Part 104

The Fitness of the Environment

BY LAWRENCE J. HENDERSON Assistant Professor of Biological Chemistry in Harvard University

Cloth, 12mo, $1.50 net

“Darwinian fitness is compounded of a mutual relationship between the organism and the environment. Of this, fitness of environment is quite as essential a component as the fitness which arises in the process of organic evolution; and in fundamental characteristics the actual environment is the fittest possible abode of life.” Such is the thesis which this work seeks to establish through discussions of the physical and chemical characteristics of life and cosmogony, and through critical study of the properties of matter in their biological relations.

Water and carbonic acid are shown to be the primary constituents of the environment. Analysis shows their properties, together with those of the component elements, hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, to make up a series of maxima, among all known compounds and elements, so numerous, so varied, and so highly favorable, to the organic mechanism that the fitness of the world for life assumes an importance not less than the fitness which has been won by adaptation in the course of organic evolution.

A final chapter discusses the bearing of these conclusions upon theories of organic evolution, modern vitalism, including the views of M. Bergson, and the old natural theology, and seeks to harmonize implications of design with the mechanistic view of nature.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY =Publishers= =64-66 Fifth Avenue= =New York=

COLLEGE ZOÖLOGY

ROBERT W. HEGNER, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Zoölogy in the University of Michigan

Illustrated, Cloth, 12mo, xxiv + 733 pp., $2.60 net

This book is intended to serve as a text for beginning students in universities and colleges, or for students who have already taken a course in general biology and wish to gain a more comprehensive view of the animal kingdom. It differs from many of the college text-books of zoölogy now on the market in several important respects: (1) the animals and their organs are not only described, but their functions are pointed out; (2) the animals described are in most cases native species; and (3) the relations of the animals to man are emphasized. Besides serving as a text-book, it is believed that this book will be of interest to the general reader, since it gives a bird’s-eye view of the entire animal kingdom as we know it at the present time.

Within the past decade there has been a tendency for teachers of zoölogy to pay less attention to morphology and more to physiology. As a prominent morphologist recently said, “Morphology ... is no longer in favor ... and among a section of the zoölogical world has almost fallen into disgrace” (Bourne). The study of the form and structure of animals is, however, of fundamental importance, and is absolutely necessary before physiological processes can be fully understood; but a course which is built up on the “old-fashioned morphological lines” is no longer adequate for the presentation of zoölogical principles.

The present volume has not been made by merely adding a description of the vertebrates to the author’s “Introduction to Zoölogy” (for a brief account of which see the last pages of this circular). On the contrary, it is a new work throughout, although the same general method of treatment, which proved so successful in the earlier book, has been employed in this one. Similarly, in the preparation of this book the author has submitted the manuscript of each chapter to a scholar and teacher of unquestioned authority in the particular field. The criticisms and suggestions thus secured have greatly increased both the accuracy and the practicability of the text.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY =Publishers= =64-66 Fifth Avenue= =New York=

An Introduction to Zoölogy

ROBERT W. HEGNER, Ph.D.

Instructor in Zoölogy in the University of Michigan

Illustrated, 12mo, $1.90 net

Only a few animals belonging to the more important phyla, as viewed from an evolutionary standpoint, are considered. They are, however, intensively studied in an endeavor to teach the fundamental principles of Zoölogy in a way that is not possible when a superficial examination of types from all the phyla is made. Furthermore, morphology is not specially emphasized, but is coördinated with physiology, ecology, and behavior, and serves to illustrate by a comparative study the probable course of evolution. The animals are not treated as inert objects for dissection, but as living organisms whose activities are of fundamental importance. No arguments are necessary to justify the “type course,” developed with the problems of organic evolution in mind, and dealing with dynamic as well as static phenomena.

“I have read your chapter (The Crayfish and Arthropods in General) and can express my satisfaction with reference to the general arrangement of the matter, as well as with reference to the detail. The whole treatment is up to date, taking account of the modern advancement in our knowledge of the crayfishes, and, chief of all, the more important features in the natural history of these animals are very properly separated from the unimportant ones. I think this chapter gives the essence of what we know about crayfishes, and any student might use the book advantageously. In fact, I know no other text-book which gives such a wealth of information upon so few pages.”--Professor A. E. ORTHMANN, Carnegie Museum.

“The plan is very satisfactory, and the book will be very instructive for class use. I am very glad that you have chosen the bee as your insect type.” (Chapter XII.)--Dr. E. E. PHILLIPS, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY =Publishers= =64-66 Fifth Avenue= =New York=

Household Bacteriology

ESTELLE D. BUCHANAN, M.S.

Recently Assistant Professor of Botany, Iowa State College

AND

ROBERT EARLE BUCHANAN, PH.D.