It

element in the evolution of specific types. His papers have been useful in putting a needed emphasis on a factor which had been insufficiently taken into account and frequently overlooked by theorists concerned with the question of specific evolution. was appropriate, therefore, that the Carnegie Institution should give him the opportunity of presenting in one handsome volume, the ripened result of his years of reflection and study on this subject.

It is known that his studies were largely due to the interest excited by the beautiful and multiform tree-snails of the Hawaiian Islands, which, for variety in characteristics elsewhere usually taken as of specific value, are unexcelled in any equal area. It was a problem which appealed to every collector of these attractive animals. How should this almost infinite variety under almost identical conditions be accounted for? The latest investigations indicate that the chief food of the arboreal Achatinellas consists of fungoid mycelium which in the warm air and constant rains of the mountainous region of the islands is more or less abundantly developed on the bark of trees and shrubs upon which these landshells live; an examination by Mr. Cook of many stomachs has shown that the leaves of the shrubs or trees form no part of their diet, and that, contrary to the opinions formerly held and even not altogether discarded in the volume under review, the species of tree upon which these animals live is not of importance in their economy; the same species of shell being often found indifferently upon different species of trees over the area the former inhabits. This fact lends even greater importance to the remaining elements of the environment among which the stimulus to variation is to be sought.

It has been found that the Achatinellas do not lend themselves readily to experiment. Removal, even when not the slightest injury has been inflicted, usually proves fatal, from some unexplained cause. It is evident that they are extremely sensitive to even minute changes in altitude, moisture, etc., and attempts to get them to breed in the more accessible regions of the islands, where they

could be kept under continuous observation, have so far proved failures. Even the eggs seem unable to bear transportation.

For the reader who wishes to gain quickly an idea of the hypothesis maintained by Dr. Gulick, we should suggest the original papers of which a bibliography is given in the pressent volume, as they contain the meat of the matter in more concentrated form. In the opinion of the, reviewer something has been lost by the considerable expansion of verbiage to which the statement of the hypothesis has here been subjected. But doubtless the special student of these recondite problems will find the volume none too long. In any event it should not be forgotten that while Dr. Gulick's views seem eminently probable and in the reviewer's mind go far toward accounting for many of the facts, nevertheless they are theoretical and have not yet been subjected to the crucial test of experiment, by which the proposed theory in the end must be tested. To justify final acceptation an hypothesis must not only be capable of accounting for the facts but it must be shown to be the only one by which they may be adequately explained. It is also necessary to determine how far the animals in question have arrived at that state of organic equilibrium which we recognize by the name of species. If, as has been held by some authorities, the small colorgroups are really only of a temporary nature, and liable to immediate change upon subjection to modified environment, then the author's hypothesis, while losing nothing of its truth, is not a contribution to the evolution of species so much as to the physiology of color-variation. The latter may or may not be, in the group discussed, a factor of specific weight.

In any case we are grateful for the full presentation of the author's views which are of acknowledged importance in the discussion. The volume is well printed, though we could have wished that the colored plates had been of a better quality. W. H. DALL.

Marceli Nencki Opera Omnia. Gesammelte Arbeiten von Professor M. NENCKI. Braunschweig, Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn. 1905.

Two volumes, with a portrait of the author. Pp. 840890.

The influence which an untiring worker like Professor Nencki exerts on the development of science is perpetuated in at least two ways. The enthusiasm of the investigator is transmitted to his pupils and thus continues to live; and his definite contributions to knowledge are recorded in books which do not die with the author. With the methods of publication adopted in scientific circles of the present day, the researches of an individual are usually scattered in many papers and numerous journals. What this may mean in the course of thirty years of unceasing labor in the advancement of learning is illustrated in the case of Nencki's published work, embodying his studies in organic and physiological chemistry, in bacteriology, hygiene and. pharmacology, presented in many places and in several languages. Nencki's interest continued to center in the chemical aspects of various allied branches of biological and medical science, although his writings are not strictly limited by such definition. No résumé or critical discussion of the literature of urea formation and the behavior of aromatic compounds in the animal body, of the chemistry of putrefaction, of the composition of the blood pigments, of the chemistry of various digestive secretions and processes and the activity of enzymes, would be at all adequate without reference to his published contributions. Furthermore, this does not take into account Nencki's many valuable investigations in organic chemistry and hygiene.

In view of what has been stated, and especially the personal circumstances which led to such diverse channels of publication, it is timely and appropriate that the life-work of this distinguished physiological chemist should be collected and presented in a more readily available form, thus supplying what an untimely death prevented on the part of the late scientist; and it is, indeed, fortunate that two pupils so well known and closely associated with Nencki as N. Sieber and J. Zaleski have undertaken the compilation of his collected works. The two volumes which they have edited embrace all of Nencki's scientific

The work comprises a short introduction on the preparation of samples for analysis,' nearly two hundred pages on the analysis of fuels, waters and various native and artificial chemical compounds, and one hundred pages on the analysis of metals and alloys. According to the author's preface, it is intended as a manual for the industrial chemist.

