Dec. 24, 1 8 74] 



NA TURE 



147 



entered as o, and a sky completely covered with cloud as 

 10. The number of days at the various stations at 

 which " a measurable quantity of rain fell," are given in 

 Table xxx. The exact amount of rain constituting a 

 rainy day should in future be stated. In Great Britain 

 only those days on which at least o'or inch falls are 

 regarded as " rainy days." We are glad to see that 

 Symons' gauges (5-in. diam.) are adopted — this being the 

 gauge best suited for general introduction — and that the 

 height is a foot above the ground. 



We have long been convinced that for a first satis- 

 factory scientific discussion of some of the more difficult 

 problems of the science we must look for the data of 

 observation to India, with its splendid variety of climates, 

 exposures, and abrupt mountain ranges and isolated 

 peaks. The chief of these questions are, the variations 

 in the daily march of temperature as dependent on 

 season, latitude, height, and situation, both maritime and 

 inland ; the hourly barometric fluctuations (of which so 

 little is really known), particularly as influenced by strong 

 insolation, vapour, cloud, aqueous precipitation, and 

 height either on extended plateaus or on hills rising 

 abruptly from the plains ; and the vital question of 

 atmospheric humidity, to put which on a proper footing 

 as regards hot dry climates, laboratory experiments 

 being all but worthless, recourse must be had to extensive 

 observations and experiments conducted under such con- 

 ditions as are presented by the scorching climate of the 

 Punjab. In the further development of Indian and general 

 meteorology, the establishment of a Physical Observatory 

 in the Punjab is urgently called for, as being, in truth, 

 indispensable for the prosecution of these and other 

 physical researches. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



A Year's Botany, adapted to Home and School Use. By 

 Frances Anna Kitchener. Illustrated by the Author. 

 (Rivingtons : London, Oxford, and Cambridge, 1S74.) 

 This unpretending little book is one that is sure to find 

 its way wherever Natural Science is taught in the only 

 way in which it is worth teaching, as a training for both 

 the observing powers and the reasoning faculties. The 

 greater part appeared originally in the MontJily Packet, 

 and has been reprinted with additions at the request of 

 friends more discriminating than is usually the case under 

 such circumstances. We know of no book which we 

 could more safely and confidently place in the hands of 

 young people as their first guide to a knowledge of 

 botany. The illustrations are from drawings from nature 

 by the authoress, and are a pleasing change from those 

 which have already done duty in so many text-books. 



The following sentence, from the first chapter, illustrates 

 the mode in which the writer conveys her instruction : — 

 " But first I must beg that my readers will give me a fair 

 trial ; that they will pick the flowers described, and 

 examine them while they read the description ; and that 

 they will trace every law, arrangement, and peculiarity in 

 their living illustrations. Sometimes these may not be 

 seen at the first glance, or even in the first specimen, but 

 they must pick fresh flowers, look and look again, and 

 take nothing upon tiiist, remembering that one of the 

 chief lessons botany has to teach is how to use both eye 

 and hand." Several typical flowers are then taken — the 

 buttercup, wall-flower, cucumber or vegetable marrow, 

 gorse, garden-pea, and primrose, and the various parts of 

 each described in ordinary language, without the use of 

 any technical terms. To these succeed separate chapters 



"On Flowers with Simple Pistils," "On Flowers with Com- 

 pound Pistils," " On Flowers with Apocarpous Fruits," "On 

 Flowers with Syncarpous Fruits," and " Oa Stamens and 

 the Morphology of Branches." To each chapter is pre- 

 fixed a list of specimens which will be required to enable 

 the student to follow for himself the writer's analysis ; the 

 descriptions are given in an extremely easy and lucid style, 

 a few of the commonest scientific terms — but as few as 

 possible — being gradually substituted for the colloquial 

 English phrases at first employed. A sufficient acquaint- 

 ance having then been obtained with themorphology of the 

 more conspicuous organs, and their functions at the same 

 time explained, the phenomena of nutrition, respiration, 

 and fertilisation, and the structure of tissues, are described 

 in chapters " On Fertilisation," " On Seeds," •' On Early 

 Growth and Food of Plants," "On Wood, Stems, and 

 Roots," and " On Leaves." A chapter is then given to 

 classification, to which is appended some useful tables 

 of the characters of the more important orders ; and this 

 is followed by two or three chapters devoted to a few of 

 the more important natural orders, and intended to serve 

 as an introduction to the mode of naming plants. The 

 most commonly used technical terms which have not been 

 employed in the work itself are explained in an appendix, 

 in which the wants of students preparing for the University 

 Local Examinations have been kept in view. 



The mistaken plan on which many botanical text-books 

 have been compiled is so largely answerable for the horror 

 in which the subiect is held by candidates for examina- 

 tion who endeavour to cram facts and technical terms in 

 an incredibly short space of time, without an attempt at 

 practical work, and in the end fail miserably, that we 

 cordially welcome an attempt to place the study on its 

 true footing. We entirely concur in the view of the writer, 

 that to this false method is due the fact that " Botany is 

 so often stigmatised as a dry, uninteresting study ; " an 

 opinion which would speedily disappear were her mode of 

 instruction in general use in the family and the school. 

 Mrs. Kitcheners "A Year's Botany" seems to us admir- 

 ably adapted for the purpose which she had in view in 

 publishing it, and we heartily desire for it a large circu- 

 lation. A. W. B. 



Dental Pathology and Snidery. By S. J. A. Salter 

 F.R.S. (London : Longmans, Green, and Co., 1874.) 



There is much in dental surgery besides the simple 

 e>:traction of teeth, and it is to the consideration of the 

 science of dental pathology that Mr. Salter devotes most 

 of the work under notice. The introductory chapters 

 treat shortly of structure and function, development being 

 left out of consideration. An excellent diagram explains 

 the relation of the tongue to the different parts of the 

 mouth during the pronunciation of the various letters of 

 the alphabet, which latter is arranged on a physiological 

 basis, dependent on the situation of the point of closure 

 by which the sound is produced, upon the completeness 

 or incompleteness of the closure, and upon whether the 

 breathing is soft or aspirate. To the purely physiological 

 student the chapter on irregularities in the position and 

 union of contiguous teeth will be of particular interest ; 

 as will the instances given of defects in their number 

 depending on hereditary causes, and on alopoecia ; to 

 which we may add the peculiar deficiency always con- 

 nected with the excessive development of hair over the 

 f ice, as in the Russian man and child who so recently 

 visited this country. The differentiation off from pure 

 surgery of a class of tumours which, before Mr. Salter's 

 investigations, were considered to belong to the bones 

 themselves, and which, as odontomes, are now known to 

 be composed of secondary dentine, will be specially in- 

 structive to the pathologist, as will the question of reflex 

 nervous phenomena, such as partial paralysis and blind- 

 ness, from the irritation of a diseased tooth. A full and 

 \ery instructive account is also given of " phosphorus 



