»62 



KNOWLEDGE. 



July, 1912. 



Without cntcriiiK upon a dctnili'd aii.ilysis, it iii.-iy In; s.iid 

 that this book is oiio which will not only hi? read with 

 plcasiiro and prol'it hy botanical tc-acluTS and stndi-nts, bnt is 

 one of the very few conipieheiisive bulaiiical works which can 

 be recommended to the educated reader whether or not 

 conversant with bot.uiic.il science. Of all recent botanical 

 publications in l'"nglish, this is the book for (jciier.d readers 

 who want something better than the " talky-talky " and 

 " pretty-pretty " sort of " popular Botany," something that will 

 (without cither beiiiK above their heads or insnltinj; their 

 intelligence) nivc thcni such an insight into plant-life as 

 can only be given by a writer who has himself contributed 

 notably to the .advancement of his chosen branch of science 

 and who also possesses in a marked degree the happy facility 

 of imparting his knowledge in a clear and graceful style. 



F. C. 

 liotiiny. — By Marie Stopes. 94 pages. 5 figures. 

 6i-in.X4j-in. 

 (T. C. & E. C. Jack. Price 6d. net.) 



This is one of the remarkably cheap little " People's Books " 

 introduced by Messrs. Jack. To compress into ninety pages a 

 general account of the several divisions of " Botany, or the 

 modern study of plants " — morphology, anatomy, physiology, 

 ecology, palaeontology, and so on — is a formid.ible under- 

 taking, and the authoress may be congratulated on having 

 attempted the almost impossible and done it successfully. In 

 less skilful hands, the result might have been somewhat 

 incoherent and unreadable, but this little book is extremely 

 readable, and gives an admirable bird's-eye view of the 

 subject-matter and aims of the various branches into which 

 botanical science has for convenience been necessarily 

 divided. It will form an excellent general introduction to 

 works in which these various departments are dealt with by 

 specialists. There are a few slight inaccuracies and obscure 

 statements ; for instance, the tendrils of ampelopsis are 

 branches (modified inflorescences), not leaves, and the name 

 of the remarkable pitcher- plant which provides its own flower 

 pots is misprinted Discidia, for Dischidia. Instead of 

 printing on a separate slip the introduction in which the 

 authoress tersely describes the scope and aims of her little 

 book, the publishers might either have incorporated it in the 

 book (the reader can, of course, remedy this defect by the aid 

 of a paste brush) or have printed on the title-page as a suitable 

 motto a slight adaptation of Juvenal's "(juicquid agunt 

 botanici nostri farrago libelli." ,. „ 



A Manual of Structural Botany. — By Henry H. Rusuv. 

 248 pages. 599 illustrations. 9i-in. X 6-in. 

 (J. & A. Churchill. Price 10/6 net.) 

 The author states in his preface that this volume " which is 

 a condensed but fairly complete introduction to Botany, and 

 is suitable as a text-book for academic or collegiate students, 

 has been written with special reference to the needs of the 

 first year student of pharmacy, as a preparation for his 

 second year work in pharmacognosy." From the high official 

 positions held by the author in the .'\nierican pharmaceutical 

 world, we may infer that the curriculum outlined in this book 

 represents the kind of botanical course which is considered 

 necessary and sufficient for the American student of pharmacy. 

 If so, we may congratulate ourselves that in this respect at 

 any rate we are far ahead of our American cousins and have 

 nothing useful to learn from them. Judged as a "fairly 

 complete introduction to Botany," this is probably the most 

 tedious, arid, stodgy, pedantic, uninspiring, stale, flat and 

 unprofitable work published in modern times. Had the work 

 been entitled " ,'\ Dictionary of Botanical Terms," it would be 

 a very dilTerent matter, for it certainly gives a wonderfully 

 complete collection of terms, with explanations and diagrams. 

 It would be difficult to think of a single descriptive term \n 

 the fearsome vocabulary accumulated since the days of the 

 mediaeval herbalists which cannot be found in this volume. 

