>3* 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



their transformations ; also to observe the habits of free insects, and to 

 make drawings of various parts. Two hundred and ninety-six cuts afford 

 material aid in identifying species. 



GENERAL NOTICES. 



Some volumes * of what promises to be 

 an unusually valuable series (even in this 

 day of series) have recently come to us in the 

 shape of two little histories one of England 

 and one of Germany. They are intended to 

 give a brief general outline of the more 

 salient and striking points in the history of 

 each country, and are written so as to at- 

 tract and appeal to children, with the hope 

 that the interest thus stimulated by these 

 mere outlines will lead the grown-up child 

 to a perusal of the more extended and com- 

 plete general historical accounts. The idea 

 is a good one, and it seems to have been 

 carried out fairly well in both of the present 

 volumes. 



The volume on England begins its story 

 with the landing of Julius Caesar. The state 

 of things which he found and the changes 

 brought about by the Roman conquest are 

 discussed in the first chapter. The second 

 chapter takes us to the Norman conquest. 

 The chapters are divided up in this way all 

 through the book, more stress being laid on 

 the striking and important events from the 

 standpoint r f the whole people than on the 

 lives of kings and the battles they fought. 

 The growth of the Parliament and the sev- 

 eral reform acts receive special attention. 



German history is practically nothing but 

 the story of a series of wars up to the time of 

 the Reformation. This period is given about 

 ninety pages in the present volume. Louis 

 XIY and the War of the Spanish Succession 

 are told about in the fifth chapter. The Seven 

 Years' War and the fall of Germany during 

 the Napeolonic epoch are next taken up ; 

 and finally there are two chapters one on 

 the German Confederation, and the last one 

 on the modern German Empire as it stands 

 to-day. 



This notable work was projected by Dr. 

 von Tubeuf to fill a gap in the literature re- 



* History for Young Readers. Germany, by 

 Kate Freiiigrath Kroeker. Pp. 251. England, by 

 Francis E. Cooke. Pp 358. Both, New York: D. 

 Appleton and Company. Price, 60 cents each. 



lating to diseases of plants.* It deals with 

 those diseases produced by the cryptogams 

 and other lower organisms of the vegetable 

 kingdom. The large number of parasites 

 which attack such lower plants as alga? and 

 lichens have, as a rule, been omitted. In 

 the general part of the volume, comprising 

 the first hundred pages, parasitism and the 

 relations between parasite and host are dis- 

 cussed from a botanical standpoint. The 

 subject of parasitism is immensely impor- 

 tant on the economic side ; for the ravages 

 of scab and rust, of blight and smut, are 

 world-wide and often grievous. Our author 

 has not been indifferent to making his studies 

 useful, but has summarized the preventive 

 and combative agencies available against the 

 more important diseases of economic plants. 

 In the second or systematic part of the book 

 the pathological phenomena are considered 

 along with the description of the organism 

 producing them. Notices of greater length 

 are given to such parasites and diseases as 

 have formed the subjects of special investi- 

 gations. The list is intended to be complete 

 for Germany and the neighboring countries, 

 but includes also many species occurring only 

 in other parts of the world, notably in America. 

 Much valuable material has been made avail- 

 able to the author by the recent publication 

 of "several important works on the crypto- 

 gams. The three hundred and thirty illus- 

 trations are almost exclusively the author's 

 own work, and a large part of them illus- 

 trate the habitus of pathological organisms. 

 The English edition is more than a transla- 

 tion. It contains many additions by the au- 

 thor and by the editor, and the species of 

 fungi that have been recorded for Britain 

 and North America are indicated. 



In a volume entitled The Theory of Elec- 

 tricity and Magnetism Dr. Arthur G. Webster, 



* Diseases of Plants induced by Cryptogamic 

 Parasites. By Dr Karl Freiherr von Tubeuf. 

 English edition by William G. Smith, B. 8c, 

 Ph. D. Longmans, Green & Co. : London, New 

 York, and Bombay. Pp. 598, 8vo. Price, $5.50 

 net. 



