

REVIEWS 689 



accented types of c ? Geographical studies are now encouraging linguistics, and 

 we run considerable risks when reading the excellent maps published in Gotha 

 or Vienna, where German versions of our Philippopolis or Janina stare us in the 

 face. We do not like the author's Anglo-German compromise in her plural 

 " polyen," for the Croatian " polja," or the English " poljes " or " polyes." Let us 

 be content, however, with our new knowledge of where towns and poljes lie, and 

 of the part they have played in the national rivalries of the peninsula. Miss 

 Newbigin more than once suggests that these rivalries have been fostered under 

 Turkish and even Austrian rule, and ignores the bitter history of the region from 

 the fifth to the fifteenth centuries of the so-called Christian era. Her comments 

 on Austrian control in Bosnia are no doubt suited to these troublous times ; but 

 some of the praise accorded to Serbia (p. 211) for her progress "since her libera- 

 tion from Turkish rule " might surely be allowed also to Austrian Bosnia since 

 1878. We can hardly think that the author has experienced the hospitality of an 

 up-country police-post, where the gendarmes were mixed Mohammedans and 

 " orthodox," or has taken her coffee as an unwatched ordinary wayfarer at an 

 outdoor " han " in Hercegovina. The scientific aspects of the book are so 

 admirable that we regret the least intrusion of " Jugoslavic " controversy. Germans 

 are apt to write thus of English ways in India. 



The Edinburgh Geographical Institute provides a truly beautiful orographic 

 map in colours, extending from Rome to Asia Minor. Its restraint in the matter 

 of railways is compensated by a special map on p. 103, which is far more up-to- 

 date than those generally available. Among the many inspiring passages in this 

 most attractive book is the discussion of the Roman roads (p. 90), in which stress 

 is laid on the Via Egnatia from Durazzo, the loss of which is so keenly felt by 

 the western allies at the present day. The unhelped heroism of Serbia at the 

 close of 191 5 has indeed its "geographical aspects," like many another Balkan 

 tragedy. 



Grenville A. J. Cole. 



AGRICULTURE 



Plant Breeding. By L. H. Bailey. New Edition, revised by Arthur W. 

 Gilbert. The Rural Science Series. [Pp. xviii + 474, with 113 illus- 

 trations in the text.] (New York: The Macmillan Co., 191 5. Price 

 Ss. 6d. net.) 



We welcome the appearance of this fifth edition of Bailey's Plant Breeding 

 partly on account of the interest which attaches to the growth of the subject, 

 partly from a friendly feeling to a familiar acquaintance on our shelves, and partly 

 for the wealth of material which it contains. But it is not a book which we would 

 put within reach of the young. Some of us may remember vividly the torments 

 which we suffered in learning chemistry all over again, in the simple reason- 

 ableness of its modern physical treatment, after school-days spent in learning 

 from the old catalogue-textbooks of chemistry. Some such torments are in store 

 for students who study heredity from this volume ; the only foundation which 

 they will lay in their minds for further accumulation of understanding will be 

 a quicksand — to wit " that plants are essentially unstable and plastic, and that 

 variations between the individuals must everywhere be expected," or " that 

 every individual plant is a distinct variety." 



This is a form of agnosticism which seems to come amiss from a country 

 where so much credit and enthusiasm is expended on plant-breeding. We 

 venture to think it is unjustified, especially when it contradicts flatly the whole 

 attitude of the authors in dealing with facts, as apart from their interpretation. 



