SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



415 



ical analysis may find in the illustrations a 

 ready means for the identification of the 

 plants that grow around them, and through 

 the accompanying descriptions they will at 

 the same time acquire a familiarity with bo- 

 tanical language. The enterprise of prepar- 

 ing this work was projected by Judge Brown, 

 who is President of the Torrey Botanical 

 Club, and has been diligently prosecuted for 

 six years under the supervision of Dr. Brit- 

 ton, and, as to the text, mainly by him ; while 

 the work in all its parts has been carefully 

 revised by both authors. The latest ma- 

 tured results of botanical studies, hei'e and 

 in Europe, have been availed of for the 

 work, so as to bring it fully abreast of the 

 knowledge and scientific conceptions of the 

 time, and make it answer present needs. 

 The area treated of has been so liberally 

 defined as practically to include the entire 

 flora of the northern portion of the Great 

 Plains. Most of the arctic plants are also 

 included, for there are only a few of them 

 which may not be found within the limits 

 prescribed for the work. The figures are 

 all from original drawings for this book, 

 either from fresh plants or from herbarium 

 specimens. All have been first drawn of 

 natural size from medium-sized specimens 

 and afterward reduced to a proportion which 

 is indicated. Hence they do not suffer from 

 the use of a magnifier, but are rather im- 

 proved by it. The systematic arrangement 

 has been revised so as to correspond as 

 nearly as may be with the order of nature 

 as now understood as an order of evolution 

 from the more simple to the more complex 

 and the sequence of families adopted by 

 Engler and Prantl has been closely followed. 

 The nomenclature is according to the code 

 devised by the Paris Botanical Congress in 

 186*7, as modified by the rules adopted by 

 the Botanical Club of the American Associ- 

 ation. English names are given as far as 

 possible, but, in the confusion that exists in 

 respect to these, great exercise of judgment 

 in selection has been called for. 



In the Social Forces in German Litera- 

 ture* Dr. Kuno Francke, of Harvard Uni- 

 versity, attempts to define what seem to him 



* Social Forces in German Literature. By 

 Kimo Francke, Ph. D. New York : Henry Holt 

 & Co. Pp. 556. Price, $2 net. 



the essential features of German literature 

 from the point of view of the student of 

 civilization rather than fi'om that of the 

 linguistic scholar or literary critic. By his 

 studies and various influences he has been 

 led to look at the substance rather than the 

 form of literature, to see in it primarily the 

 working of popular forces, to consider it 

 chiefly as an expression of national culture. 

 His effort is to'supply what seems to be a 

 decided need of tf book which, based upon 

 an original study of the sources, should give 

 a coherent account of the great intellectual 

 movements of German life as expressed in 

 literature, and point out the mutual relation 

 of action and reaction between these move- 

 ments and social and political conditions. 

 To his view all literary development is de- 

 termined by the incessant conflict between 

 the tendency toward personal freedom and 

 the tendency toward collective organization. 

 The subject is considered under this view in 

 connection with the period of the migrations, 

 from the fifth to the ninth century; with 

 the growth of mediteval hierarchy and feu- 

 dalism, the height of chivalric culture, the 

 rise of the middle classes, the era of the 

 Reformation, and the several epochs since, 

 whose characteristics have been reflected in 

 literary development ; the whole constituting 

 an admirable and instructive study of this 

 phase of the history of civilization. 



A very useful little book on How to Feed 

 Children * has recently come to us from Mrs. 

 Louise E. Hogan. The framework for the 

 book consisted of a number of magazine ar- 

 ticles that have appeared during the last two 

 years in various journals. The author's aim 

 has been to offer in a practical form a few 

 suggestions concerning the application of the 

 principles of dietetics to feeding in the nur- 

 sery and throughout the period of childhood. 

 All the material can of course be found in 

 technical manuals in a much more extended 

 form, and there is no claim of originality ; 

 but an attempt has been made to select the 

 most important and general rules, and to 

 present and apply them in a simple and 

 practical way. While the close relations be- 

 tween physiology and dietetics are generally 



* How to Feed Children. By Louise E. Hogan. 

 Pp. 236, l2mo. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott 

 Co. Price, $1. 



