269 
1880.J Analyses of Books, 
liquefaction of the permanent gases, as well as of other disco- 
veries to which we have only a very partial right. On the other 
hand, some of the men who have done us most honour are 
damned with faint praise on the authority of Gwyn Jefferson ! 
“A reaction of opinion in favour of simple Devolution,” we 
read, “ may not be far distant.” The precise sense in which the 
term “ Devolution ” is to be taken does not appear; but if Mr. 
Kenward seeks an antithesis to Evolution, surely Revolution is 
the word to be used — a consideration which we hope will console 
Prof. Virchow. Much of the Essay touches, if it does not go 
beyond, the scope of our journalistic competence, and must be 
handed over to the organs of party politics. To his anti-vivi- 
seCtionist utterance we must reply that the very definition of 
cruelty is the infliction of pain and death without a sufficient 
motive. As regards what Mr. Kenward and some others call 
the “ subjection of women,” we must remind him that it. is 
merely a case of differentiation, or, in other words, the division 
of labour. If any woman, by reason of an exceptional mental 
character, feels disposed to devote herself to scientific research, 
we are ready and willing not merely to permit, but to applaud. 
To foster, however, what seems to us an anomaly, to aim at the 
formation of whole bodies of savantes, seems to us a grave error. 
A much more valuable paper is Mr, Lawson Tait’s researches 
on the digestive principles of plants. The author has obtained 
full proof of the digestive process in Cephalotus, Nepenthes , the 
Droseracese, and the Dionoea muscipula , and confirmed the con- 
clusion drawn by Mr. Darwin from his researches in this direction. 
He has discovered and examined two substances, to which he 
gives the names of droserine and azerine. The former of these 
compounds plays a part resembling that of pepsine in the human 
stomach. Azerine has also a digestive aCtion, an apparent 
power of attracting inseCts, and a singular tendency to absorb 
moisture from the air. If such papers as this and that of Prof. 
Norris continue to appear in the “ Proceedings of the Birming- 
ham Philosophical Society, they will soon be regarded in the 
learned world as an authority of no mean rank. 
Chapters from the Physical History of the Earth, An Introduc- 
tion to Geology and Palaeontology. By Arthur Nicols, 
F.G.S. London : C. Kegan Paul and Co. 
When we meet with an elementary work on any department of 
Science which contains no reference to the objeCt of passing 
examinations, and is not fitted up with strings of questions, we 
utter an ejaculation of thankfulness, and our heart warms to- 
wards the author. Mr. Nicols seeks to prove useful to the 
