April 14, 1898] 



NATURE 



561 



Lessons with Plants. By L. H. Bailey. Pp. xxxi + 491. 

 (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1898.) 



Though written for the use of teachers and students of 

 botany in North America, this book will be found almost 

 as useful on this side of the Atlantic. Very many of the 

 plants employed as examples are either natives of, or 

 very generally cultivated in, the British Islands, and 

 could easily be obtained both in country and in town. 

 Even where the selected examples are not themselves 

 readily procured among us the methods of study, the 

 lessons drawn from them, and the suggestions offered for 

 further personal investigation, are very often such as 

 could be readily applied by an intelligent reader to 

 British species. 



The author very consistently carries out his method of 

 instruction. He assumes that the pupil is absolutely 

 ignorant ; and taking familiar objects, such as an apple- 

 twig, he shows simply and well the information that can 

 be read in them by the trained eye and mind. The book 

 is admirably fitted to give training in the* methods of 

 observation, in so far as that can be given during school- 

 life. It should be of peculiar value to teachers if used (as 

 the author, in the introduction, points out that it is meant 

 to be) to suggest how lessons can be drawn from any 

 and every plant. One cannot read many pages without 

 realising that the careful observation and accurate know- 

 ledge gained by the teacher that works out examples in 

 the manner followed here will enable him to make the 

 subjects taught by him very real and living. It is the 

 true scientific method applied to the first steps in botany. 

 To the beginner in the science, also, who wishes to learn, 

 but cannot obtain systematic instruction, this book would 

 be an excellent introduction. If each section were read 

 with the actual specimens in hand, and compared with 

 the description step by step, and, still more, if the 

 "suggestions" were followed out practically, the student 

 would have gained a very valuable training, and a trust- 

 worthy foundation on which to build up the wider study. 

 The method followed is naturally somewhat informal ; 

 but it allows of many sides and applications of botany 

 being touched on in* a way to awaken the interest of 

 pupils ; and the information conveyed is of a kind that 

 does not require to be unlearned, but can be built up into 

 its proper place as the study becomes more systematic. 

 Occasionally one feels that the explanation is insufficient, 

 and that it must leave a vagueness in the mind of a 

 beginner, as, for example, where we are told that it is 

 " the custom of botanists " to " say that when either floral 

 envelope is wanting it is the corolla (unless there is some 

 special reason to the contrary). This is, generally, an 

 arbitrary definition, but it would be just as arbitrary to 

 say that the sepals are missing." It is scarcely "evident" 

 in respect of the ligulate flowers of the dandelion and 

 Rudbeckia " that if the corolla of a floret were to develop 

 to such a length, it could not spread equally in all 

 directions, as a mathematical calculation will prove ; it 

 therefore develops in one direction, as a leaf does." The 

 description of the flowering spurge would scarcely be 

 clear to a beginner. But such defects are so incon- 

 spicuous as to detract little from the value of the book, 

 which is enhanced by many excellent original " deline- 

 ations from nature." 



Ethnological Studies among the North- West Central 

 Queensland Aborigines. By Walter E. Roth. Pp. xvi 

 + 199, and Plates. (Brisbane : Gregory, 1897.) 



The chief difficulty which an investigator has to surmount 

 in studying the habits and customs of a savage race is 

 their innate suspicion, which often prevents them relating 

 not only the traditions of their tribe, but also their 

 common customs. 



Roth claims to have overcome this difficulty by a 

 prolonged residence among the natives of North-West 



NO. 1485, VOL. 57] 



Central Queensland, and states that it was not until he 

 was fully conversant with their language that he could 

 acquire sufficient confidence from the natives to learn 

 their customs. 



As an aid to future explorers, he begins his book with an 

 elementary grammar and vocabulary of the language 

 spoken in the Boulia district : a table is added, comparing 

 the words in common use in adjacent districts. 



This race communicates ideas by signs as well as 

 sounds ; the origin of the actual manual movements is 

 usually easy to trace, and lucidity is added to the descrip- 

 tion by illustrations. Social and individual nomenclature 

 among these races is developed to such an extent, that 

 careful study of an admirable chapter devoted to the 

 question is necessary for the reader to fully comprehend 

 that intricate organisation. 



Roth describes the food and the method of obtaining 

 and preparing it ; the recreations and amusements of the 

 people. Cannibalism, he states, is practised in the Boulia 

 district ; but a person is never slain for the purpose of 

 supplying food, nor may any but relatives partake of a 

 corpse. 



The last chapter is devoted to descriptions of initiation 

 ceremonies, which are often too gruesome to dwell upon 

 in detail. The book consists of a description of a number 

 of facts ; the origin and development of customs is but 

 rarely attempted. 



IJ Electro-chimie. Production ^lectrolytique des Com- 

 posh chiinique. By A. Minet. Pp. 167. (Paris : 

 Gauthier-Villars et Fils ; Masson & Cie.) 



This little work is a volume of the well-known " En- 

 cyclopedie Scientifique des Aide-Memoire," and is 

 devoted mainly to the industrial applications of electro- 

 lysis other than those of which the object is the prepar- 

 ation of metals. The chapter dealing with the electro- 

 lysis of solutions of sodium and potassium chlorides, 

 which gives a good account of the more important pro- 

 cesses which have been proposed for the preparation of 

 caustic alkalis, hypochlorites and chlorates, may be 

 specially commended. The attempts which have been 

 made to employ electrolysis in purifying and ageing 

 alcoholic liquids, in tanning, and in purifying sugar, are 

 described, as well as a number of minor applications of 

 the electric current. 



"Theories de L'Electrolyse " (pp. 175) is another 

 volume of the same series as the above, and by the 

 same author. It gives a sketch of the theory of the 

 voltaic cell, of the constitution of electrolytes and gases, 

 and of osmotic pressure. Electrolytic conductivity and 

 the migration of the ions are also treated at some length. 

 The researches of the author's fellow countrymen are 

 rather fully, though not always clearly, described, the 

 work done in other countries receiving very inadequate 

 treatment. 



LETTER TO THE EDITOR. 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he uttdertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature, 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. ] 



Malformed Crabs. 



In your issue of March 10 I observe a most interesting letter 

 from your correspondent, Mr. R. I. Pocock, regarding a mal- 

 formed specimen of Caiuer pagurus in the Dover Museum. I 

 have never seen such a remarkable case of malformation in the 

 common edible crab, but in the Robertson Museum here is to be 

 seen a very fine specimen of Nephrops norvegicus, having three 

 digits on the right pincer or great claw. The supernumerary digit, 



