December 30, 1920] 



NATURE 



563 



Conifers. 



Conifers and their Characteristics. By Charles 

 Coltman-Rogers. Pp. xiii + 333. (London: 

 John Murray, 1920.) Price 21s. net. 



CONIFERS, like ferns, stove-plants, orchids, 

 alpines, and the ignoble carpet-bedding, have 

 had their high tide of popularity. The fashion 

 for them owed its origin chiefly to the work of 

 the collectors Jeffrey and William Lobb in western 

 North America in the middle of last century, and 

 to that of John Gould Veitch in Japan in the 

 early "sixties." From these areas, especially the 

 former, our gardens have obtained their noblest 

 conifers. We are told that, from fifty to seventy 

 years ago, so keen was the desire to plant them 

 that many beautiful flowering trees were destroyed 

 to provide the necessary space, and that gardens 

 in general lost much of their brightness and 

 seasonal charm by the displacement of deciduous 

 trees in favour of the heavier, gloomy, unchang- 

 ing conifers. Inevitably, the craze came to an 

 end, for a good proportion of them were found 

 to need particular conditions which many locali- 

 ties where they were planted did not provide ; and 

 there is no more distressing object in the garden 

 than a sickly conifer. In course of time the 

 pendulum swung so much in the opposite direc- 

 tion that conifers in recent years have been over- 

 much neglected. 



To one who contemplates a serious and ex- 

 haustive study of the group, Mr. Coltman-Rogers's 

 book cannot be regarded as anything more than 

 a hors d'ceuvre ; but it is admirably adapted to 

 stimulate a budding interest in these trees, and 

 that probably was the author's chief aim. For 

 this reason it would be scarcely fair to grumble 

 at its shortcomings from the scientific point of 

 view. At times Mr. Coltman-Rogers is apt to be 

 discursive, not to say garrulous, but, on the 

 whole, his gossip is pleasant and humorous, and 

 his book will find many readers who would be 

 repelled by a more technical work. It certainly 

 contains much solid information, and the careful 

 reader will find many curious and interesting 

 peculiarities of the species pointed out which, un- 

 aided, he might very easily overlook. No detailed 

 descriptions are given, but the last forty pages 

 are devoted to a series of tables which contain a 

 great deal of accurate information in condensed 

 form ; these will be a useful help in identifying 

 species, and especially in differentiating those 

 which are closely allied. 



The book suffers from careless proof-reading, 



and the reader is apt to be irritated by the 



number of errors, trifling though they may be. 



On p. 97, for instance, the Douglas fir is said to 



NO, 2670, VOL. 106] 



have bee'n discovered by Menzies in 1792 and in- 

 troduced in 1828; and then overleaf the respective 

 dates are giveii as 1791 and 1827. It was not neces- 

 sary to repeat the information, but at least the two 

 accounts should tally. Kaempferi is spelt " Kaem- 

 feri," which jars one with whom the golden larch 

 is a favourite tree. The invariable use of capitals 

 as the initial letter for specific names is contrary 

 to accepted practice, but perhaps the author has 

 his private reasons for this. 



On the whole, the book is pleasant and instruc- 

 tive, admirably printed, and light to handle, and 

 may be recommended to those who contemplate 

 the planting or study of one of the noblest and 

 most interesting groups of the world's trees. 



Physiology for Students and Practitioners/ 



A Text-book of Physiology : For Students and 



Practitioners of Medicine. By Prof. Russell 



Burton-Opitz. Pp. 1185. (Philadelphia and 



London: W. B. Saunders Co., 1920.) Price 

 32s. 6d. net. 



TO add to the already numerous text-books on 

 physiology is presumably to have the con- 

 viction that one is supplying what is lacking in 

 those iilready in existence. The striking thing- 

 about Prof. Burton-Opitz's "Physiology'" is that 

 its author makes no such claim. In the first edi- 

 tion of a new book a claim for being really up-to- 

 date would perhaps have been its best for recogni- 

 tion at a time when even some of the better-known 

 books are somewhat delinquent in this respect. 



If the author aspires to anything, it is to 

 brevity, although his book has some 1140 pages 

 of text. His object has apparently been to collect 

 all the classic facts and theories and put 

 them into new words. In this he has succeeded 

 admirably, and his book, on the whole, compares 

 well with its rivals. On controversial subjects 

 he states fairly the different aspects of the case, 

 and no pains have been spared in collecting facts 

 and ideas for which free acknowledgment is made 

 of the obvious debt to other text-books. The 

 book reviews the whole subject in the most com- 

 prehensive manner. The greatest zeal for the ex- 

 planation of phenomena is shown ; indeed, to the 

 physiologist there is just a suspicion of unneces- 

 sary explanntion; but, on the other hand, the 

 giving of elementary farts renders the book all 

 the more readable by students commencing the 

 study of the subject or by practitioners who have 

 forgotten such matters. Students, however, 

 using the book in preparation for examination 

 should be warned that principles are more im- 

 portant than data. The giving of references at 



