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sense, of every other single criterion which could be applied.

These, however, are small points. Summing up one's impressions of the book as a whole, they are that it well maintains its place in the front rank of works devoted to the study of oils, fats, and waxes. To the chemical technologist it is practically indispensable. C. SIMMONDS.

A CYTOLOGICAL TREATISE. Plasma und Zelle. Erster Abtheilung. By Prof. Martin Heidenhain. Erste Lieferung, Die Grund. lagen des mikroscopischen Anatomie, die Kerne, die Centren, und die Granulalehre. Pp. viii+506. (Jena Gustav Fischer, 1907.) Price 20 marks. HIS somewhat bulky volume is the first instalment of Prof. Martin Heidenhain's treatise on "Plasma und Zelle" which is to form a part of Bardeleben's great work on human anatomy.

THIS

The method which the author has adopted is perhaps not the ideal one, but it must be remembered that the science of cytology is young, and its vigorous development has manifested itself in the growth of an enormous amount of details which some day will become connected up so as to make a coherent organism, despite the fact that at the present time the different sections seem to be somewhat isolated. The

features which in one group appear to be of fundamental importance may elude recognition in, and perhaps be really absent from, others; and thus that logical connection so dear to the minds of many is difficult, and at present often impossible, to trace. Probably for some time to come the trees will be more apparent than the wood. Prof. Heidenhain has chiefly worked on the cells of a few vertebrate animals, and it must be confessed that throughout the somewhat lengthy treatment of his subject this point of view is rather strongly reflected. There is hypothesis in plenty, together with much really acute analysis, but one cannot repress the feeling that the chastening influence of the protozoan nucleus is rather conspicuous by its absence.

The treatment is frankly morphological, and upon a somewhat narrow range of very detailed observation of comparatively few forms a theoretical superstructure of doubtful stability has been erected. Some cytologists, at any rate, will criticise one of the earlier pronouncements (p. 3) in the book, to the effect that discussion (Erörterung) of biochemical structure forms no part of the province of scientific morphology, and that the latter must take the former as granted. Surely the trend of modern morphology is in the direction of discontent with such a position. Some of us, at any rate, believe that form and structure are merely the expression of biochemical constitution, and it is just this latter problem that we want to attack.

Prof. Heidenhain postulates "units of living substance" as the essential elements of an organism. The cells are regarded as a special case of the aggregation of these living units. In this he is practically following those who regard the cell as by no means the real unit of the organism, and unquestionably this is a tenable position; but, nevertheless, the cell, despite

its complex organisation, represents actually the lowest rank in the polity of the multicellular organism out of which the organism itself is built up; nor is the case really different in syncytial bodies. The quarrel with the cell from this point of view is perhaps partly due to the fact that we have not been clear as to what we mean by an organism. A human society is made up of the individuals which compose it; we are justified in regarding them as the ultimate constituents of such a social organism and we cannot usefully push our analysis further back, for they form the lowest units which propagate themselves and differentiate into the complex structure of which the society is composed. Of course, we are aware that each one can be resolved still further into tissues and cells, but these things do not come into the scheme of the social organism as such. The same holds good when we get still lower in the scale. The cells plainly continue to be the units of which the corpus is built up until we get to the unicellular organisms. In the latter we find a more elaborate differentiation than is characteristic of the metazoan or metaphytan cell, but in essentials it seems to be the same. The protoplasm and the nucleus still are requisite to maintain it as a going concern, and reproduction by fission or otherwise is always connected with the distribution of a combination of both to each of the offspring. This is strikingly shown in some forms in which a nucleus as such is perhaps absent, and only the stuff of which the nucleus is made is present in a more or less distributed condition in the cell.

But although we may not agree with the author in his belittlement of the cell, many will assent to his conclusion that it has been made too prominent as the "be all and end all" of the living body. The what form it shall take-or, to put it more plainly, organism is higher than its parts, and itself determines the reactions that are due to the relations subsisting between one part of the organism and another, or between it and its environment, are of such a kind as to influence the fashion of development of the new cells and new tissues.

