416 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



birds and more flowers, fields of various 

 adventure, in climbing trees to get " bird's- 

 eye views," and experiments on birds with 

 looking-glasses in different positions, and 

 with ehromos of cats. Nest-building time 

 affords subjects of interest that could not be 

 exhausted in a whole life of observations ; 

 and, as the season warms up and passes 

 into summer and then into autumn, and so 

 on to the beginning of winter again, these 

 objects multiply or hold their own, and the 

 problem becomes one of how among so many 

 to select the few that we can give proper at- 

 tention to. Thus Dr. Abbott has always his 

 eyes full. The plants and birds are with him 

 all the time. Besides these, he keeps com- 

 pany with squirrels and rabbits, toads, craw- 

 fish, field-mice, and insects till, as we 

 close the book with the moaning of the Oc- 

 tober east wind in the sobbing pines, we are 

 fully agreed with what he has told us in 

 the beginning, that he has " seldom seen a 

 half -acre that was not a 'Zoo,' which the 

 study of a lifetime would fail to exhaust." 

 The London " Academy " pronounces this vol- 

 ume u the most delightful book of the kind 

 which America has given us," and says that 

 " it closely approaches White's ' Selborne.' " 

 Higher praise than that it would be impos- 

 sible to give, and it is deserved. 



Flowers, Fruits, and Leaves. By Sir 

 John Lubbock. London and New York : 

 Macmillan & Co. Pp.147. Price, $1.25. 



Mr. Ruskin has lately lamented a lack of 

 books to teach him natural history. In speak- 

 ing thus, he ignored some most excellent 

 delineations of the natural world by putting 

 them in a class of which he spoke with con- 

 tempt, and overlooked others that he might 

 have found. The three lectures embodied 

 in this volume would be helpful to a man 

 honestly making his search. They describe, 

 in the engaging and thoughtful way which 

 is characteristic of all of the author's writ- 

 ing about his observations, what is going on 

 in one department of Nature for the promo- 

 tion of a particular purpose of its being, 

 and which is visible to every one who will 

 attentively look for it. They present the 

 results of studies of those points in the 

 form, structure, color, and economy of flow- 

 ers, fruits, and leaves which appear adapted 

 to secure the sound life of the plant and 



the perpetuation of its species. In flowers, 

 the most conspicuous feature is the adap- 

 tation to attract insects and secure cross- 

 fertilization by their agency ; whereby the 

 insects, in turn, by fertilizing the largest 

 and most brilliant flowers, have contributed 

 unconsciously, but effectually, to the beauty 

 of our woods and fields. " If seeds and fruits 

 can not vie with flowers in the brilliance and 

 color with which they decorate our gardens 

 and fields, still they surely rival it would 

 be impossible to excel them in the almost 

 infinite variety of the problems they present 

 to us, the ingenuity, the interest, and the 

 charm of the beautiful contrivances which 

 they offer for our study and admiration." 

 Of leaves, it seems clear that the innumer- 

 able differences between them have refer- 

 ence, " not to any inherent tendency, but to 

 the structure and organization, the habits 

 and requirements of the plants. Of course, 

 it may be that the present form has refer- 

 ence, not to existing but to ancient condi- 

 J tions, which render the problem all the more 

 ! difficult. Nor do I at all intend to main- 

 ' tain that every form of leaf is, or ever has 

 j been, necessarily that best adapted to the 

 i circumstances, but only that they are con- 

 stantly tending to become so, just as water 

 always tends to find its own level. But, 

 however this may be, if my main argument 

 is correct, it opens out a very wide and in- 

 teresting field of study, for every one of the 

 almost infinite forms of leaves must have 

 some cause and explanation." 



Popular Government. By Sir Henry Sum- 

 ner Maine. New York : Henry Holt & 

 Co. Pp. 261. Price, $2.75. 



This work consists of four essays, in 

 which the author, as he did in his " Ancient 

 Law," undertakes to do away with the a 

 priori theories conceiving a law and state of 

 nature antecedent to all positive institutions, 

 and a hypothetical system of rights and du- 

 ties appropriate to the natural condition with 

 which he believes the discussion of the sub- 

 ject has been hampered, and to apply the 

 historical method of inquiry to them. In 

 the first essay, which is on the "Prospects 

 of Popular Government," he assumes to 

 show that, as a matter of fact, that system, 

 since its reintroduction into the world, has 

 proved itself to be extremely fragile. In 



