198 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



for no apology." There is, indeed, as she says, " a multitude of 

 books about books," very many of which might be described as 

 biblia a non biblia, but a work such as this which she has given 

 us, stamped as it is throughout with evidence of thorough know- 

 ledge of a branch of literature generally unknown, can only be 

 regarded as a valuable addition to our sources of information. 



Considering the number of books which are put forth dealing 

 with the popular aspects of botany, it is astonishing how few of 

 them betray even a superficial acquaintance with our early botanical 

 literature. " Dear old Gerarde," indeed, figures prominently 

 enough, certain stock quotations being copied from one author to 

 another, often sufficiently indicating that the references have not 

 even been verified. But his predecessor William Turner and his 

 contemporary and successor John Parkinson rarely figure in 

 popular books, although the admirable English of the latter, more 

 especially in his Paradisus, might well have obtained for him a 

 place. (It may be said in passing that Dr. Arber's book is as ad- 

 mirable from the literary standpoint as it is in all other respects.) 



The book is divided into nine chapters, dealing respectively 

 with the Early History of Botany ; the Earliest Printed Herbals 

 (Fifteenth Century) ; the Early History of the Herbal in England ; 

 the Botanical Eenaissance of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Cen- 

 turies (treating of the Herbals of Germany, the Low Countries, 

 Italy, Switzerland, France, and England, with an interesting dis- 

 quisition on the Kevival of Aristotelian Botany) ; the Evolution of 

 the Art of Plant Description ; the Evolution of Plant Classifica- 

 tion ; the Evolution of the Art of Botanical Illustration ; the 

 Doctrine of Signatures, and Astrological Botany ; and Conclusions. 

 To these are added appendixes giving a chronological list of the 

 principal herbals and related botanical works published between 

 1470 and 1670, and a list, in alphabetical order, of the principal 

 critical and historical works dealing with the subjects discussed 

 in this book, with of course an excellent index. Each of the 

 divisions is treated with a thoroughness which leaves nothing 

 to be desired, and the book throughout is illustrated by an ad- 

 mirable selection of plates (21) and text-illustrations (121) excel- 

 lently reproduced, including a number of portraits and two beautiful 

 reproductions of drawings by Albrecht Diirer and Leonardo da 

 Vinci. We are especially glad to see the portraits of Leonard 

 Fuchs's draughtsmen and engraver, to which we referred in the 

 notice already referred to, and to note Dr. Arber's high apprecia- 

 tion of the author : " Of all the botanists of the Renaissance, 

 Fuchs is perhaps the one who deserves most to be held in honour ; 

 . . . his herbal rivals or even surpasses that of Brunfels in its 

 illustrations and that of Bock in its German text." 



The scholarship which characterizes the book extends to every 

 detail — in the list of illustrations, for example, the source of each 

 is indicated, and the bibliographical appendixes are models of 

 their kind. The volume is beautifully printed and suitably bound, 

 and in every respect reflects credit upon the Cambridge University 

 Press, which moreover has produced it at a very reasonable price. 