Viewing the book in the light of its intended usefulness, our verdict upon it is that it is as nearly superfluous a work as could be written. The plan is fragmentary, many important analyses are omitted; the directions are poorly expressed, in most cases insufficient and in many inaccurate; obsolete methods are mixed in with more modern ones without criticism or discrimination; there is scarcely to be found a single reference to any other works on analysis or journals of any kind, to supplement the fragmentary information given; the translator was evidently as little fitted for his task as the author, as is evident from poorly translated phrases which betray an ignorance of English chemical expressions and especially of metallurgical terms; the paper is wretchedly poor, the bind

L. BOURDEAU. 1 vol. 8vo. Bibliothèque scientifique internationale. Paris, Felix Alcan. Pp. 300. 6 francs.

This volume completes a series of culturehistorical studies by the author: The forces of industry, the history of alimentation, the conquest of the animal kingdom, the conquest of the vegetal kingdom, and history of dress and adornment. Three motives are urged as having given rise to vestment-protection from injury caused by the things that are without, the love of pleasure and modesty. The male sex and the female have vied with each other in the elaboration of innumerable inventions

in this category. Animals have clothing provided by nature-carapaces, shells, hair, bristles, feathers, down, wool and more. Man's skin, on the contrary, is a tissue of sensation structures, putting him into lively contact and communication with the outside world, but shielding him little.

They

The unfolding of this story is divided into two parts: (1) the materials-skins and textile substances and their preparations, and (2) the history of costume. The substances fit for clothing are not innumerable. had to be bad conductors of heat from the body and to the body; they had to be pliable, fitting themselves to the form, tough enough to wear and last and pay for the time spent in manufacturing them. The story begins with skins and passes on through animal textiles, vegetal textiles and other substances, from which must not be omitted the great variety of things ornamental. Add to all this the fashions in tissues, the dyeing, staining, painting, bleaching, printing of patterns on goods, cutting out, sewing and trimming, and it will appear what a large fraction of human hours are given to raiment. The making of

buttons requires the services of 30,000 workmen and an outlay of 30,000,000 francs (1900).

The development of costume fills the last one hundred pages, its general evolution, the special history of modern costume, head dresses, foot gear and gloves, accessories of costume, such as handkerchiefs, fans, parasols, umbrellas and jewelry. There is a chapter (pp. 124-147) on artificial coloring of the hair and skin, tattooing, painting and dyeing. And the goodly friend of the species, soap, together with perfumeries, baths, etc., is not neglected. It is a great pity that there is no index to the work, for there is an infinite amount of petty detail gathered here, to which one would like to refer. The author assumes the existence of naked and unadorned peoples. When you go to look for them, they are seldom to be found, which leads to the inquiry whether really there are any such. O. T. M.

SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. The Journal of the American Chemical Society for November contains the following articles:

ROY D. HALL and EDGAR E. SMITH: Some Observations on Columbium.'

JOSEPH H. GOODWIN: Electrolytic Calcium.' GEO. A. HULETT: Preparation of Nitrogen from the Atmosphere.'

H. M. GORDIN: 'On the Crystalline Alkaloid of Calycanthus Glaucus.'

WILLIAM A. NOYES and HOWARD W. DOUGHTY: 'Derivatives of Trimethylparaconic and of Camphoronic Acids.'

6

EDWARD GUDEMAN: Artificial Digestion Experiments.'

A. T. LINCOLN: A New Burette Holder.'
Review of American Chemical Research.

The Museum News, of the Brooklyn Institute, for November may be termed a zoological number, as it is principally devoted to notes pertaining to that branch of science. There is a little leader in the matter of labels, which explains why labels are frequently absent, and also gives the point of view of the curator. The completion of a group of fur seals is announced which has been in preparation for some time, and is the finest of its kind in any museum, comprising as it does thirteen speci

mens, representing the various classes of this valuable animal. The leading article in the Children's Museum section is a sketch of 'King Cole,' a live crow, which was for some time an object of interest in the museum. Lecture courses are announced for both mu

seums.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES.

THE ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA.

THE 161st meeting of the society was held in the chemical lecture room on Tuesday (7:30 P.M.), October 17, 1905. The following papers were presented:

PROFESSOR H. V. WILSON: On the Formation of Regenerative Bodies of Sponges when kept in Confinement.'

PROFESSOR A. S. WHEELER: Paper Making.' ALVIN S. WHEELER, Recording Secretary.

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF MALAYSIA AND THE WEST COAST OF AMERICA.

TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: A short time ago the National Museum received from Mr. C. Boden Kloss, curator of the Johore Museum, No. 40 of the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, for June, 1904, containing an illustrated catalogue of the ethnographical collection of the Sarawak Museum, Part I., Musical Instruments, by R. Shelford.

On page 29, Mr. Shelford thus describes a flageolet of the tribe called Murut, in Borneo : a. Murut-Flageolet. (Plate VIII., figs. 7 and 8.)

