276 NATURAL SCIENCE. April. 



chapter on morphology is unsatisfactory, and so far as the vegetative 

 organs are concerned leaves the reader with very vague and incom- 

 plete ideas ; the treatment of the flower, however, is good. Chapters 

 II. and III., dealing with variation, classification, forms of vegetation, 

 geographical distribution, etc., are useful, while the last chapter, 

 " Economic Botany," is scarcely more than a list of plants, concerning 

 which further information can be obtained by reference to Part II. 

 As a text-book Part I. cannot be recommended, though the student 

 will find in those portions to which we refer favourably a great deal 

 that is useful and suggestive, and not to be found in the ordmary text- 

 book. The introductory chapter contains under the head " Botanic 

 Gardens, &c.," a brief outline of the contents of the gardens at Kew 

 and Cambridge ; and the student's attention is directed to some of the 

 more note-worthy plants in the various houses and beds. 



Vol. 11. is quite a different book, and one of the most useful com- 

 pilations ever offered to those interested in the science. It is a 

 dictionary of " the classes, cohorts, orders and chief genera of 

 phanerogams and ferns, alphabetically arranged under their Latin 

 names." The accounts given of the larger divisions, including the 

 more important natural orders, are full and concise, and the same may 

 be said of those genera which are of common occurrence in cultivation, 

 or of economic value, or of special interest to the morphologist or biolo- 

 gist. The author has drawn largely for his information upon Engler and 

 Prantl's " Pflanzien-familien " ; but numerous other works have been 

 consulted, and the copious references to these will assist the enquirer 

 to a more exhaustive knowledge. Considerable attention has been 

 given to details of bionomic interest, such as pollination, the relations 

 existing between the plants in question and insects, or devices for 

 seed-distribution. The second volume ends with a " glossarial index 

 of English names, technical terms, etc." The correlation of the 

 English with the Latin name enables one to look up information 

 about a plant of which one knows only the popular name. But it is a 

 pity to burden the glossary with a reprint of the index of Part I. — 

 another argument in favour of our suggestion of completely divorcing 

 the two volumes. 



By the use of small print, thin paper, and thin covers, both 

 ■ volumes are reduced to a small and handy size. 



Physiology for Medicals. 



KiRKES' Handbook of Physiology. Fourteenth Edition. By W. D. Halliburton, 

 M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Physiology, King's College, London. 8vo. Pp. xvii., 

 851. London: John Murray, i8g6. Price 14s. 



It is the necessary fate of a student's handbook which is successful 

 enough to last for some fifty years to fall into the hands of a 

 succession of editors. Written originally by Dr. Kirkes for medical 

 students (largely, we beheve, from Sir James Paget's lectures), 

 and probably an excellent book for its time, it has required so much 

 change and alteration with the advance of knowledge, that it may 

 safely be averred that its original author would no longer recognise 

 it. For many years the successive editions have been in medical or 

 surgical hands, and though this has probably not detracted from its 

 value to the medical studtnt, it is certain that its value as a standard 

 text-book of physiology will be increased now that it has fallen into 

 the hands of a writer who is essentially a physiologist, and one so 

 well known as Dr. Halhburton. 



We have nothing but praise for the manner in which the author 



