SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



277 



their study by transmitted light. There are 

 three cuttings from each species, transverse, 

 radial, and tangential to the grain. An ac- 

 companying text gives a condensed descrip- 

 tion of each tree, including its physical prop- 

 erties, uses, and habitat. These descriptions 

 are preceded by a useful introduction to the 

 study of general botany, describing the meth- 

 ods of distinguishing and naming the various 

 parts of plants and trees, and giving an ac- 

 count of their structure and methods of 

 growth. The actual wood sections, quite 

 apart from their scientific value, are worthy 

 of attention because of their great beauty. 

 They are substantially mounted on black 

 cardboard, each card containing the three 

 sections of a species, and its common name 

 in English, French, German, and Spanish. 

 The thinness of the cuttings makes it possible 

 to use them as transparencies, thus bringing 

 out the texture of the wood in a very effect- 

 ive way. 



Prof. Charles Reid Barnes is impressed 

 with the fact that while laboratory work has 

 become nearly universal in botany, and labo- 

 ratory manuals are numerous, there is still a 

 lack of books giving an elementary account of 

 the form and functions of plants of all groups. 

 To supply this want he offers Plant Life * 

 as an attempt to exhibit the variety and pro- 

 gressive complexity of the vegetative body ; 

 to discuss the more important functions ; to 

 explain the unity of plan in both the struc- 

 ture and action of the reproductive organs ; 

 and to give an outline of the more striking 

 ways in which plants adapt themselves to 

 the world about them. He has made the 

 effort to treat these subjects so that, how- 

 ever much the student may still have to 

 learn, he will have little to unlearn. The 

 book is not intended to be memorized and 

 recited, but to be intelligible to pupils from 

 thirteen to eighteen years of age who are 

 engaged in genuine laboratory study under 

 the direction " of a live teacher who has 

 studied far more botany than he is trying to 

 teach." It is adapted to use supplementarily 

 to any laboratory guide or to the directions 

 prepared by the teacher. The directions 



* Plant Life considered with Special Refer- 

 ence to Form and Function. By Charles Reid 

 Barnes. New York : Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 

 428. Price, $1.12. 



are made fullest in relation to cryptogams 

 and physiology, because these fields are 

 at present most unfamiliar to teachers. 



Attaching great importance to Electro- 

 Dynamics^ which he thinks will in the near 

 future assume the same relation to the elec- 

 tric motor that the science of thermo-dy- 

 namics already bears to the steam engine, 

 Mr. Charles Ashley Cams- Wilson aims in the 

 book of that name * to apply the principles 

 of that science to the direct-current motor. 

 Writing for electrical engineers particularly, 

 he takes for granted a certain acquaintance 

 with the use and design of motors, but 

 avoids unexplained technicalities as far as 

 possible. He has not deemed it necessary 

 to deal with self-induction, except in con- 

 nection with the question of sparking. The 

 numerical accuracy attempted has been 

 limited to that attainable with an ordinary 

 ten-inch slide rule, on which all the exam- 

 ples have been worked out. Importance is 

 attached to the graphic method of solution. 



Of Dr. Frank Overtoil's three books on 

 Applied Physiology >,\ the first or primary 

 grade follows a natural order of treatment, 

 presenting in each subject elementary ana- 

 tomical facts in a manner that impresses 

 function rather than form, and from the 

 form described derives the function. The 

 facts and principles are then 'applied to 

 everyday life. The intermediate grade, be- 

 sides being an introduction to the study of 

 anatomy and physiology, is intended to be a 

 complete elementary book in itself, giving a 

 clear picture of how each organ of the body 

 performs its work. The advanced grade 

 book was suggested by a series of popular 

 lectures in which the author presented the 

 essential principles of physiology about 

 which a physician is consulted daily. His 

 explanations of many common facts were 

 "novel to his auditors, and it was found that 

 the school books were silent upon many of 

 these points, especially with regard to the 

 cells. Throughout the series the fact that 



* Electro-Dynamics. The Direct-Current Mo- 

 tor. By Charles Ashley Carus-Wilson. New 

 York : Longmans, Green & Co. Pp. 298. 



t Applied Physiology. Including the Effects 

 of Alcohol and Narcotics. By Frank Overton, 

 M. D. Primary Grade. Pp. 128. Intermediate 

 Grade. Pp. 188. Advanced Grade. Pp. 432. 

 American Book Company. 



