BOOKS AND WRITERS 



We cannot call to mind a State University that is 

 doing more for the general public than is the Ohio State 

 University. For a long time there has come to us at fre- 

 quent intervals a variety of publications on different phases 

 of nature that must be exceedingly helpful to residents 

 of the State — as they certainly are to those in the States 

 adjacent. The latest in the list bears the title "The Grasses 

 of Ohio" by Professor John H. Schaffner. This is appar- 

 ently part of a more extended work on the flora of the 

 State and is very well done with the exception of the local 

 brand of nomenclature used. There are modern keys to 

 both the genera and species and good descriptions of all 

 the grasses known to inhabit the State. The reviewer 

 would be glad to have a work of similar nature for his 

 own part of the world. 



The first number of the Chicago School Journal, which 

 is to be devoted principally to the schools of Chicago, has 

 appeared. It is published at 5828 Sawyer Avenue, Chi- 

 cago. It is apparently to be issued monthly and costs 

 $2.50 a year. The first number of 48 pages is largely taken 

 up with the first installment of an "educational novel." 



After working for more than twenty years with the 

 green algae, and allied plants, Prof. G. S. West of the 

 University of Birmingham, England, has issued a volume 

 on "Algae" which forms the first of a series of advanced 

 texts to be known as Cambridge Botanical Handbooks. 

 Other volumes on lichens, fungi, and gnetales are ex- 

 pected to appear soon. The present volume is an exten- 

 sion of the author's 'Treatise on British Freshwater 

 Algae" published some time ago and now out of print. 

 It treats of the plants commonly known as the blue-green 



