plant-material unavailable to the Northern 

 laboratories, even where these laboratories 

 are supplemented by hot-houses. That 

 the treatise should be free from 

 dreamy conceptions which might be born 

 in India was to be expected by those who 

 are familiar with the work accomplished by 

 Professor Bose in England; In short It is 

 a contribution to physiology possessing 

 high importance in this time of reconstruc- 

 tion of the science. The new conceptions of 

 chemical physics and physical chemistry 

 necessitate a reconsideration of the whole 

 field of the relations of organisms to their 

 surroundings; the present volume Is dis- 

 tinctly helpful to this end. 



It is proper to call attention to a singular 

 system of nomenclature which the author 

 has made use of in naming his novel ap- 

 paratus. We have all been cautioned not 

 to combine elements taken from two lan- 

 guages in the formation of technical terms. 

 Such combinations have sometimes been 

 classed with barbarisms. Frequently Latin 

 and Greek are thus combined with gro- 

 tesque effect, especially in the names of 

 plants. To some of his instruments, Profes- 

 sor Bose has given names which have a 

 novel, not to say grotesque, look. Thus, 

 the apparatus which records the contrac- 

 tile response of the plant just as the myo- 

 graph records that of the animal, is term- 

 ed kimchangrapli, from the Sanskrit kun- 

 chan, contraction; and the appliance by 

 which the suctional response is measured 

 is called the shoshungraph, from the Sa*> 

 skrit, shosun, suction. All the instru- 

 ments employed in these researches appear 

 to be of great delicacy, and most of then; 

 are constructed on new lines. Almost t 

 of them can be fairly well understood from 

 the descriptions; but those who know how 

 difficult it ia to build machines from de- 

 scriptions and sketches merely, will sus- 

 pend judgment until the work has been re- 

 peated in all details. Meanwhile, it may be 

 said that the treatise is stimulating and is 

 likely to be fruitful in controversy. It has 

 an interest not only for all biologists, but 

 for chemists, physicists, and, we may add, 

 progressive psychologists. 



