190 . THE PLANT WOKLD 



finally acquired by us, and its publication discontinued ; that six 

 months afterwards The Ameiican Botanist was started ; and that in a 

 year after this, the editor of the Botanist founded the American Botan- 

 ical Club. In the circular of information sent out by the latter occurs 

 this statement ; " The Club has no ' official organ ', though everything of 

 interest in members' reports, as well as news of the Club, icill he pub- 

 lished in the Ameidcan Botanist " (italics ours). These facts are both 

 entertaining and conclusive, and we leave our readers to draw their own 

 deductions. 



Book Reviews. 



International Catalogue of Scientific Literature. First Annual 

 Issue. Botany. Part I, London, May, 1902. Price, 21 shillings. 



By the courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution The Plant World 

 has received for review a copy of the first annual volume on botany of 

 the "International Catalogue of Scientific Literature." The workers in 

 the field of science have become so numerous, and the places of publi- 

 cation so widely scattered in recent years, that it is no longer possible 

 for the individual student to keep up with his subject without aid of 

 some kind. Several scientific societies have attempted to furnish this 

 aid, but the subject has long since grown beyond the possibilities of 

 any one of these, and it has for some time been apparent that it could 

 only be handled by international cooperation. Agitation for this inter- 

 national plan of work was begun nearly fifty years ago, but only took 

 concrete form about 1893, Many conferences were held by representa- 

 tives from the various countries, and finally the plan was formulated 

 which has resulted in the volume before us, which represents but one 

 of the seventeen subjects to be similarly handled. 



Botanists have waited long and anxiously for the appearance of 

 this volume, and as it sets the pace for all others it will be well to ex- 

 amine it with some care. It is supposed to contain a reference to every 

 botanical article published anywhere in the world during each calendar 

 year. Five languages only are to be used in this catalogue (Latin, 

 English, German, French and Italian), and if an article is written in a 

 language other than these, the reference is to be translated into Eng- 

 lish. A very elaborate classification of subjects has been adopted, em- 

 bracing nearly one hundred and fifty topics. First is a complete 

 authors' catalogue, after which follows the classification by topics. 

 Theoretically^ this should furnish a very complete and useful compen- 



