May 24, 1894] 



NATURE 



77 



volume that the matter treated therein is a " continuation 

 of the subjects already discussed." 



It is true that many perfume-yielding plants treated 

 of in the first volume are again referred to in the second. 

 Mr. Sawer says that the matter published by him two 

 years ago is now as far as possible brought up to date. 

 This may be so, so far as the chemistry of the various 

 substances is concerned ; but we scarcely think, as an 

 instance, that the paragraph on Ambrette (p. 402) indi- 

 cates any new discovery since 1892, when Hibiscus 

 Abetiiwschus was briefly referred to and sufficiently 

 described. The following is the paragraph to which we 

 refer. It is placed in Section iv. under the head of 

 "Addenda to Volume i." : — 



"Ambrette, the seeds of Hibiscus Abelmoschus (Lin. 

 Spec. 980). — ' Hibiscus ' is one of the names given by 

 the Greeks to ' Mallow,' and is said to be derived from 

 Ibis, a Stork, a bird which is said to chew some of the 

 species. ' Abelmoschus ' is derived from the Arabic 

 Kabb-el-Misk, 'grain or seed of musk.' The ' Mallow ' 

 group consists of a very large genus of .I/a/i/<jtY<7, charac- 

 terised by their large showy flowers being borne sint^ly 

 upon stalks towards the ends of the branches, by having 

 an outer calyx or involucel composed of numerous leaves, 

 and an inner or true caly.x cut into five divisions at the 

 top, which does not fall away after flowering ; by having 

 five petals broad at top and narrow towards the base, 

 where they unite with the tube of the stamens ; and by 

 the latter forming a sheath round the five-branched style 

 and emitting filaments bearing kidney-shaped anthers 

 throughout the greater part of its length. The fruit is 

 five-celled, with numerous seeds. Hibiscus Abelmoschus 

 is a shrub of 6 to 8 feet in height, native of the East Indies 

 and South America. Its leaves are somewhat peltate, 

 cordate, 5 to 7-angled, acuminated, serrated, stem 

 hispid; pedicels usually longer than the petioles; in- 

 volucel 8 to 9-leaved. Flowers sulphur-coloured with 

 a dark blue centre. Capsules conicle [sic) covered with 

 bristles. The seeds are large and have a very musky 

 odour. The seeds yield on distillation 01 to 025 per 

 cent, of essential oil, which congeals at + 10^ C. Its 

 sp. gr. at 25" C. is 0900 to 0^905. " 



It will scarcely be conceded that the bulk of this para- 

 graph brings the information on .A.mbrette up to any more 

 recent a date than might have been given in the book 

 issued two years ago, for the botanical description is 

 acknowledged as having been obtained from such works 

 as Rumphiiis' " Herbarium Amboinense,' Rheede's 

 " Hortus Malabaricus," &c. The descriptions, indeed, 

 of this and of most other plants referred to is of little or 

 no value in a book of this character, and only helps to 

 increase its bulk, a thing to be avoided in a work " in- 

 tended for the use of growers, manufacturers, and con- 

 sumers." 



The range of plants over which Mr. Sawer travels 

 is very extensive, and is indicated by the five and 

 half pages of works consulted, as well as by a casual 

 glance through the pages of the book. Many of these 

 plants are new to us as perfume yielding. 



The three species of Barosma, for instance, namely 

 B. crenuliita, B. betulina (which, by the way, is spelt 

 Barasma), and B. scrratifotia, the leaves of which are 

 well known in pharmacy under the name of Buchu 

 leaves, seem as much out of place in a work on perfumes 

 as asafcetida or castor oil would be ; and the fact that the 

 leaves of the Barosmas " are used by the Hottentots as 

 NO. 1282, VOL. 50] 



perfumes," is but a slight recommendation for their 

 adoption in civilised life. Notwithstanding that Mr. 

 Sawer summarises rather fully what has been done by 

 such well-known chemists as Prof Fluckiger, Messrs. 

 Schimmel, and others, in the examination of Buchu oil, 

 he does not inform us whether the oil has been actually 

 used in perfumery, or whether there is any prospect of its 

 becoming an article of the perfumer's trade. All we 

 gather on this point is that its odour agrees with that of 

 peppermint. 



Regarding the arrangement of the plants or products 

 referred to in the book, we cannot discover that any syste- 

 I matic method has been attempted ; the plants are not 

 classed scientifically nor alphabetically, and if it were not 

 for a fairly extensive index a good deal of difficulty would 

 be experienced in finding any particular plant required. 

 It cannot be denied that the book contains an immense 

 amount of useful and interesting matter, and exhibits an 

 enormous labour expended in its compilation. With a 

 good deal of judicious pruning, a systematic classification 

 of subjects, and much careful editing, the two books 

 might be reduced into one good-sized volume, and made 

 a standard work on all matters relating to perfumery. 



That a careful revision has not been made of the proof 

 sheets, is evident from the frequent mis-spelling both of 

 scientific and common words. Thus we find MelliacecE 

 for Meliacece, String Bark for Stringy Bark, Stcllingia 

 sabi/era for Stillingia sebi/era, Madagasca for Mada- 

 gascar, and such like errors that might with ordinary 

 care have been avoided. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Introductioti to Elementary Practical Biology. By 

 C. W. Dodge, Professor of Biology in the University of 

 Rochester, U.S.A. (New York : Harper and Brothers, 

 1894.) 

 This volume of 422 pp. octavo is the first laboratory 

 book on the established lines of Huxley and Martin's 

 '' Elementary Biology " which has reached us from 

 the New World. It, however, excels that in scope, 

 owing to the introduction of additional types of both 

 plants and animals — the Starfish, Locust, Sponges, Rock- 

 weed {Fucus)y Liverwort, and Water-silk {S/>in>gyra) 

 being among those dealt with. The work embodies the 

 results of seven years' experience in practical teaching ; 

 but, that notwithstanding, it bears at every turn the im- 

 press of the recognised English treatises of its kind, and 

 to these the author, unlike certain writers nearer home, 

 manfully acknowledges his indebtedness. The book 

 opens with an introduction, dealing with instruction in 

 manipulation and the use of instruments, and closes with 

 an appendix, giving lists of and recipes for reagents, and 

 there are added a bibliography of works of reference and 

 a very good glossary-index. The bulk of the volume is 

 subdivided into three parts dealing in succession with the 

 Biology (i) of the Cell, (2) of the Animal, and (3) of the 

 Plant, elementary experimental physiology and the study 

 of habit receiving adequate attention. Such novelty as 

 is claimed for the work is born of its authors conviction 

 that " the methods of teaching now in vogue for ele- 

 mentary classes are methods of instruction rather than of 

 c-Jucation" (1) and he sets himself to overcome this imagi- 

 nary defect of what he terms the " verification method " 

 by the introduction of questions, as opposed to 

 the more diadactic statement of facts custom- 

 arily resorted to. Up to a certain point this may 

 be all very well. For example, in dealing with 



