THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



183 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



BOTANY. 

 A notable book on modern botany 

 has been prepared by Professor Camp- 

 bell under the title of 'A University 

 Text-book of Botany ' (Macmillan) 

 which fairly outlines the essentials of 

 the science as understood to-day. Un- 

 like many text-books it is a well-bal- 

 anced presentation of the whole subject, 

 and not a setting forth of some tran- 

 sient fad which the author may have 

 taken up recently. Professor Campbell 

 has succeeded in giving in the compass 

 of a book of moderate size a good view 

 of modern botany. His is not a radical 

 view, but rather a conservative one, and 

 his book indicates a distinct tendency 

 away from the extreme position as- 

 sumed by some American botanists in 

 recent years. Instead of page after 

 page of fine ' half tone ' pictures of 

 landscapes showing plants under all 

 kinds of conditions, we have here a 

 solid treatise in which the various parts 

 of the subject are taken up in the order 

 which has commended itself to the 

 author as a teacher of many years' ex- 

 perience. After an introductory chap- 

 ter, the author follows the usual 

 sequence, viz., general morphology, 

 cytology and histology, and then the 

 special morphology, cytology and his- 

 tology of the principal groups of plants, 

 beginning with the lowest and passing 



from these by successive steps to the 

 highest. This is the principal part of 

 the book, occupying as it does fully 

 four fifths of the pages. After this 

 come several chapters on physiology, re- 

 lation to environment, and geological 

 and geographical distribution. Modern 

 botany, as interpreted by Professor 

 Campbell, is largely and quite emphat- 

 ically structural. Physiology and ecol- 

 ogy are distinctly subordinated to 

 structure, as indeed they must be in 

 any scheme of scientific instruction. 

 Here as in mechanics, it is essential 

 that the mechanism be clearly under- 

 stood before the working of the ma- 

 chine can be critically studied. It will 

 not do to study mechanism alone; there 

 must be a study of the activities as 

 well. We must see the machine in 

 operation, but merely to ' see the wheels 

 go round ' gives little accurate knowl- 

 edge, however diverting it may be to 

 the participants in the entertainment. 

 Modern botany is not a diversion; 

 it is a science, and must be 

 seriously studied. It requires hard 

 work, and it is not wise to attempt to 

 eliminate the serious parts, leaving 

 only the easy and entertaining portions. 

 The training in botany is and always 

 should be as severe as that required 

 of students doing work in other sci- 

 ences. 



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