802 REVIEWS. 



inside position are mostly drawn from objects which have 

 a right and left of their own ; a building, for instance, has 

 a riarht and left side or wing because it has a front and a rear. 

 The right side of an assembly presided over by an officer who 

 faces the members is quite arbitrarily, but naturally, taken to 

 be that on the right of the chairman. But the right-hand 

 figures on a drawing or engraved plate are taken to be those 

 on the right hand of the observer, notwithstanding that the 

 plate, having face and back, has a right and left of its own. 



Chapter XV. refers to certain difficulties which grow out 

 of ambiguous terms of ordinary language ; for example, the 

 various meanings of the word (fin) end or purpose, and the 

 ambiguities in the use of the terms nature, natural, super- 

 natural (which lead off into philosophy, but are here treated 

 rather in reference to style of exposition) ; also the change 

 which has occurred in the scope of the word history in natural 

 science. 



Chapter XVI. is an interesting and pertinent one, upon the 

 manner in which facts observed under the microscope are 

 described, and on the great saving of space and advantage 

 in clearness which would be gained by the adoption, for all 

 matters perfectly capable of it, of the Linnsean descriptive 

 style, and of Linnsean Latin. Extracts from the German of 

 Schacht, the French of Payer, and the Italian of Gasparrini 

 are given, and by their side a rendering in descriptive Latin ; 

 and the words and letters are counted. The German specimen 

 so treated is diminished to considerably less than half the 

 number of words and a little less than half the number of 

 letters. The French simmers down to one third the number 

 of Latin words and less than half the number of letters ; and 

 in the French of descriptive botany to less than one half. 

 The Italian extract of 51 words and 256 letters is expressed 

 in Latin of the Linnsean form by 21 words and 127 letters. 



Style in botanical works is discussed in chapter XVIII., 

 which all young botanists should study, especially the portion 

 which treats of the admirable style of Linnaeus. In speaking 

 of botanical style in the modern languages, the author notices 

 the great advantage which the languages of Latin stock have 