Prof. Heidenhain's position with regard to the cell is clearly stated on p. 81, where he says that "it is not the cell which is the bearer of life, but life is inherent in every living particle, down to the smallest molecular group which can be called alive. The cell is rather only a special apparatus which itself is made up of living material."

The crux of the matter obviously lies in the meaning we attach to the word "living.”

Many pages are devoted to cell organs, such as centrosomes, and to a very lengthy discussion of Altmann's so-called "granular theory." We confess that much of the space thus allocated seems to us to be hardly well utilised; and although it is not fair finally to criticise a work of which only the first part has appeared, it appears to us that a more real service to cytology would have been rendered if Prof. Heidenhain had focussed the information which is so rapidly accumulating as the result of the study of the lower forms of life upon the problems presented by the higher types.

But he has, at all events, laid those who are interested in cytological development under a debt of gratitude by the exhaustive treatment he has accorded to those topics which he decided to discuss.

MARINE PROPELLERS.

The Screw Propeller: and other Competing Instruments for Marine Propulsion. By A. E. Seaton. Pp. xii+255. (London: Charles Griffin and Co.,

Ltd., 1909.) Price 12s. 6d. net.

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HE author of this book is well known, both as a practising marine engineer and as an author. His "Manual of Marine Engineering" has long served as a text-book, and has passed through many editions. It was natural, therefore, that the announcement of a work by Mr. Seaton dealing with marine propellers should awaken interest over a wide circle of readers, more especially as the problem of propeller design has not yet received a complete solution. As Mr. Seaton says, even in modern times. . . . our best men do sometimes fail to achieve success," although there are now available the results of much experimental and theoretical investigation on the subject. After seventy years' continuous work it still remains true that when novel types of ships or unprecedented speeds have to be attempted, although use may have been made of all available data, and the best advice taken, full success is not always or at once achieved. On the contrary, considerable gains in efficiency are frequently attained by a process of "trial and error," out of which comes a final selection of the propeller forms and dimensions

best suited to novel conditions.

Such a confession may be thought discreditable; indeed, it is sometimes so treated by critics who

have not themselves had occasion to undertake re

sponsibility for ship and propeller designs; but it represents the facts of the case, and the explanation is not far to seek. When a problem has been unsuccessfully attacked by men like Rankine and William Froude, amongst those who have finished their work, and by men like R. E. Froude, Cotterill, Greenhill, and D. W. Taylor, who are still alive and interested in finding solutions, it may be presumed that the problem involves considerable difficulties. When one considers the almost endless variety of the conditions involved in ship propulsion, the failure to reach a complete solution of the problem need not cause astonishment, and it is reasonable to anticipate that we shall have to be content for some time to come, if not permanently, with partial solutions chiefly based on experimental investigations, and on careful scientific analyses of the results.

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have become generally applicable to the design of a screw for an Atlantic liner or a torpedo boat." It is added that "the more abstruse and highly mathematical investigations connected with the theory of the resistance of ships and propellers have been left to be studied in the text-books and . . . . valuable papers " of various authors.

More or less empirical rules such as Mr. Seaton proposes no doubt have a certain value as representing his own practice and deductions from his study of published results of steamship trials, but it cannot be

admitted that such rules can be depended upon absolutely when new conditions have to be faced. If it were true that the best results could be ensured by the use of any known rules in the designs of screws over the wide range from "an Atlantic liner to a torpedo boat," difficulties such as have been mentioned would disappear, and the work of the naval architect would become easy of performance. The occurrence of these difficulties demonstrates the imperfection of existing rules.

