The Protozoa

Abstract

BIOLOGISTS have understood for a long time past the importance of the study of the Protozoa as an indispensable aid to the solution of some of the most fundamental problems of biology. Of recent years, however, a lively interest in this class of organisms has been awakened in many others besides those whose field of investigation includes the Protozoa amongst its recognised subjects. Medical researchers, for instance, require now to know more about the simplest forms of animal life than they were taught, as students, in their elementary courses of biology, and even the general public has had its attention directed to “microbes” by the recent discoveries concerning the etiology of malaria and the wonderful life-history of its minute parasite. The time is opportune, therefore, for the publication of a general account of the Protozoa, and the latest addition to the well-known Columbia Series is a handy volume which will be welcomed by many classes of readers. The author has not aimed at putting forward an exhaustive, severely scientific treatise upon the group in question. His work may be described rather as a simple and intelligible introduction to the study of the Protozoa and of the many fascinating biological problems connected with, or illustrated by, this subdivision of the animal kingdom, in such a way as to awaken the interest of the beginner, no less than to strengthen the hands of the expert. The book is written in plain language, with avoidance of unnecessary technicalities, and is profusely illustrated by a great number of very excellent figures, in the preparation of which the author acknowledges the assistance of his wife, whose skilful draughtsmanship cannot be praised too highly.

The Protozoa.

By Gary N. Calkins. Columbia University Biological Series, VI. Pp. xvi + 347; 153 text-figures. (New York: The Macmillan Co. London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1901.) Price 12s. 6d. net.