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The construction is on that of the well-known" Fortin' principle. The level of the cistern mercury is reducible to zero, in exactly the same manner as in the more expensive forms. The diameter of the mercurial column is 25 inch, and affords a bold, well-defined reading. The scales, by means of the double vernier, are capable of being read to or inch and 1 millimetre. It is mounted on a wellpolished, solid mahogany board, with plates for attach ment to wall, opal glass reflectors for reading off, and screws for vertical adjustment. The metal portions are all well bronzed and lacquered, and the scales are silvered brass. We confidently recommend this Instrument for use as a "Standard in Colleges and Schools, private Observa tories, and by Gas and other Engineers. Price, complete, mounted as illustrated, £3 7 6, or may be had with one scale (either inches or mill metres), and with thermometer on other scale, at same price. NATURE says:-"Provides an accurate instru ment at a moderate cost.' " FULL SIZE STANDARD BAROMETER same design, bore o'5" diameter, inches and millimeter scales, verniers reading to o'002 inch and o'r m/m, on polished mahogany board with brackets and opal glass reflectors, £7 10 0 Sole Manufacturers and Proprietors of the Regd. Design PASTORELLI & RAPKIN, Ltd., 46 HATTON GARDEN, LONDON, E.C. ACTUAL MAKERS OF ALL KINDS OF METEOROLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS. Contractors to H. M. Government. Estd. 150 years. Telegrams: "Rapkin, London." Nat. Tel.: 1981 Holborn. ILLUSTRATED PRICE LIST POST FREE. N.B.-If any difficulty in securing our instruments through 1/10th scale. THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1906. THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM OF VERTE BRATES. Lehrbuch der vergleichenden mikroskopischen An- IF any interruption should overtake the present and the later researches of Weber and Buvignier, leave no room to doubt the truth of that generalisation. Perhaps no two structures have engaged the speculative fancy of naturalists so much as the swimbladder of fishes and the air-sacs of birds. As to the first, it cannot be said that the great number of observations which Prof. Oppel has succeeded in massing in his pages takes us perceptibly nearer a conception of the true nature and origin of the swimbladder and its relationship to the vertebrate lung than were the naturalists of fifty years ago. A theory which regards it simply as a hydrostatic organ for permitting a fish to accommodate itself to any rapid growth of scientific knowledge it will not depth of water gives only a very incomplete exbe in the acquisition of new facts that the break-planation of its presence and structure. On the other down will occur, but in the systematisation of facts already acquired by present and past generations of workers. The task of systematisation, so necessary for further progress, is in the hands of the writers of text-books, but, unfortunately, the fate which presides over that world wherein men of science live and move has ordained that the financial success of a text-book is in inverse proportion to its scientific value. The general student can command with ease both author and publisher, but the specialists, for whom a text-book is a first necessity, find it almost impossible to obtain either author or publisher. It is the good fortune of those specialists who are actively investigating the finer structure of the vertebrate body to find that, thanks to the untiring industry of Prof. Oppel and the enterprise of Herr Gustav Fischer, the text-book they so much needed has now been provided for them. In bringing to a conclusion the sixth part or volume of this great task, Prof. Oppel modestly consoles himself with the hope that the work, to which he has devoted twelve years of his life without reward or fee, may prove of use to others. It is in no niggardly spirit that we in England must acknowledge the service he has rendered us. Within the sixth volume Prof. Oppel has compressed the results of two centuries of inquiry into the minute structure of the breathing organs of vertebrate animals. The facts are drawn from more than 900 separate publications as well as from his own researches, and deal with the respiratory system of more than 500 species of vertebrate animals. A close examination of the great mass of evidence which has been thus brought together leaves one convinced that, however unlike they may seem, the gill of the fish and the lung of the mammal serve not only the same functional purpose, but are, indeed, but modifications of the self-same organ. It is now clear that in the evolution of the vertebrates there has been no develop ment of a completely new organ of respiration. By a process which we understand but imperfectly at