Aug. 24. 1876] 



NATURE 



349 



meaning ; the class Gyinnospermce is given on one page 

 as of superior value to Incompletce, on another as included 

 within it ; and it is difficult to understand how the terms 

 " loculicidal" and " septicidal" can be applied with pro- 

 priety to a mono-carpellary capsule like that of the prim- 

 rose. The statement that " the tables on classification 

 have been compiled from Dr. Hooker's ' Student's Flora 

 of the British Islands ' " is rather misleading, when we 

 find, on p. 14, the Gamopetalous orders with inferior 

 ovary included in " Calycifloras." But defects of this sort 

 are incidental to any attempt of the kind. Dr. Aveling 

 may be congratulated on the success of his effort, if it be 

 not of a very high order. 



Vergleichende UntersucJmngen iiber den Bate der Ves,eta- 

 ttonsorgane der Monocotyledonen. Von Dr. P. Falken- 

 berg. Mit drei Tafeln. (Stuttgart : F, Enke, 1876.) 



Our knowledge of the anatomical structure of the stem 

 of Monocotyledons has hitherto been pretty much con- 

 fined to that of palms, and has been founded to a great 

 extent on the researches of Mohl and Mirbel. It has 

 hence been assumed, perhaps somewhat rashly, that the 

 type of structure is far more uniform in the stem of Mono- 

 cotyledons than of Dicotyledons. For the purpose of 

 investigating this point Dr. Falkenberg has submitted to 

 very careful examination the stem of one or more species 

 belonging to as many as seventeen orders or sub- orders 

 of Monocotyledons, and shows that our previous concep- 

 tions must be modified in several respects. The stem of 

 Monocotyledons, he states, is divided into an inner 

 central cylinder and an outer cortical layer by a sepa- 

 rating sheath which is developed in some cases from the 

 internal, in other cases from the external tissue. As 

 regards the course of the fibrovascular bundles in the 

 central cylinder, and the degree to which they are differ- 

 entiated from the fundamental tissue, he finds three 

 different types of structure. Perhaps the most important 

 correction of ideas previously accepted is his complete 

 refutation of the statement found in so many text-books, 

 that Monocotyledons have none but adventitious roots. 

 Dr. Falkenberg asserts that the existence of a normal tap- 

 root is general in Monocotyledons, with the exception of 

 those that are altogether destitute of a root. The adven- 

 titious roots which subsequently, in many cases, supplant 

 the original tap-root, do not differ from it in an ana- 

 tomical point of view. A. W. B. 



Jenkinson's Practical Guide to the hie of Wight. By 

 Henry Irwin Jenkinson, F.R.G.S... &c. Also Smaller 

 Practical Guide. (London : Stanford, 1876.) 



Mr. Jenkinson, by his practical guides to the Lake 

 District, Carlisle, and the Roman Wall, has already 

 proved himself possessed of a rare faculty for the work 

 of guide-book making. The handy volumes before us are 

 quite equal to those prevnously published. The " Guide to 

 the Isle of Wight" is evidently the result of conscientious 

 work and minute painstaking ; the author has gone over 

 all the ground described, and made himself well acquainted 

 with all the historical and antiquarian knowledge which 

 adds interest to the various places referred to. The in- 

 troduction to the larger " Guide," covering upwards of 

 eighty pages, contains a resume of the scientific know- 

 ledge which bears on the island— its geology, its flora, 

 and its fauna. This part seems to us carefully and accu- 

 rately compiled, and by the scientific visitor will be con- 

 sidered a valuable addition to the volume. Mr. Jenkin- 

 son divides the text of his " Guide " into six sections, 

 grouped round the chief towns of the island, each section 

 being accompanied by a full and clear and carefully exe- 

 cuted map. Altogether Mr. Jenkinson's " Guide '' is a 

 thoroughly good, and we believe trustworthy, one ; and 

 while it deserves the title " practical," and will be of the 

 greatest use to the visitor, the general reader might read 

 it through with interest and profit. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspond with the writers of rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.^ 



