THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



249 



lead the student on to deeper examina- 

 tion and more scientific methods. Refer- 

 ence has already been made to the illus- 

 tration of the minuter structures beside 

 the general illustrations. Even more 

 important are the keys to the groups, so 

 freely furnished as to form a complete 

 system. No one, having learned to use 

 botanical language, would of course think 

 of consulting the cuts until the possibili- 

 ties of the text — that of the keys, at least 

 — had been exhausted. Those others, 

 who may at first resort to the pictures, 

 will, doubtless, quickly learn that time is 

 usually saved by a different course, and 

 a study of botanical terminology intro- 

 ductory to the use of the keys will almost 

 surely follow. If there be some to whom 

 this statement does not apply, the defect 

 may be regarded as natural, and dis- 

 played in spite, rather than because, of 

 the character of the book. 



Keys, if not usually artificial, are 

 pretty likely to accomplish their purpose 

 the better in proportion as they are so. 

 There is, however, in the keys of this 

 flora an evident design of combining the 

 advantages of a scientific relation and an 

 artificial characterization, an attempt in 

 which there is no end of room for the 

 exercise of ingenuity. The result is that 

 in most of them we note a combination 

 ot obvious " ear-marks " with more com- 

 plex character. 



It is needless to say that the rules of 

 nomenclature followed are those which 

 have been oflScially adopted by American 

 botanists and which are evidently in the 

 near future to dominate botanical writ- 

 ings abroad as well as in America. The 

 code is printed and briefly explained in 

 the introduction. In a foot-note refer- 

 erence is made to the principal American 

 contributions to the subject of nomencla- 

 ture. The authors would here have done 

 well to include one by the writer, who 

 has labored diligently in the interest of 



this movement, especially in medical and 

 pharmaceutical circles. It appeared in 

 the Bulletin of Pharmacy, and set forth 

 clearly and fully the history ol the move- 

 ment in this country. The importance 

 of applying some system in the applica- 

 tion of family names is urged, but its in- 

 troduction, in advance of full discussion 

 and official adoption, is wisely omitted. 



The forms of type, use of capitals and 

 symbols and rules of pronunciation are 

 also here briefly explained. 



Throughout the book the accent is in- 

 dicated in botanical names, specific as 

 well as others. 



Much care has been devoted to the 

 selections of the common names, which 

 have also been printed in a separate in- 

 dex. It is hardly to be hoped that a high 

 degree of satisfaction will be given in this 

 direction. Those whose botanical work 

 brings them into especial communication 

 with those who speak of plants by their 

 common names learn to be quite hopeless 

 about satisfying local ideas (and this the 

 authors have not attempted), except by 

 devoting to synonyms an amount of 

 space quite out of the question in such a 

 work. The propriety of excluding a 

 common name of general acceptance be- 

 cause it is misleading as to relationship, 

 as, for example, "Dog's-tooth Violet," 

 may well be questioned. Common names 

 are common property, and where the ad- 

 visability of having them disturbed on 

 scientific grounds has been oflBicially con- 

 sidered, as, for example, by the National 

 Bureau on Geographical Names, it has 

 been decided indefensible, and on the 

 other hand, when this is done by such a 

 work as the Illustrated Flora, it serves 

 the very useful purpose of reminding 

 those who use those names that they are 

 opposed to scientific authority, sufficient 

 in many cases to lead to their disuse. 



In the index to the botanical names 

 the admirable system is followed of in- 

 dexing the species as well as the genera 

 and families. 



The closing thought, that the two re- 

 maining volumes require only printing 

 and binding, is by no means the least 

 pleasing with which we regard the pres- 

 ent occasion. 



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