222 THE PIvANT WORLD 



Book Reviews. 



Our Northern Shrubs. By Harriet L. Keeler. New York : Charles 

 Scribner's Sons. Crown 8vo, pp. xxx, 521, with 205 plates from 

 photographs and 35 illustrations from drawings. $2.00 net. 



This book is a companion volume to Miss Keeler's "Our Native 

 Trees," which, as we have heretofore stated in these columns, is the best 

 work of its class. The present volume has been prepared wntli the same 

 care, and the discussions of each species show that the author has more 

 than a passing acquaintance with the various species listed. It is a pleas- 

 ure to note that in her technical descriptions Miss Keeler is thoroughly 

 accurate, and never sacrifices scientific truth to the demands of so-called 

 popular language. Yet the descriptions, with the aid of the glossary, can 

 be understood by any one. 



We regret that the photographic plates are not quite equal to the 

 standard set by those in the companion volume " Our Native Trees." 

 This is the more unfortunate because the photographs themselves are in 

 general excellent, and by the use of a heavy coated paper they would 

 have been much more effective. c. L. p. 



Plant Physiology. By George James Peirce, Ph. D. New York: 

 Henry Holt & Co. 8vo, pp. vi, 291, figs. 22. $2.00. 



As Professor Barnes has pointed out, no student of plant physiology 

 ought to get all his information from one source, and the fact that Pro- 

 fessor Peirce, of Stanford University, has added another to the excellent 

 text-books of plant physiology now in the field will in no way interfere 

 with the wide circulation it deserves to have. The book is based on lec- 

 tures given by the author, and it is obviously intended more as a work 

 for contemporaneous reading and reference rather than as a laboratory 

 manual. All laboratory directions are omitted, and the author states in 

 the preface that the manual and text-book are suited to entirely different 

 needs. 



The work is comprised in seven chapters, the first being devoted to 

 introductory discussion, and the remainder to the following topics : II, 

 Respiration ; III, Nutrition ; IV, Absorption and Movement of Water, 

 Food Distribution ; V, Growth ; VI, Irritability ; VII, Reproduction. In 

 treatment Professor Peirce follows Pfeffer rather closely, to whom he makes 

 ample acknowledgment in the preface. Aside from some minor inac- 

 curacies pointed out by other reviewers, our only adverse criticism would 

 be that the book is somewhat discursive, and that the subject-matter 

 might be more clearly arranged. But this is the natural result of basing 



