May 30, 1895] 



NA TURE 



lOI 



Decoration of this member is, to say the least, extremely 

 doubtful. Two valuable plates follow of Olympia, in 

 plan and perspective. The restored view of the .Acropolis 

 of .Athens, however, is hardly so successful. The draw- 

 ing is coarse, and it gives a verj' inadequate idea of the 

 way in which the .\cropolis dominates the valley to the 

 south of it. In Plate xiv., Figs. I and 2 /'the latter from 

 a vase) are interesting from their connection with the 

 Elcusinian mysteries. As many of the illustrations are 

 necessarily taken from vases, it would have been servic- 

 able for beginners if some representation with a short 

 description of different kinds of vases, such as the cylix, 

 the lecythus, &c., had been given. Plate .\v. shows that 

 votive offerings of models of diseased limbs and other 

 bodily members, suspended at the altars of favourite 

 saints, had their origin in classical times. In its reference 

 to Fig. 2, of Plate xviii,, the text gives a valuable reference 

 to the recent discoveries at the Pantheon, which were 

 lately made under the direction of the French architect, 

 M. Chedanne. 



Plate xi.x., Fig. 15, is interesting as showing that the 

 division of the heavens into different houses of the 

 mediaeval astrologers had its origin in classical augury. 

 Plates XX. to xxiv. are devoted to athletics. In Plate xxii. 

 are illustrations of the method of throwing javelins by 

 means of the aincii/iiin, a kind of sling attached to the 

 shaft. Some arc shown as being thrown overhand, and 

 others underhand, and a curious method by which aid 

 was given to jumping by means of weights held in the 

 hands. Plates xxvii. to x.xxiii. are devoted to games and 

 arena combats. Fig. 4 in the first of these plates, from 

 a wall-painting from Pompeii, is an interesting illustration, 

 described thus in the text: "This painting is unique as 

 a contemporary' picture of an historical event. Tacitus 

 ("Annals,' xiv. 17) mentions a riot between the people 

 of Nuceria and Pompeii which arose out of a gladiatorial 

 show given by Livineius Kegulus. It began with mutual 

 taunts, and then stones were thrown and weapons used. 

 The Pompeians were naturally the stronger party, so 

 that many of the Nucerians were badly wounded, and 

 several slain. .As a consequence, Nero stopped the 

 games for ten years. The painting shows the fighting 

 going on in and about the amphitheatre." Fig. i in 

 Plate xxxiii., from Brescia, shows that combats with wild 

 beasts were still practised in 530 .\.n. in Italy. In 

 Plate xxxiv. we have representations of early Greek 

 warriors and weapons, and also, but of later date, a 

 besieged city from the Nereid tomb in the British .Museum, 

 and in Plate xli. a useful diagram showing the arrange- 

 ment of a Roman camp. In the same and following 

 plates Roman soldiers and their armour arc well given, 

 and C.rcek and other helmets. Young students of Casar 

 "tic Bcllo (".allico" will be thankful for the illustrations 

 of the Rhine Bridge in Plate xliv. In Plate xhi. is the 

 difficult subject of the trireme and its oars. It contains 

 only one original document (Fig. 8), namely, the sculp- 

 tured relief found near the Ercchtheum ; the other figures 

 arc reconstructions in which the difficulty does not appear 

 to have been grasped. The ancient relief certainly im- 

 plies oars of different lengths ; thus much cannot be 

 controverted, but the only possible means by which the 

 rowers on the different banks could have kept time would 

 have been by an inversely corresponding difference given 



NO. 1335, VOL. 52] 



to the surface of the blades of the oars, which the re- 

 constructions do not show. 



Plates xlviiii. to li. are occupied by town gateways and 

 fortifications. Then follow private houses, aqueducts, 

 bridges, baths, and calculating boards. In Plate Ixii. 

 ancient sundials, which divided the day from rising to 

 setting sun into twelve hours, irrespective of the difference 

 of their lengths in summer or winter. Then follow various 

 agricultural operations, and in Plate Ixvi. a warehouse 

 scene, the weighing silphium, a plant used in medicine, 

 grown in Cyrene ; a group of decidedly Egyptian type. 

 Then ovens, Plate Ixvii., for baking bread ; Plate Ixviii., 

 for pottery. From Plates Ixi.x. to Ixxvi., various arts and 

 crafts. The triclinium is shown and explained in Plate 

 Ixxvii. Then follows jugglery and games. Plate l.xxxi. 

 shows bridal scenes, followed by female dresses and 

 costumes. In Plate Ixxxvii. is a relief from the arch of 

 Constantine, introducing several details of the Roman 

 forum. Plate Ixxxviii. follows with a graphic scene of 

 civic life from a wall-painting of Pompeii. Then school 

 scenes are illustrated with wax tablets and writing 

 materials ; there is also a pair of proportional compasses, 

 having much analogy to the instrument in modern use. 

 Plates xcii. \ and xciii. tell the " tale of Troy divine," 

 from a relief of the .Augustan age, representing the Iliu- 

 persis, found near Bovillae ; and the work concludes 

 with a very complete series of burial scenes — that is, of 

 interment — for there are no representations of cremation. 

 But notwithstanding this and some other omissions, the 

 hundred crowded plates of this volume, from which we 

 have made only a few extracts, contain a vast store of 

 objects for reference, and they are all very much enhanced 

 in value by the descriptions and notes with which Mr. 

 Anderson has enriched the book. 



A DES/DERATCM /X .\fODERX BOTANICAL 

 LITER A TURE. 



A Hand-book of Systematic Botany. By Dr. E. Wanning, 

 Professor of Botany in the University of Copenhagen. 

 With a Revision of the Fungi, by Dr. G. Knoblauch, 

 Karlsruhe. Translated and edited by M. C. Potter, 

 M..A., F.L.S., Professor of Botany in the University of 

 Durham College of Science, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

 (London : Swan .Sonncnschein and Co., 1895.) 



IT is a curious, and not altogether a pleasant reflection, 

 considering the activity which has been displayed by 

 the botanists of this country within recent years, that we 

 should still be largely dependent on foreign sources for 

 our text-books in more than one main division of this 

 particular science. It is doubtless true that the books arc 

 sometimes more or less edited, before they are presented 

 to the English student, but still one can hardly help feel- 

 ing that an entirely home-grown article, if issuing froni 

 first-rate hands, would pro\c a most welcome change. 



It is with somewhat mixed feelings, then, that we greet 

 the appearance of Prof Warming's " Hand-book of 

 Systematic Botany "in its English form. Moreover, we 

 feel a little inclined at the very outset to quarrel with the 

 title of the book before us ; a hand-book of systematic 

 botany embodying critical morphological discussion, is 

 exactly what is now wanted — something which may be to 

 us what Eichler's celebrated Bliithendiai^ramme was, and 



