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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Transpiration and the Ascent of Sap In 

 Plants. By Henry H. Dixon,. Sc. D., 



F. R. S., New York City; Macmillian and 



Company. 

 Here is a thorough discussion of a long- 

 standing problem. Attempts many and 

 great have been made to solve it. The ques- 

 tion has been tossed back and forth like a 

 football between those who assign the ascent 

 of sap to vitality and those who have tried to 

 explain it as purely physical and mechanical. 

 This volume gives a physical explanation of 

 the rise of water in trees. Not every one will 

 agree with the author's conclusions but all 

 readers will admire and enjoy the manner in 

 which he conducts the discussion. 



The Amateur Garden. By George W. Cable. 

 Xew York City : Charles Scribner's Sons. 



"That gardening is best which best 



ministers to man's felicity with least disturb- 

 ance of nature's freedom." The quotation 

 is worth making and remembering. It is from 

 the book, and is the epitome of the author's 

 teaching. Mr. Cable's lifelong habit of story 

 telling has evidently influenced him in the 

 writing of this book. "For such a garden is 

 itself a story, one which actually and naturally 

 occurs," he says, "yet occurs under its master's 

 guidance and control and with artistic effect." 

 The story is well told and is worth telling. 

 The book is well illustrated. All cannot have 

 a home as magnificent as some that are here 

 pictured, but all may profitably cultivate a 

 love of plants similar to Mr. Cable's. 



The Evolution of Sex in Plants. By John 



Merle Coulter. Chicago, Illinois: The 

 University of Chicago Press. 



To read any book by Professor Coulter is 

 a delight. His work is not only interesting 

 but the reader feels that it is authoritative. 

 In this, his latest book, he brings to bear 

 upon the discussion of the evolution in sex, 

 careful consideration of a sexual reproduction, 

 a thought that is worth careful consideration. 

 He says : 



"The significance of sex, therefore, is not 

 to secure reproduction, but to secure something 

 in connection with reproduction that the other 

 methods do not. It is necessary to keep this 

 fact in mind in considering the origin and real 

 functions of sex. Our conceptions of sex 

 have largely been determined by its place in 

 the life histories of the higher animals, in 

 which it has become the only method of re- 

 production. It is difficult, therefore, to think 

 of it as having any function apart from re- 

 production ; but among plants the sexual 

 method has never become the only method of 

 reproduction." 



The Song of the Fifty Stars. By Arthur A. 

 Carey. Hillside Waltham, Massachusetts : 

 The Crow's Nest Observatory. 

 This is a dainty poem published by the 

 author, a Member of The Agassiz Association, 

 for private circulation. It is possible for our 

 astronomical readers to obtain a copy. Mr. 

 Carey is not only an enthusiastic student of 

 "The Grandest of Sciences," but a maker of 

 verses as well. But is not nearly every na- 

 turalist more or less of a poet? 



Optic Projection. By Simon Henry Gage 

 Ithaca, New York : Comstock Publishing 

 Company. 



Here is the book that every lover of optical 

 projection has long desired. There are avail- 

 able a few special books on the subject but 

 they are for the most part, too limited in scope 

 or else out of date. This book, is as one 

 might suppose, a masterpiece of clear, con- 

 cise directions and explanations. Professor 

 Gage is well known to our readers as the 

 author of an important handbook of direc- 

 tions for the use of the microscope. His 

 knowledge of optics has been acquired 

 through his genuine love of the art. Fie has 

 the enthusiasm of an amateur with the skill 

 and training of the professional worker that 

 he is. His purpose in writing this hook 

 is as be states, "To explain the under- 

 bills principles on which the art depends, and 

 to give such simple and explicit directions that 

 any intelligent person can succeed in all the 

 fields of projection; and our hope is that the 

 book will serve to make more general this 

 graphic art by means of which many persons 

 can be annealerl to at the same time and in the 

 most striking manner. Furthermore we believe 

 that this art has great,, undeveloped possibilities 

 for giving pleasure, arousing interest and kind- 

 ling enthusiasm, in that it provides for the 

 rapid demonstration of maps, diagrams and 

 pictures of all kinds, the structure and de- 

 velopment of animals and plants, many ol 

 the actual phenomena of physics and chem- 

 istry and finally scenes from nature and 

 from life even with their natural motions 

 and colors." 



The work contains interesting and attrac- 

 tively illustrated chapters on direct currents, 

 alternating currents, house lighting systems, 

 and various kinds of illuminants. It also 

 how to prepare lantern slides, project opaque 

 objects, use the projection microscope, moving 

 apparatus, with hundreds of other topic*. 

 They are all well and thoroughly treated. A 

 useful feature is the two-column summary 

 at the end of each chapter. The first column 

 is "Do," the second is "Do Not." 



With such explicit directions it seems as if 

 even a novice could not go astray. 



