SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



66 1 



malaria and the conclusions to which 

 they lead are presented in a clear and 

 popular fashion, and will be found both 

 interesting and intelligible by the gen- 

 eral reader, albeit the translation stum- 

 bles not a little. 



BOTANY. 



The Botatiische Centralblatt has 

 hitherto been published in two series, in 

 which were included original articles 

 and reviews without classification. 

 Chiefly as a result of the representations 

 of a committee of the Society for Plant 

 Physiology and Morphology, this jour- 

 nal announces that, beginning with 

 1901, the main series will contain only 

 reviews and notices of new literature, 

 while all original articles will be rele- 

 gated to the 'Beihefte,' each to be sub- 

 scribed for separately. In order to secure 

 more adequate notice of American pa- 

 pers, two associate editors from America 

 will be added to the staff, and similar 

 arrangements will probably be made in 

 England and other countries. The com- 

 mittee entrusted with the details of ar- 

 rangement and selection of the Ameri- 

 can editors consists of Drs. W. G. Far- 

 low, W. F. Ganong, D. T. MacDougal, 

 William Trelease and D. H. Campbell. 

 This action on the part of the Central- 

 blatt implies a most notable advance to- 

 ward securing a better bibliography of 

 botanical literature. 



The completion of 'Die Naturlichen 

 Pflanzenfamilien,' under the editorship 

 of Dr. A. Engler, of the Berlin Botanic 

 Garden, is followed by the announce- 

 ment that he will undertake the man- 

 agement of a second great systematic 

 work, 'Das Pflanzenreich,' which will 

 consist of a series of monographs of the 

 flora of the world. All the important 

 literature dealing with the taxonomy, 

 distribution, organography, anatomy, 

 morphology of the flower and history of 

 development will be cited at the head 

 of the monograph of each family. Gen- 

 eral matter will be written in German, 

 but all technical descriptions will be in 

 Latin. Synonyms will be cited in chron- 

 ological order. More than thirty of the 



collaborators have already taken up the 

 work of preparation and agreed upon 

 rules of nomenclature. The more recent- 

 ly established families will be fully illus- 

 trated. This great work will be pro- 

 duced under the auspices of the Prus- 

 sian Academy of Sciences by the aid of 

 the Department of Education of Prussia. 

 Monographs upon the banana family 

 (Musaceae), by Dr. Karl Schumann; the 

 screw pines (Pandanaceae), by Dr. O. 

 Warburg, and the cat-tail family (Ty- 

 phaceaej and burreeds (SparganiaceaeJ , 

 by Dr. P. Graebner, have already ap- 

 peared. It is to be said that an ex- 

 amination of these papers does not carry 

 out the promise of the prospectus in the 

 matter of rigidity of rules of citation. 



The noble discontent of the science 

 teacher in the schools with the text- 

 books in botany is calling out a con- 

 stant stream of elementary texts, the 

 latest of which is by Prof. L. H. Bailey 

 (The Macmillan Company). The subject 

 is taken up in three main sections, deal- 

 ing with the general anatomy, growth 

 and reproduction, relations to environ- 

 ment and minute structure. Much use- 

 ful horticultural practise is brought be- 

 fore the young student, but the text is 

 decidedly sketchy in many places, and 

 the book can hardly be said to place 

 proper stress upon exact morphology, 

 although with all Professor Bailey's 

 books it will prove interesting reading 

 to the beginner in botany. In the mat- 

 ter of introducing incidental and imma- 

 terial illustrations, much might be said 

 in the way of adverse criticism. 



TRAVEL AND EXPLORATION. 



The Ascent of Mt. St. Elias by 

 H. R. H. Luigi, Duke of the Abruzzi, a 

 work published by the Stokes Company, 

 of New York, records the accomplish- 

 ment of a feat in mountain climbing 

 which is well worth the handsome and 

 profusely illustrated volume brought 

 out in March last year. As a book, it 

 is almost a masterpiece of the book- 

 maker's art. The appendices are the 

 most valuable portion of the book, and 

 future travelers in such regions will do 