Turning to the general scheme of the book, it may be said that the section dealing with the history of marine propellers is both interesting and valuable. Bourne's book, giving the early history of the screw propeller, is not now generally accessible, and Mr. Seaton's summary will be found useful for reference. Paddle wheels, screws, and hydraulic (or jet) propellers are treated separately, their principles of action are explained, rules being given for their practical design. One chapter is devoted to an explanation, in popular language, of the modern theory of the resistance of water to the motion of ships, but readers desiring full information on the subject will necessarily have to turn to other sources, as Mr. Seaton only attempts a brief sketch. Naturally, screw propellers claim most attention, their various forms, numbers and positions are described; and the effects of changes in numbers, shape, and proportions of blades are also discussed at some length. Much information has been collected and collated respecting experimental trials made with screw propellers, but it seems doubtful whether the large amount of space devoted to trials made by the Admiralty and other experimentalists in the early period of screw propulsion might not have been better utilised, seeing that these trials were made on ships the forms, proportions, and speeds of which in no way represent present practice, while many important conditions affecting results are not definitely known. An antiquarian interest attaches to them, and from their consideration certain useful deductions may be, and, indeed, have been, made; but radical differences exist between conditions prevailing thirty or forty years ago and those of the present day, and the devotion of much time to this subject, when better and later information is available, is not desirable. The chapters dealing with the geometry of the screw and materials used in the construction of the screw propeller are excellent.

The book is well produced and illustrated. It has an excellent index, and as a work of reference will be found of service to all interested in the propulsion of ships.

STUDIES ON IMMUNITY. Studies on Immunity. By Prof. Robert Muir, in collaboration with Drs. Carl H. Browning, Alexander R. Ferguson, and William B. M. Martin. Pp. xi+216. (London: Henry Frowde, and Hodder and Stoughton, 1909.) Price 7s. 6d. net.

THIS book contains a record of original work on the theory of immunity carried out during the past six years by Prof. Muir, of Glasgow University, in collaboration with his colleagues, Dr. Browning, Dr. Ferguson, and Dr. Martin. Eleven original papers, all of which have already appeared in various scientific journals, are incorporated in the present volume, but, by judicious alterations and additions, the author has endeavoured to knit the subject-matter of these papers into one continuous whole, so that the volume serves as a connected account of the particular immunity processes (hæmolysis and epsonic action) with which the author deals.

A work which treats in strictly scientific fashion of questions so difficult and complicated as those of hæmolysis and opsonic action must of necessity appeal only to the expert, and it is unfortunate that Prof. Muir has not seen fit to bring the subject up to date by the inclusion of references to papers which have appeared since the publication of the authors' original researches. Had he done so, the book would have appealed far more forcibly to the present-day worker, who, one may presume, has been for some time familiar with these highly important researches of Prof. Muir and his collaborators.

The volume opens with an interesting chapter on the properties of hæmolytic sera generally, and the technique usually employed in the investigation of hæmolytic phenomena. There follow chapters on the mode of union of the immune body with the red corpuscle, and the relation of this union to complement action.. With regard to this latter question, Prof. Muir finds himself in agreement with Bordet, whose view is that there is no direct union of immune body with complement, as Ehrlich supposed, but that the complement unites with the cell receptor, which has, so to speak, been sensitised by the immune body. "A complementophile group in the amboceptor is not proved, and the use of the term 'amboceptor' does not appear to be justified." Certain interesting filtration experiments performed by Prof. Muir and his colleagues showed very convincingly that at 37° C. a direct union of immune body with complement was highly improbable. The question of complementoids is discussed in great detail, and the author believes that Ehrlich's views with regard to these bodies have been completely confirmed.