present, the same organ has been modified to serve the same purpose in fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. The embryological investigations into the origin of the lungs of the frog by Goette, of the fowl by Kastschenko, of the human embryo by Fol, hand, the nature of the air-sacs of birds is now almost completely understood. When the facts grouped together by Prof. Oppel are considered it becomes evident that in the vertebrate lung, be it of a frog, of a lizard, of a bird, or of a mammal, there are three distinct parts which differ in structure and in function. In no vertebrate form have these three parts become so highly specialised and distinctly separated as in birds. The three parts are :—(1) a vascular membrane covered by peculiar epithelium and puckered so as to form alveoli (the respiratory part); (2) an elastic chamber or series of chambers, capable of being enlarged and diminished on inspiration and expiration (the bellows part); (3) a series of non-collapsible tubes for conveying the air to and from the air chambers (the conducting part). In the avian lung the bellows part has become completely separated from the respiratory portion, and forms the air-sacs. Intermediate stages in the process of separation are to be seen in the lungs of reptiles. In the mammalian lung the bellows part is broken up into a series of small chambers throughout the whole organ, which form what we in England have been in the habit of calling infundibula, but which, in the more elaborate terminology of Dr. W. S. Miller, are now demarcated into vestibule, atrium, and air-sac. Prof. The progress of our knowledge of the minute structure of the mammalian lung has been peculiarly slow. In part this has been due to the elaborate nomenclature employed. The same term has been used to designate totally different parts, and the same part has been called by several different names. Oppel has done us a great service in coordinating the terminology used by different investigators. It is clear from the manner in which Prof. Oppel discusses the question as to the nature of the epithelial covering of the gills that he finds it difficult to break away from the tradition which has come down to us from the older embryologists-that there is a profound morphological distinction between the ectodermal and endodermal layers of the embryo. From the minute manner in which he relates the matter it is evident that he quite enjoyed the prolonged scholastic discussion which was first raised by Aeby-as to whether the branching of the bronchial tree was by a process of dichotomy or monopody. The fifth volume, which deals with our knowledge of the pineal body, and the pineal eye or parietal organ, was entrusted by Prof. Oppel to the safe hands of Dr. F. K. Studnička. That authority has not only coordinated the results contained in some three hundred papers dealing with this structure, but has added much new and valuable work of his own. The study of structure by itself and for itself is a most unprofitable occupation, and Prof. Oppel, by including a free reference to function and develop ment, has not only added greatly to the interest, but also to the value of these two volumes. value is that in which an account is provided of the new developments in genetics, especially Mendelian analysis and the experiments of de Vries. The cons quences of Mendelian segregation are described with great clearness, and are illustrated by some excellent diagrams, of which one (p. 101) is striking and novel. The members of the various generations are shown in a perspective view, drawn approximately to scale in a way which should do something to remove the supposed obscurity of these phenomena. Both the description of the facts and the critical discussion of the bearing of Mendel's discovery on the earlier or Galtonian method of calculating inheritance are especially lucid and to the point. The weaker features of this section are such as are almost inevitable in attempts to confine a rapidly growing study within text-book limits. The relative importance of the various elements is continually changing. For example, though due stress is laid on Tschermak's fine series of cases illustrating the influence of hidden factors, or cryptomeres, Cuénot's useful AS the moment is favourable, may it be suggested exposition of the part played by double factors in the that the branch of science the rapid growth of which forms the occasion of Prof. Lotsy's book should now receive a distinctive name? Studies in "Experimental Evolution" or in the Theory of Descent," strike a wrong note; for, theory apart, the physiology of heredity and variation is a definite branch of science, and if we knew nothing of evolution that science would still exist. To avoid further periphrasis, then, let us say genetics. Prof. Lotsy's lectures