This volume is the result of an attempt to represent all rocks by means of formulas. Just as in chemistry two kinds of formulas are necessary to represent adequately a chemical compound, so in petrography two kinds are required in order to characterize a rock completely: a molecular formula, which is based upon the chemical analysis, and a constitutional formula, which gives the texture of the rock and the nature of the constituent minerals. A new method of plotting chemical analyses of rocks is developed and is believed to be superior to Osann's method.

The underlying theoretical concept of the book is that all rocks are derived from a single primary magma by fractional crystallization (the crystallization-differentiation of Bowen). From this genetic concept is developed a natural classification of rocks, including the metamorphic and sedimentary groups, but this classification, however, leaves the impression that it is but lightly tied to the actual facts of the field. In volume two this system is to be more fully elucidated.

A. K.

3. Geological Survey of Western Australia; A. GIBB MAITLAND, Government Geologist.-The Annual Progress Report for 1918 is notable for giving a large geological sketch map of Western Australia (33 × 21 inches). This is on a scale of 50 miles to one inch, which is so liberal as to make a large amount of detail possible. The report also contains a series of papers, many of them economic in nature, dealing with deposits of graphite, manganese, asbestos, molybdenite, bauxite, etc. occurrence of some rare minerals is also noted, as, gearksutite in chalky nodules, jarosite in a fine yellow powder impregnating sandstone, scheelite, gahnite and others.

Bulletin No. 77, by EDWARD S. SIMPSON, discusses the sources of industrial potash in Western Australia. An appendix describes the obtaining of potash and iodine from local seaweeds, this is by I. H. BOAS. Another describes, by T. BLATCHFORD, alunite deposits of Kanowna.

Bulletin No. 82 is devoted to the magnesite deposits of Bulong in the Northeast Coolgardie Goldfield.

4. New Zealand Geological Survey; P. G. MORGAN, Director. -Bulletin No. 22 (new series) of the Geological Survey Branch of the Department of Mines, by P. G. MORGAN and others, is a quarto publication of 316 pages, with 14 plates, 2 maps and 6 text-figures. The bulletin is devoted to the Limestone and Phosphate Resources of New Zealand especially in relation to agriculture. Part I, now in hand, discusses the limestone and gives a full summary of the many deposits in the Dominion. Occurrences in 72 counties of the North Island and 53 counties in the South Island are noted.

5. Principles of Animal Biology; by A. FRANKLIN SHULL, with the collaboration of GEORGE R. LARUE and ALEXANDER G. RUTHVEN. Pp. xv, 441, with 245 text-figures. New York, 1920 (MacGraw-Hill Book Company).

Laboratory Directions in Principles of Animal Biology; by A. FRANKLIN SHULL, with the collaboration of GEORGE R. LARUE and ALEXANDER G. RUTHVEN, and PETER O. OKKELBERG. Pp. ix, 81. New York, 1919 (McGraw-Hill Book Company).— Although teachers of introductory courses in biology have long since abandoned the old type system of Huxley in their lectures and recitations, many have not deemed this practicable in the laboratory exercises which constitute an important part of the study. Consequently there often arises an unfortunate lack of harmony between the classroom and the laboratory. That it is possible to avoid this, and to conduct classes in biology exactly as is done in chemistry and physics; namely, to make the classroom and laboratory work of each day mutually complementary, many teachers have already discovered. And if any doubt still exists in the minds of some, it should be dispelled by these companion books, the outcome of practical experience in large elementary classes. Only in exceptional cases will it be necessary to dissociate the classroom and laboratory topics and no important branch of biology needs to be omitted.

The course presented begins with a brief historical introduction, and leads through the morphology and physiology of the cell to cellular differentiation, morphology and physiology of organs, reproduction and breeding habits; embryology; genetics; taxonomy; ecology; zoogeography; paleontology; and evolution.

