THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



i8r 



NEW LITERATURE. 



Dictionaire Latin - (Grec) - Francais-Anglais- 

 Allemand-Hollandais, des Principaux Termes 

 Employes en Botanique et en Horticulture, par 

 A. M. C. Jongkindt Coninck, Horticulteur, a 

 Bussurn, pres d' Amsterdam (Pays Bas. ) Haar- 

 lem, de Erven Loosjes. 



No one actively engaged in following current 

 botanical literature will pass the above title 

 without attention, and nearly every one will at 

 once desire to possess a reference book, the 

 want of which has been a hundred times ex- 

 perienced ; but an inspection of the book will 

 at once bring disappointment. Not but that 

 the list of terms is ample and apparently well 

 selected, and the equivalents carefully verified ; 

 but their presence in the book is quite useless 

 for any reference purpose because only one-fifth 

 of them are so arranged that they can be found 

 when wanted. The terms representing the five 

 languages are arranged respectively in five ver- 

 tical columns upon each page, but only the first 

 column, that giving the Latin terms, is in alpha- 

 betical sequence. In order therefore to find 

 any term appearing in any of the other four 

 columns it is necessary that one knows its Latin 

 equivalent, which knowledge would in nearly 

 all cases obviate the necessity for search, except 

 when some translation of a special and unusual 

 character was going on. Suppose for example 

 that one is translating from the German — and it 

 is safe to say that such translation would repres- 

 ent one half of the total usefulness of such a 

 book — he would not know where to find the 

 word except by knowing and turning to the 

 Latin equivalent in the first column. But there 

 are very few people who do not know the mean- 

 ings in their own language for Latin botanical 

 titles, while upon the other hand, it is very dif- 

 ficult to find botanical terms given in any dic- 

 tionaries between the German and other lan- 

 guages. It is clear that the alphabetical ar- 

 rangement could not be preserved for all the 

 columns at the same time that their equivalents 

 were indicated, but there are several arrange- 

 ments which could be easily employed to enable 

 us to ascertain any equivalents sought. Al- 

 though any such arrangement would neces- 

 sarily involve extensive reprinting, the labor 

 and expense would be well invested in making 

 an exceedingly useful book out of one which 

 can otherwise have little other mission than to 

 excite hopes which are to be disappointed. 



The Seventh Lieferung of Tschirch and 

 Oesterle's Anatomischer Atlas treats of Cassia 

 and Ceylon Cinnamons, Clove-bark, Canella 



Alba, Taraxacum, Cardamon fruit and Nux 

 Vomica. A separate plate is devoted to each 

 with the exception of the second, third and 

 fourth, a single plate sufficing for these three. 



'J'hc Annual Report of the Royal Gardens of 

 Trinidad for the Year 1894. By J. H. Hart, F. 

 L S., CM. P. S., F. M. S. L- Superintendent. 

 — This document is a quarto of 23 pages, and 

 contains a considerable amount of interesting 

 nformation. Attention is called to the meteoro- 

 logical records which are regularly made, and 

 which include not only the amount of rain-fall, 

 temperature and similar details, but everything 

 which can give practical information as to the 

 general conditions affecting plant growth. The 

 rain-fall is compiled from observations taken at 

 104 stations on the island. 



800 specimens of plants have been collected 

 and dispatched to Kew for identification during 

 the year. The herbarium connected with the 

 garden, although still far from complete, is said 

 to give an excellent idea of the flora of the is- 

 land. One of the interesting determinations of 

 the year has been the possibility of growing the 

 gladiolus in perfection in that climate, a fact 

 which was not before suspected. A list is 

 printed of 103 species of orchids which flowered 

 in the garden during the past year. 401 visitors 

 were registered during the year. A large num- 

 ber of seeds and plants have been distributed, 

 and notable progress has been made in the in- 

 troduction of useful plants to cultivation by the 

 agriculturists upon the island. The most im- 

 portant advances have been made in the culti- 

 vation of the nutmeg and the castilloa. 



The Bulletin, issued quarterly, has contained 

 during the year 56 articles on practical agri- 

 cultural questions, and it is said to be highly 

 appreciated by planters. 



Important progress also is reported in the cul- 

 tivation of cacao, coffee, yams, gambir, vanilla, 

 the Brazil nut and the cola. 



An English patent has been taken out for ob- 

 taining both acetic and oxalic acids at one 

 process. Wood or dried moss is first impreg- 

 nated with caustic alkali and then steam mixed 

 with air is blown over it. At low temperatures 

 acetic acid is formed while at 300°C. or above, 

 oxalic acid is evolved. 



The quantity of each may be regulated at 

 will, and depends on the temperature and pro- 

 portion of aii . The pulp remaining after the 

 process is used in paper making. 



