16 ERYTHEA. 



REVIEWS AND CRITICISMS. 



Elementary Botany. By George F. Atkinson (New York, Henry- 

 Holt & Co. ). 



The author of the little book before us has evidently had it in 

 mind to make a "judicious selection of a few forms to illustrate 

 function, process, and relationship tliroughout the wide range of 

 plant life" and to train "in logical methods of induction, and 

 accuracy of drawing conclusions" from the data presented. In 

 many ways he has made a fair beginning towards attaining his 

 object. He begins his course of study by selecting Spirogyru, for 

 the purpose of teaching the pupil how to arrive, logically, at the 

 conclusion that a certain definite portion of the Spirogyra-cell is 

 protoplasm. Protoplasm continues to be the subject of investiga- 

 tion for some pages, when the matters of absorption, diffusion, and 

 osmose are taken up and their nature demonstrated experimentally. 

 This simply forms an introduction to the study of the processes of 

 nutrition, growth, and irritability in general, and this, in turn, is 

 followed by a somewhat detailed study of the morphology and life 

 history of a number of representative plants. The lower plants 

 are treated somewhat briefly, especially the Brown and Red Algse; 

 the very inadequate treatnieiit of the latter, indeed, is especially to 

 be noted. The treatment of the Fungi is at least more balanced and 

 intelligible than that of the Algie, but even this group hardly has its 

 proper attention. In decided contrast are the groups from the 

 Liverworts up ; these plants are fairly well treated and the infor- 

 mation given concerning them is excellent and quite up to date. 



After the physiology and morphology, tliere comes a series of 

 lessons on plant families devoted, as is highly proper, entirely to the 

 Flowering Plants. Lastly comes Plant Ecology, a part of the book 

 which is by far the most interesting of all. It, as well as the chap- 

 ters devoted to physiology, breathes a spirit of the subject treated 

 of, which is much more than can be said of almost any other text- 

 book written of late years. Most text- books treat of these subjects 

 as of so many facts to be classified, so manj' facts of physics or of 

 chemistry, but the particular significance in the case of the plant is 

 lost sight of altogether. In Professor Atkinson's account one feels 



