Current Literature 85 



wood from variations in the nourishment of the cambium cells. 

 Since, however, in his winter experiments he found wood of early 

 and of late character, he decided to replace the terms "early" 

 and "late" by "wide" and "narrow" wood. Oaks, ash and 

 ironwood are also briefly introduced, but no necessary rest under 

 all circumstances is apparent with them. Only with the iron- 

 wood, the light seems to possess a similar influence as with the 

 beech. 



However, Klebs' view concerning the dependence of rest and 

 growth on outward conditions does not hinder him from ascribing 

 an inherited structure to a plant of which its properties are the 

 expression. Our woody growths have, according to their inherited 

 structure, the faculty of growing on continuously or of resting at 

 times, at any time of the year. Which of these facilities becomes 

 active is dependent upon light and nourishment at that time. It 

 is not so much the periodic change between rest and growth that 

 is a quality of the beech, but the faculty of allowing this change to 

 occur under definite conditions. 



It is the task of the future, says Klebs at the end of his important 

 work, to learn to know for every plant the relation of its specific 

 structure to the outer world so exactly that its capabilities may be 

 developed at will any time. 



Klebs deserves great credit for having completed such thorough 

 examination. He has materially advanced our knowledge of the 

 life phenomena of forest trees. 



J. D. A. 



Lumber and Its Uses. By R. S. Kellogg. The Radford Archi- 

 tectural Company. Chicago, 111. 1914. Pp. 352. 111. 



With considerable success, the author has undertaken to con- 

 dense within the limits of a single voltime, a statement of the 

 multitudinous ways in which lumber enters into modern life and 

 industry. While combining the information contained in the 

 various reports on wood-using industries that have been published, 

 much more is accomplished than a mere catalogmng of uses. 

 The object of the book is to make readily available to the users of 

 wood a brief but comprehensive siirvey of the ntimerous species 

 of wood which the forests of the United States offer in such abun- 

 dance. The author argues, with reason, that in spite of the dis- 

 placement of wood by substitutes, the intrinsic qualities of wood 