A Science Museum 



The fact that the Science and Art Department have had 

 before them for at least ten years the proposal to establish a 

 science museum, is shown conclusively enough in Nature for 

 last week. May I be allowed to draw attention to a still earlier 

 suggestion of the same character ? As far back as 1859, two 

 years after the establishment of the Patent Office Museum, the 

 Commissioners of Patents laid a Report before Parliament, in 

 which the following passage occurs : — 



" It is intended to make the Patent Office Museum an historical 

 and educational institution for the benefit and instruction of the 

 skilled workmen employed in the various factories of the king- 

 dom, a class which largely contributes to the surplus fund of the 

 Patent Office in fees paid upon patents granted for their valuable 

 inventions. Exact models of machinery in subjects and series 

 of subjects, showing the progressive steps of improvement in the 

 machines for each branch of manufacture, are to be exhibited ; 

 for example, it is intended to show in series of exact models each 

 important invention and improvement in steam propellers [steam- 

 boat propulsion] from the first engine that drove a boat of two 

 tons burden to the gigantic machinery of the present day, pro- 

 pelling the first-rate ship of war or of commerce. The original 

 small experimental engine that drove the boat of two tons burden, 

 above referred to, is now in the museum, and is numbered one 

 in the series of models of propellers." 



Unhappily this brilUant project rested unfulfilled. "No. i " 

 of the series of models of steamboat propellers had but few fol- 

 lowers, while other branches of mechanical science did not get 

 so far as to have even a " No. i." The conception was excellent, 

 the execution lamentably deficient. Thus the collection which 

 was to have expanded into a museum of mechanical and indus- 

 trial science degenerated into an old lumber-room, and, instead 

 of expanding over the ground originally allotted to it, contracted 

 into its present dimensions. 



Into the causes of this failure there is no need to enter. The 

 thing has failed, and there is an end of it. Luckily there is a 

 chance of something better now, and it is to be hoped tfiat we shall 

 soon have the collection belonging to the Patent Office divided 

 into two parts — one part to be sent to the Science Museum, and 

 the other to the nearest dust-heap. So long as it belongs to the 

 Patent Office, the aggregation of rubbish will be sure to continue. 

 The Commissioners have never exercised a power of selection, and 

 any foolish invention, so that it is only the subject of a patent, 

 has the right of entree. Naturally it is not the important inven- 

 tions which make their appearance at South Kensington. As 

 part of^ Patent Office, a museum is practically worthless. It is 

 hardly possible to imagine an invention which — at least to an 

 expert — cannot be as clearly explained by descriptions and draw- 

 ings as by a model. For purposes of experiment and instruction 

 models are obviously invaluable. By no other means, for in- 

 stance, can motion be rendered intelligible to a class of students 

 or a popular audience. When the object, however, is simply to de- 

 fine what an inventor has discovered or constructed, so that it can 

 be understood by an expert, a drawing and a description are nearly 

 always much better — always as good — as any model. The only 

 reason why the Patent Office should have charge of such a museum 

 is that the officials of the office are in constant communication 

 with the particular class likely to contribute to the museum. 

 Patent cases are fruitful in models, constructed, not for the engi- 

 neers, but to enable the engineers to explain to those who have 

 no special mechanical knowledge the action of the different 

 apparatus before them. Many such models are of no public in- 

 terest, but many are well worth preservation, and it was thought 

 that from these and like sources the Patent Office Museum would 

 soon grow rich. The event has hardly justified the hope, but 

 that is no reason why, under better management, the promises 

 held out fifteen years ago should not now be realised. With all 

 its deficiencies, the Patent Office Museum has done one good ser- 

 vice. It has preserved some quite invaluable examples of early 

 mechanical science which would otherwise have been scattered 

 to the four winds — most of them to the west wind and the 

 States. These are ready to form the best possible foundation 

 for Uie mechanical section of the Science Museum, a section 



