We must admire the durability of the good old inheritance of acquired characters problem, even if its repeated resuscitation is sometimes a little less than interesting to us. However, our lessening of interest in it in no way reflects any lessening of its importance. It is still the crux of the whole speciesforming problem. Neither mutations-theory nor Mendelism make its solution any less imperatively needed. A recent important contribution, not of discussion alone but of new facts, to the inheritance of acquired characters problem is that of Jennings, who finds that, contrary to the admission on theoretical basis of even some of the most thoroughgoing anti-Lamarckians, acquired characters are not inherited in the Protozoa; at least in those Protozoa which were the subjects of Jennings's brilliant observation and experimentation. This may be a serious blow to the neo-Lamarckian side of the case or it may not. It is if the old statement of the problem is to be always adhered to, but for some time now this statement has been recognized to be faulty and outworn. The neo-Lamarckian, taking the aggressive, prefers to put it this way: How are we to explain the fact that heritable differences distinguishing species or constant varieties (elementary species?) are often identical with those differences, uninherited, which can be produced ontogenetically among individuals of a single species of the group by submitting them to varying environmental or nutritional conditions? The fact exists and the presumption that it raises is that these identical species (heritable) differences have had the same ultimate causes which under our very eyes produce the non-heritable differences of the ontogenic varieties. What is needed is the mechanism of cumulation or conversion of the non-heritable differences into identical heritable ones. This mechanism must, of course, concern itself with reproduction, with the germ-cells; and put as Jennings strongly puts it, it seems at first sight as if it must be an impossibly complex mechanism. But after all it is the change that has to be complex. The mechanism needed is one capable of producing changes of seeming great complexity. But comparatively simple mechanical transformers that produce very complex physiological changes are not unknown in biology, and there may, after all, be one awaiting discovery by Jennings, or some other equally ingenious and persistent student of this good old enduring problem of acquired characters. PARIS, March, 1909. V. L. K. DE VRIES'S SPECIES AND VARIETIES Species and Varieties.—About two years ago De Vries's "Species and Varieties: their Origin by Mutation" was translated into German. A translation1 of the same work has now appeared in French and no doubt it will ere long find a place in the literature of a number of other tongues. As the first book which presented in a popular form the distinction between fluctuations and mutations, the world-wide circulation of this book means much for the advancement of modern biological conceptions. This is particularly true because a just delimitation of these two kinds of variations has been made, and can be made, only through the application of experimental methods. The result of the enlarged circulation of this work must be to stimulate the use of these methods among the biologists of every country in which it is made accessible. The French edition was translated by Dr. L. Blaringhem, who is already well known because of his numerous studies on variations apparently induced by traumatism. He was a student of the well-known French biologist, the late Professor A. Giard, and to the memory of the latter, the French edition is dedicated. Professor Giard was to have written a preface to this edition, but illness which later resulted in his death rendered this impossible. A very brief prefatory note by the translator and one by the author are the only additions to the text of the English edition. Already some subjects considered in this book could advangeously receive a somewhat different treatment, but it is perhaps better to allow the book to stand as it was originally written, so to take its position as a classic, retaining a historical value when its current biological value shall have been eclipsed by other works presenting the results of subsequent experimentation. This is evidently the attitude assumed by the author and De Vries, H. "Espèces et variétés: leur naissance par Mutation," Traduit de l'Anglais par L. Blaringhem, pp. viii + 548, 1909. Paris: Felix Alcan. translator, in presenting this edition without amendment of any kind. EMBRYOLOGY GEORGE H. SHULL. On the Totipotence of the First Two Blastomeres of the Frog's Egg. It was found by Roux that if one of the first two blastomeres of the frog's egg is injured with a hot needle, the uninjured blastomere will develop into a half embryo. Morgan found, however, that if the egg were kept in an inverted position after the injury of one blastomere, the other would develop into a whole embryo. He attributes this difference to the rearrangement of the "mosaic" structure of the egg by flowing of substance, of different specific gravity (Born). However, he suggested to me that the half embryo obtained by Roux might be due to the presence of the injured blastomere. In Triton, when the first two blastomeres are separated, each gives rise to a whole embryo (in case the first cleavage plane would have become the median plane). I have been trying various methods for removing one of the first two blastomeres of the frog's egg, and succeeded in getting a small per cent. of the remaining blastomeres (of Chorophilus triseriatus) to develop. The puncture of the egg membrane caused it to shrink down on the remaining blastomere and left an opening for bacteria. Although there was a great mortality in the operated eggs, quite a number of them gastrulated (as wholes), and several of them reached the tadpole stage. The pressure of the egg membrane seemed to hinder their further development and none of them hatched, although one lived until I fixed it for sectioning, after the control eggs had hatched. In no case was a half gastrula found, and as this is the earliest stage at which the bilateral symmetry is very pronounced, all of