6 9 6 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



dissociation in solution and ionisation. The description of the halogen family 

 usually affords a favourable opportunity for introducing the periodic classification, 

 but this important generalisation is not mentioned until selenium and tellurium are 

 reached on p. 271. The quantitative consideration of ionic equilibrium might 

 well have formed the conclusion of the section on ionic substances and their 

 interactions, instead of being introduced into the chapter on sodium and lithium. 



The treatment of each separate section leaves nothing to be desired, the 

 fundamental principles in particular being presented and illustrated unconven- 

 tionally, but with thoroughness and lucidity. Finally, the student's interest cannot 

 fail to be stimulated by the searching questions which are asked at the end of 

 nearly every chapter. 



G. T. Morgan. 



A Plant Book for Schools. By Otto V. Darbishire, B.A. (Oxon.), Ph.D. 

 (Kiel). [Pp. vi. -f- 164, with 115 illustrations, mostly from photographs.] 

 (London : Adam & Charles Black. 2s. 6d.) 



There can be nothing but praise for this little book. It has been designed as an 

 easy introduction to the study of plant life for the use of young children, the author 

 having especially before his mind the case of those children who are being taught 

 at home by their parents. The well-chosen subject-matter and the direct, often 

 quaint, simplicity of language have resulted in the production of a book which should 

 awaken in the minds of young readers a very real and sustained interest in the 

 plant world around them : and it may be safely said that the book is one which all 

 those who are entrusted with the teaching of young people might read and mark 

 with much advantage to themselves and to their charges. 



The first four chapters serve as a general introduction. They deal with the 

 different members of the plant body, and present to the mind o." the student r. con- 

 ception of the plant as a living organism actively engaged in the performance of 

 vital functions. The subsequent chapters are essentially an elaboration of the 

 introduction together with a broad survey of the principal divisions of the vegetable 

 kingdom. The author boldly — and, we think, successfully — introduces to his young 

 readers, in their very First Book, a fern, a moss, an alga, and a fungus, in addition 

 to flowering plants ; even the fossils are not neglected. 



The method of teaching advocated by the author is one which now finds almost 

 universal acceptance, viz. one in which insistence is made upon the necessity for 

 each student having, actually in his hands, living specimens of the plants under 

 discussion. This, indeed, has been made the feature of the book under notice. 

 The volume is, strictly speaking, a simple text-book ; but it is one in the use of 

 which the student is expected to verify, by comparison with actual specimens, or 

 by direct experiment, practically every statement made in it. In other words, the 

 author has presented a course of study in which there is no distinction drawn 

 between all that is conveyed in the formal terms of "lecture" and "practical 

 work." 



The concluding chapter contains information of a practical character with 

 regard to the obtaining of specimens, the provision of apparatus and the making 

 of botanical collections. The remarks should prove useful to teachers and parents, 

 but it is curious to learn that, for the purpose of drying plants, " blotting-paper is 

 useless." The material is not perfect, but, surely, countless thousands of herbarium 

 specimens bear silent testimony against the author. 



S. E. Chandler. 



