453 
Reviews. 
Laboratory Practice for Beginners in Botany. By William A. Setch- 
ell. Macmillan Company. 1897. 
The increased attention that has been given to botany in re- 
cent years has naturally resulted in greatly adding to our knowl- 
edge of plant-life, and the attempt to keep the student in school 
and university abreast of this information, has necessitated many 
text-books. So rapidly is the science advancing that what is along 
the out-post to-day, may become the rear-guard of to-morrow, 
and teachers in seeking the best methods of imparting informa- 
tion to the students under their charge have often devised plans 
of presentation that seemed adopted to wider audiences. This 
little book by Professor Setchell is an example of such conditions. 
After experimenting with a number of classes of beginners, both 
in the preparatory schools and in the university, he has come, as 
he tells us in the preface, to the conclusion that botany should be 
taught “1. Asa science, to cultivate careful and accurate obser- 
vations,.together with the faculty of making from observations 
the proper inferences; and 2, As a means of leading the mind of 
the student to interest itself in the phenomena of nature for its own 
further development and profit.” Along these lines the book 
Seems to be fairly well executed. It is devoted almost exclusively 
to the higher plants, and, beginning with the seed, follows the 
familiar practise of directing the student's attention to the salient 
features of plant-organs and plant-phenomena through the com- 
plete life cycle. It suggests what the student shall look for, but 
does not aim to tell what will be seen. The student must reach 
and record the observations for himself, and will of course be 
benefited by the process. It will prove a useful book in the grades 
for which it is intended. 
Botanical Notes, 
Hasciation.—Perhaps owing to the unusual amount of rain in 
New England, there has been this season a eres manifestation 