Some interesting researches are described showing that complement may act as an agglutinin. Thus, if a certain amount of immune body (obtained by immunising an animal with the red cells of the ox) be added to ox corpuscles in the presence of ox complement, scarcely any lysis occurs, but marked agglutination of the red cells takes place. If guinea-pig's complement is employed, lysis, of course, occurs, and if the ox serum be now added, the stromata flocculate as before. Like complement, this agglutinating body in ox serum is thermolabile, and acts only in

cooperation with immune body. Whether this agglutinating complement and the ordinary lytic complement are one and the same, further research must determine. Anti-immune bodies and anti-complements are treated at great length, and a considerable amount of space is devoted to the question of the deviation of complement, a process which forms the basis of numerous diagnostic methods of great practical importance. The delicacy of this reaction is compared with that of the precipitin method as a test for the presence of protein of human origin.

The concluding chapters of the book deal with the authors' experiments on the opsonic action of normal and immune sera. In view of their finding that the opsonic action of a normal serum could be almost entirely removed by saturating it with sensitised red cells or other combinations which absorb complement, they came to the conclusion that the opsonins of normal serum belong to the group of complements. This view, which attributes to complement an entirely novel property of acting alone, and takes no account of the presence of normal amboceptors, has not met with general acceptance, and a considerable amount of evidence has accumulated in the last two years, showing that in normal serum, as well as in immune serum, amboceptors cooperate with complement to produce an opsonic effect. One cannot yet say, however, that the question whether the opsonic action of normal sera is strictly analogous to that of immune sera is definitely settled, and in the last chapter of the book Prof. Muir brings forward evidence that in some cases normal bactericidal action may differ from that which takes place through the medium of an artificial immune body. Normal bactericidal action may, in fact, follow from the direct union of complement with the bacterium, and not necessarily from an indirect union through the medium of a natural amboceptor. All workers interested in these questions will find Prof. Muir's book worthy of careful perusal.

THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION.

Psychologie de l'Enfant et Pédagogie expérimentale.. By Dr. Ed. Claparède. Second edition. Pp. viii+ 283. (Geneva: Librairie Kundig, 1909.) Price 3.50 francs. THE second appearance of Dr. Claparède's book in

a greatly enlarged form is an excellent indication of the interest which has been aroused by the effort of recent years to give a scientific basis to the practice of education. If further evidence were wanted, it will be found in the opening chapter, which gives a brief account of the development of the movement and of the literature of the subject. Child-study societies and child-study journals have an almost world-wide currency-from Japan in the Far East to California in the Far West. No doubt there is more zeal than science in much of the published work, but the critic is already at work, and we may hope that science will follow in his wake.

Dr. Claparède is a psychologist, and the interest of the book is mainly psychological. As a justification for the subtitle he makes certain pedagogic deductions, not, however, as tentative hypotheses upon which experimental inquiry may be founded, but rather

as so many statements of fact. This seems unfortunate, and students of education who take up the book in the hope of deriving guidance and inspiration in their own class-room investigations will surely feel some disappointment. The dogmatic spirit in which the author treats certain fundamental issues is not reassuring. He finds, for example, that the prime emotive power in the mental development of the young, is their inborn tendency to play and to imitate. Groos's interpretation of play is, in the main, accepted, and we are led into a strongly-worded plea for “ attractiveness" as the sole principle in educational practice. The plea is backed up with the "best opinion," and ends thus :

"It is true that certain scholastic successes may be obtained by the opposite method. But see later what the effect upon the victims is! Worked out at school, they are left without initiative, and the power of energetic action. They never become men because they have never been children."

This sweeping generalisation applies avowedly to the whole school system. Not a word of evidence is put forward in its support, though probably few of the readers of the book would regard it as a self-evident proposition. It is not a satisfactory method of laying

the foundations of a science of education.

The author is more successful as an exponent of child-psychology pure and simple. He gives a brief summary of the various sources of our knowledge, and This chapter on mental development is a useful introduction to current views on the subject of play, imitation, and interest from the standpoint of biology. The student who is anxious to learn something of actual methods of research will find references to special monographs in the bibliographies appended to each chapter. It is only when he treats the subject of fatigue that the author himself gives detailed accounts of experimental methods the value of which readers can test for themselves. The curves which are given in the text of earlier chapters, showing the variations in suggestibility &c., at different ages, embody results of investigations the character and significance of which are not in any way discussed. Perhaps in a later edition the author may find it possible to strike out what is mere dogmatism, and enlarge upon those parts of his book which deal with scientific inquiry. The value of the book might in this way be greatly J. A. GREEN.

increased.

