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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



With the rapid development of the science 

 successive editions appeared, each for tlic 

 most part rewritten, the fifth edition com- 

 ing out in 1857. But botanical science at 

 length outgrew the possibility of dealing 

 with it in any adequate way iu a single vol- 

 ume. This led to the necessity of completer 

 treatment in several connected works. Pro- 

 fessor Gray says in his preface : " To secure 

 the requisite fullness of treatment of the 

 whole range of subjects it has been decided 

 to divide the work into distinct volumes, 

 each a treatise by itself, which may be in- 

 dependently used, while the whole will com- 

 pose a comprehensive botanical course." 



The first volume of this series was writ- 

 ten by Professor Gray, and entitled " The 

 Structural and Morphological Botany of 

 Phanerogamous Plants." It deals chiefly 

 with organography, or the account of the 

 structures and forms of the organs of plants, 

 and, as the author remarks, " should thor- 

 oughly equip a botanist for the scientific 

 prosecution of systematic botany, and fur- 

 nish needful preparation to those who pro- 

 ceed to the study of vegetable physiology 

 and anatomy, and to the wide and varied 

 departments of cryptogamic botany " which 

 are to be dealt with in the subsequent vol- 

 umes of the series. 



The second volume of this work upon 

 " Physiological Botany " (vegetable histolo- 

 gy and physiology), the treatise now before 

 us, was written by Professor Goodalc, the 

 colleague of Professor Gray, and Professor 

 of Botany in Harvard University, and is 

 " devoted to a consideration of the micro- 

 scopic structure, the development, and the 

 functions of flowering plants ; that is, to 

 their vegetable histology, organogeny, and 

 physiology." The volume is divided into 

 two parts, the first taking up and pursuing 

 with great thoroughness the subject of his- 

 tology, or the minute microscopical struct- 

 ure and elements of plants. An introduc- 

 tion is devoted to " Histological Appli- 

 ances," or the instruments of the botanical 

 investigator — such as microscopes, dissect- 

 ing implements, reagents, etc. Cells and 

 tissues, in their structures, contents, compo- 

 sitions, and modifications, are then taken 

 up in a general way, to be followed by the 

 minute structure and development of root, 

 stem, and leaf, flower, fruit, and seed. Ele- 



mentary structures being mastered, the pu- 

 pil then proceeds, in Part II, to the investi- 

 gation of their functions, or physiological 

 botany projjcr. Physiology considers the 

 plant in action, the changes occurring in its 

 luultitudinous parts, the constituents in- 

 volved, the products generated, the interac- 

 tions of the vegetable organism with soil 

 and air, the movements of plants, vegetable 

 growth, germination, and reproduction. 



"What chiefly strikes us, in looking over 

 this interesting volume, is the immense ad- 

 vance that has been made in late years in 

 the elucidation of the laws of the inter- 

 nal vegetable economy. There has been a 

 large increase in the resources of investi- 

 gation, the skillful experience with which it 

 is conducted, and a great amount of new 

 light has been thrown upon the obscure and 

 subtile processes of vegetable organisms. 

 Vegetable physiology has been brought far 

 more completely within the grasp of the 

 experimental method than would have been 

 thought possible thirty years ago. It has 

 become laboratory-work, as established and 

 necessary as in the case of chemistry or 

 physics. It follows from this that to the 

 thorough study of physiological botany not 

 only microscopical observation but manipu- 

 latory exercises of various kinds are quite 

 indispensable. It was formerly supposed 

 that the physiology of plants was a sub- 

 ject to be mainly read about, and the knowl- 

 edge of it derived from books, without 

 much possibility of a direct and real ac- 

 quaintance with the facts, but that view 

 must now be abandoned. We observe with 

 interest and great satisfaction that Professor 

 Goodalc has been fully alive to the educa- 

 tional implications of this circumstance, and 

 has made his volume a working text-book 

 by which the student is enabled and re- 

 quired to make the knowledge of the sub- 

 ject his own. Those who faithfully go 

 through the work will not only acquire a 

 mastery of the facts, and a thorough ac- 

 quaintance with what is known of the pro- 

 cesses of vegetal life, but they will gain a 

 valuable training in the conditions of sci- 

 entific method and the difficult and impor- 

 tant art of scientific investigation. 



We can not close this slight and very 

 unsatisfactory notice of a most important 

 book without some cordial recognition of 



