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The dean and these professors are members of the University Senate. The University courses provided by the school lead to the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Technical Science. These courses are controlled by the Senate of the University, through the board of the faculty of technology, which is composed of the heads of departments in the School of Technology together with certain other professors and lecturers in the University. A new characteristic of the present issue of the prospectus is the excellent summary running to some ten pages of approved courses which students proceeding to degrees in technical science, or certificates in technology, are recommended to follow. The account of the equipment of the laboratories, for which the school is justly renowned, gives particulars which serve as an index of the lavish and judicious expenditure incurred to make the college thoroughly complete and modern.

SOME of our universities have already taken steps to deal justly with the many young men who have broken their academical work by joining the Army. The subject is dealt with at length in Engineering for August 6. But few of these young men will be able again to take up the threads of their studies when peace is proclaimed. They will have been face to face with actualities of most serious import, and will never again be able to resume the docile and attentive attitude which befits the student. It is most earnestly to be hoped that before peace is declared the whole of the academic and professional bodies of this country will come to some definite decision as to what is to be their attitude to the young men who are faced with the possibility of their careers being broken irretrievably. The matter is not simple, as the claims both of the public and of the young men have to be considered; the former expect that diplomas shall not be given to men lacking in the necessary attainments; it would be outrageous to the latter if the future prizes in life were allotted to those who stayed at home. Engineering suggests that the kind of knowledge which might be expected reasonably from candidates who have served in the Army is that which an ordinary candidate has retained three years after taking his diploma. In that time all tricks for examination purposes have disappeared, leaving only that knowledge which the man felt was really necessary for his profession. We should like to add to the case which is presented very ably by our contemporary, that it is extremely desirable that all our universities and colleges come to a common understanding, so that there shall be equality of treatment for all the candidates on retiring from the Army.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES.

EDINBURGH.

Royal Society, July 5.-Sir E. A. Schäfer, vicepresident, in the chair.-Sir William Turner: A contribution to the craniology of the people of Scotland: Part ., prehistoric, descriptive, and ethnographical. Judging from the size and general plan of the skull of the prehistoric inhabitants of Scotland, he found nothing to show that these very remote ancestors were not people of great brain-power.-W. Evans: Mallophaga and Ixodidæ, Ectoparasites of birds from the Scotia collections (Scottish National Antarctic Expedition). Interesting examples were recorded of the same species of parasite infesting closely allied species of birds.-Dr. J. R. Milne: Mathematical theory of the harmonic synthetiser: part ii. Nine years ago the author described an instrument for drawing the curve

which is the sum of a number of simple harmonic curves. The apparatus makes use of Kelvin's summation wire and an approximate method of obtaining harmonic motions which was rejected by him as insufficiently accurate. It was shown, however, in the previous paper that if the various parts be properly proportioned, the error can be made very small. The more complete mathematical discussion in the present paper shows how it may be reduced to negligible dimensions.-Prof. C. R. Marshall and Miss Elizabeth Gilchrist The interaction of methylene iodide and silver nitrate.-James W. Munro: The structure and life-history of Bracon hylobii, a study in parasitism. The Hylobius abietis was the most dangerous insect enemy to forestry in Scotland. One way of fighting it was by the breeding and setting free of a parasitic enemy. Such a parasite is Bracon hylobii.-Miss Augusta Lamont : The lateral sense organs of Elasmobranchs; the ampullary canals of the genus

Raia.

NEW SOUTH WALES.

