July 3, 1884] 



NA TURE 



2I 5 



seen from the character of his researches, which deal for 

 the most part with questions of minute structure and 

 development, that he combines unusual power of close 

 observation with originality of treatment and wide know- 

 ledge of methods. These qualities, together with a clear 

 style of exposition, are those most needful for the produc- 

 tion of a handbook for the guidance of students in the 

 botanical laboratory : and the result does not disappoint 

 the expectations of those who have been awaiting the 

 appearance of Prof. Strasburger's volume. 



The 600 pages of which the book consists are printed 

 partly in large, partly in small, type, the former being in- 

 tended for the beginner, the latter for the use of more 

 advanced students. The whole is divided into thirty-four 

 lessons, corresponding to the number of practical demon- 

 strations habitually given in the course of one semester 

 in a German University. But, as the author freely admits 

 in his preface, it is not assumed that a detailed study of 

 the objects named in one lesson could be made in the 

 time during which one demonstration lasts ; it is, however, 

 stated that the time would usually suffice to give the 

 student a general idea of the most important points. 

 With due deference to Prof. Strasburger, in this admission 

 lies the weak point in the book ; if such a system as this 

 be adopted with students on their first entrance into the 

 botanical laboratory, and if the work be so presented to 

 them that it should appear to them desirable rather to 

 hurry through the study of a number of objects than to 

 pay closer attention to a few, the result would naturally 

 be the encouragement of a superficial style of observa- 

 tion ; this method is not at all consistent with that usually 

 adopted by German professors, and our experience as 

 teachers on this side of the Channel does not lead us to 

 approve of it. If, however, the student be not limited in 

 respect of time, he would by carefully and successfully 

 working through the course, both of large and small type, 

 laid down for him, find himself at the end of it an accom- 

 plished laboratory botanist, well fitted to strike out a line 

 of research for himself. 



After giving a short introductory description of the 

 microscope itself, and a list of makers and prices, Prof 

 Strasburger leads the student on by gradual steps, from 

 the observation of starch-grains and their reactions, to 

 the more complete study of the cell, with its included 

 bodies, special attention being paid to the plastids and 

 their various modifications. Having thus become ac- 

 quainted with the general morphology of the cell, he is 

 introduced to the study of tissues, the epidermis with its 

 appendages being taken first, and subsequently the vas- 

 cular bundles and surrounding tissues, as seen succes- 

 sively in the axis, root, and leaf; the constituent elements 

 of these several tissues in the mature condition are made 

 the subject of detailed observation. It is to be remarked, 

 however, that little attention is paid to the comparative 

 study of the course of the vascular bundles in the shoot, 

 and the methods of its investigation ; it is true that on 

 I PP- 282-303 this subject is dealt with in small type, but 

 even there the treatment is almost entirely confined to 

 the modifications of arrangement at the point of transition 

 from stem to root ; thus the student who works through 

 the large type only will gain a very complete knowledge 

 of the details of structure of the vascular bundle in various 

 types of plants, while his knowledge of the arrangement 



of the whole bundle-systems in those plants may be very 

 limited. 



This course of study of the tissues of the vascular 

 plants in the mature condition having occupied eighteen 

 chapters, the 19th and 20th are devoted to a comparative 

 investigation of the structure of growing points of stems 

 and roots, and the development of tissues, while later 

 chapters deal successively with the structure of the vege- 

 tative organs of the Mosses and of various forms among 

 the Thallophytes. In Chapters XXIV.-XXXII. Prof. 

 Strasburger treads upon ground which is peculiarly his 

 own, and brings before the student in succession various 

 examples illustrating the reproductive processes in plants, 

 starting from the lower forms, and proceeding to those of 

 higher organisation. In the concluding chapter he illus- 

 trates the processes of nuclear- and cell-division by means 

 of examples already familiar to those who have followed 

 his brilliant researches in this quarter. 



The whole book thus forms a compendious and, in- 

 cluding the small type, a very complete course of 

 instruction for the student in the botanical laboratory. 

 Throughout the text ample information is given as to 

 methods of treatment, and the use of reagents ; and this 

 information is drawn together and made accessible by 

 1 special index (No. III.). Of the other indices, 

 which form a most valuable addition to the work, the first 

 refers to the names of the plants investigated, and the 

 second to the instruments used, while, finally, No. IV. is a 

 general index to names, reagents, and apparatus. 



Prof. Strasburger has treated the question as to the 

 advisability of placing drawings of the objects under in- 

 vestigation before the student in the laboratory in a truly 

 characteristic manner. He has illustrated his book by 

 182 woodcuts, all of which have been specially prepared 

 for this work. Whatever may be our views as to the 

 effect of the use of such figures on the student, these, 

 being drawn in Prof. Strasburger's well-known style, con- 

 stitute in themselves a most welcome addition to the 

 figures hitherto published. 



There can be no doubt that among senior students and 

 teachers this book will be appreciated as its great merits 

 deserve; and that it will henceforward be an indispensable 

 item in the furniture of the botanical laboratory. But, as 

 may be gathered from what has been said above, it is no 

 book for the cramming student ; time must be allowed, 

 and even more time than its author seems to realise, if 

 full advantage is to be reaped from the course laid dowa 

 For this reason it is to be feared that it will not be so 

 popular among our junior students as with those who are 

 in a position to judge better of its value. F. O. B. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

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Chalk and the "Origin and Distribution of Deep-Sea 

 Deposits " 

 In ■' I' ler <>( Mr. Starkie Gardner's in the last number of 

 Naturi (p ig 2 ), he stated that my opinion as to the Chalk 



