BOOK REVIEWS 165 



examined and directions are given for preparing the necessary 

 materials for study. It is the function of the parts, their '' work " 

 as members of a Hving organism which is, however, constantly 

 made prominent. 



The book may be used, the author states, by both teacher and 

 pupil. For the former we should heartily recommend it. As a 

 text or reference book for college or high-school classes it is 

 also excellent, though it would doubtless have to be used with 

 omissions, for the experiments are very numerous and go into a 

 good deal of detail. They are planned to use only familiar and 

 simple materials, and the object and results are made as clear 

 and definite as possible. Certain ones, therefore, selected by the 

 teacher, could well be used in the nature-study of the elementary 

 school. 



The last chapter is especially useful to teachers or advanced 

 pupils in emphasizing the economic importance of experimental 

 work with plants as shown by the labors of Luther Burbank and 

 other horticulturists. The author closes with a brief but clear 

 summary of Professor De Vries' researches and their bearing on 

 important biological problems. A. Watterson. 



House, Garden, and Field. By L. C. Miall. London, Arnold ; 

 New York, Longmans. 1904. Pp. 316, ill. $1.50. 



This is " a collection of short nature studies," dealing with a 

 great variety of subjects — e. g., many insects, birds, fishes, spiders, 

 plants, etc. Each chapter is a study of some one form, e. g., 

 glowworm, barnacles, water-lilies, house-flies, banana, herring, 

 monkey, house spider, a chalk hill, grasses, buttercup. In fact, 

 the book is a collection of over fifty talks by a naturalist ; and 

 there is no suggestion of a connected series. Taken indepen- 

 dently, the talks are all interesting and full of information for 

 general readers. There are certain '' studies " in the form of 

 school lessons, but most of the chapters are simply natural-history 

 essays in the familiar style of the author's earlier book entitled 

 " Round the Year." It is primarily a contribution to the litera- 

 ture for encouraging the popular movement for interest in natural 

 things, rather than a book for the direct use of teachers who want 

 guides for school work. Of course, like popular natural his- 

 tories, this book will help the teacher in getting the fundamental 

 information about common things with which school nature-study 

 must deal. 



