7o6 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



feasor of Botany in the University of Vienna,* 

 and have endeavored to speak of it as its 

 merits deserve. The examination of the 

 concluding volume only enhances our appre- 

 ciation of its value, and, we might add, of 

 its interest, for it has real interest, such that 

 the unscientific or even the casual reader may 

 find that it has a story to tell him. The in- 

 troduction to the new parts comprises a brief 

 review of the sources of a history of plants, 

 showing how the description of the external 

 characters of plants as given by Theophras- 

 tu8 and Pliny and the earlier modern writers 

 gradually expanded into the study of the 

 conditions of their growth, reproduction, and 

 dissemination. Then came the discovery of 

 fossil plants, leading to the extension of 

 botany to the study of the ancestral history 

 of existing flora and the derivation and de- 

 velopment of species. This sketch outlines 

 the order of presentation in these two half 

 volumes, which follows the stages of devel- 

 opment of the science. " A history of the en- 

 tire plant world considered as a single great 

 community must be preceded by a history of 

 species. But each species is the sum of num- 

 berless individuals, which are alike in consti- 

 tution and have the same external charac- 

 teristics, and a history of species therefore 

 presupposes a knowledge of the history of the 

 individual. Accordingly, our first business is 

 to describe rejuvenescence, multiplication, 

 and distribution of individuals, and to show 

 by what means a plant, considered as a sep- 

 arate organism, maintains itself, takes pos- 

 session of its habitat and is enabled to keep 

 its hold on that habitat, up to the moment 

 when it is replaced by descendants endowed 

 with a vitality of their own." The discussion 

 of the Genesis of Plant Offspring relates to 

 asexual reproduction by spores and thallidia, 

 and by buds or roots, stems, and leaves ; to 

 reproduction by means of fruits, under 

 which the process from the beginning and 

 the office of the pollen, its protection, the 

 means of its dispersion by wind and by ani- 

 mals, the agencies that attract animals, the 

 crossing of flowers, and autogamy are de- 

 scribed ; and to changes in reproductive 



* The Natural History of Plants. By Dr. An- 

 ton Kerner von Marilaun. Half volumes III and 

 IV. Pp. 983, large 8vo. New York : Henry Holt 

 & Co. Price, $7.50. London : BJackie & Son. 

 Price, 25. net. 



methods, including the replacement of fruits 

 by offshoots, parthenogenesis, and hetero- 

 morphism and alternation of generations. 

 The History of Species follows, comprising 

 the nature, alteration in the form, origin, 

 distribution, and extinction of species. The 

 work is completed by a glossary of fourteen 

 pages, and on index of fifty-nine closely 

 printed pages. 



Nursery Ethics* is an attempt, and a 

 very successful one, to deal with the bi"- 

 people of the nursery, and to outline the 

 moral relations which ought to exist in this 

 little kingdom between the governing pow- 

 ers and the governed. It is a word well and 

 wisely spoken to mothers and to fathers. It 

 is not formal enough to be called a system 

 of morals. It might even be said to lack 

 what Matthew Arnold is said to have lacked 

 " a philosophy with coherent, interdepend- 

 ent, subordinate, and derivative principles " 

 but we find it on this account more effective. 

 Back of the running comment on nursery 

 affairs there lie a consistency and thorough- 

 ness which indicate that Mrs. Winterburn 

 has kept her fundamental ethical axioms 

 well in mind, if not in type, and has done no 

 violence to them. In this respect the little 

 book is eminently philosophic. Its one aim 

 is to secure justice for the little people. It 

 is a modern and improved form of Mrs. Do- 

 asyouwouldbedoneby. Those whose sense of 

 humor has been touched by Anstey and Frank 

 Flockton, or whose sense of justice has been 

 aroused by that too frequent sight, the abuse 

 of parental authority, will readily admit that 

 no rights are so sacred and inviolable as 

 the rights of little children, because none are 

 so absolutely defenseless. Such a crusade 

 might easily tempt one to rhetorical ex- 

 tremes, but Mrs. Winterburn has shown the 

 same self-restraint in dealing with her liter- 

 ary child that she so strongly recommends 

 to other parents in dealing with their chil- 

 dren of flesh and blood. The treatment is 

 full of feeling: it is enriched with deep, 

 womanly sentiment, but it is also calm and 

 clear, and its suggestions have a definite- 

 ness which gives them practical value. 



In considering the attitude of parents 



* Nursery Ethics. By Florence Hull Winter- 

 bum. New York : The Merriam Company. Pp. 

 341, 12mo. Price, %1. 



