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NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Histology of Medicinal Plants. By William Mansfield, 

 A.M., Pliar.D. xii + 305 pages. 9x6 inches. 54 text 

 figures and 127 plates in the text. (New York : John Wiley 

 & Sons. [London : Chapman & Hall.] 1916. Price 

 125. 6d. net.) 



This book is intended to provide a practical scientific course 

 in vegetable histology for the use of teachers and students. 

 Those colleges in which special attention is paid to the botany 

 of medicinal plants and practical work is carried out in the ex- 

 amination and diagnosis of powdered drugs of vegetable origin 

 will find it an admirable example of method. Part I contains 

 details of the microscope and instruction is given in the use 

 of the instrument as well as in the microscopical technique 

 required in the preparation and mounting of the material 

 to be examined. Part II deals with the general histology 

 of tissues, cells and cell contents, and here special atten- 

 tion has been paid to cell-inclusions such as starch grains, 

 aleurone grains and crystals, which are often of great use in 

 the diagnosis of fragmentary material. Part III is devoted to 

 the special histology of roots, rhizomes, stems, barks, woods, 

 flowers, fruits and seeds, the examples figured and described 

 being from plants officinal in the United States. This part is 

 very fully illustrated by 127 plates in the text from drawings 

 made by the author from actual specimens. These drawings, 

 ranging as they do over a very wide series of medicinal plants, 

 give the book a very distinctive character. The author claims 

 that the new classification of plant fibres and hairs which is intro- 

 duced into Part II will clear up much of the confusion that 

 students have experienced when studying these structures. The 

 book is essentially practical, but its use in Great Britain must be 

 limited by the fact that the material illustrated is chiefly drawn 

 from plants rarely coming under the notice of the student of 

 pharmacology. 



