74 
WA RORE 
[ NoveMBER 26, 1896 
Joseph Banks, surprisingly little, as his editor points out, 
that whilst he was energetic in his correspondence and 
methodical in his records of the scientific observations 
he made, and always ready to help others in their work, 
he himself must have had a dislike to printer’s proofs 
and preparing his papers for the press. To whatever 
cause we ascribe his action or inaction (and whether we 
shall ever know the real inwardness of the matter, seems 
now doubtful, owing to the dispersion of so much of his 
correspondence), the fact remains that “ five folio books 
of neat manuscript, and the coppers of about 7oo plates 
of plants rest in the hands of the British Museum 
Trustees ”—the botanical results of the voyage of the 
Endeavour ; a monument of energetic labour, skill, and 
knowledge, and all lost to science. 
last before us. 
With the death of Banks no better fate immediately 
awaited his journal. Robert Brown, unable to write the 
life of Banks as he intended, had the materials for this, 
including the journal, transferred to Mr. Dawson Turner, 
maternal grandfather of Sir Joseph Hooker, who caused 
a transcription to be made of the journal, but did not 
bring out the life. Subsequently, the task of writing the 
life not having been accomplished, the papers reached 
the British Museum, whence, however, they were claimed 
by the Peer, the representative of the Hugessen family, 
to which Banks’s wife belonged, fortunately, however, 
not before the Dawson Turner transcript of the journal 
had been lodged in the Botanical Department of the 
Natural History Museum at South Kensington. A 
haggling over a price for the documents appears to have 
ensued between the British Museum and the Peer pos- 
sessor, and in the result the whole collection of papers 
was sold off by auction in London, bringing in the sum 
of £182 19s.! Noblesse oblige!’ Well may Mr. 
Carruthers, in a letter to the editor, speak of this story 
as a distressing one. Sir Joseph Hooker has been able 
to trace the original document of the journal to Australia; 
but had the publication depended upon this, we should 
still have been in ignorance of the merits of Banks’s 
work. Fortunately there was the transcript left in this 
country, which has enabled the editor to bring out the 
welcome volume before us. If the barque of Banks’s 
reputation has suffered on the rocks of neglect or ignor- 
ance in the past, it is fortunate that so distinguished a 
pilot as the present editor-—heir likewise as he was to a 
portion of the equipment prepared by Banks for the 
second voyage (p. 27, note)—has taken it in hand, placing 
it beyond further danger. The appearance of the journal 
will undoubtedly achieve the primary aims of the editor 
in his self-appointed task. 
As a narrative the journal is full of charm. It comes 
before us, old as it is, with all the freshness of first im- 
The journal is at 
pression. Familiar as much of what is told has now 
become through the writings of later travellers and 
modern facilities for globe-trotting, there is an unstrained 
interest attaching to scenes depicted by one who, almost 
in touch with the present generation, yet is able to de- 
scribe Cape Town while it was still a Dutch settlement, 
and Mauritius was as yet the Isle of France, who 
sailed round New Zealand and determined it to be an 
island, and who tells us of people and places before all- 
levelling civilisation had removed the landmarks of 
NO, 1413, VOL. 55 | 
natural evolution. The journal throughout abounds in 
evidences of Banks’s keenness of observation and ardent 
devotion to scientific investigation ; and whilst the bulk 
of itis descriptive, there are not wanting shrewd reflec- 
tions and comments to show that problems of distribu- 
tion and adaptation, the discussion of which gives zest 
to so many of the modern books of scientific travel, 
engaged the mind of the last-century naturalist. It is 
not necessary for the purpose of this notice, and it would 
take us too far, were we to follow with comments the 
narrative of the expedition ; suffice it that we say the 
guarantee implied in the names of author and editor is 
not belied. 
Of the adjuncts to the journal in its present guise—we 
have already spoken in praise of the narrative of Banks's 
life by the editor—there is also to be commended an 
admirable life of Dr. Solander, contributed by Mr. 
Daydon Jackson ; andaseries of notices of early voyagers 
and naturalists, compiled by Mr. Reginald Hooker, is a 
useful guide. Finally, excellent reproductions by pho- 
tography of the portraits of Banks and Solander in the 
collections of the Royal and Linnean Societies, re- 
spectively, help to give attractiveness to this most 
delightful book of voyage. 
THREE NEW BOOKS ON HISTOLOGY. 
Handbuch Gewebelehre der Menschen. Von A. 
Koelliker. 6te Auflage, Erster Band, pp. 409, 1889 : 
Zweiter Band, Erste Halfte, pp. 372, 1893; Zweiter 
Band, Zweite Halfte, pp. 4oo, 1896, (Leipzig: Engel- 
mann.) , 
Lehrbuch der Histologie der Menschen, einschliesslich der 
mikroskopischen Technik. Von A. Bohm und M. 
von Davidoff. Pp. 404. (Wiesbaden: J. Bergmann, 
1895. 
Lehrbuch der vergleichenden mikroskopischen Anatomie 
der Wirbelthiere. Von Albert Oppel. Erster Theil, 
Der Magen. Pp. 543. (Jena: Fischer, 1896.) 
Wh place the classical treatise of the famous Wiirzburg 
professor in a list of new books on histology, must 
at once strike all readers who have any acquaintance with 
that science as manifestly absurd. Is not this the book 
from whose stores of knowledge our predecessors in the 
teaching of the subject drew so largely, and which has 
served ever since as the foundation upon which modern 
histology has been built? Is not this the book, the 
translation of which by Busk and Huxley, under the 
auspices of the Sydenham Society, rendered the names 
both of its author and of its translators familiar to a'‘long 
past generation of students ? 
Whilst to these interrogatories an affirmative answer 
must be given, none the less is it true that the book 
before us is to all intents and purposes a mew book, 
giving us a presentation of the most recent advances in 
histology, either based upon or confirmed by the careful 
personal work of its author, whilst still being founded 
upon, and an amplification of, the important works, 
“Mikroskopische Anatomie” and ‘“ Handbuch der 
Gewebelehre,” the appearance of which in the early fifties 
at once placed their author upon the topmost pinnacle of 
histological science. In turning over the leaves of this 
edition we cannot fail to recognise many an old familiar 
der 