This text-book in the hands of a capable and enthusiastic teacher will lead the student consistently from the elementary principles of living matter to the profound conceptions of his own position in the living world and his relationship with, and dependence upon, his fellow organisms. To the general reader the book will give a comprehensive survey of the field of animal biology as it has been developed in recent years. To such the excellent illustrations will take the place of the laboratory study, and a glossary of unusual merit will supply the meaning of all the technical terms which the book contains.

W. R. C.

6. Cytology; with Special Reference to the Metazoan Nucleus; by W. E. AGAR. Pp. xii, 224; with 91 text-figures. London, 1920 ((Macmillan & Company).-The search for the mechanism of inheritance has been carried on with great zeal in recent years, and although there are still many details not fully understood, the essential features of the hereditary apparatus have apparently been discovered. While the chromatin of the nucleus is looked upon as the direct agent in heredity, all the parts of the cell are so intimately related and mutually dependent that an understanding of the whole is necessary for a clear conception of any part. This book is, therefore, essentially a summary of our present knowledge in regard to the structure of the metazoan cell and the various modifications and manifestations of the cell organs, but the principal emphasis is naturally placed on the chromosomes as the physical basis of heredity.

The structure and development of the germ cells, their union in fertilization; the sex-determining chromosomes and their behavior in the life cycles of organisms with alternate sexual and parthenogenetic stages; the cleavage of the egg and the differentiation of the resulting cells into the tissues of the body; the cytological explanation of variations and evolutionary mutations; and the physical explanation of sterility are the principal subjects treated. The book is concisely written and illustrated with text-figures of the highest excellence.

7.

W. R. C.

General Botany for Universities and Colleges; by HIRAM D. DENSMORE, Professor of Botany at Beloit College. Pp. xii, 459, with 289 figures in text. Boston, 1920 (Ginn & Company). The author's viewpoint in this excellent addition to the list of text books of botany is biological throughout. In the first part the higher seed plants are considered with respect to their environment, structure and physiology; in the second part the great plant groups are concisely but clearly and accurately treated; in the third part the representative families and species of the spring flora in the northern United States are taken up, and a brief account of plant associations is included. So far as possible the purely scientific portions of the text are logically connected with those aspects of plant biology which are of immediate human interest. Much emphasis is therefore laid upon the phenomena connected with hybridization, breeding and evolution, and the significant processes connected with cell and nuclear divisions are more fully treated than in most elementary works. The thoroughly modern discussion of plant anatomy is likewise a noteworthy feature. As a basis for a year's college course in general botany the new text seems admirably adapted.

A. W. E.

8. Problems in Botany; by W. L. EIKENBERRY, Associate Professor of Education, University of Kansas. Pp. xii, 145. ton, 1919 (Ginn & Company).—The purpose of this laboratory manual is to place before high-school pupils a series of problems dealing with plant activities, their relation to human interests being emphasized throughout. References to Bergen and Caldwell's text-books are given in connection with each of the 118 exercises. Among the subjects treated the following are perhaps the most important: plants and water, nutrition, reproduction and propagation, relation to environment, relation of simple plants to man's life and industries, and plant industries. Each problem is definitely stated, clear directions are given for studying the material recommended, and the pupils are expected to draw their own conclusions from their experiments and observations.

A. W. E.

9. Joseph Dalton Hooker (Pioneers of Progress, Men of Science); by F. O. BOWER, Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow. Pp. 59, with frontispiece. London, 1919 (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge).—The great importance of the work done by Sir Joseph Hooker (1817-1911),

for many years Director of the Royal Gardens at Kew, is clearly and graphically presented in this little volume. Although his principal writings deal with taxonomic botany and the geographical distribution of plants, his scientific outlook was very broad, and he was one of the first naturalists to accept and defend Darwin's theory of evolution. Among his contemporaries he occupied a pre-eminent position, and the author confidently predicts that their estimate of his attainments will be an enduring one.

