Abstract
THE author of this ponderous work is the occupant JL of a chair of “phylogeny “in the University of Jena, and in this volume he has apparently attempted to justify his position, for he treats of the evolutionary history of every phylum both in the animal and in the vegetable kingdom ! Both the title of the chair and of the book must awaken amazement in simple British minds. What is phylogeny apart from zoology and botany? Is not the specialist in botany or in zoology the only person competent to construct even a plausible phylogeny in either science? But perhaps we might expect in a volume like this to find the foundations for phylogenetic hypotheses critically examined: we might hope to have the value and the limitations of the evidence from fossils discussed; the theory of recapitulation explained and its validity determined. Such questions seem suitable for a book by a professor of phylogeny in general. If such were our expectations we should be bitterly disappointed. The book opens with a chapter devoted to a sketch of the physical geology of the globe and the changes which sea and water have undergone since the Cambrian. Then follows an account of the Darwinian theory of evolution with references to De Vries's mutations, Mendelism, and to direct adaptation and Lamarckism. The discussion on evolution is succeeded by a section on “Body and Soul” (Korper und Geist) in which we are informed by Prof. Franz that when the body dies, the “ego “is dissolved (how does Prof. Franz know this?), but that the “psychical” (whatever this may mean) persists. After this we reach a section dealing with the supposed characters of the first living beings and the manner in which they were derived from inorganic matter. Then we plunge into the detailed phylogenies of the various classes, first of plants and then of animals.
Geschichte der Organismen.
Von Prof. Victor Franz. Pp. xiii + 948. (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1924.) 36 marks.
Enjoying our latest content?
Log in or create an account to continue
- Access the most recent journalism from Nature's award-winning team
- Explore the latest features & opinion covering groundbreaking research
or
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
M., E. Geschichte der Organismen. Nature 114, 889–890 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/114889a0
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/114889a0
