206 



NATURE 



[October 13., 192 1 



the various species of the same genus, yet in a 

 semi-popular work of this kind the method has 

 much to be said fof it. The coloured plates are 

 beautifully done, and the photographs, of which 

 there is at least one for nearly every species, are 

 almost uniformly excellent, and many of them are 

 triumphs of art. Perhaps the best feature of the 

 work is that the photographs in almost every case 

 show the habit of the plant in its native haunts. 

 Where the plant is shown as part of a landscape 

 the effect is often beautiful, as in the photographs 

 of a reed swamp on a Norfolk broad and of the 

 great yellow watercress. In a photograph such 

 as that which is meant to illustrate the duckweed, 

 the latter occupying only a small patch on the 

 water surface, the conspicuous elements of the 

 vegetation which fill the rest of the figure might 

 have been indicated by marginal names. The 

 "close-up" photographs are almost uniformly 

 successful, and we know of no other series to 

 equal them. Occasionally, however, as in the 

 photograph of the bugle {Ajuga reptans), the 

 plants are too closely surrounded by other vege- 

 tation to show' their distinctive features. The 

 figure of the lily-of-the-valley is evidently taken 

 from a garden. Anyone who has seen it flower- 

 ing wild in an English copse would wish that the 

 more dainty wild plant might have been captured 

 by the camera in its natural surroundings. The 

 distribution of each species in Britain is given in 

 considerable detail, together with the various local 

 names and a mass of folk-lore the utility of which 

 is somewhat doubtful. 



Vol. 5 deals with the flowers of bogs and 

 marshes, heaths and moors, rocks and gravelly 

 places. The same high quality of the illustrations 

 is maintained, and many of the photographs show 

 not only the plant concerned, but also the ecologi- 

 cal association in which it flourishes. The last 

 part of this volume includes "Hints and Notes," 

 chiefly on matters ecological, with reference to 

 the plants described. An appendix contains a 

 summary of the natural orders, and short 

 diagnoses of the genera (520) of British flowering 

 plants. This is followed by a bibliography of 

 general works on such ma;tters as the origin and 

 distribution of the British flora, the ecology, 

 pollination, soil, fungal and insect pests, and folk- 

 lore of British plants. A glossary completes the 

 volume. 



The sixth and final volume gives unillustrated 

 descriptions of species not included in the earlier 

 volumes. The London Catalogue of British 

 Plants (1908) enumerated nearly 2000 species, 

 and Mr. Druce's British Plant List includes some 

 3000, of which more than 1000, however, are 

 NO. 271 1, VOL. 108] 



aliens. About 147 species are considered 

 endemic, consisting mainly of Rubi and Hieracia. 

 Differing somewhat in character from any pre- 

 vious treatment of the British flora, this work is 

 particularly to be commended as a semi-popular 

 account emphasising the ecological and natural 

 history aspects, embellished with numerous photo- 

 graphs which for the most part are very carefully 

 selected. It must be said, however, that the 

 ecology is not of a very serious kind. 



R. R. G. 



Our Bookshelf. 



Gynecology. By Dr. Brooke M. Anspacli. 

 Pp. xxvi + 752. (London: J. B. Lippincott Co., 

 192 1.) 425. net. 



We have here an excellent treatise — exhaustive, 

 clear, well illustrated. The like may be said of 

 many medical books, but the present work is 

 especially good in that it links up, better than 

 most of its predecessors, the student's early scien- 

 tific work with his later practical instruction. An 

 unavoidable fault of medical training is that it is 

 conducted by relays of specialists, each of whom 

 concentrates on a single subject and trenches as 

 little as possible on the work of his colleagues. 

 First one group of subjects is laid aside, then 

 another, and so on. Theoretically the endeavour 

 is to base practical efficiency on antecedent scien- 

 tific knowledge; but the human mind forgets as 

 well as learns, and the curriculum is long. Com- 

 monly at the end of it something of anatomy, 

 physiology, and biology has faded from the mind 

 of the budding surgeon, physician, and student of 

 man. However well equipped to deal with cut- 

 and-dried matters in established ways, he may 

 fail, through lack of understanding, to meet 

 strange emergencies with new expedients. Be- 

 coming a practitioner, he may not remain a 

 thoughtful man of science. In the present work 

 all that is necessary to a full understanding is 

 dealt with lucidly, if briefly. The immediate 

 subject-matter is handled as clearly, but in greater 

 detail. The book may be cordially recommended, 

 for it is very good. 



New Alt-Azimuth Tables, 65° N. to 65° 5. 

 Pp. xvii+154. (Tokyo: Hydrographic Depart- 

 ment, 1920.) 

 Since the very general adoption of the method of 

 navigation known as the Marcq system of position 

 lines, in which, whatever the azimuth, the position 

 line is determined by one and the same problem, 

 the calculation of altitude, many attempts have 

 been made so to simplify the working that the 

 results can to a great extent be effected through 

 the medium of suitably arranged tables by simple 

 inspection. A fresh attempt of this nature forms 

 a leading feature of the excellent little work re- 

 cently issued by the Hydrographic Department at 

 Tokyo. Like other tables of the kind, such as 



