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of plant histology and physiology with a little morphology in the 
simplest objective form to children of primary grades having no 
knowledge of the subject. The use of the microscope is expected 
from the teacher at the start, and yet the questions and statements, 
and even the methods, are so ambiguous that we doubt the 
ability of the average teacher to use this primer intelligently. 
Lesson A. begins with ‘What the living part ofa plant is,” 
and the first page alone is the veriest mixture of the simple and 
the complex, as these two sentences will show: “State some- 
thing about a lily.” ‘What is the living part of a plant?” Some 
of the statements emphasized by heavy type, which are evidently 
intended for memorizing, are questionable. Here is one: 
“II. Protoplasm is found everywhere in a living plant.” The 
statement has its exceptions. Whether the child is supposed in 
one lesson to have arrived at this objectively, or whether the 
teacher is supposed to take it for granted that they are capable 
of fully understanding the scope of everywhere in this sentence, we 
are left to guess. 
Scrophularia.—C. G. Lloyd, (Drugs and Medicines N. A., ii., 
pp. 106-116; one plate and wood cut. 
The Task of American Botanists.—W. G. Farlow. (Pop. Sci. 
Month., xxxi, pp, 305-314.) 
“If we are behind some other nations in the quantity and 
quality of our botanical investigations, what is the reason? It 
must be through lack of inclination, lack of time, lack of means, 
or lack of the requisite training.” | With his usual clearness and 
masterly grasp of the subject, Prof. Farlow then tells much that 
we knew or had heard before with a force and individuality 
quite original. He speaks pretty plainly against the amount of 
class-work required of professors in our American colleges and 
the need of more assistance, stating that a ‘“‘ great gain will have 
been made if the public can be persuaded that professors in col- 
leges ought to be allowed. time for, and be expected to do, 
original work.” In answer to the question, ‘‘ What sort of botan- 
ical investigation is needed in this country ?” he says: ‘Ina new 
country the first work must be almost entirely descriptive and 
classificatory; and, when this work has reached a sufficiently 
advanced stage, histology, physiology and the study of life-histo- 
