NA TURE 



[.November 20, 1902 



writings and the absurdly easy-going way in which many 

 physiologists deal with that adapliveness of response 

 which is the very essence of life. 



The kernel of the book is to be found in chapters vi. 

 and vii. of the second part, but the kernel is surrounded 

 by a hard stone. These two chapters (which Driesch 

 says " ich ganz besonders als mein Eigenthum ansehe ") 

 contain an analytic discussion of " form-regulations," an 

 excursus on the problem of heredity and an exposition of 

 the two proofs of the autonomy of vital processes Evi- 

 dences of the falsity of Weismann's theory of develop- 

 ment and theory of heredity — both of which Driesch 

 condemns as hopelessly materialistic — are thrown in. 

 The differentiation of harrr.oniously-equipotential systems 

 is the one foundation of "vitalism " ; the existence and 

 genesis of equipotential systems with complex potencies 

 is the other. Whether we study the development of a 

 sea-urchin ovum or the growth of a Tubularian fragment, 

 or regeneration in Planarians, or the potencies of cam- 

 bium, we are brought face to face with regulative phe- 

 nomena which put the most elaborate "machine-theory" 

 of life out of court and lead us to recognise " the auto- 

 nomy of vital processes." So far as we understand, it 

 simply comes to this, that the formulas of chemistry and 

 physics, as at present conceived, seem quite inadequate 

 for the scientific interpretation of the facts of life. 



J. Arthur Thomson. 



AN INDIAN POCKET-FLORA. 

 Forest Flora of the School Circle, N- IV. P. Being a 

 Descriptive List of the Indigenous Woody Plants of the 

 Saharanpur and Dehra Dun Districts and the Adjoining 

 Portion of the Tehri-Garhwal State in the North- 

 western Provinces, with Analyses. Compiled for the 

 Use of the Students of the Imperial Forest School, 

 Dehra Dun, by Upendranath Kanjilal, Extra-Assistant 

 Conservator of Forests. (Calcutta : Office of the 

 Superintendent of Government Printing, India, 1901.) 

 Price is. 



" T BELIEVE this to be the first botanical work of 

 J- any importance which has ever been prepared by 

 a native of India, and the Imperial Forest School may 

 well be proud of having educated at least one native 

 gentleman who has taken up botany as a study and 

 botanical work as a labour of love." So writes Mr. ]. S. 

 Gamble in his introduction to this useful pocket flora, 

 which is designed for the use of Indian students of 

 forestry. 



Following upon this introduction, in succession are the 

 author's preface, a brief glossary of botanical terms, a 

 general analytical table of the Phanerogamia, an analy- 

 tical key to the natural orders, accounts of the natural 

 orders, with analytical keys to the genera and species, 

 and descriptions of the latter, and, finally, indices to the 

 European, vernacular and botanical names. 



Even with the great aid of Sir Joseph Hooker's " Flora 

 of British India" and Sir Dietrich Brandis's "Forest 

 Flora of the North-West Province," it was no light 

 undertaking to prepare a pocket-flora containing the 

 required information. The author may, however, be 

 congratulated upon his execution of the task. 

 NO. 1725, VOL. 67] 



The greatest difficulty in compiling this work was, 

 doubtless, to select the subject-matter in such a manner 

 as to keep the book small in size, yet devoid of vague- 

 ness. The author has elected to give rather full descrip- 

 tions of the species, even including their vernacular 

 names, habitats, habits, timber structure, uses, times of 

 flowering, fruiting and leaf-shedding. The compression, 

 and hence uncertainty, has therefore fallen upon the 

 steps leading to the determination of the species, and 

 particularly upon the glossary and analytical keys. The 

 result is that the work, though extremely useful as a 

 pocket reminder and aid to students (for whom it is 

 intended), and for others possessing other guides, could 

 not be easily employed by a novice or amateur for the 

 determination of species. 



The glossary, in addition to being somewhat too com- 

 pressed, is occasionally somewhat obsolete, so that some 

 of the definitions, for instance "cone," "endosperm," 

 " lenticel," "moniliform," "prickle," "symmetrical," are 

 scarcely satisfactory. The term " gregarious," though 

 frequently used in the book, is not explained. In regard 

 to this term, its continued use in botanical works is some- 

 what unfortunate when the more accurate term " social " 

 is available. 



The very compressed table showing the general scheme 

 of classification is disfigured by one unnecessary and 

 serious error ; it divides flowering plants into Mono- 

 cotyledons and Dicotyledons, and the latter again into 

 Angiosperms and Gymnosperms ! 



In the key to the natural orders, the diagnostic 

 characters given evidently refer in particular to the 

 representatives in the flora described ; for instance, the 

 features given in reference to the Dipterocarpacea.- are, 

 that they belong to the Polypetalae, Thalami florae, and 

 possess a valvate, irregular calyx adnate to the ovary 

 and enlarged in the fruit ; again, the Tiliaceae are dis- 

 tinguished from the Sterculiaceae by the free condition 

 of their calyx. It is in this analytical table that some 

 additions would be especially useful, especially such as 

 facilitate identification in the absence of fruits. 



Similar additions might be made in the analytical keys 

 to genera and species. To take a specific case, the seven 

 genera of Conifera? — Taxus, Cupressus, Juniperus, Pinus, 

 Cedrus, Picea, Abies — are distinguished from one another 

 in this book primarily by the structure of their fruits. 

 A novice having a specimen without fruits consequently 

 could not take the first step towards identifying his 

 plant. Yet it is very easy to give a brief key showing 

 how to distinguish these seven genera by the arrange- 

 ment and form of their leaves. In this particular instance, 

 too, an especially good observer might well be puzzled 

 by the distinction in the analytical key between Picea 

 and Abies, the leaves of the former being described as 

 acicular and multifarious, whilst those of the latter are 

 said to be flat and bifarious. 



As regards the get-up and printing of the book, great 

 carelessness has been exhibited in the printing and 

 possibly in the revision of proof ; ugly curved lines of 

 words and displaced letters occur, but misprints abound 

 in glossary, tables, text, and in names of all kinds. 



The defects of the book, therefore, are for the most 

 part minor or matters of opinion, whereas its merits are 

 great ; and, as Mr. Gamble writes, " I am confident 