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HE study of structure may be looked upon as

(1) THE studio of all investigation in organic

chemistry. It is the fundamental distinction between this and other branches of the science.

Whilst physical chemistry is chiefly concerned with the mechanism of reactions, inorganic chemistry with the conditions determining the formation of compounds, organic chemistry is mainly directed to synthetic processes, for which a knowledge of structure is essential. It is as an aid to this knowledge that Dr. Meyer's book has been written. That it has found favour with chemists and is regarded as a valuable addition to chemical literature is shown by the fact that within a few years of its first appearance the publication of a new and enlarged edition has been called for.

The volume before us has reached the respectable bulk of one thousand pages. The chief addendum is the second part, on the determination of the parent substance, containing chapters on oxidation, reduction, and alkaline fusion; many new methods have also been introduced, and older and less trustworthy ones discarded.

The book is too well known to need anything in the way of general description. It contains methods of elementary analysis, methods for determining molecular weights, for ascertaining qualitatively and quantitatively the presence of certain groups, and for breaking up the molecule into simpler fragments. One may look in vain for any serious omissions. On the other hand, the great variety of methods and the constitute, perhaps, the chief defect of the book. long lists of references are rather bewildering, and There has been, apparently, no attempt at critical examination. Every method and every modification left to make his own choice and to draw on his own of it seems to have found a place. The reader is experience.

We would take as an illustration the well-known

method of Zeisel. The original and obsolete form of apparatus is described and pictured in detail, together with modifications by Benedikt and by the author (the latter being described as the simplest and most convenient), whilst the method of Perkin, generally adopted in this country, is only indicated by a reference along with five others.

We would not press this criticism too far. It is better to have too much information than too little, and if the reader has not the luck to discover at once

the most suitable process, he will hit upon it in the end if he only perseveres.

It is needless to point out that the compilation of so much detail must have entailed immense labour, and has been carried out with painstaking German The book is well printed and illusthoroughness. trated, and should serve as a standard work of refer

ago

ence in the library of an organic laboratory. (2) Twenty-five years Richter's "Organic Chemistry" appeared as a small companion volume to the one on inorganic chemistry. Since then each succeeding edition has steadily increased in bulk. A few years ago it was issued in two parts, and now it has been found necessary to enlarge the format. Nothing could illustrate more forcibly the growth of this branch of chemistry.

Whatever may have been the original purpose of the book, it has long ceased to be a text-book for

students. One shudders at the thought of a student attempting to commit to memory such a mass of detailed information as is compressed into this volume It has developed into a portable book of reference, and as such is eminently useful and trustworthy for filling up gaps in one's knowledge as occasion requires.

Whilst deprecating the use of books of this type as class text-books, we do not share the feeling expressed by some that the bulk of new facts accumulated year by year in organic chemistry have little or no value, or that the motives which lead to their production are unworthy. The worst that can be said of multiplying compounds is that, without adding anything to the complexity of the subject, they fill in, as it were, the missing blocks in the picture puzzle, and merely complete what was anticipated; and as to the motives of those who produce them it may be pointed out that much of the research work of the compound-making type is done by young chemists as an exercise in that kind of skilful manipulation which counts for so much in every branch of chemical investigation, and for which organic chemistry seems so exceptionally well fitted. J. B. C.

THREE FISH-FAUNAS.

(1) Catalogue of the Fresh-water Fishes of Africa in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. i. By G. A. Boulenger. Pp. xi+373; illustrated. (London Printed by Order of the Trustees; sold by Longmans, Green and Co., and others, 1909.) Price

32s. 6d.