Distal end open and cut square, proximal end closed by the natural septum, the bamboo has not been cut flush with this but projects considerably beyond it; in the wall of this projecting part a small hole is bored quite close to the septum, and a groove runs on the outside of the flute from this hole to the sound-hole, the groove being covered by a slip of bamboo luted on with dammar. The edge of the sound-hole is sharpened by a piece of palm-leaf stuck on. The sound-hole is 5 centim. from the proximal end; there are two stops 8.5 centim. apart, bored with a red-hot iron in a

flattened strip on the same side as the soundhole, the upper one is 32 centim. from the soundhole. Total length 52.5 cm.; diam. 2.5 cm. Catalogue No. 1291. F. J. D. Cox, Esq. (P. viii 03). From the Trusan river.

This is precisely similar to the mystery. flute of some of the early writings about the North American Indians. The Museum has just received an additional example from Arizona, through E. H. Nelson. They are usually made of cane, having a closed joint at or near the middle. A hole is pierced on either side of the septum of the joint through the walls of the cane and an air channel cut on the outside from one hole to the other. If the upper hole and the channel are covered by a bandage or the finger as far as the lower face of the septum and the upper tube blown into, it gives a whistling sound. In the lower section three or four finger holes are made. If more than that number, it shows a European influence. If an instrument of this kind that has no bandage is handed to one ignorant of its characteristics, he would not be apt to place a finger in the precise spot required to make a sound, and how to sound it would be a mystery to him. Some of the North American Indians construct bone whistles in the same manner. For the reason that this method of construction is seldom seen elsewhere, the instrument is supposed to have been original with the Indians of North America.1

This is another interesting connecting link between Malaysia and the west coast of America, because of these two identical instruments in regions far apart. A search for the cause of this identity will be interesting to ethnologists. E. H. HAWLEY.

THE BUREAU OF SOILS.

TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: Mr. F. H. King, in the last number of SCIENCE, reviewing the work done by Dr. Buckingham and published by the Department of Agriculture, makes use of the following expression:

He is well aware too that my object in having him called to the bureau was that he might make

1See George Catlin Indian Gallery, Smithsonian Report, 1885, p. 395 and Plate 93 g.

To one who is unacquainted with either party to the controversy, on the nature of which he is also very little posted, the following questions naturally arise:

1. By what uncharted route under the civil service did Dr. Buckingham reach his present position in the Department of Agriculture?

2. Does one who secures a position in the department by the means implied, consider himself owned by one outside of the department, so that the latter shall complain, 'Is the creature greater than the creator?'

3. Is Dr. Buckingham owned in Madison, Wisconsin? ARTHUR JOHN HOPKINS.

October 22, 1905.

SPECIAL ARTICLES.

THE METHOD OF ELIMINATION IN FIXING GENERIC TYPES IN ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE.

ONE of the most perplexing problems in zoological nomenclature is to decide on the proper application of a generic name used in a comprehensive sense by an early author, to one of the component parts of the original group. The genus of Linnæus and his followers of the eighteenth century corresponds fairly to the family of the twentieth century. It is agreed that a generic name should stand or fall by its typical species. But the writers of the eighteenth century had little conception of type-species in the modern sense. We must, therefore, find some method of fixing their types for them.

This may be done by choosing the 'best known European or officinal species,' to quote an expression attributed to Linnæus. When such a species is clearly indicated, this ought to settle the matter. But it does not do so in all cases, as some genera have no species either European or officinal. As many of the earlier writers took Linnæan specific names for their genera (tautonomy), it is safe to regard such a practise as fixing the type in question. Bodianus bodianus is an example of this sort. Virtual tautonomy (as Tetrao

tetrix, Scomber scombrus) amounts to the same thing.

In

The method of beginning with a leading species or chef de file, as typical representative of each genus to be described in full, while the others were disposed of in comparative sentences, was adopted by Lacépède, Cuvier, Valenciennes, Poey and other authors. ichthyology this has given reason for the choice of the type of the genus by page precedence. This method was raised to the dignity of a universal rule by Dr. Bleeker and others. It is a pity that it was not systematically adopted earlier, for it would have given fixity, a matter which in nomenclature far outweighs all others. But Linnæus, among others, usually placed his type-species in the middle of the series, the less known or more aberrant forms at either end of it.

The rule of the first reviser is generally recognized, and is given precedence over all other methods of fixing the type by many authors. The objection to it is that no one has yet defined the first reviser, so as to separate his rights from the rights of different meddlers. If we admit none to be revisers, unless they definitely limit a genus and definitely associate its name with some one or more of its original constituent species, to the exclusion of others, this rule may be available, although its application involves a good deal of otherwise profitless labor in bibliography.

In recent years a rule of fixing types by elimination has come into vogue, the American Ornithologists' Union having given it especial prominence. As a guide to the operations of a first reviser, who finds no type assigned by previous writers, the rule is not open to serious objection.

But it has been largely applied without regard to previous revisers, and the meanings of various generic names have been frequently shifted in accordance with its supposed demands. It is evident that it is in great need of definition.

For example, let A, B, C, D represent the species of a comprehensive genus called X. If each of these is successively made the type of a new genus U, V, Y, Z, then Z, the last