Linnean Society, May 26.-Mr. A. G. Hamilton, president, in the chair.-W. N. Benson: The geology and petrology of the great serpentine-belt of New South Wales. Part iv.-The dolerites, spilites, and keratophyres of the Nundle district. This paper is a detailed account of the Middle Devonian igneous rocks, which were briefly discussed in earlier parts of this series. It is shown that the rocks are intrusive, whenever clear evidence of their mise-en-place is obtainable, even though pillow-structure is well developed, a feature usually characteristic of flows. A remarkable series of magnetite-albite rocks have been discovered among the keratophyres. They find their closest analogy among the igneous rocks accompanying the iron-ores of Lapland.-Dr. A. J. Turner: Further notes on the Lepidoptera of Ebor Scrub, N.S.W. Two later visits in February, 1915, resulted in the acquisition of specimens of thirty-one species, of which only seven were obtained in 1914. Thirteen of the twentyfour additional species are known from other localities; nine are described as new; and two remain undetermined. Two species, previously undetermined, are described as new from more complete material.—F. H. Taylor Contributions to a knowledge of Australian Culicidæ. No. II. Five species referable to the genera Stegomyia, Neomacleaya, Culicada, and Culex (two) are described as new. The males of two species, previously unknown, are also described. Dr. R. Greig Smith: A new gum-levan-forming Bacterium. The hitherto described bacteria capable of forming gum-levan from saccharose, are two in number. A third has been isolated from the tissues of a seedling of Eucalyptus hemiphloia. It differs from Bac. levaniformans in forming no spores; and from Bac. eucalypti in its power of fermenting dextrose, saccharose, and lactose, with production of acid and gas. -E. A. Briggs: Hydroids from New South Wales. Sertularella longitheca, Bale, var. robusta, Ritchie (fam. Sertularida), described from sterile specimens dredged off the coast of New South Wales, is now shown, from the examination of colonies bearing gonangia, not to be a variety of S. longitheca, but to be entitled to specific rank.-Dr. Th. Mortensen: Preliminary note on the remarkable, shortened development of an Australian sea-urchin (Toxocidaris erythrogrammus). The ova are large, opaque, and full of yolk, and float on the surface of the water. Cleavage is total and regular at first. The gastrula is freeswimming, the aboral end being turned upwards, and containing most of the yolk. The postoral processes are represented only by a rudimentary swelling, and there is no sign of a Pluteus-stage; nor, appar

ently, is there any trace of a larval skeleton. The whole animal is ciliated, but the cilia are not collected into bands. The young sea-urchin ` develops on one side of the embryo, near the mouth. The aboral part serves as a food-reservoir, and becomes finally quite overgrown and enclosed within the urchin's body. The young animal may sink to the bottom or remain swimming at the surface.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Revision Papers in Algebra. By W. G. Borchardt. Pp. vi+152+xxxix. (London: Rivingtons.) 25.

Stories of Exploration and Discovery. By A. B. Archer. Pp. viii+ 198. (Cambridge: At the University Press.) 2s. 6d. net.

The North-West and North-East Passages, 1576 1611. Edited by P. F. Alexander. Pp. xix+211. (Cambridge: At the University Press.) 2s. 6d. net. Post-Mortem Methods. By Prof. J. M. Beattie. Pp. viii+231. (Cambridge: At the University Press.) IOS. 6d. net.

The Study of Plants. By Dr. T. W. Woodhead. Pp. 440. (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press.) 5s. 6d. Publications of West Hendon House Observatory, Sunderland. No. iv., Meteorological Observations chiefly at Sunderland. By T. W. Backhouse. Pp. v + 188. (Sunderland Hills and Co.)

The Sacred Chank of India. By J. Hornell. Pp. viii+181+18 plates. (Madras: Government Press.) Experimental Harmonic Motion. By Dr. G. F. C. Searle. Pp. x+92. (Cambridge: At the University Press.) 4s. 6d. net.

Annals of the Cape Observatory. Vol. xii., part 1: Determination of the Mass of Jupiter and Elements of the Orbits of its Satellites, from Observations made with the Cape Heliometer. By Sir D. Gill and W. H. Finlay; reduced and discussed by Prof. W. de Sitter. Pp. 173. (Edinburgh: H.M.S.O.; London: Wyman and Sons, Ltd.) 6s.

Cape Astrographic Zones. Vol. ii. Catalogue of Rectangular Co-ordinates and Diameters of Star Images, derived from Photographs taken at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope. Commenced under the direction of Sir D. Gill. Completed and prepared for press under the supervision of S. S. Hough. Zone-42°. Pp. xxxviii+499. (Edinburgh: H.M.S.Ö.; London: Wyman and Sons, Ltd.) 20s.

Results of Meridian Observations of Stars made at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, in the years 1905 to 1908, under the direction of Sir D. Gill and S. S. Hough. Pp. 255+ 127. (Edinburgh: H.M.S.O.; London: Wyman and Sons, Ltd.) 30s. Papers from the Department of Marine Biology of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Vol. vii, pp. 128; Contributions to Embryology, Vol. i., No. 1, pp. 103 and 11 plates; Vol. ii., Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, pp. 5-108; The Permo-Carboniferous Red Beds of North America and their Vertebrate Fauna. By Prof. E. C. Case. Pp. iii+176+24 plates. (Washington: Carnegie Institution.)

Wireless Time Signals. Issued by the Paris Bureau of Longitudes. Authorised translation. Pp. vii+133. (London: E. and F. N. Spon, Ltd.) 3s. 6d. net.

Light and Colour Theories and their Relation to Light and Colour Standardisation. By J. W. Lovibond. Pp. xii +90 + plates. London: E. and F. N. Spon, Ltd.) 6s. net.