 Imagination staggers at the picture of the American pharmacy 

 student's ta.sk of mastering this " fairly complete introduction 

 to Botany," with blood-shot eyes and a splitting headache 

 which no wet-towel applications can assuage. Surely even a 



pharmaceutical student should be taught that Botany is Plant 

 Biolog> — the study of the life of plants. This high-and-dry 

 morphology arid terminology, with hardly even a p.'issing 

 reference to lunclion and life-processes, cannot be accepted 

 .-IS the right sort of botanical curriculum for any class of 

 student, whether he be preparing for a medical or 

 pharmaceutical diploma or taking the subject as part of a 

 general training in science or arts. Surely the best course of 

 botanical work for every purpose is one in which form and 

 function are studied hand in hand and recognised as mutually 

 explanatory. Of course, to understand the physiology of 

 plants it is necessary to study their form and structure, just 

 as it is essential to study the construction of a machine in 

 order to understand aright its worknig ; but, on the other 

 hand, the study of plant organs apart from their functions is. 

 like the study of the parts of a machine without any reference 

 to their uses, a tedious and fruitless pursuit. The attempt to 

 study the plant exclusively from one or other of the two 

 arbitrary points of view of morphology and physiology is not 

 merely illogical — it cannot even lie strictly applied or carried 

 to a logical conclusion. Still, this impossibility is occasionally 

 attempted, as in the present work. 



However, while protesting against the claim of this type of 

 botanical text-book to be regarded as a " fairly complete 

 introduction to Botany," one may recommend it as a work of 

 reference and as a morphological treatise which may be 

 useful as an adjunct to works in which plant-life is treated 

 from the biological point of view. y p 



CHEMISTRY. 

 Electro Analysis.— By E. F. Smith. 332 pages. 

 46 illustrations. yJ-in.xS-in. 

 (Kegan Paul & Co. Price 10'6 net.) 

 The simplicity, rapidity and accuracy of electrolytic methods 

 of analysis would naturally appeal to the .-Xmerican mind, and it 

 is therefore not surprising that a large proportion of these 

 processes should have been worked out in .America. 

 Professor Smith is well known for his contributions to this 

 branch of chemical analysis, and the present book, which has 

 deservedly reached its fifth edition, embodies much of his work 

 upon the subject ; while the reader has the advant,age of know- 

 ing that all the methods described have been given a practical 

 trial by the author. The new material in this edition includes 

 all the important processes and modifications that have been 

 published in scientific journals during the past four years. 

 including the methods for the electrolytic separation of the 

 alkali metals. There is a good index, but the references to the 

 original papers are somewhat scanty. C -X M 



.4 First Year Physical Chemistry.— liy T. P. Hilditch. 



D.Sc. (Lond.), F.I.C. 176 pages. 57 illustrations. 



7.J-in.X5-in. 



(Methuen & Co. Price 2s.) 



Although several books dealing with the physics of 



chemistry have recently been published, we are not acqu.iinted 



with any that covers quite the same ground as this useful 



little manual. While it is essentially intended for the work of 



a first year course in chemistry it is yet quite advanced 



enough for the use of those who are working for " Intermediate 



Science " examinations. Even in the more abstruse parts the 



text is simply expressed and is not too didactic. Practical 



work goes hand in hand with theory, and the experiments are 



well chosen and described, and wherever there was likely to 



be any want of clearness, diagrams of the apparatus are given. 



The book will be found of the greatest assistance by all 



who are beginning the study of chemistry, and should be 



used as a companion to the ordinarv elementarv text books. 



C. A. M. 



Or)iiinic Chemistry.— liy W. H. Phrkin, Sc.D.. F.R.S., 



anil 1". S. Kii'iM.NG. Sc.D.. F.R.S. 664 pages. 7i-in.x5-in. 



(W. & R. Chambers. Price 7,6.) 



Many generations of students have availed themselves of the 



valuable help of this well-known textbook, and the present 



