146 



NA TURI-: 



[Decemukk 15, iS( 



Drahmans, contending! 'ha' tliey have not systematically 

 cultivated leal■nin^,^ and that tliey have not made any 

 appreciable progress in its pursuit, is absolutely false in 

 the liyht of our present Uno\vlecl^;c of Sanskrit literature. 

 A mass of scientific literature (on grammar, astronomy, 

 medicine, philosophy) is there to contradict such a 

 statement. 



The Abbd's knowledge of Huddhisiii is derived from 

 very secondary sources — evidently from accounts given 

 by the most passionateopponentsof the lUiddhists. Hence 

 he speaks of "this orlious dorlrine" of "pure ma- 

 terialism," and of "this abominable school" (p. 4 15) with 

 utter contempt. Had he known liuddhism from its own 

 literature, and been able to ac(|u:iint himself with Buddhist 

 ethics, or had he known only the older and purer Sanskrit 

 literature (which, indeed, in his days was scarcely ac- 

 cessible), liis judgment of the moral character of the 

 Hindus would probably have been less partial, and his 

 picture of the Hindus as a nation would have shown 

 brighter features than is the case now. 



The editor and translator has performed his task very 

 creditably. We should only have wishe<l that the .Sanskrit 

 quotations had been given in a more correct form, and a 

 more modern spelling of the Sankrit names and terms 

 substituted for the spelling used by the Abbe. The index 

 (of six p.'iges to 724 pages of text !) is rather too meagre 

 for a work of such an extent, and treating on such a 

 variety of subjects. But these are minor faults in a 

 work for which every Indologist and ICthnologist will be 

 thankful. M. Winikrnitz. 



1-OSSIL PLANTS. 

 Fossil Plants for Students of Potnny and Gcolof^y. By 

 A. C. Seward, M.A., F.R.S., F.(;.S. Vol.* i. Pp. 

 xviii+452. (Cambridge University I'rcss, 1898.) 



TlHi botanical side of palseontology has been passed 

 over in general treatises and text-books in a manner 

 that shows the authors liad little, if any, personal know- 

 ledge of fossil plants. This has been due to the want of 

 any trustworthy elementary manual on the subject. Mr. 

 Seward's admirable book, of which only the first volume 

 is published, will supply this want. Though addressed 

 to students of botany and geology, it must be regarded 

 mainly as a guide to paleobotany for the benefit of the 

 former, since no one not well versed in bot.iny could follow 

 the technical descriptions of such structures, for example) 

 .as the Calamites. On the other hand, introductory 

 chapters on geology and the conditions under which 

 fossil plants are preserved, enable the botanical student 

 to read the book with no previous study of geology. 



Mr. .Seward, while not going so far as the late Prof. 

 Williamson, who would diagnose no fossil [ilant which 

 did not exhibit internal structiue, lays great stress on the 

 pitfalls in the way of those who have to determine fossil 

 plants in which no structure is preserved. The group of 

 jointed stems on p. 9;;, belonging to I'ryptogams, Ciymno- 

 sperms. Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons, is scarcely a 

 happy illustration of the danger of trusting to superficial 

 resemblances, since hardly any one at the present day 

 would be likely to base determinations on such materia! 

 without collateral evidence. In collecting and studying 

 fossil floras, if these are at all extensive, it is easy to 

 NO. 1520, VOL. 59] 



perceive whether they are from damp or dry station 

 from temperate or warm climates, and so on ; and si ■ 

 consitlerations would materially help in ascertainu 

 whether Ktjuisetum or Casuarina and hZphedra would I 

 likely to be present. The worker, however, is raf 

 obliged to rely on isolated leaves or twigs, and an r 

 amination of the matted masses in which Equisctum 

 usually fossilised, is convincing as to the real nature ■ 

 the plants. In dealing with late Cretaceous and Tertii.i 

 plants it may be well to remember that continental flor.: 

 now held to be indigenous to certain regions, have An 

 merly been migratory over wide areas, and arc probaLI 

 now but sojourners on the spots they occupy. Thegentr 

 composing them were associated together in the pas 

 nmch as they .ire now, a fact that may assist in thet 

 determination. Floras of oceanic islands have probabi; 

 been indigenous from remoteperiods, as with theTertlar 

 plants of Madeira, which comprised few exotics. 



Palieontologists may hardly agree as to the propriet; 

 of adding the terminations "ites" or "opsis" to receui 

 genera when they have been proved to have existed ir 

 the fossil stale, unless the nomenclature of plants is ic 

 difTer from that of animals, otherwise we should havi 

 Nautilites, Tcrcbratulites, Ostrcites. .Such termination! 

 are more useful when implying doubt as to the actiia. 

 identity of the recent and fossil genera. These, how 

 ever, are minor matters, and the introductory chapters 

 are on the whole so lucid and suflficient, presenting al! 

 requisite information in so concise and reasonable .i> 

 manner, that there is little room for criticism. 



Almost 300 pages of the first volume are devoted to 

 the "systematic" description of fossil plants, beginning 

 at the lowest and leaving ofT in the midst of vasculai 

 cryptogams. The lowest forms of plant life, unless 

 partly siliceous or calcareous, are rarely preserved, and 

 are of little interest to the geologist or palivontologist. 

 The completeness with which even the largest seaweeds 

 decay, especially the brown alga-, leaves little hope th.it; 

 many can have been preserved; and there can only be 

 one opinion as to the wisdom of discarding all prob- 

 lematical markings. The ancient and gigantic Nema- 

 tophycus is almost the only one determined with cer- 

 tainty. It was remotely allied to Laminaria, and is nv 

 with in Silurian ,ind Devonian rocks. The Diatoms, 

 far, do noi ajipear to be more ancient than the Li;i 

 The Siphonca- arc a group of exceptional pahi'ontologic.il 

 interest, and though most of the Caulerpilcs of ol 1 

 authors are passed over, the minute and often beautifi 

 calcareous organisms so familiar to collectors of Eocci 

 moUusca receive adequate attention. The very anciei 

 Corallinacea', the plant nature of many of which h:i 

 only recently been admitted, are fully dealt with, an 

 the extensive p.irt they are now known to have plajc 

 as reef-builders is recognised. The Characea- form 

 distinct group, the Charophyta, the fruits of Chara, s. 

 abundant in the Eocenes, first definitely appearing ii 

 the Jurassics, if not indeed in Palao/oic rocks. 



The fossil llepalica- are of little interest, being SO 

 poorly represented in the fossil slate, and of those r^ 

 corded the author scarcely accepts any except 1" 

 Marchantites of Sezanne and some of the fragments pre- 

 served ill amber. Though it seems so probable that 

 mosses must have been well represented in carboniferoBS 