Mineral Resources of Minas Geraes (Brazil). By A. F. Calvert. Pp. 100+ 127 plates. (London: E and F. N. Spon, Ltd.) 6s. net.

The World's Supply of Potash. Pp. 47. (London: The Imperial Institute.) Is.

Prof. Edward Forbes' Centenary, 1915. Pp. 45(London: The Manx Society.) Is.

The Callendar Steam Tables. By Prof. H. L. Cal lendar. Pp. 40, with Steam Diagram in Pocket. (London: E. Arnold.) 3s. net.

The War and After. By Sir Oliver Lodge. Pp. xiii+235. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd.) is. net.

A School Flora for the Use of Elementary Botanical Classes. By Dr. W. M. Watts. New edition. Pp. viii+208. (London: Longmans and Co.) 3s. 6d.

Pp. 58. (London: H. K. Lewis and Co., Ltd.) 3d. Health in the Camp. By Prof. H. R. Kenwood.

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1915.

THE BOOK OF FRANCE.

The Book of France. In Aid of the French Parliamentary Committee's Fund for the Relief of the Invaded Departments. Edited by Winifred Edited by Winifred Stephens. Pp. xvi +272. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.; Paris: E. Champion, 1915.)

55. net.

THE

HE catastrophe which has overtaken the world, and threatens to shake the very foundations of society, is destined to create a literature which has no parallel in history. This is inevitable, for such is the irony of the situation-the nations that are engaged in this stupendous struggle are the most cultured and most civilised peoples on this earth, and to them. the production and consumption of literary food is scarcely less necessary than the production and consumption of their daily bread. Appetite grows by what it feeds upon. Already the output of war books has reached a colossal proportion, and imagination boggles at the attempt to estimate the dimensions to which it will ultimately attain. Many of these books are, of course, ephemeral productions, created to satisfy a passing but no less insistent demand-books which are no books, as Charles Lamb would say-and in no true sense literature. But this can in no wise be said of the

book before us. Although of no great magnitude or weight, and put together to serve an immediate and special purpose-to raise money, as Miss Winifred Stephens tells us, for French sufferers from German barbarity-it is of the very quintessence of literature-literature of the purest, most delicate, and most highly finished type. It is the joint production of some of the most distinguished literary craftsmen on both sides of the Channel-well-known English stylists translating the work of some of the most brilliant writers in the French world of letters-and it is adorned by the brush and pencil of eminent French artists. The work is therefore a timely and significant monument to that generous and lively amity which binds the two nations together in their joint resistance to the power of an evil domination, and we confidently share the hope-nay, we have the firm conviction that the book will live and be prized as a memorial of an episode in the greatest struggle which has ever been fought for light and liberty against darkness and oppression.

Amidst so much that is excellent it seems invidious to make selections to illustrate the character of this remarkable production. The book opens with an appreciation of France by Mr.

Henry James, written with the copiousness and verve which characterise all his work. It is followed by a short article by M. J. H. Rosny aîné, on British character and policy, translated by Mr. Thomas Hardy, in which, in a few pregnant paragraphs, our national excellences and shortcomings are dealt with in a manner as discriminating and tactful as it is just and true. An essay on the mentality of the Germans, by M. René Boylesve, translated by Dr, W. G. Hartog, is a keen and incisive psychological analysis of the Teutonic mind, written with detachment, and wholly dispassionate-an admirable example of the clear, penetrative insight of French criticism of the highest order. How true it all is Germany will yet come to realise in the awakening which is inevitably in store for her, no matter what the fortune of war may bring. Perhaps the most arresting and striking contribution to the work is the "Debout pour la Dernière Guerre!" by M. Anatole France, done into nervous, palpitating English by Mr. H. G. Wells. How true is all

this!

"The prophetic nightmares of our scientific fantastics are being lamentably realised; they come about us monstrously alive, surpassing the horror of Dis, Malebolge, and all that the poet beheld in the Kingdom of Misery. But it is not Martians but German professors who accomplish these things. They have given this war a succession of forms that testify continually to their genius for grotesque evil, first the likeness of the waterspout and typhoon that brought them to the Marne and defeat irreparable, then the sullen warfare of the caverns, then the conflict of metals and chemicals. . . . A philosophical doctor, who sits beside me and reads as I write, interrupts: 'Be certain,' he says, 'that when they abandon that last method they will take to bacteriological war; after the poison gas and the jet of fire they will fight as disease cultures. We shall have to create in every country a Ministry of Anti-Teutonic Serums.' And to this their science has brought them! I recall the mot of our good Rabelais : Knowledge without conscience is damnation.'"