are a welcome contribution to genetics. They are expository and critical rather than creative, but there is plenty of room for such a work. Since it must be admitted that to most of us facts appeal "first when we see them painted," such a presentation as this book provides should attract many who would find little to detain them in original records. There are twenty lectures in this first part, and a second part is promised. After a philosophical introduction, which must be left to the judgment of those versed in such matters, the author proceeds to a careful discussion of the evidence for direct adaptation. Though no Lamarckian in the usual sense, he has a high respect for Lamarck's penetration and breadth of view. In this revindication of a great name, naturalists of the younger generation who have studied Lamarck's writings at first hand will probably sympathise with Prof. Lotsy. In a limited sense the modification produced by environment-biaiometamorphosis, as Prof. Lotsy calls it-is important. No botanist doubts that the forms of plants can be profoundly changed by the conditions to which they are exposed. The normal or habitual form in which we know a species is only one of these modifications. Consequently each experimental proof of the dependence of form on environment has a direct bearing on the genesis of type. But the question of purposeful or adaptative modification is quite distinct, and of any transmission of purposeful modification in descent there is no evidence. The section of the book which gives it its chief case of mice seems to have been left out. Having regard to the remarkable developments which have followed, this omission is unlucky. In the same connection it is a matter of special regret to myself that the revised and simplified account of the walnut " combs in fowls did not reach Prof. Lotsy in time to prevent a reproduction of my former and erroneous idea in his text-book. By all who are working at genetics the discussion of de Vries' mutations will be read with interest. Till now those remarkable observations have been regarded either with indiscriminate enthusiasm, or with still more unreasoning suspicion. But on those who know that the mutations of Enothera are not errors of ob servation, and hesitate to accept them as the single key to the final mysteries of evolution, the question begins to press: What are those mutations? Upon this point the teaching of genetic research is clear. Before we can form a definite view as to the nature of any given mutation we must know its gametic relations to the type from which it sprang, and to the sistermutations. So far, these relations, as expressed by the ratios in which the forms appear, seem to be almost always irregular in the Enothera cases. Experience, however, has shown that such irregularities, as in the case of Miss Saunders' Matthiola, may conceal an underlying regularity which fuller analysis can reveal. For instance, we know that various individuals of a form A may give respectively an F, ratio 9A: 7B; or 3A: 1B; or all A; or 27A, 9C, 28B, and so on, and the causation or meaning of these several ratios is clear. May not such complexities be the source of the confusion which apparently besets the Enothera cases? That is the opinion to which Prof. Lotsy inclines, and the position is for the most part unassailable as yet. All that can be positively asserted is that these mutations are forms arising discontinuously, and that their distinctions are exactly com parable with those that often appear to characterise species. But now that we understand what a medley of phenomena is included in the term "specific difference" it becomes necessary to go further and to ascertain which phenomenon is exemplified in each case. That genetic analysis can alone answer that question everyone now perceives. De Vries' own discussion of his results contains manifest traces of an attempt to incorporate the Mendelian ideas into earlier and pre-Mendelian conceptions, and the result is not always harmonious or convincing. We look to de Vries and the many observers who are now at work on (Enothera to bring the various possibilities to a strict test, case by case, and so complete what has been begun with such astonishing success. Meanwhile, however, it must be conceded that there are serious difficulties in the way of a purely Mendelian account of the Enotheras--more perhaps than Prof. Lotsy indicates. Of these one of the most formidable is the behaviour of the form nanella, for which other cases afford no parallel. There are, further, the objections de Vries himself has urged in the passages contributed to Moll's exposition of his work—particularly, that no indication of a hybrid origin of his original stock is forthcoming. Again, though the sterile pollen grains are suspicious, I may mention that in a collection