5i6 



NATURE 



[September 25, 1890 



to cut down the mistletoe, and probably to throw it at 

 him. 



Although this work deals with an explanation of the 

 priesthood of Nemi, yet, on the other hand, there is 

 plenty of substance to be got out of it which might help 

 others who are pursuing a similar line of research in other 

 directions. It might be interesting, for instance, to know 

 if there is any connection between the Norse god Balder 

 and the following legend of the Druids, referred to in 

 Flammarion's " Astronomical Myths " : — 



The night of November i was, to the Druids, one full 

 of mystery, in which they annually celebrated the recon- 

 struction of the world. On this day the Druidess nuns 

 had to pull down and rebuild the roof of their temple as 

 a symbol of the destruction and renovation of the earth. 

 If any of these hapless nuns happened to drop any of 

 the materials for this new roof, they were immediately 

 pounced upon and torn to pieces by their companions, who 

 were seized with a fanatic transport. It was also on this 

 day, or rather on this night, that the Druids extinguished 

 the sacred fire, and then all other fires were put out, and 

 a primitive night reigned throughout the land. Then the 

 phantoms of those who had died during the preceding 

 year passed along to the west, and were carried away by 

 boats to the judgment seat of the god of the dead. 



Another point we may mention concerns the solemn 

 festival of the Isia, which, like the corroborees of the 

 Australians, lasted three days, and was celebrated in 

 honour of the dead and of Osiris, the lord of the tombs. 

 There is a curious uncertainty about the date of this 

 festival, the author telling us that " from the fact that, 

 when the calendar became fixed, Athyr fell in November, 

 no inference can be drawn as to the date at which the 

 death of Osiris was originally celebrated." Now the 

 Egyptians paid great attention to astronomy, and it has 

 been stated that the day this festival commenced was at 

 the culmination of the Pleiades at midnight. 



In drawing to a conclusion our notice of this most in- 

 teresting study in comparative religion, we must again 

 direct attention to the great amount of labour the author 

 must have undertaken in order to bring before us in a 

 logical order the examples and myths with which these 

 volumes abound. As a book of reference it will be found 

 most valuable, being supplemented by a good index. 



W. 



GOOD ALES ''PHYSIOLOGICAL BOTANY." 

 Physiological Botany. I. Outlines of the Histology of 

 Phcenogamous Plants; II. Vegetable Physiology. By 

 George Lincoln Goodale, A.M., M.D., Professor of 

 Botany in Harvard University. Gray's Botanical Text- 

 book (Sixth Edition), Vol. II. (London: Macmillan 

 and Co., 1890.) 



THE first volume of Asa Gray's " Botanical Text-book 

 appeared in 1842, and, in its later editions, " Struc- 

 tural Botany " is still a valued hand-book. Prof. Good- 

 ale's "Physiological Botany" forms the second volume, 

 and the Series is to be completed by Prof. Farlow's " In- 

 troduction to Cryptogamic Botany," and by that fourth 

 volume on the natural orders of Phanerogams which Asa 

 Gray " hoped rather than expected " to contribute. 



Prof. Goodale's volume consists of two parts — a group 

 NO. 1 09 1, VOL. 42] 



of chapters (192 pages) on the histology of plants, and a 

 section of 281 pages dealing with physiology. The pre- 

 sent notice will be confined to the latter part of the book. 



The English translation of Sachs's" Vorlesun gen "and 

 Prof. Vines's excellent lectures have done much to help 

 the English student of botanical physiology. But in such 

 a large and growing subject we are not likely to be over- 

 done with text-books ; we were prepared to welcome a 

 new one, and it was in no unfriendly spirit that we opened 

 Prof. Goodale's pages. We may say at once that our 

 hopes have been disappointed, and that, in spite of a 

 good deal that is worthy of praise, it is far from being a 

 satisfactory book. 



A text-book may interest us in one of two ways : it may 

 be written with the vigour and breadth which make such 

 excellent reading of Sachs's " Experimental Physiologie," 

 published some twenty-five years ago ; or it may, without 

 being the work of a master, earn our thanks as a repertory 

 of well-gathered and well-handled facts. Prof. Goodale's 

 book seems to us to possess neither qualification in a very 

 high degree. 



We are disappointed too in another way. The date on 

 the title-page (1890) naturally led us to look for discus- 

 sions on the more important points which have arisen 

 during the last three or four years. For instance, we 

 expected a full account of the nitrogen question, a 

 full account of the transpiration question, and at least 

 some account of such interesting work as that of Wort- 

 mann, Elfving, and Noll, on geotropic curvature. But 

 these things are not to be found, for the simple reason 

 that the author's preface is dated 1885 : we think that the 

 public may fairly ask for some indication, on the title- 

 page, of this condition of things. 



It is no doubt a difficult thing to partition out a large 

 subject among a limited number of pages ; no two men 

 would do it in the same way, and probably no one would 

 be quite satisfied with the manner of distribution fixed 

 on by another. But Prof. Goodale has exceeded the 

 limits which may be allowed to individuality. For 

 instance, his account of geotropism is compressed into 

 twenty-five lines,— hardly more than is given up to De 

 Candolle's " floral clock," and not nearly so much as is 

 allowed to an account of the hybridization of Lilium 

 lancifolium and L. auratuin. This result— namely, the 

 production of Parkman's lily— is no doubt of interest, but 

 it is surely of less value to the student of physiology than 

 a full discussion of so wide-reaching a mode of growth as 

 geotropism. 



Again, in the matter of arrangement some improve- 

 ment is to be desired. For instance, in chapter xii. (on 

 vegetable growth) we pass directly from the histology of 

 cell-division to an account of the auxanometer. Further 

 on we come across a brief account of turgescence, but 

 without a hint as to its importance in relation to growth. 

 In the paragraph on tension, the author gives no idea 

 of the biological value of the combination of forces in 

 giving rigidity to growing parts. The series of changes 

 known as the grand period of growth is but slightly 

 sketched, and no one coming to the subject for the first 

 time would have a guess at the importance of the 

 phenomenon. 



To return to what is said on geotropism. It would 

 surely have been more in accordance with modern views. 



