/V^1 TUIUI 



[Decemhkr 29. 1898 



remark, namely, that no student, or even expert, not only 

 in veterinary but also in medical and sanitary science, 

 can afford to be without a copy of this excellent manual. 



The type, paper, and binding, reflect great credit on 

 the publishers. A. C. Houston. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Elementary HoUiny. By G. F. Atkinson, Ph.B. Professor 



of Botany in Cornell University. }'p. xxiii + 444. 



(New York : Henry Holt and Co., 1S98.) 

 This is one of the best little books of its kind it has 

 been our lot to look through for a long time. Pleasantly 

 written, admirably printed and illustrated, it forms an 

 excellent introduction to the study of the science of botany, 

 and Prof Atkinson is to be congratulated on the way 

 which he has fulfilled the task he has set himself 



The book opens with a general account of a plant-cell 

 and protoplasm, and the student is led through a simple 

 course of vegetable physiology to investigate the ways in 

 which plants live, move, and have their being. This 

 method of beginning with physiology is novel, and there 

 is a great deal to be said for it. It is calculated to 

 arouse the interest which in the minds of all inquiring 

 people, be they children or adults, always accompanies 

 experiment. Prof Atkinson has wisely limited his 

 selection of experiments to those which require apparatus 

 of only the simplest kind, but they are for the most part 

 experiments which give an insight into the marvellous 

 organisation and concomitant functional complexity 

 which are characteristic of plant-life in general. 



Then there follows an elementary account of the main 

 groups of the vegetable kingdom, illustrated by well- 

 chosen types. But the author by no means limits 

 himself rnerely to these, and the connections and re- 

 lationships of the different groups are clearly indicated. 

 The chapters on Gymnosperms, which include a good 

 account of the occurrence of antherozoids in Gingko and 

 in the Cycads, are especially good. 



The chapters on the general morphology of the 

 flowering plant are perhaps rather advanced, and it 

 might be questioned whether a little more attention to 

 external morphology might not be desnable. The part 

 of the book specially dealing with natural orders strikes 

 us as the least attractive part of the book ; but also it is 

 far the most difficult, within narrow limits of space, to 

 render either interesting or educationally valuable. 

 Possibly in a future edition of the work the author may 

 see fit to expand this part by the inclusion of more 

 indications of the facies of, as well as of the trend of 

 differentiation in, the different natural orders, even if the 

 characters of biological interest have to be omitted. 



The latter class of characters (biological) are, however, 

 specially treated in the division on Ecology. In this 

 part of the book the author has brought together, in 

 addition to well-known examples, the fruits of his own 

 observation in a country in which such research cannot 

 but yield fruitful results. .And the advanced, as well as 

 the elementary, student will find much that is new and 

 interesting in these last chapters. Of course the treat- 

 ment is brief, but it is useful ; the figures and many 

 (not, however, all; of the illustrative photographs fron) 

 nature are quite admirable. 



From the above brief sketch it will be seen that the 

 book is one which thoroughly deserves to be commended 

 as calculated to attract instead of (as is too often the 

 case) repelling the beginner. J. B. F. 



Animals of Today, their Life and Conversation. By C. 



J. Cornish. Pp. xii -|- 319. (London : Seeley and Co., 



Ltd., 1898.) 

 Mr. Cornish is such a bright and entertaining 

 writer, and has also the art of looking at well-worn 

 subjects from such new points of view, that the 



NO. 1522, VOL. 59] 



republication of this series of articles from the Spectator 

 may be v.'elcomed by the zoologist as well as by the 

 general reader. The author, it need scarcely be said, 

 makes no pretence to study animals from a purely 

 scientific or systematic standpoint ; and regards the 

 various domesticated breeds as meritmg fully as much 

 attention as their wild relatives. The adaptation of 

 animals to their surroundings, the manner in which they 

 exist under what appear to us unfavourable conditions, 

 their speed, their antipathies, their susceptibility tothuman 

 diseases, and their mental capacities and disabilities, 

 form, indeed, some of his favourite subjects. But he also 

 gives dissertations on the beauty and suitability to their 

 uses of several domesticated breeds ; while his chapters on 

 acclimatisation, game-preservation, and, above all, on the 

 terrible devastation inflicted on big game by " skin- 

 hunters," are of almost absorbing interest. 



In the commercial aspect of the subject, Mr. Cornish 

 shows that while myriads of South .African animals have 

 been recklessly exterminated for the sake of their skins, 

 yet that in .Australia, where the marsupials are killed off 

 in thousands from necessity, their valuable furs are for 

 the most part wasted. And here it may be mentioned 

 that, in referring to the commercial quotations of .South 

 African skins, the author makes merry at the inclusion of 

 those of the " quagga,'' on the ground that the animal so- 

 named is now extinct ; but he ought to have known that 

 at the Cape this title is universally applied to Burchell's 

 zebra. 



As beasts of burden for routes like that to the Klondike, 

 the author speaks enthusiastically of the reindeer and 

 Bactrian camel. Of the latter animal he observes 

 that Englishmen have no practical experience : but if he 

 had read the records of the second Varkand expedition, 

 he might have somewhat modified this statement. ; 

 Wider reading might, indeed, in several cases have 

 been an advantage to the author. For instance, in the 

 chapter on " Thirsty .Animals " he is very- sceptical as to 

 the power of any mammals to exist for a length of time 

 without access to water ; suggesting that the well-knowr> 

 instance of the giraffes in the Kalahari maybe due to the 

 presence of undiscovered sources of water in the interior 

 of that desert. Had he been acquainted with Mr. W. 

 T. Blanford's observations on the existence of certain 

 Indian mammals in waterless districts, his scepticism j 

 might have been removed. .Again, in another place, he I 

 is under the impression that wild dogs [Cvori) are nearer I 

 to domestic dogs than are wolves and jackals. 



Such slight blemishes detract, however, but little from 

 a very entertaining and instructive volume. Had we 

 more writers of Mr. Cornish's stamp, the popularity of 

 zoology, great as it undoubtedly is, would probably be 

 largely augmented : and his present work can scarcely 

 fail to increase his reputation as a successful writer. 



R. L. 



Text-book of Algebra. By G. E. Fisher, M!..\., Ph.D. 

 and I. J. Schwatt, Ph.D. Part I. !> xiv + 684 

 (Philadelphia: Fisher and Schwatt, 1898.) 

 On the whole this is a sound and instructive book. In. 

 the chapters on first principles the distin<^tion between 

 signs of operation and signs of quaUiy has been very 

 properly emphasised by a special notation, instead of 

 being ignored ; the treatment of systems of equations is 

 excellent : and that of surds is much better than usuaU 

 although exception might be taken to some of the nota- 

 tion, and the existence of ^'2 as a definite number cannot 

 be proved (as the authors seem to think by considering 

 the diagonal of a unit square. The Ixiok is rather un- 

 equally written, and errors sometimes occ ur which con- 

 trast curiously with the accuracy which generally prevails. 

 Thus in the proof of the remainder theorem the s.ame 

 symbol Q is used for two entirely different things ; it is 

 assumed without proof that if r is a proper fraction r» be- 