And how beautiful and how sublime is the invocation with which the whole ends!

"O Britain, Queen of the Seas and lover of justice; Russia, giant of the subtle and tender heart; beautiful Italy, whom my heart adores; Belgium, heroic martyr; proud Serbia; and France, dear Fatherland, and all you nations who still arm to aid us, throttle and end for ever this hydra, and to-morrow you will smile and clasp hands across Europe delivered."

The short essay by M. Remy de Gourmont, translated by Mr. Thomas Hardy, gives a vivid. sketch of the condition of that fair land which has

been ravaged and defiled by the invader, and in its simple eloquence appeals irresistibly on behalf of those for whom relief is asked. "La BasiliqueFantôme," by Pierre Loti, translated by Sir Sidney Colvin, under the title of "The Ghost of a Cathedral," is a remarkable word-picture of the present state of the cathedral of Rheims, composed with that charm of expression and wealth of imagery which we have learned to associate with the work of its eminent author :

"Oh, to think of the gross and dastardly and brainless brutality of hurling those canisters of scrap-iron in volleys against the fretwork, delicate as lace, which for centuries had reared itself proudly and confidently in air, and which so many battles, invasions, and whirlwinds had never dared to touch!. . . for all their shameless denials, it was the very heart of ancient France they were bent on here destroying. It was some superstitious idea which drove them to it, not merely their natural instinct as savages; and they worked fiercely at this particular piece of destruction....

"The most irreparable disaster is that of those great stained windows composed by the mysterious artists of the thirteenth century in their devout dreams and meditations, and depicting men and women saints assembled by the hundred with their translucent draperies and luminous aureoles. There, again, the great bundles of German scrap-iron came stupidly volleying and crashing. Masterpieces that no one can reproduce showered down their fragments never to be sorted again, their wonderful golds and reds and blues, of which the secret has been lost, upon the pavement stones. Gone for ever those rainbow transparencies, gone for ever those companies of saints with the charm of their simple attitudes and pale, ecstatic little faces. Those innumerable precious cuttings of painted glass, which in the course of ages had acquired an iridescence like that of opals, lie strewn on the ground, and shattered as they are still gleam there like gems."

Madame Duclaux's "Les Coulisses d'une Grande Bataille," which she translates under the title of "The Background of a Victory," is a charming description, of mingled pathos and humour, of the events of September, as they presented themselves in the fields of the highlying rolling plains that reach from the Marne to the Seine. She tells of the horror of the women of Melun at the sudden apparition of the Highlanders. "Ce sont maintenant les Allemands," they cried, as the squealing pipers tramped into the old market-square. She has something to say, too, of the imperturbable humour of Tommy and his invincible optimism. "Are we getting the best of it?' she inquired of one. Is there much danger?' 'Well, miss,' 'Well, miss,' said he, 'it's like this: the place is full up with Generals; and I don't know how it is, but I've

always noticed where there's so many Generals there's not much danger!""

She spoke to a douce, demure young Highlander, taking his Sunday afternoon's walk as quietly as if he had been in Glasgow: "How are things going? Do you think the Germans are coming?" "I've been hearing, Matam, that the Chermans will have been hafing a pit of a setback," said he. And this was how Madame Duclaux first heard of the victory of the Marne.

Space will not permit us to dwell further upon this most interesting and most admirable work. It is in every respect creditable to all engaged in its production, and eminently worthy of the good cause which evoked it, and as such we commend it to all who sympathise with the stricken folk of the invaded Departments. Its price is well within the means of even the poorest of book-lovers, and in purchasing it they will have the satisfaction of knowing that they are not only contributing their mite towards the relief of those who sorely need it, but that they are acquiring possession of what they will come to treasure as a beautiful souvenir of a never-to-be-forgotten time.

T. E. THORPE.

CENOTHERA AND MUTATION. The Mutation Factor in Evolution, with Particu

lar Reference to Oenothera. (Macmillan's Science Monographs.) By Dr. R. R. Gates. Pp. xvi +353. IOS. net. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1915.)

ST

INCE the publication of de Vries's classic work the Enotheras have attracted more attention than almost any other plant or animal. So extensive a literature has already grown up about them that a critical guide to this great mass of papers would be cordially welcomed by every student of genetics. To some extent Dr. Gates has attempted the task, and if he has not been entirely successful this must be put down more to the immense difficulties of reducing the motley mass of facts to reasonable order, than to any lack of diligence and enthusiasm on the author's part. His book will certainly prove of service to those who wish to obtain some general idea of the problems offered by this famous genus, and have neither the leisure nor the inclination to wade through the thousands of pages, largely in foreign tongues, that have been written upon it.

