BOTANICAL BOOKS AND THEIR USE 12 1 



botanical importance. There is, however, a series of 

 botanical essays which are among the best of models, 

 those of Dr. Asa Gray, contained in his " Scientific 

 Writings," particularly those that relate to geographi- 

 cal distribution, though nearly all in the two vol- 

 umes will attract and instruct the American botanist. 

 Another model of scientific writing, a work of charm- 

 ing style and great force, and one that it will pay 

 every teacher to read from cover to cover, is Sachs's 

 " Lectures on the Physiology of Plants." Sachs's 

 " History of Botany ' is also a classic, most readable 

 and suggestive. There is one disadvantage common 

 to all of these works, but one unavoidable in all 

 scientific books while the science is advancing as 

 rapidly as at present ; namely, much of their matter 

 has been superseded by later researches. This draw- 

 back the teacher can in part compensate by reading 

 good new works as they appear, whose standing can 

 be judged by the reviews of them in the botanical 

 journals. 



It is, of course, of the greatest profit to the teacher 

 to keep in touch with botanical progress through the 

 botanical journals. The leading journal of this coun- 

 try is the Botanical Gazette, which, in addition to 

 technical articles, gives summaries of new discoveries, 

 reviews of new books, and many notes of general 

 interest, though naturally most of the matter is not 

 utilizable except by those who have had thorough 



