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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



great mass of those which arc now filled by 

 appointment and which, under Mr. Stick- 

 ney's system, would be increased are as 

 much sought after by party workers as those 

 that are elective ; and there is no greater se- 

 curity under the proposed system than un- 

 der the present, that they will be kept out 

 of their hands. The security is even less, 

 because the Executive has greater power. 

 Suppose the chief Executive and the re- 

 quired majority of the Legislature to be of 

 the same party, with the same intense par- 

 tisan feeling existing that now exists, what, 

 under Mr. Stickney's system, is to prevent 

 the offices from the top to the bottom be- 

 ing filled with political workers, and kept 

 there without any more regard for their 

 fitness than at present. A majority gained 

 by the other side would simply have the 

 effect of putting in a new Executive, who 

 might make a clean sweep of the depart- 

 ments in the interest of his party. The 

 only restraining force upon him then, as 

 now, would be the pressure of public 

 opinion, but that would necessarily be 

 less than at present, because it could not 

 make itself so effectively felt. The same 

 party majority that would be able to keep 

 the Executive in power for party reasons 

 would also be able to keep members of 

 the Legislature of their own party in their 

 seats. Practically a member would be se- 

 cure in his tenure unless guilty of the gross- 

 est misconduct. And party standards of 

 conduct are not of the highest. If this As- 

 sembly were composed, as Mr. Stickney sup- 

 poses, of the best and wisest men of the 

 nation, and the chief Executive were a man 

 of great administrative ability and honesty 

 of purpose, doubtless his plan would work 

 admirably. But a system must be judged 

 by its ability to meet the worst cases. If 

 the Assembly were filled with strong parti- 

 sans, and the Executive were the willing tool 

 of his party, the result would be anything 

 but satisfactory, and there would be, under 

 the law, no means of effecting a change. 

 While the discussion of Mr. Stickney is in 

 many ways suggestive, and throughout bears 

 the evidence of careful thought, his system 

 can not, to our thinking, be accepted as a 

 solution of the problem. Without a destruc- 

 tion of the party spirit, it affords no better 

 security for efficient and faithful service 



than the present one, and, with the destruc- 

 tion of this spirit, its purpose can be ac- 

 complished with the system we have. 



An Elementary Text-Book of Botany. 

 Translated from the German by Dr. K. 

 Prantl, Professor of Botany in the 

 Royal Academy of Forestry, Aschaffen- 

 burg, Bavaria. The Translation revised 

 by S. H. Vines, Fellow and Lecturer of 

 Christ's College, Cambridge. With 275 

 Illustrations. Philadelphia : J. B. Lip- 

 pincott & Co. 1880. Price, $2.25. 



In his preface to the English translation 

 of Professor Prantl's text-book, Professor 

 Vines tells us that the work appeared in 

 Germany in response to a demand for an 

 introduction to Professor Sachs's well-known 

 and voluminous " Lehrbuch der Botanik," 

 that should resemble it in its mode of 

 treating the subject. Professor Prantl's 

 success in this undertaking is attested by 

 the rapidity with which his book has passed 

 to a third edition in his own country, and 

 by its prompt translation into English. The 

 large work of Professor Sachs was trans- 

 lated by Bennet and Dyer, and published at 

 Oxford in 1875. To readers unacquainted 

 with this important volume, we may say 

 that it introduces the student to the pres- 

 ent state of knowledge concerning botanical 

 science. It not only describes the phenom- 

 ena of plant-life that are already accurately 

 known, but it indicates those theories and 

 problems in which botanical research is at 

 present engaged. It is a quarto volume of 

 860 pages, of which some 200 are given to 

 the consideration of " General Morpholo- 

 gy," nearly 400 to " Special Morphology 

 and Classification," about 200 to " Physiolo- 

 gy," and the remaining 60 or 70 pages to 

 chapters on " Plant Movements," " Sexual 

 Reproduction," and " The Origin of Spe- 

 cies." Professor Prantl's introduction to 

 Sachs's " Botany " is an octavo volume of 

 832 pages. In treating a subject of such 

 great extent in this brief space, the author 

 has adopted a somewhat different order 

 from that of the large work, and omitted 

 many of the recondite subjects which are 

 there so ably presented. The introductory 

 chapter is devoted to external morphology. 

 The anatomy of plants is treated in two 

 chapters, the first upon cell-structure, con- 

 tents, and development ; and the second J 