The principal features of the genetic behaviour of the Enotheras are brought out, and the author has included a chapter dealing with the cytological side with which he is probably more familiar than anybody else. The book is well

produced and amply illustrated, though the nature of the material is against some of the photographs being very illuminating.

In writing this book Dr. Gates evidently had a thesis which he was anxious to prove. He wishes to show that the various forms known as mutants, which are constantly thrown by many varieties of Enothera, cannot be regarded as the outcome of any process of Mendelian segregation, but that they are due to some other process of germinal rearrangement which is termed mutation. Mendelian segregation, as is well known, is an orderly phenomenon enabling us to predict the gametic output of an individual formed by the fusion of two gametes of different genetic properties. We gather Dr. Gates's contention to be that, because in most cases it has not been found possible to predict the various Enothera forms arising from a cross, the ordinary rules of segregation do not apply, and that these forms owe their origin to some process not yet understood.

adequate that we feel little doubt that, had the analysis proceeded further, an interpretation in terms of a few factors would have been forthcoming, and we cannot but regret that this promising series of experiments should have been left in so indecisive a state.

Rigorous genetic analysis, working character by character, has yet to be applied to the Enotheras. That it will prove more complicated than in most plants there is no question. The work already done shows that the Enotheras, like some other plants, may present differences in the genetic properties of the male and female gametes produced by the same plant. They are also characterised by the high percentage of bad pollen grains, which may mean that some possible combinations are not formed. Indeed Renner has recently shown that in the ovules, too, there may occur an abortion of embryos corresponding to a given class of offspring (cf. Gates, p. 248). Differences in viability, as Dr. Gates points out (p. 89) may also characterise different forms. With all these possible sources of complication to be taken into account it is not surprising that the genetic behaviour of the Enotheras is still in a state of chaos, and until proper methods of analysis have been applied and proved definitely to fail, it is surely premature to state that the ordinary rule of segregation does. not occur in this genus.

In conclusion there are a few small alterations which we should like to find in another edition. "20" on line 3 of p. 23 should surely be "20 per cent.," and to call Drosophila a "pumice-fly" (p. 303) might lead to misapprehension as to the manner of its subsistence. We think also that in an English book the form Venice is to be preferred to Venedig (p. 248). A common error is perpetuated in the sentence on p. 320-"The new character is, at least in some cases, a dominant in crosses, which accounts for its spreading." The dominant, qua dominance, has, of course, no advantage over the recessive in a mixed population.

The explanation of this process of mutation is considered by Dr. Gates to reside probably in abnormal divisions of the chromosomes following upon the loss of some hypothetical "condition of balance." He attempts to draw a sharp distinction between this process of mutation and what he terms the Mendelian hypothesis of mutation, by which the new form originates through the loss (or possibly also by the addition) of a definite factor or factors. His point of view is not easy to grasp, and perhaps may be best illustrated by some of his experiments. In a culture of rubrinervis some years ago there appeared a new type which he called rubricalyx. This form behaves as a simple dominant to rubrinervis, and we suppose that Dr. Gates would say that on the Mendelian hypothesis of mutation it arose through the addition of a factor R. When rubricalyx was crossed by grandiflora (pp. 254-9), a green-budded form, it gave an F1 generation with red buds, though not so red as in rubricalyx. In ten different F families the proportion of reds to greens varied greatly, being in one case as high as 33: 1, and in another as low Marconi. In a number of F, families similar as 3: I. ratios of reds and greens were obtained, while it was shown also that some reds bred true to red, and that green gave nothing but green. Further, there were several cases of an intermediate red breeding here. Dr. Gates argues that the different ratios of reds to greens and the fact of intermediates breeding true negative any Mendelian interpretation. Nevertheless the data as given present so many features in common with cases where a Mendelian interpretation has proved

THE

A.

EVOLUTION THE OTHER WAY ABOUT. Histoire de l'Involution Naturelle. By E. Translated from the Italian by M. I. Mori-Dupont. Pp. xii+505. (Paris: Maloine, 1915.) Price 15 francs. HE evolution-theory aims at formulating the way in which the present-day state of things has come about. It is not demonstrable like the law of the conservation of energy; it is a way. of looking at things—an interpretation. It reads the present as the natural outcome of the past. In this broad sense Dr. Enrico Marconi might be called an evolutionist, but he refuses the label,

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