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NOTICES OF RECENT BOOKS. 



A Glossary of Botanic Terms. ''By B. Daydon Jackson, pp. xi 

 + 327. London, 1900 : Duckworth & Co. Price 6s. net. 



This admirable work arrives at a very opportune moment. 

 The enormous progress made in every department of scientific 

 botany during the last quarter of a century has necessarily led to 

 the invention and introduction of a host of new terms, and to hunt 

 many of these down through the mass of scattered literature has- 

 often been an irritating and time-wasting pursuit. In this 

 country, at least, there has hardly been any modern effort made 

 to cope with the ever-increasing terminology ; Cooke's *' Manual of 

 Botanic Terms " is, of course, now quite out of date, and Stor- 

 month's <* Manual of Scientific Terms," 2nd edit., 1885, is prac- 

 tically our most recent list up to the present compilation,, 

 although brief indices have appeared from time to time in 

 scientific periodicals. 



Some idea of the magnitude of Mr. Jackson's task may be- 

 gathered from the fact that the Glossary includes some 15,000 

 numbers, or practically three times as many as any previous work 

 of the kind in the English language, and the labour alone involved 

 in collecting and checking such a total must have been immense.. 

 The derivation and pronunciation are given, and this will be a 

 boon to many ; but naturally the definitions form the most import- 

 ant feature, and here the chief difficulty lies in the condensation. 

 This is imperative if such a work is not to become unwieldy, and 

 yet, if not most carefully done and deliberately and repeatedly 

 revised, it is more apt to cause confusion than clearness. After^ 

 some comparison and practical use the conclusion is reached that, 

 although the brevity is apparent, the chief value of the book has. 

 n ot been to any extent impaired. That there are no omissions 

 we are not prepared to say; indeed, as twenty-four pages were 