A. W. E.

III. MISCELLANEOUS SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

1. The National Research Council.-The National Research Council is a co-operative organization of leading scientific and technical men of the country for the promotion of scientific research and the application and dissemination of scientific knowledge for the benefit of the national welfare. The following officers have been elected for the year beginning July 1, 1920: Chairman, H. A. Bumstead, professor of physics and director of the Sloane physical laboratory, Yale University; first ViceChairman, C. D. Walcott, president of the National Academy of Sciences and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; second Vice-Chairman, Gano Dunn, president of the J. G. White Engineering Corporation, New York; third Vice-Chairman, R. A. Millikan, professor of physics, University of Chicago; permanent secretary, Vernon Kellogg, professor of biology, Stanford University; treasurer, F. L. Ransome, treasurer of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Council was organized in 1916 under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences to mobilize the scientific resources of America for work on war problems, and reorganized in 1918 by an executive order of the President on a permanent peacetime basis. Although co-operating with various government scientific bureaus it is not controlled or supported by the government. It has recently received an endowment of $5,000,000 from the Carnegie Corporation, part of which is to be expended for the erection of a suitable building in Washington for the joint use of the Council and the National Academy of Sciences. Other gifts have been made to it for the carrying out of specific scientific researches under its direction.

2. International Congress of Mathematicians.-M. E. Picard, President of the French National Committee, announces that the International Congress of Mathematicians will hold a meeting at Strasbourg, beginning on September 22, 1920. The Congress will be divided into four sections, as follows:

I. Arithmetic; algebra; analysis.

II. Geometry.

III. Mechanics; mathematical physics; applied mathematics. IV. Philosophical, historical and pedagogic questions.

A fee of 60 francs for each person is required for qualification to membership to the Congress; this is to be paid to the treasurer, M. Valiron, 52 Allée de la Robertsau, Strasbourg. A reduction is made (to 30 francs) for those belonging to the family of a member.

Those who have communications to make to the Congress should apply to the general secretary, M. Konigs, 96 Bd. Raspail, Paris, or later to M. Koenig, care of M. Villat, rue de MaréchalPétain, Strasbourg.

3. Pasteur-The History of a Mind; by EMILE DUclaux. Translated and edited by ERWIN F. SMITH and FLORENCE HEDGES. Pp. 363, illustrated. Philadelphia, 1920 (W. B. Saunders Company. Cloth, $5.00 net).—The unique position which Pasteur held in the modern development of the biological sciences, as well as the remarkable and unusual personality of the man himself, lend a particular value to the details referring to this eminent investigator. Anything which helps to throw light upon the evolution of his ideas and the genesis of his researches is welcomed. To the admirable biography by Vallery-Radot there is at last added, in excellent English translation, the story of Pasteur's scientific endeavors presented by Emile Duclaux, long associated with the undertakings of the French savant. Professor Smith and his collaborator deserve thanks for having presented a French classic, "Pasteur: Histoire d'un Esprit to English readers. The book is an account of Pasteur's experiences in the various intellectual struggles which made him famous a series of records of sound logic based on experimentation. It is rare to find a translation presented in a form that preserves so much of the vigor and fascination of the original

text.

L. B. M.

4. The Relation Between Religion and Science: A Biological Approach; by ANGUS STEWART WOODBURNE. Pp. vii, 103. Chicago (University of Chicago Press) 1920. An examination of "the age-long problem of the interrelationship of religion and science from a new angle, namely, that of psychology considered as a biological science." The writer shows in an interesting and logical manner that on the basis of multiple, instinctive behavior a sound theory of the origin of religion and science is possible.

W. R. C.

5. Explorations and Field Work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1919. (Miscellaneous Publications, Vol. 72, No. 1.) Pp. 80, profusely illustrated. Washington, 1920.—This pamphlet is as interesting in its varied subject matter as it is in its many remarkable illustrations. It passes from the Canadian Rockies to Australia, the Congo, Santo Domingo; back to the Glacier National Park, the Florida Keys and then to Colorado and Arizona, etc. The frontispiece (from a photograph by Dr. Walcott) is a beautiful panoramic view, thirty inches in length, taken from the east moraine of Southeast Lyell Glacier, about 50 miles northwest of Lake Louise station on the Canadian Pacific railway.