33 



NATURE 



[March io, 192 i 



least is true, that if an elementary text-book is 

 to appeal to young people it must have something- 

 of the freshness of the fields and of the fragrance 

 of their plants. 



The great merit of the text-book by Prof. Neil- 

 son Jones and Dr. Rayner is that it has fresh- 

 ness and fragrance. The art whereby the authors 

 have cultivated these qualities so successfully is, 

 as becomes good art, not apparent. They have 

 taken the old themes; but the setting is simpler. 

 As is essential for the writing of a good book, 

 the authors have morphological minds, and hence 

 their work is well proportioned They write easily 

 and simply ; the careless English so frequently em- 

 ployed by writers of scientific and other literature 

 is rarely used by them. Now and again they fall 

 from grace — as, for example, in the use of " up " 

 thrice on pp. 2 and 3 ; but in general the histology 

 of construction — the phrasing — is as good as the 

 morphological plan is sound. That plan consists 

 in the distribution of the subject-matter under 

 three headings : the plant as a machine (a 

 "works" would surely be better), the plant as a 

 begetter of machines, and the plant as a citizen 

 of the world. 



In the first division the main facts of plant 

 physiology and morphology are described — ex- 

 perimental demonstrations being relegated to the 

 end of the chapters ; in the second section growth 

 and reproduction, cell division and heredity are 

 dealt with ; and in the last section the ecology of 

 plants is taught in a manner altogether fresh and 

 delightful. From the point of vantage of a beech 

 clump in the Berkshire Downs the authors survey 

 the vegetation and show the near and far plant 

 associations, plant societies, and the open and 

 closed formations. What is no less acceptable, they 

 spare their readers the overgrowth of terminology 

 which, unless it be pruned hard, will choke the 

 young plant of ecological science, and prove once 

 again the truth of the old adage that " Botany is 

 easier to learn than its nomenclature." The two 

 former sections of the book are treated in a more 

 conventional manner, and it may be that newness 

 of presentation of physiological and morphological 

 facts is as unnecessary as it is undoubtedly diffi- 

 cult. 



If, as is to be hoped, a new edition of this book 

 be called for, the authors might, perhaps with 

 advantage, consider the advisability of jettisoninij 

 some of the wealth of information which they 

 have included in the present edition. For example, 

 alternation of generations is a subject which in 

 its fullness makes a fine and impressive story, but 

 it is small and unexhilarating beer when taken only 

 in the fern. If alternation were to go, embryo- 

 NO. 2680, VOL. 107] 



sacs might go also — that is, be left for later 

 studies. The desire "to cover the ground," 

 though warmly approved by publishers, is one 

 which should be ruthlessly suppressed by every 

 writer of an elementary text-book on botany. It 

 would also be well to transfer the chapter on the 

 soil which concludes it to an earlier place in the 

 volume, for this chapter should certainly come 

 before that on ecology, and would be aptly placed 

 in that section of the work which deals with 

 osmotic phenomena and the absorption of water 

 by plants. 



F. K. 



British Coal-fields. 



Coal in Great Britain. By Dr. W. Gibson. 

 Pp. viii-f3ii -f viii plates. (London: Edward 

 Arnold, 1920.) 21s. net. 



THE need for a small book giving within a 

 reasonable compass a trustworthy summary 

 of the essential characteristics of the coalfields of 

 Great Britain has long been felt, and, as might 

 be expected from the high qualifications of the 

 author, the present volume goes far indeed to- 

 wards filling this want. The first few chapters 

 have been practically rewritten from an earlier 

 book by the same author entitled "The Geology 

 of Coal and Coal Mining," but they have been 

 amplified and brought up to date. If, however, 

 any fault is to be found with this general portion, 

 it is that the author has scarcely availed himself 

 so fully as he might have done of the most recent 

 researches on the subject, such as the mono- 

 graph on the constitution of coal by Drs. Stopes 

 and Wheeler, or the results attained by the ad- 

 mirable micro-sections of coal produced by Mr. 

 Lomax. Possibly also the paragraph on the 

 classification of coal might have been consider- 

 ably expanded with advantage to several classes 

 of readers. 



It may be noted in passing that 6572 ft. is 

 now no longer the greatest depth reached by a 

 diamond bore-hole. This is the depth of the 

 Paruschowitz boring, but it was surpassed some 

 years ago by the Czuchow bore-hole, also in 

 Silesia, which reached a depth of 7350 ft. The 

 two chapters dealing with the stratigraphy of 

 exposed and concealed coalfields respectively are 

 very well written and illustrated, and should 

 make the principles of this somewhat obscure sub- 

 ject intelligible even to the general reader, 

 whose demands the author has obviously kept in 

 view throughout the book. 



The second part, which occupies about two- 

 thirds of the work, consists of descriptions of the 

 coalfields of Great Britain and Ireland. Naturally, 



