¥ 
chief settlement in U kawendi, and the objective point 
of Mr. Stanley’s return-route from the lake with Living- 
_ stone is not to be found. The spellings of map and book 
- are accompanied by a page of elaborate drawings. 
are frequently at variance. 
- Two chapters of geographical and ethnological remarks 
may have some value to the student, but do not appear to 
_add much to the exhaustive descriptions of Burton in his 
“ Lake Regions.” 
_ Mr. Stanley gives very minute and apparently accurate 
descriptions of the various fishes of Tanganyika, and these 
It is 
unfortunate, however, that some of the fishes to which the 
same names are applied by Burton and Stanley do not 
agree in their dimensions ; thus, the AZ7voro, according to 
_ Burton, is “a long bony variety, in shape like a large 
_ mackerel ;” whilst Stanley’s AZ/vuro is a “thick fleshy 
fish, 18 inches long and 154 inches round the body.” 
_ The excellent chapter on the organisation of the expe- 
_ dition, in which Mr. Stanley gives to future explorers the 
benefit of his anxious study of the requirements of the 
expedition at starting, the native currency, quantities of 
cloth, beads, and wire necessary for the journey, the hire 
of native porters, and such like, deserves the highest com- 
mendation ; and the truth of his remark that “however 
Stay-at-home people may regard the merits of his book, 
the greatest praise and the greatest thanks will be be- 
stowed upon it by travellers who may succeed me in East 
Africa” is already on the point of being verified. 
a OUR BOOK SHELF 
Nachirdge su der Schrift tiber Inschriften und Zeichen in 
lebenden Bdumen, sowie iiber Maserbildung. Von 
Prof. H. K. Géppert. (Breslau: E. Morgenstern.) 
_ Pror. GOPPERT published in 1869 in the Fahrbuch des 
pendix, 
Schilesischen Forstvereins some observations on the singu- 
Jar inscriptions and other marks found within the stems 
of living trees, to which the present pamphlet is an ap- 
The original tract was illustrated by four litho- 
‘graphic plates, and in this publication we find two 
more, illustrating the mode in which injuries to the wood 
become entirely covered over and concealed by the sub- 
_ sequent formation of cambium and growth of bark. The 
visitor to the British Museum will observe some very 
curious instances of this phenomenon in the botanical de- 
partment, which possess the additional interest that the 
exact period is known when the inscriptions were made, 
and consequently the age of the subsequent overgrowth 
can be determined. 
Des Préparations MicroscopiguesTirées dv Regne Végétal, 
et des différents procédés a employer pour en assurer 
Ya conservation. Par Johannes Groénland, Maxime 
Cornu, et Gabriel Rivet. (Paris: F. Savy, London: 
Williams and Norgate.) 
_ OF the 75 pages of which this book consists, only the 
mr, 
last 25 properly relate to the subject which is indicated by 
the title ; all the rest are occupied by descriptions, of a 
very detailed and apparently accurate kind, of apparatus 
and various accessories to microscopic work, such as all 
but the most inexperienced are necessarily perfectly 
familiar with. A classification and account of the various 
_ kinds of turntables fills 8 pages at the beginning ; dia- 
monds and scalpels are afterwards treated of, with the 
method of sharpening the latter. A simple plan of 
mounting needles for dissection, which consists in in- 
_-serting their blunt ends into the pith cavity of pieces of 
fresh twigs cut of the properlengths, andthenallowed todry, 
and consequently shrink tightly upon them, will, no doubt, 
be found useful. The handles, however, for crochet-needles 
which are sold at berlin-wool shops achieve the same end by 
a simple mechanical contrivance. The triangular needles, 
bythe way, mentioned bythe authors, are known in England 
as glovers’ needles, and are kept by some instrument- 
makers. Microtomes are discussed very minutely ; they 
are, no doubt, very useful; but excellent sections are 
habitually made by those who use no contrivance of any 
kind. Imbedding in stearine is recommended in the 
case of Rivet’s most ingenious section cutter ; but when 
this is done it will be found that, with a little practice, the 
instrument can be quite dispensed with. It will hardly 
be worth while, therefore, for any one who wishes seriously 
to work at vegetable histology to expend 28 fr. upon it. A 
good hint is to coat the object to be cut with a thick solu- 
tion of gum-arabic, which is to be allowed to quite dry 
before putting it into the melted stearine, By this expe- 
dient, when the section is thrown into water as soon as 
cut, the stearine is said to detach itself, and gives no 
further trouble, The manufacture of a slide and covering 
glass (pronounced s/iade and coveur) requires an explana- 
tion of 16 pages. It is, perhaps, a doubtful compliment 
to find only the mechanical side of English microscopy 
getting any recognition. It may possibly be all we deserve ; 
still, no serious worker in England would waste his time 
in carrying out the directions given here for cutting, trim- 
ming, and polishing the edges of glass slips, which can be so 
easily purchased ready-made. Directions for making pre- 
servative solutions form the last chapter, and these are 
probably of some value. A medium prepared by adding 
4to 5 parts (by weight) of glacial acetic acid to 100 parts 
of distilled water, with which 2 parts of chloroform have 
been agitated for some time, is stated to preserve the 
endochrome of minute alge without contraction, and to 
have the enormous merit, when vegetable tissues are 
worked with, of absorbing bubbles of air. Another liquid, 
composed of 75 parts of water saturated with camphor, an 
equal quantity of distilled water, and 1 part of glacial acetic 
acid, is recommended in the warmest terms for the pre- 
servation of fresh water alge. A great deal still remains 
to be done in the methods of vegetable histology. Noone 
in England has probably as yet tried perosmic acid for 
plant tissues ; and staining, which has proved so important 
an aid to animal histologists, never enters into the minds of 
the authors, even to the extent of mentioning the familiar 
carmine ; much less the solution employed by Hanstein 
for colouring the cell-wall, consisting of equal parts of 
rosaniline (magenta) and aniline-violet (mauve) dissolved 
in alcohol.* Schulz’s process for demonstrating the “ in- 
tercellular substance” characteristically concludes what 
the authors have to say. On the whole, any person wish- 
ing to practise the preparation of vegetable microscopic 
objects merely as a matter of business on a large scale, 
will find it useful to possess this book, 
Wt. ds 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 
[ Zhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 
by his correspondents, No notice is taken of anonymous — 
communications. ] 
Ipecacuanha Cultivation at Kew 
I HAVE just received No. 158 of NATURE, containing Prof. 
Owen’s letter ‘On the National Herbarium.” In that letter 
Prof. Owen quotes several sentences relating to ipecacuanha cul- 
tivation in India from my last report for the official year ending 
March 31, 1872, on the Calcutta Botanical Garden, with the 
object of substantiating an insinuation of bad cultivation at Kew. 
He does not, however, quote the whole of what I wrote about 
ipecacuanha in the report referred to, and the result is, that a 
* Bot, Zeitung, 1868, p. 703. : 
+ 
