;oo 



NA TURE 



[July 



1 901 



sleeps through a lecture on the preparations of morphia 

 of the British Pharmacopceia. Such intellectual juggling 

 gives the student an acquaintance with the jargon of 

 science, but of scientific method and scientific spirit it 

 most assuredly teaches him nothing. 



Every text-book of practical physiology must neces- 

 sarily be written primarily to suit the requirements of a 

 particular laboratory and a particular teacher, smce the 

 types of instrument used in different laboratories vary 

 much, and the selection of experiments chosen by different 

 teachers is also a very variable quantity. Prof Porter's 

 book has been written to suit the requirements of the 

 Harvard course, and a number of the instruments de- 

 scribed have been devised by himself for that course and 

 with a special view of combining economy with efficiency. 

 In nearly all cases, however, the experiments described 

 can easily be adapted to the forms of apparatus used in 

 this country, and the directions are clear and easily 

 followed. 



The large number of simple sketches showing the 

 student how to arrange his apparatus is a novel and 

 important feature of the book. This is a great improve- 

 ment on the usual photographs of apparatus seen in most 

 text-books of practical physiology hitherto published, 

 which are of no service, because the student sefes the 

 apparatus on the laboratory table before him, and on the 

 reproductions of tracings, which have little value, since 

 the student obtains copies for himself in the course of 

 his work. In all cases in this book the illustrations are 

 designed to aid the student in understanding what he is 

 asked to do, and are not intended merely for ornament, 

 although they are, at the same time, well drawn and 

 reproduced. 



The book is divided into two parts, of which the first 

 . treats of the physiology of nerve and muscle, and the 

 second of the circulation of the blood. The first section 

 is much the longer of the two, and includes many e.x- 

 periments which are not usually attempted in this country 

 by the student, but are nevertheless well within his 

 power and very instructive ; as e.xamples of this may be 

 cited, the stimulation of involuntary muscle, polar stimu- 

 lation of the heart, galvanotropism, the effect of calcium 

 salts upon skeletal muscle, idioniuscular contraction, 

 summation of inadequate stimuli, and the stroboscopic 

 method of demonstrating the action current of tetanus. 

 The second section, although shorter, also contains 

 several experiments hitherto novel to the usual student's 

 course. 



On the whole, it may be said that the book is clearly 

 written in an original style, and is a welcome departure 

 from the hackneyed treatment of practical physiology 

 which is usually presented to the student. 



Benj-\min Moore. 



AN AMERICAN INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY. 



Plant Studies. An Elcmentaiy Botany. By John M. 



Coulter, A.M., Ph.D., Head of Department of Botany, 



University of Chicago. Pp. vii-1-39^- (London: 



Henry Kimpton, 1901.) Price ys. 6d. net. 



■taR. COULTER'S work is one of the kind now in 



L) fashion, as it is a text-book for beginners that deals 



argely with the bionomics or oecology of plants. The 



NO. 1656, VOL, 64] 



study of cecology is, beyond doubt, of value to beginners in 

 that it immediately establishes a sympathetic interest in 

 the plant as a living organism, which has wants to satisfy, 

 a policy to pursue and warfare to wage. Yet a scientific 

 survey of a plant's life in relation to environment is, in 

 most respects, possible only after a thorough investiga- 

 tion into the physiology and structure of many plants ; 

 in other words, an cecological truth is rarely susceptible 

 of brief and simple proof Consequently, in placing this 

 branch of the subject before the student at the outset of 

 his studies there is always a danger of cramming the 

 beginner with principles of which no adequate proofs are 

 given, or indeed possible at that stage. In a work of 

 small size like the one before us it was impossible for the 

 author to give proofs of more than a few principles, and 

 he has elected to lay stress rather upon the illustration 

 of principles than upon their accurate demonstration. 

 The work is therefore hardly adapted to serve as an 

 introduction to scientific botany for the use of students 

 working without a teacher's aid ; nor does Dr. Coulter 

 intend that it should so serve ; he states definitely that 

 the book is intended to supplement the teacher, the 

 laboratory and field-work. 



The first 220 pages are concerned in the consideration 

 of the general cecology of plants and of special 

 "societies" (hydrophytes, mesophytes and xerophytes). 

 Though the views expressed are for the most part those 

 to be found in the works of Kerner, Warming and 

 Schimper, there are not wanting cases in which the 

 author enunciates views that are unwarranted ; for 

 instance, very dubious in relation to the protection of 

 flowers is the significance of the water reservoirs of the 

 teasel and of Bi/l'crxia (p. 136). Lacking in proof, too, 

 is the statement, " In certain parts of the tropics the air 

 is so moist that it is possible for some plants to obtain 

 sufficient moisture from this source, without any soil- 

 relation or water-relation'' (p. 98). On p. 123 the term 

 cross-pollination is made to include geitonogamy despite 

 of the different physiological effects of the two processes. 

 While arousing interest and stimulating a certain kind 

 of intelligent observation, the book hardly encourages 

 close reasoning or accurate language. It is ever a 

 question as to when the rigid precision of technical terms 

 may give place to vague elasticity of more familiar 

 language. And in this respect the author can hardly be 

 congratulated. Such expressions as " earth influence ' 

 (in relation to geotropism), " light influence" (in relation 

 to heliotropism), " soil roots," " water roots," " air roots," 

 " soil-related," " leaf-related," " light-relation," " life-rela- 

 tion," "life-process," "seed plants," though strongly 

 reminiscent of the Fatherland, hardly seem to be im- 

 provements either on ordinary English or on appropriate 

 technical e.xpressions. At times, indeed, it is not easy 

 to grasp the meaning of some of the sentences ; for 

 instance, after telling us that a root "is either an ab- 

 sorbent organ or a holdfast, or very often both,' the 

 author continues, " For such work no light-relation is 

 necessary, as in the case of foliage leaves ; and there is 

 no leaf-relation, as in the case of stems " Tp- 89)- 



The latter half of the book briefly considers selected 

 groups of crvptogams, and gives an outline of the general 

 characters of "flowering plants," which last Dr. Coult 

 terms " spermatophytes." 



