1894. SOME NEW BOOKS. 69 



The Natural History of Plants. 

 The Natural History of Plants. By Kerner von Marilaun. Translated by 

 Professor F. W. Oliver, assisted by Misses Busk and Ewart. (Blackie.) 



It is but few years since the General Biology, or Natural History, of 

 Plants became a theme for serious investi'j^ation. Nowadays the 

 relations between plants and their surroundings form the subject of a 

 critical scrutiny. The older school of workers in this branch of 

 botany were characterised by their imaginative power and credulity 

 with regard to new theories, rather than by the exercise of any 

 searching enquiries into the truth of their hasty hypotheses. Professor 

 Kerner belongs distinctly to the old and romantic school. It were an 

 exaggeration to say that he is more of a poet than of a botanist. For 

 his book is no mere collection of light fancies ; indeed, it includes a 

 rich store of interesting facts which, for the most part, can be gleaned 

 elsewhere only in the scattered papers of specialists. Yet the fact remains 

 that this work, though deHghtfully fresh and supremely suggestive, is 

 utterly unreliable. With an untamed dogmatism born of a hyperaesthetic 

 imagination. Professor Kerner treats aery conceits as proven truths. 

 Hence many botanists may doubt the wisdom of translating such a 

 work. Be this as it may, it is easy to appreciate the infinite difficulty 

 involved in the labour of adequately editing an English version. 

 Professor Oliver and his associates have evidently decided to let the 

 work stand as it is in the original. So the theory of the centripetal 

 and centrifugal conduction of water down plants, and the semi- 

 fabulous account of Lathraea squamaria, are repeated in the translation. 

 Even if warning footnotes be not put in connection with cases of this 

 sort, surely erroneous, misleading, or heterodox statements should not 

 be left unchallenged. Yet on page 64 we find it indicated that the free 

 nitrogen of the air is not available to the plant save through the assist- 

 ance of electrical discharges. On page 42, of chlorophyll bodies we are 

 told that "they are produced generally in great numbers in special sac- 

 like excavations in its body, but nowhere except where they are 

 necessary . . ." It would have involved little labour to have given 

 footnotes representing the generally accepted modern views on the 

 subject ; and the book could have thus been rendered a less dangerous 

 guide. 



But it may seem ungrateful to grumble at the translators' 

 decision to leave the work unaltered, when that which they have 

 attempted — the translation — is such a triumphant success. Professor 

 Kerner's charming German idiom is reflected in clear and graphic 

 English. In its form and get up the English version surpasses the 

 original ; in fact it is hard to see how the work could in any way 

 have been improved as a translation. Doubtless this eager and 

 persuasive book will do much towards popularising the study of 

 botany in England. 



Percy Groom. 



Magazine Articles. 

 Index to the Periodical Literature of the World (covering the year 1893). 

 [Compiled under the superintendence of Miss E. Hetherington.] 4to. Pp. 224. 

 London : Review of Reviews Office, 1894. Price 5s. 



Mr. Stead's generous effort to give readers a cheap and ready book 

 of reference to the countless articles appearing in ephemeral literature 

 is a marked improvement on its predecessors. Many suggestions as 

 to additions and revisions have been made, and the majority of them 

 have been accepted. The index proper has grown to 150 pages, 40 