the embryos were wholes as far as could be observed. Probably all operated eggs in which the median plane would not have coincided with the first cleavage plane died before gastrulation. UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI, April 8, 1909. J. F. MCCLENDON. A Monthly Journal, established in 1867, Devoted to the Advancement of the Biological Sciences with Special Reference to the Factors of Organic Evolution and Heredity CONTENTS OF THE DECEMBER NUMBER Some Physiological Aspects of Radium Rays. Professor C. STUART GAGER. On the Origin of Structures in Plants. W. A. CANNON. Origin and Formation of the Froth in Spittle Insects. BRAXTON H. GUILBEAU. Shorter Articles and Correspondence: Peculiar Abnormal Teeth in a Jack Rabbit. WILLIAM A. HILTON. Notes and Literature: Ichthyology-Ichthyological Notes, President DAVID STARR JORDAN. The Inheritance of Sex in Higher Plants-Digest of Professor C. Correns's Memoir: Professor H. E. JORDAN. Title Page and Index to Volume XLII. CONTENTS OF THE JANUARY NUMBER Juvenile Kelps and the Recapitulation Theory. Pro fessor ROBERT F. GRIGGS, The Larva and Spat of the Canadian Oyster, Dr. J. STAFFORD. Shorter Articles and Correspondence: Some Notes on the Traditions of the Natives of Northeastern Siberia about the Mammoth, WALDEMAR JOCHELSON. Age of Trotting Horse Sires, F. R. MARSHALL The Occurrence of Batrachoceps attenuatus and Autodax lugubris in Southern California, WILLIAM A. HILTON. Notes and Literature: Experimental Evolution-The Effect of the Environment upon Animals, Dr. FRANK E. LUTZ. Experimental Zoology-The Influence of the Size of the Egg and Temperature on the Growth of the Frog, SERGIUS MORGULIS. Parasitology-Cestodes of Birds, Professor HENRY B. WARD. CONTENTS OF THE FEBRUARY NUMBER Charles Darwin and the Mutation Theory. CHARLES F. Cox. Juvenile Kelps and the Recapitulation Theory. II. Professor ROBERT F. GRIGGS. Notes and Literature: Plant Phylogeny-The Origin of the Archegoniates, Dr. BRADLEY M. DAVIS. Holothurians-Clark's The Apodous Holothurians, W. K. FISHER. Lepidoptera-The_Blue Butterflies of the Genus Celastrina, Professor T. D. A. COCKERELL. Vertebrate Paleontology-The Lysorophida; Stegocephala; The Cotylosauria; The Oldest Known Reptile; The Age of the Gaskohle; Bison Occidentalis; Nectosaurus; Callibrachion, Dr. ROY L. MOODIE. Parasitology-The Sleeping Sickness Bureau, Professor HENRY B. WARD. Exploration-Camp-fires on Desert and Lava, Dr. Roy L. MOODIE. CONTENTS OF MARCH NUMBER Invitation Papers at the Baltimore Meeting of the Botanical Society of America; Darwin Memorial Session:Darwin as a Naturalist; Darwin's Work on Cross Pollination in Plants. Professor WILLIAM TRELEASE. Darwin's Influence upon Plant Geography and Ecol- An Examination of Darwin's "Origin of Species" in the The Distinction between Development and Heredity in Inbreeding. Dr. EDWARD M. EAST. Breeding Experiments with Rats. Professor T. H. Shorter Articles and Discussion: The Chub and the Texas CONTENTS OF THE APRIL NUMBER Heredity of Hair Color in Man. GERTRUDE C. DAVENPORT and CHARLES C. DAVENPORT. A Mechanism for Organic Correlation. Professor G. H. PARKER. Recent Advances in the Study of Vascular Anatomy. Vascular Anatomy and the Reproductive Structures. Professor JOHN M. COULTER. The Progress of Plant Anatomy During the Last Decade. Professor EDWARD C. JEFFREY. Shorter Articles and Correspondence: A Note on the Degree of Accuracy of the Biometric Constants, DR. RAYMOND PEARL Pure Strains as Artifacts of Breeding. O. F. COOK. Notes and Literature: Heredity-The Nature of "Unit" Characters, DR. W. J. SPILLMAN. EnvironmentDR. FRANK E. LUTZ. Experimental Zoology-Hybridology and Gynandromorphism, Professor T. É MORGAN. Echinodermata-Red Sea Crinoids, DR. AUSTIN HOBART CLARK. CONTENTS OF THE MAY NUMBER The Categories of Variation. Professor S. J. HOLMES. The General Entomological Ecology of the Indian Corn Plant. S. A. FORBES. Notes and Literature: Biometrics-Some Recent Studies on Growth. DR. RAYMOND PEARL. Experimental Zoology-Cuénot on the Honey Bee, Professor T. H. MORGAN. The Upholding of Darwin-Poulton and Plate on Evolution, V. L. K. Single Number 35 Cents Yearly Subscription, $4.00 The NATURALIST will be sent to new subscribers for four months for One Dollar THE SCIENCE PRESS Garrison, N. Y. Sub-Station 84: NEW YORK Lancaster, Pa. T BY WILLIAM I. THOMAS HIS volume approaches the question of woman and her position in society from a new standpoint. It recognizes that sex is a fundamental factor in the origin and development of social institutions and occupational activities, and that a number of social forms and forces are of sexual origin. After a preliminary paper in which the organic differences of the two sexes are analyzed, there follows a series of studies on the relation of sex to social feeling and stimulation, and the influence of sex in securing a system of social control; the psychology of the maternal system of tribal organization; sex as a factor in the differentiation of occupations in early society, and the relation of woman to early industry and invention; the relation of sex to the origin of morality; the origin of exogamy; the origin and psychology of modesty and clothing. In the last two papers, on "The Adventitious Character of Woman" and "The Mind of Woman and the Lower Races," modern woman is interpreted from the standpoint of certain conventions and prejudices which emanate from the fact of sex, and which have excluded her from full participation in the activities of the "white man's world," with the result that she develops a type of mind and character not representative of the natural traits of her sex. Former treatises on the "woman question" have dealt in the main in a descriptive way with the history of marriage, or at least only with the details of the development of the marriage system, and have failed to present a theory which makes clear the significance of the present position of woman in society. The volume by Professor Thomas is the first attempt made to estimate the influence of the fact of sex on the origin and development of human society. 300 pages, 12mo, cloth; net $1.50, postpaid $1.65 Address Dept. 62 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO NEW YORK |