BOOK REVIEWS 347 



due to this trait; and under his administration the Commission 

 did a great deal of exceedingly valuable scientific work. It is 

 impossible in a paragraph to review a book of this sort. All that 

 can be done is to indicate its great interest and express an apprecia- 

 tion of the valuable contribution that it makes to the history of 

 American Science. 



Introduction to Botany. Bergen & Caldwell. Pp. vii 4- 368. 

 Ginn & Co. Without Key, $1.15, with key, $1.40. 

 This is an attempt to write a book on botany from the stand- 

 point of the student's interest, rather than from the standpoint of 

 the systematist and specialist. That the attempt has been 

 measurably successful is evident from the fact that it has been so 

 widely adopted. xAiter the introductory chapter, there is a chapter 

 on the plant as a working machine ; and in the succeeding chapters 

 three to seven, this discussion is continued in some detail, taking 

 up in succession roots, plant food, the stem and the leaf, and the 

 special functions of the former. Chapter eight is devoted to 

 forestry; chapter 12 to plant breeding; chapter 14 to bacteria; 

 all of chapter 1 6 to fungi and funguous diseases of plants ; chapter 

 19 to plant industries and chapter 20 to weeds. The remaining 

 chapters are devoted to the more customary topics treated in the 

 usual botany. The book is published either with or without the 

 Key and Flora. All of the illustrations in the book are new, most 

 of them being photographs of drawings made particularly for this 

 volume. 



First Year of Science. John C. Hessler. Pp. xiii + 484. Ben- 

 jamin H. Sanborn & Co. With Laboratory Manual, $1.45. 

 Without Laboratory Manual, $1.25. 

 First year science is still in the experimental stage, and it is well 

 to have a variety of texts that we may try them out and see which 

 is best adapted to the situation. This book is apparently a com- 

 bination of several brief treatises including the more important 

 topics of physics and chemistry, a single chapter on rocks and soil, 

 another on plants, another on animals, three on physiology, and 

 one on sanitation. Turning to the chapter on animals, the topics 

 treated are practically those of a brief systematic zoology. It is 

 difficult to see why it should be taken for granted that the first 

 year high school pupil is interested in the structure of hydra, 