of wild Enotheras (? species) made near Baltimore, I found none which had not some bad pollen grains. Were all these hybrids? it may well be asked. If so, hybrids of what? Our Rubi hybridise freely, but, as Focke showed, there are pure forms with perfect pollen, and hybrid forms with an admixture of bad grains. This test should be made in America on a large scale, to discover whether any (Enothera is "pure "by that criterion. But again, we know that the production of analytical varieties by a hybrid, and the production of novel forms by a mutating species, must be exceedingly similar and perhaps indistinguishable phenomena. Hybridisation cannot be regarded as the sole source of analytical variation-witness the case of Primula sinensis and the sweet pea, where analytical variation is rife, though no hybridisation has taken place. The interrelationship of the two sets of occurrences is still obscure; but by experimental breeding it can in great measure be elucidated, and in the course of that inquiry the meaning of mutation will probably be discovered. Only salient features of the book have been mentioned; many others must be passed over. Capsella has provided (p. 180), as might be expected, good examples of the constancy of petites espèces. Time brings revenges, and we must hope that Jordan would have felt satisfaction in the recognition now accorded to his once discredited work, though, by the perversity of things, that work is used to complete and support those views he most detested. Strange, too, would it seem to his opponents to see Jordan's microspecies received as a valuable element in the general doctrine of mutability! In several minor points the book is open to criticism. The Artemia-Branchipus story should not be repeated even incidentally without words of caution. The pictures even in these half-tone days are below the mark, and such pictures as those of peloric Linaria make one long for decent woodcuts again. The figure of the Norwich canary would surprise the fanciers of that city, and it suggests that the crest is a Norwich character. Lastly there is a profusion of most distracting misprints. W. BATESON. TEXT-BOOKS OF PHYSICS. (1) Müller-Pouillets Lehrbuch der Physik und Meteorologie. Edited by Leopold Pfaundler. Tenth edi tion. First vol. (in two parts). Pp. xiv +801. Illustrations. (Brunswick: F. Vieweg und Sohn, 1905 and 1906.) Price 7 marks and marks 50. 3 (2) Cours de Physique de l'École Polytechnique. By J. Jamin. Troisième supplément. Radiations, Électricité, Ionisation. E. Bouty. Pp. vi+420. (Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1906.) Price 8 francs. (3) Lehrbuch der Physik. By H. A. Lorentz. Translated into German by G. Siebert. Erster Band. Pp. vi+ 482. (Leipzig: Johann A. Barth, 1906.) Price 8 marks. (1) (1) THE preparation of this tenth edition of a well known text-book has been undertaken by Dr. Pfaundler, in succession to Dr. Wild, whose death occurred soon after the publishers had put the revision in hand. For the present instalment on mechanics and acoustics Dr. Pfaundler is responsible; but for other parts of the four volumes in which the work will be completed the co-operation has been secured of Dr. Lummer (optics and heat), Dr. Kaufmann (magnetism and electricity), Prof. J. M. Pernter (meteorology), Dr. Nippoldt (terrestrial magnetism), Dr. Drucker (physical chemistry), and Dr. Wassmuth (heat conductivity and thermodynamics). It is intended to maintain the characteristics of the book as being essentially non-mathematical. This plan, of course, very much restricts the treatment of most of the problems dealt with, and in many cases prevents any proof being given of formula which are discussed. There is room, however, for a text-book of this kind, as is amply testified by the success of the previous editions. In spite of the limitation in the treatment, the author has succeeded in giving a very comprehensive account of his subject. He is very clear, and takes special pains to be so in cases where difficulties are commonly met with. For ex ample, in connection with mass and weight he is very precise. The kilogram is a mass, and not a weight; one can only say it has a weight, and can call this the kilogram-weight. In stating this he is in agreement with the International Committee of Weights and Measures (Paris, 1901), whose decisions may be considered as representing the common-sense of the scientific world. The intention is to bring out the remaining volumes quickly. It is expressly hoped that owing to the large number of collaborators, the treatise may be completed before the first volume is out of date. (2) The second of the volumes under notice is the third supplement to the treatise on physics, commonly known as "Jamin et Bouty." The subject-matters embraced are radiations, électricité, ionisation: It is |