(2) The Fishes of Illinois. By S. A. Forbes and R. E. Richardson, Nat. Hist. Survey of Illinois. Vol. iii., Ichthyology. Pp. cxxxi +387; plates, maps to accompany above, pp. 103. (Illinois, n.d.)

(3) Andrew Garrett's Fische der Südsee. Part viii. By A. C. L. Günther, Hamburg, Journ. Museum Godeffroy, vol. xvi. Pp. iv+261-388; plates, 141160. (Hamburg: L. Friederichsen and Co., 1909.) Price 60 marks.

(1) THE zoological survey of the Nile, undertaken by the Egyptian Government during the administration of Lord Cromer, and the explorations of the great Central African lakes, initiated in that country, together with those of the Congo, carried out by the Belgian authorities, have resulted in an enormous expansion of the collection of African freshwater fishes preserved in the Natural History branch of the British Museum. That collection, moreover, as we are informed in the introduction to the first of the three works forming the subject of the present notice, contains a very large proportion of the type-specimens of the many new species which have been described as the result of the aforesaid explorations. It was, therefore, from all points of view highly desirable that a descriptive catalogue of this vast collection should be published, as such a work will serve as a basis for the discussion of the many points relating to the distribution and origin of the African fish-fauna, and likewise as a book of reference for workers in Africa itself, from which it can readily be ascertained whether specimens belong to already described species.

Mr. Boulenger, to instance only his volume on those of the Congo, published by the Government of the Congo Free State, has already devoted much study to African fresh-water fishes, and for this reason, coupled with his official position at the Museum, he was obviously the man to undertake the laborious task of writing this catalogue, which, it is considered probable, will run to three volumes.

The present volume, at all events to others than ichthyological specialists, will probably prove the most interesting of the three, as it includes some of the most distinctive and aberrant types of the African fish-fauna. To many naturalists it will be of special interest to learn that a shark (Carcharias zambesiensis) inhabits the Zambesi at a distance of 120 miles from its mouth, and also that a saw-fish ascends this and probably other African rivers to a considerable distance. Of the characteristic and peculiar Ethiopian types, two of the most remarkable are the bichirs (Polypterus) and Calamoichthys, the sole survivors of the fringefinned ganoids, and the mud-fish (Protopterus). No fewer than ten species of bichir are now recognised, although the allied genus is still represented by a single known member; and there are two kinds of mud-fish.

Next in point of interest to these ancient types are the remarkable fishes forming the exclusively Ethiopian family Mormyridæ, many of the members of which display such extraordinary vagaries in the matter of beak-development-a development which has suggested for the group the not inappropriate name of elephant-fishes. Of these strange fishes eleven generic types are now admitted, some of which, such as Mormyrops (with thirteen), include a large number of species. It may be hoped that before long the author will take an opportunity of giving us his views as to the origin of this family, which, if determinable, will add considerably to our knowledge of th origin and relationships of the African fauna generalıy.

The other important family treated in this volume is the Characinidæ, which has a distribution similar to that of the Lepidosirenidæ, being common to Africa and Central and South America. The number of African genera admitted in the volume before us is twenty. The characinids, like the lepidosirenids, have been frequently quoted as affording evidence in favour of a land connection between Africa and America, but before it can be decided whether they are of any value in lending support to that theory, it is essential that their past history should be known.

much

Although we have not to say in the way of criticism, it may be mentioned that Elops saurus (p. 25) has recently been shown by Mr. C. T. Regan to Occur only on the American side of the Atlantic, and that there are now three African species of the genus, viz. senegalensis, machnata, and lacerta, the last of which is alone admitted in Mr. Boulenger's volume as a valid species. Then, again, family rank might well be granted to the genus Chanos. On the other hand, it is satisfactory to find that the author has recognised the correctness of Dr. Gill's removal of the Kneriidæ from among the Haplomi, and their transference to the neighbourhood

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