5o6 



NATURE 



{March 28, 1889 



cast in a catechetical mould, furnishing useful hints to 

 the traveller as to the best arrangement of his queries so 

 as to elicit materials for a complete account of a country 

 or district. Dr. A. Gartner's chapter, on the anatomical, 

 physiological, and medical investigations which may be 

 undertaken by those practitioners who have the oppor- 

 tunity, is much to be commended for its conciseness and 

 completeness. We should like to see it reprinted, and a 

 separate copy placed in the hands of every military and 

 naval surgeon. Agriculture receives the full share of 

 treatment to which it is entitled. Prof. Orth, of Berlin, 

 deals with the subject in general, with special reference 

 to the composition of soils, whilst cultivated plants are 

 separately handled by Dr. L. Wittmack. 



The "Geographical Distribution of Plants" is discussed 

 by Dr. O. Drude, upon the same limes as were adopted 

 by Grisebach in the first edition of the work. Fifteen 

 floral regions are recognized, grouped under six larger 

 divisions, and the classification of plants, according to 

 their general biological relationships, is reproduced with 

 certain modifications. The " Geographical Distribution 

 of the Sea-grasses " (which name is here restricted to the 

 marine Phanerogams) is very fully set forth by Dr. 

 Ascherson, all the species being enumerated and de- 

 fined. The important topic of the modes of " Collecting 

 and Preserving Plants of higher rank (Phanerogams)" 

 has been committed to no less an authority than Dr. G. 

 Schweinfurth. His mode of arranging the matter of his 

 contribution in short numbered paragraphs makes it easy 

 of reference, and the style is a model of terseness and 

 perspicacity. The use of a portfolio in collecting is 

 recommended, instead of the usual vasculum ; and the 

 relative merits of preservation in spirit, or by drying and 

 pressing, are carefully considered, the preference being 

 given (rightly, we think) to the former. The three sec- 

 tions just enumerated complete the botanical part of the 

 work, which seems to us in its general arrangement the 

 least satisfactory part of the whole. That such an insigni- 

 ficant group as the marine Phanerogams should have 

 the same number of pages allotted to it as are given to 

 all the rest of the higher plants, whilst the Cryptogams 

 are entirely unnoticed, is hardly in accordance with the 

 relative importance of these different classes of plants. 



The editor of the volumes has not forgotten that " the 

 proper study of mankind is man," for no less than four 

 chapters, by as many different authors, treat of the 

 investigation of the phenomena presented by the genus 

 Homo.- Dr. A. Bastian opens the series byan interesting dis- 

 sertation upon " The General Scope of Ethnology," where- 

 in a list is drawn up of eighteen different environmental 

 factors, physical and biological, and a number of sug- 

 gestive remarks are added upon each of them. The 

 difficult subject of "Linguistic Inquiry" is next fully 

 discussed by Dr. Steinthal, and that of "Numeration" 

 by Dr. H. Schubert ; whilst from the veteran pen of Prof. 

 Rudolph Virchow, we have a masterly essay upon 

 "Anthropology and Prehistoric Investigation," which is 

 equally remarkable for its attention to practical details 

 and its philosophic co-ordination of results. 



The seven succeeding sections are devoted to in- 

 structions for the collection and preservation of various 

 forms of animal life. The " Mammalia " have been under- 

 taken by Dr. Hartmann. That this contribution is the 



work of an expert is obvious from numerous minutiae, as,. 

 for example, when he warns the traveller, in a footnote,, 

 not to wear metal or mother-of-pearl buttons, or he will 

 be continually annoyed by the natives begging for them. 

 But though the matter is good, we cannot commend the 

 style of this article : it is too verbose for a work of this 

 character, and not only does the author perpetrate some 

 choice examples of German prose composition, but his 

 enthusiasm at times leads him into descriptive passages 

 of tropical life and scenery. A welcome novelty in this 

 edition is a chapter specially devoted to the " Cetacea," by 

 Dr. H. Bolau, in which we notice with satisfaction that 

 the desiderata of our museums are specially recorded. 

 Dr. Hartlaub's treatment of the " Birds " is very full, and 

 bristles with apt quotations from various authors : one, 

 from the pages of Darwin's " Journal,'' might very appro- 

 priately stand at the head of the whole biological section 

 of the present work : "It is better to send home a few 

 things well preserved than a multitude in bad condition." 



The section upon the " Collection of Reptiles, Batrachia, 

 and Fishes," by Dr. Giinther, of the British Museum, is 

 quite a model of the way in which work of this kind 

 should be done. The instructions are full and clear, but 

 yet concise, and no extraneous matter is inserted. The 

 " Mollusca," " Marine Invertebrata," and "Arthropoda" are 

 communicated respectively by Dr. Ed. von Martens, Prof. 

 Mobius, and Dr. Gerstaecker, whose names are a sufficient 

 guarantee for the scientific value of the work they have 

 undertaken. The practical nature of the articles, more- 

 over, seems quite on a level with their zoological merit. 



Dr. Gustav Fritsch completes the volume by a brief 

 treatise upon two very important subjects — the microscope 

 and photography. This latter has, owing to the perfection 

 of the dry-plate methods, become so easy of practice that 

 no scientific expedition is completely furnished without a 

 photographic outfit ; and it is satisfactory to see its various 

 uses brought prominently forward in a work of this kind. 

 Special attention may be called to the mode of recording 

 the topographical features of a country by means of 

 panoramic photographs taken from properly selected 

 points of view, and to its peculiar advantages for the 

 collection of anthropological data. 



The editor is to be congratulated on the manner in 

 which his task has been carried out. We have noticed a 

 few, but not many, misprints uncorrected in the errata : 

 " Du Petit-Thonars," for instance, appears in the same 

 place in both editions. Compared with previous works 

 of the same kind, this one is beyond comparison the 

 fullest and most detailed : it contains, for example, about 

 three times as many pages, and these more closely printed, 

 than our own " Admiralty Manual of Scientific Inquiry," 

 so that as regards quantity of information the two works 

 are hardly to be placed in the same category. This, 

 however, may not be altogether advantageous, since 

 the German work, if read by an intending traveller, 

 might not improbably deter him from any inquiries 

 by seeming to exact too much. The English book 

 might be termed a practical hand-book of the sub- 

 ject, whilst the German one is an encyclopeedia. In 

 our opinion it would best aid the objects it has in view 

 by being published in the form of small separate works, 

 and we should hke to see it adapted into a series of such 

 in the English language. W. E. H. 



