October 7, 1915] 



NATURE 



afford to buy a somewhat expensive book, and 

 probably many will be willing to lay out twenty 

 shillings on a handsome volume with fifty fine 

 coloured plates, will agree that it serves admirably 

 the twofold object of its existence, namely, use- 

 fulness to the amateur botanist and an easy intro- 

 duction to the study of more technical works. 

 The author has evidently selected from a tolerably 

 good modern botanical text-book such parts a^ 

 are amenable to popularisation and has presented 

 the facts in a simple style, somewhat marred by 

 an extensive use of unnecessary tags and phrases. 

 It would be easy to criticise various portions, 

 but bearing in mind the difficulty of writing 

 a thoroughly satisfactory book of this kind and 

 the unpretentious objects aimed at by the author, 

 it may be enough to say that it is one of the 

 most attractive books of the kind we have seen. 

 The coloured plates, from drawings by Mr. C. F. 

 Newall, are remarkably fine, being accurate alike 

 in colouring and in structural detail, but we 

 should have liked to see a larger proportion of 

 them devoted to the flowerless plants, especially 

 as the considerable portion of the text dealing 

 with these constitutes one of the best features of 

 the book. The concluding chapter, dealing with 

 ecology, is rather feeble, and will, we fear, give 

 the uninformed reader a somewhat inadequate 

 idea of the methods used and results obtained in 

 this branch of botanical study ; but we have not 

 yet seen anything approaching a satisfactory 

 "popular" account of what writers of books of 

 this kind appear to have agreed to designate "the 

 new botany," though as understood by them it 

 is certainly neither new nor interesting, but 

 merely a hotch-potch of "wonderful adaptations," 

 or of obvious remarks about different kinds of 

 plants growing in different kinds of positions, 

 the reader being supposed to infer that until quite 

 recently nobody ever noticed such astonishing 

 facts as that moorland plants do not grow in salt 

 marshes and vice versd ! F. C. 



NEW METHODS AND OLD. 

 (i) A Campaign Against Consumption : A Collec- 

 tion of Papers Relating to Tuberculosis. By 

 Dr. A. Ransome. Pp. viii + 263. (Cambridge: 

 At the University Press, 191 5.) Price 105. 6d. 

 net. 

 (2) A Chaplet of Herbs. By F. Hine. Pp. xv + 

 168. (London: G. Routledge and Sons, Ltd., 

 n.d.) Price 2s. 6d. net. 

 (1) 'nr^HE author, whose work relating to 

 A tuberculosis is well known, has done 

 well to bring together the various papers he has 

 I contributed on the subject. The book is divided 

 NO. 2397, VOL. 96] 



into four sections. The first, of a general char- 

 acter, deals with consumption, its causes and 

 prevention, and the duties of the State in regard 

 to tuberculosis. The second section discusses the 

 conditions of infection in tuberculosis. Section 

 iii. gives a summary of the author's researches on 

 tuberculosis, such as treatment of pulmonary 

 disease by means of intrapulmonary injections, 

 media for the cultivation of the tubercle bacillus, 

 etc. The last section is mainly statistical, and 

 discusses such subjects as " The Public-house as a 

 Source of Phthisis," "The Prospect of Abolishing 

 Tuberculosis," and "Phthisis Rates." 



Dr. Ransome considers that there is a fair 

 prospect of abolishing tuberculosis, considering 

 that the disease is steadily declining, which must 

 be attributed to an inherent weakness of the 

 microbe at the present time, and that we now 

 possess potent weapons with which, when fully 

 put into action, we may fairly hope to accomplish 

 the final conquest of the foe. The author was 

 optimistic enough in 1899 to suggest that another 

 thirty years should see its vanishing point ! 



Altogether, much valuable matter has been 

 brought together in this volume. 



(2) This little volume of extracts is calculated 

 to give leisure moments of real delight. The 

 author has collected them from old herbals rang- 

 ing from the eighth to the eighteenth century, 

 and more particularly from those of the golden 

 age of herbalists, 1 450-1 650. She has shown in 

 her choice of extracts a sympathy and a 

 humorous appreciation which are very attractive ; 

 a vein of laughter and delight runs through the 

 book, with kindly charity and gentle raillery for 

 the light-hearted, inconsequent old herbalist. In 

 the introduction is an appreciation of the genuine- 

 ness, and withal, the quackery, of the herbalists, 

 their weakness for a far-fetched recipe, and their 

 child-like trust in Mother-Earth, dear Dame- 

 Nature. 



Here are some extracts : — 



"If anyone has over-eat himself, or drank too 

 ! much; as feasts and pleasing company will lead 

 the wisest into this mistake sometimes, Polypody 

 is the best remedy. ..." 



"To make a woman shall not eat of anything 

 yt is set on the table. . . . Take a little green 

 Basil, and when ye dishes are brought to ye table 

 put it underneath them. ..." 



Remedies for the green sickness and for " Chin- 

 cough " (hiccough) are enlightening, and involve 

 a pleasant use of alcohol ; while thyme helps agues, 

 hickup, lethargy, frensie, megrim, colick, con- 

 vulsions, melancholy, and resists poison. 



We have reason to be grateful for the names 

 of flowers alone, cowslip or paigles, chickweed 



