June i6, 1904] 



NATURE 



149 



the German student. Also, in a general text-book, a 

 studv of the common finer adaptations of the parts of 

 the plant machine to one another and to ordinary con- 

 ditions of environment, i.e. general morphology and 

 physiology, should certainly not be sacrificed to a 

 study of the almost endless variety of special, grosser 

 adaptations by which plants fit themselves to special 

 conditions of life. 



The book is certainly a marvellous example of 

 German publishing, for it has 600 pages of good paper, 

 597 very good figures in the text, 36 fairly satisfactory 

 coloured plates, and the whole is well bound in 

 serviceable and artistic cloth covers; yet the cost is 

 onlv 8 marks. In no other book can so much valuable 

 botanical information be obtained at so cheap a price. 



V. H. B. 



k SYSTEM OF GEOGRAPHICAL 

 CLASSIFICATION. 

 Katalog der Bibliothek der Gesellschaft der Erdkitnde 

 cii Berlin. Versuch einer Systematik der geo- 

 graphischen Liferatur. Bearbeitet von Dr. Paul 

 Dinse. Pp. xxvii + 925. (Berlin : Mittler und Sohn, 

 1903.) Price 12 marks. 

 J XTENDED primarily as an index to the contents 

 of the library of the Berlin Geographical Society, 

 I his catalogue will be of service to a far wider circle 

 than is constituted by the members of that body. 

 While forming probably the best guide that has yet 

 appeared to the literature of geography in general (for 

 few works of real geographical importance will be 

 found to be excluded), it does a second and no less 

 important service in the direction of a classification of 

 geography, a service of especial value in the present 

 stage of the development of the science. 



Dr. Dinse, who is himself both a geographer and 

 librarian, has evidently bestowed much thought and 

 pains on the elaboration of the system adopted, and 

 the general result is thoroughly satisfactory. The 

 whole arrangement of the body of the work is a subject 

 one, all the purposes of an authors' catalogue being 

 at the same time supplied by the alphabetical index, 

 which has been kept within small compass by a 

 judicious abbreviation of titles. In the rest of the 

 work the compiler has wisely eliminated the alpha- 

 betical arrangement, the fetters of which too often mar 

 the usefulness of attempts at subject classification. 

 Two main divisions are laid down at the outset, the 

 first concerned with the wider and more general 

 aspects of geography, the second with the topo- 

 graphical subdivisions of the earth's surface. A glance 

 at the schedule of classification for the former category 

 shows in a striking way the great development of 

 geographical science within recent years, the subject- 

 matter being divided into no fewer than eleven main 

 divisions, most of them in turn subdivided into groups 

 of the second, third or fourth order. It may possibly 

 be thought that this minute subdivision militates 

 against facility of reference, as few bibliographical 

 items are of so restricted a scope as to belong definitely 

 to one ultimate subdivision only. But this objection 

 has to a certain extent been met by a duplication of 

 NO. 1807, VOL. 70] 



entries. Of the eleven main headings, that denoted 

 " general physical geography " is naturally the most 

 comprehensive, while of its eight subdivisions, the last, 

 or " geomorphology," is perhaps the most important 

 as dealing with what may be regarded as the kernel of 

 the whole science. On the whole, the groups are 

 logically and clearly defined, though it is perhaps in- 

 evitable that the boundaries should occasionally lack 

 this character of precision. It is not easy, e.g., to draw 

 a hard and fast line between geophysics and geo- 

 morphology, for both seismology and vulcanism might, 

 from one point of view, be rather grouped with the 

 former than (as is done by Dr. Dinse) with the latter. 

 Again, the reason for the order adopted is sometimes 

 not quite apparent. Thus historical topography 

 (Landerkunde) seems separated by a needlessly wide 

 interval from the history of geographical science in 

 general. But such difficulties are no doubt insepar- 

 able from any attempt at a linear arrangement of 

 mutually inter-related groups. In the topographical 

 section political divisions are necessarily taken as a 

 basis, but others of a more elastic nature, in part based 

 on physical factors, have been wisely introduced along- 

 side of the former. 



It should be mentioned that the catalogue deals not 

 with books only, but with the contents of a certain 

 number of series or collections, besides including the 

 titles of a large number of separate copies (" Sonder- 

 abdriicke ") of articles in geographical periodicals. 



E. H. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 The Sporting Dog. By J. A. Graham. American 



Sportsman's Library. Pp. x + 327; illustrated. 



(New York : The Macmillan Co. ; London : Mac-. 



millan and Co., Ltd., 1904.) Price 8s. 6d. net. 

 Quite apart from its interest to the class for whom it 

 is primarily intended (and to whose requirements it 

 appears in every way admirably suited), this volume 

 appeals strongly to the naturalist and to the student of 

 variation. Despite certain pretensions (of which the 

 author makes very short work) of some of them to 

 derivation from "native breeds," American sport- 

 ing dogs, other than mongrels, are admittedly derived 

 from English stocks, but their new environment, and 

 the different conditions under which they are employed, 

 have in all cases, except that of the greyhound, caused 

 them to display considerable variation from the parent 

 type. It is the author's description of these vari- 

 ations which will cause his volume to have a consider- 

 able interest and value to the naturalist. 



"It is foxhounds and shooting dogs," writes Mr. 

 Graham in his introductory chapter, " which have 

 become, under American conditions, something essen- 

 tially different from what the British sportsmen estab- 

 lished and have maintained as filling their conceptions 

 of utility and good looks. Reduced to the simplest 

 terms, the change wrought over here comes to this : 

 the dry climate of extreme temperatures, the nature 

 of the ground and game, and the methods of hunting 

 the fo.x and shooting game birds cause the survival of 

 the fittest to proceed in the direction of a faster, lighter, 

 more enduring animal ; perhaps not more sensitive of 

 nose, but quicker in the reffexes of judgment and 

 action which are the sequences of scent." 



In a word, pace and the capacity to act on his own 

 initiative, rather than as a member of a pack, are the 



