NOTICES OF BOOKS. xxxm 



botanists generally have begun to wake up to the importance of the 

 subject, but there has been no suitable book to put into the hands of 

 students, and even the teachers have scarcely known what to teach. 

 It is probable that the same want has also been experienced on the 

 geological side. 



By far the best general hand-book has hitherto been Count Solms- 

 Laubach's Fossil Botany, translated into English for the Clarendon Press, 

 a work which remains indispensable for the advanced student, but which 

 is scarcely suited to rouse the interest of a beginner, and now much 

 needs bringing up to date. 



Mr. Seward's book — judging from the first volume — will fill up this 

 gap in scientific literature in a most satisfactory way. He has had a 

 good opportunity and has known how to make use of it. The manual 

 is interesting, accurate and critical ; the last quality, above all, is es- 

 sential to any useful treatment of Fossil Botany. It is safe to say that 

 a large part of the contents of this volume will be absolutely new to all 

 except the few who have kept up with the special literature of Fossil 

 Plants. Apart from the particular subject, the appearance of a thoroughly 

 good and original English text-book on an important branch of botanical 

 science is in itself a matter for congratulation. 



The present volume includes a general introduction, occupying six 

 chapters, and the first instalment of the special systematic work, em- 

 bracing the Thallophyta, Bryophyta and two divisions of Pteridophyta. 



The first chapter of the general portion is devoted to a short history 

 of Fossil Botany, interesting enough to make one wish it longer. The 

 author is sympathetic and appreciative in his treatment of the older 

 writers, but shrewd as their judgment often was we cannot help feeling 

 that scientific Fossil Botany really sprang into existence with the 

 advent of the great Brongniart. 



A useful chapter follows on the relation of Paleobotany to Botany 

 and Geology. It is to be wished that the caution conveyed in the 

 following words were more generally observed : " In working out any 

 collection of fossil plants, it would be well, therefore, to bear in mind 

 that our aim should be rather to reproduce an accurate fragment of 

 botanical history than to perform feats of determination with hopelessly 

 inadequate specimens. Had this principle been generally followed the 

 number of fossil plant species would be enormously reduced, but the 

 value of the records would be considerably raised " (p. 16). 



The third chapter is on geological history. A manual of fossil 

 plants cannot be expected to teach Geology ; but the summary given 

 here, with its useful tables of strata, will be of much service to the 

 botanical student. The account of the divisions of the all-important 

 Carboniferous Formation, and of their distribution, strikes us as 

 particularly good. 



The general chapters are provided with mottoes — apt and some- 

 times amusing, especially the quotation from Pope which precedes 

 chapter iv., on the preservation of plants as fossils : — 



E 



