122 



latter, good results have already been obtained by the study of the pro- 

 blems of heredity, hybridization, variation, and kindred subjects, and 

 botanical questions are competing in interest with those of zoology. " 



More than half of the volume is devoted to eleven chapters 

 regarding the functions of water, the assimilation of carbon dioxide, 

 the absorption of nitrogen, the r61e of the ash constituents, the 

 chemosynthesis, the metabolic processes, the catabolic processes, on 

 heterotrophic plants, the problems of growth. 



A chapter is devoted to the development of the theory of special 

 sensitiveness as developed under the influence of the Origin of Species. 



On a question specially interesting to the theory of fertilisers, 

 the following statement, on p. 357, may be quoted: 



" Perhaps there is no department of vegetable physiology in 

 which so little progress has been made as in the knowledge of the 

 role of the ash constituents of plants : in no department of vegetable 

 physiology have the results of investigation been so unsatisfactory. 

 It has been found possible to determine what elements can be de- 

 tected in greater or less quantity in plants ; which of them are of 

 widespread occurrence; which only appear occasionally or in spe- 

 cial individuals. Within certain limits their distribution in the plant- 

 body has been ascertained, but nearly all attempts to associate par- 

 ticular elements with definite functions have resulted in rhore or 

 less complete failure to gain any accurate information. " 



The concluding words of this History of Botany show that the 

 world is changing since the days in which Julius Sachs wrote his 

 history on the same subject. 



" In all European and most American countries research has 

 assumed an almost national importance, and its economic value is 

 beginning to be properly appreciated, while the spirit of enthusiasm 

 is spreading beyond the older borders to the remoter regions of 

 Asia and Africa. The work carried out so far from the older cen- 

 tres promises to vie in completeness, thoroughness, and importance 

 with that of European schools. " 



J. H. MAIDEN. Sir Joseph Banks, the Father of Australia. - 



Sydney, William Applegate Gullick, 1909. London, Kegan Paul, 

 Trench, Triibner & Co., Ltd. Pp. xxiv -)- 244 with map. 



The following is an extract from the preface of this interesting 

 biography of the eminent British botanist, who first introduced 

 India-rubber into England, in 1767: 



