100 



THE AMEEICAN MONTHLY. 



[May. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Pollen-Tubes. 



To THE Editor : — Without entering the 

 discussion, I am glad to see your article 

 on ' Pollen Tubes ' in the February issue 

 of the Am. M. Micr. Journ., extending 

 that courtesy to the researches of Mr. J. 

 Kruttschnitt which is due to every ear- 

 nest searcher for the true in science. Know- 

 ing somewhat of Mr. Kruttschnitt's earnest 

 work for facts, I certainly should think 

 twice before speaking once on points 

 wherein we might differ. 



When discussing the subject on our 

 stage we should be careful not to enlarge 

 the object at the other end of the tube. 

 The search for truth in science calls for a 

 very strong abnegation of self, and the 

 same may be said of scientific discus- 

 sions. 



G. C. Taylor. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



The Microtomisf s Vade-Mecum. A hand- 

 book of the methods of Microscopic 

 Anatomy. By Arthur Bolles Lee. Phil- 

 adelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co., 

 IOI2 Walnut street. 1885. (Pp. 424. 

 Price $3.00.) 



The word ' microtomy ' was first intro- 

 duced by Mr. John A. Ryder in an arti- 

 cle published in this Journal last year. 

 It has rapidly grown in favor, and we now 

 have the microtomist's vade-mecum, one 

 of the most useful books for the working 

 microtomist or microscopist in the English 

 language. The aim of the book is to 

 put into the hands of the worker ' a con- 

 cise but complete account of all the 

 methods that have been recommended as 

 useful for the purposes of microscopic 

 anatomy.' 



Part I treats mainly of the methods 

 of fixing, staining, hardening, imbedding, 

 injecting, etc., being a compendium of 

 formulas, systematically arranged, cover- 

 ing 300 pages. 



Part II is a description of special 

 methods. This part is invaluable to the 

 student, giving as it does the methods 

 used by various investigators for special 

 purposes, in a convenient form for refer- 

 ence. Thus, the methods of studying 

 cell-division, karyokinensis, and embryo- 

 logical methods are given in chapters xxxiii 

 and xxxiv, at the beginning of this por- 

 tion of the work. 



To render the book valuable to the be- 

 ninner as well as the advanced worker 



introductory paragraphs are added to dif- 

 ferent chapters, and examples to guide 

 the learner in his experiments. We have 

 not space for a more detailed notice of 

 the work, but cannot refrain from calling 

 attention to the author's unqualified con- 

 demnation of the freezing microtome for 

 zoological work (p. 169). The book should 

 be in the hands of every working micro- 

 scopist. 



Our Living World. An Artistic Edition 

 of the Rev. J. G. Wood's Natural His- 

 tory of Animate Creation. Revised and 

 adapted to American Zoologv bv Joseph 

 B. Holder, M. D., F. N. Y. Acad. Sci.; 

 Member Soc. Nat. E. U. S.; Member 

 Amer. Ornithologists' Union ; Curator 

 of Vertebrate Zoology, American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, Central Park, 

 New York. Fully illustrated with scien- 

 tific accuracy. New York : Selmar 

 Hess. (4° Complete in 42 parts. Price 

 50 cents each part.) 



Parts I to 8 of this elegant publication 

 have been issued. They are beautifully 

 illustrated, and the descriptions of animals 

 and their habits are very interesting as 

 well as instructive. The work is a popu- 

 lar natural history, and as such deserves, 

 and will undoubtedly have, a large sale. 

 The publisher states that ' the illustrations, 

 with few exceptions, have never appeared 

 in an English publication before — those 

 of mammals being the results of the latest 

 drawings by Frederick Specht.' The 

 colored plates are from Brehm's Thierle- 

 ben, reproduced by Prang & Co. 



The work begins with an account of the 

 quadrumana or monkey tribe, and has a 

 fine colored plate of gorillas and another 

 of the chimpanzee, with numerous wood- 

 cuts. 



The body of the work has been stu- 

 diously preserved in a simple and reada- 

 ble form, and the more strictly scientific 

 portions have been removed to a ' Com- 

 pendium of Generic Distinctions' at the 

 end of each volume. In this Compendium 

 the reader will find a brief notice of the 

 various characteristics which are employed 

 by our best systematic naturalists for the 

 purpose of separating the different genera 

 from each other ; and by its aid he will be 

 enabled to place every animal in that posi- 

 tion which it is at present supposed to oc- 

 cupy. 



The complete work will form three hand- 

 some volumes of royal quarto size, and 

 contain forty-two oleographs, eighty-four 

 full-page wood engravings, and very 

 nearly a thousand more scattered through 

 the text, 



