impli- 
cations of the theory, and secondly, against its practical utility. In the 
first part of his attack Hertwig accuses Roux of falling into the old error 
of converting a statement of observed facts into the effective cause of the 
phenomena, i.e. of making laws into fetishes, and on this assumption 
reduces Roux’s statements to absurdity. Albrecht maintains that this is 
due to a total misapprehension of Roux’s position; and, while admitting 
that Weismann’s hypotheses attempt to explain phenomena merely by 
converting the facts to be explained into causes, denies that this reproach 
is applicable to Roux. His object, Albrecht believes, is primarily to 
find methods of analysing phenomena and their causal relations. 
The second part of Hertwig’s attack consists of an eloquent justifica- 
tion of the observational method in biology, and a protest against what 
he calls the over-valuation of the new experimental method, which gives, 
he says, pathological and not physiological results. This protest 
Albrecht considers to be also in part the result of misunderstanding ; he 
* The Society are not intended to be denoted by the editorial “ we,” and they do 
not hold themselves responsible for the views of the authors of the papers noted, 
nor for any claim to novelty or otherwise made by them. The object of this part of 
the Journal is to present a summary of the papers as actually published , and to 
describe and illustrate Instruments, Apparatus, &c., which are either new or have 
not been previously described in this country. 
f This section includes not only papers relating to Embryology properly so called, 
but also those dealing with Evolution, Development, and Reproduction, and allied 
subjects. . % Biol. Centralbl., xvii. (1897) pp. 769-85. 
§ ‘Zeit-und Streitfragen der Biologie, Heft 2, Mechanik u. Biologie,’ Jena, 1897, 
211 pp. 
|| ‘ Programm u. Forschuugsmethodcn der Entwicklungs-mechanik der Organ- 
ismen,’ Leipzig, 1897, 203 pp. 
