4I2 



NA TURE 



[March 8, 1900 



earth-movements, dams and erosion may all have con- 

 tributed towards the production of the features.' 



The work of frost, snow and ice, and the accounts of 

 glacial phenomena past and present, are, like every other 

 portion of his subject, very fully and ably dealt with by 

 the author. The work, indeed, embodies the results of 

 the most recent researches on all the physical features of 

 the earth's surface ; it unites the labours of the geo- 

 grapher and geologist ; and should prove a most helpful 

 companion to every traveller. H. B. W. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Plant Relations : a First Book of Botany. By John 



Coulter, A.M., Ph.D. Pp. vii -f 264. (New York : 



D, Appleton and Co., 1899.) 

 A NOTABLE tendency to be observed in many modern 

 text-books of botany is one indicating a departure in 

 the direction of "natural history" as distinct from the 

 more formal, and especially the histological, methods of 

 teaching which have been in vogue (and somewhat too 

 exclusively so) during the last few decades. It is per- 

 haps chiefly in American works that this change has 

 been most prominent, and Prof. Coulter's new book forms 

 a weighty addition to the list. 



It may perhaps be open to question whether ecology, 

 as it is now the fashion to designate what used to be 

 called natural history, is precisely the best aspect from 

 which to treat botany regarded as an instrument of 

 school education. For it is impossible to escape from a 

 certain elusive vagueness in attempting even an elemen- 

 tary discussion as to the nature and interaction of the 

 factors which determine so complex a matter as the forms 

 or the mutual adaptation of living organisms. 



But whatever may be thought in the abstract, of 

 ecology as an introduction to botany from the scholastic 

 point of view, there can hardly be two opinions with 

 regard to the fascinating nature of the study itself ; and 

 as Prof. Coulter remarks in the preface to his book, it 

 may perhaps not unfairly be argued after all that "the 

 study of the most evident life-relations of plants gives a 

 proper conception of the place of plants in nature. . . . 

 The large problems of ecology are constantly presented 

 in subsequent experience, when details of structure would 

 be forgotten." The latter sentence, however, involves an 

 admission of principles to which many educationalists 

 would refuse assent. Prof. Coulter's book contains a great 

 deal more, however, than geology in the more limited 

 sense of the term ; and it may perhaps not unfairly be 

 described as dealing with the plant primarily as a 

 living organism, a " going concern," and one which has, 

 moreover, to maintain the order of its going. 



In fact, the author may be congratulated on having 

 produced one of the most interesting and refreshing 

 little text-books that have appeared in recent years, and 

 it will well repay a perusal on the part of those whose 

 business it is to teach as well as to learn. The dominant 

 note all through the book is physiology, using the term in 

 its widest sense ; and, although here and there perhaps 

 an expression might prove to be open to misconstruction, 

 the treatment is geneially accurate and lucid. The 

 differences between spores and seeds, for example, are 

 (p. Ill) forcibly and almost epigrammatically expressed, 

 and this is but one out of many instances which might 

 have been cited. 



The numerous illustrations, which are nearly all excel- 

 lent, add materially to the value of the book, and those 

 which portray the vegetation characteristic of the dif- 

 ferent physical conditions of life call for especial praise. 

 Not only are they admirably reproduced, but they really 

 do emphasise clearly the fades of the various kinds of 

 plant-societies. J. B. Farmer. 



NO. I 584. VOL. 6j] 



Elementary Chemistry for High Schools and Academies, 

 By Albert L. Arey, C.E. Pp. xi -I- 271. (New York : 

 The Macmillan Company, 1899.) 

 Mr. Arey has followed the syllabus of the New York 

 State Board of Regents in selecting portions of the 

 science of chemistry for treatment, and in deciding the 

 order in which such subjects shall be dealt with. A 

 notable characteristic of his book is the admirable series 

 of questions which the author has interspersed with the 

 view of guiding the student's inferences, and of suggest- 

 ing a definite hne of thought in each experiment. But 

 the exigencies of teaching in schools where the syllabus 

 of instruction is laid down by an outside authority has 

 made it impossible for Mr. Arey to consistently follow 

 out this excellent plan ; for the students are expected to 

 become familiar with substances which do not lend then;- 

 selves to experimental treatment, and with principles 

 which cannot be practically proved, at the hands of 

 young pupils. The consequence is that two methods of 

 presentation exist side by side. In one the student is 

 told the properties of certain chemical bodies ; while in 

 the other the properties of the compounds have to be 

 determined by the pupil's own observation, and are not 

 stated in the book at all. Notwithstanding this, the 

 volume provides a good introduction to the study of 

 inorganic chemistry. 



A Manual oj Chemistry., Inorganic and Organic. By 

 Dr. Arthur P. Luff, B.Sc, and Frederic]. M. Page, 

 B.Sc. Pp. xvi 4- 541. (London : Cassell and Com- 

 pany, 1900.) 



Dr. Luff's " Introduction to the Study of Chemistry,'' 

 which has been well known to medical students for the 

 past eight years, has been completely revised by Mr. 

 Page, who has also incorporated such new facts and 

 methods as the research work of these years has made 

 necessary. The plan of the book is of a kind which 

 was more familiar twenty years ago. No instructions 

 for experiments to be performed by the student himself 

 are included, except in the short concluding section of 

 the volume, which provides tables for the examination 

 of chemical substances containing one metal and one 

 acid, and includes some half-dozen pages on the pre- 

 paration of a few typical compounds. The book will 

 probably continue to be useful in assisting medical 

 students to pass their examinations ; but it is unlikely 

 to be adopted for any other purpose. So much ground 

 is covered in the little volume that in parts it is little 

 more than a dictionary. 



Dictionary of the Lepcha Language. Compiled by the 

 late General G. B. Mainwaring. Revised and com- 

 pleted by Albert Griinwedel. Pp. xvi -f- 552. (Printed 

 and published by order of H.M. Secretary of State for 

 India, 1898.) 

 The preservation of the language of a dying race is a 

 duty which ought never to be neglected. The late General 

 Mainwaring had an intimate acquaintance with the 

 language of the Lepchas of the Sikkim and Darjiling 

 hills, and published a grammar of it in 1876. He als» 

 collected the materials for a dictionary, but death pre- 

 vented him from completing it. To Dr. Griinwedel 

 was entrusted the task of preparing this work for press, 

 and he has found it a very difficult one. The whole of 

 the manuscripts had to be rewritten and rearranged, and 

 many new definitions had to be added. Errors and dis- 

 crepancies are inseparable from a dictionary of an 

 Indian language commenced by an Englishman, com- 

 pleted by a German, and printed by printers who under- 

 stand neither Lepcha nor English ; but they will be 

 overlooked if the difficulties the editor has had to 

 contend with, and the permanent value of the work, 

 are considered. 



