482 



NA TURE 



[March 26, 1908 



paniment of typical illustrations will be found useful. 

 The physiological course does not produce such a 

 favourable impression. The conduction of water and 

 salts bulks largely in the foreground, and, seeing 

 that it is an unsolved problem, it would seem more 

 rational to give it less prominence. Generally speak- 

 ing, the experiments appear to have been chosen rather 

 te demonstrate dogmatic ideas than to serve as exer- 

 cises practicable for general students. 



(2) It is an advantage to teachers to obtain an in- 

 sight into the methods adopted in other classes than 

 their own, and botanists will welcome this introduction 

 to the botanical courses planned by Prof. Moll for 

 students in the University of Groningen. In the first 

 place the author discusses the comparative uses of de- 

 monstrations and practical classes. In practical work, 

 although duly insisting on the necessity for good draw- 

 ings, he places a high estimate on carefully written 

 descriptions, and in this connection details his schemes 

 for ensuring completeness by taking each character 

 in order. A general course of histology and anatomy 

 is outlined in a series of two hundred and fifty exer- 

 cises. Some of the specimens selected for examination 

 are innovations, and the examples of bacteria, with 

 hints for obtaining and cultivating them, are parti- 

 cularly useful. On the other hand, the studies of 

 tissues are not well defined or complete ; one observes- 

 also notable omissions in the systematic types, and l^ 

 somewhat too rigid uniformity in the use of tests. l\ 

 special syllabus of products included in the Dutch 

 pharmacopeia is inserted for the benefit of pharma. 

 ceutical students in the university, but the most valu- 

 able feature is the list of special investigations suitable 

 for advanced students, that are based on, and intended 

 to repeat, original researches. The book can be re- 

 commended to teachers having a knowledge of the 

 Dutch language, especially during the preparation of a 

 course of practical botany, as likely to furnish them 

 with new ideas. 



(3) This volume consists of a collation of botanical 

 descriptions and information arranged according to 

 the natural orders. The author's object has been to 

 present his information in an attractive form, and to 

 depict the tout ensemble of the plant. In this 

 respect he has been quite successful, but he might with 

 advantage have brought into greater prominence the 

 scientific principles of classification, and would thereby 

 have rendered the book more suitable for the purpose 

 mtended, as a text-book for use in a " Realschule." 

 The information relates to pollination devices, seed 

 dispersal, and general ecology, also to common insect 

 pests, plants of economic importance, and morpho- 

 logical peculiarities. The sequence is similar to that 

 prescribed by Engler, but differs mainly in the treat- 

 ment of the dicotyledons, where a beginning is made 

 with the Ranunculacea; while the Caryophyllacea and 

 orders with imperfect flowers are deferred to the end 

 of the Archichlamydeae. The space devoted to the 

 cryptogams is necessarily so limited that it would 

 have been wiser to omit them and to have extended 

 the account of some of the phanerogams. The book 

 IS well illustrated throughout, and is provided with 

 Ihirly-six coloured plates that are beautifully repro- 



NO. 2004, VOL. y.j] 



duced. It is a book that would be appreciated by boys 

 and many of their elders who take a keen interest in 

 botany. 



(4) It is rightly impressed upon students that the 

 physiology of plants and animals shows certain features 

 in common, whence it might be expected that there 

 would be an advantage in treating the two subjects 

 in one volume. In the present case there is no special 

 attempt to compare the physiological activities in the 

 two kingdoms. The first part provides a concise ac- 

 count of the elements of plant physiology, but is not 

 written with the view -of stimulating practical experi- 

 ment ; in fact, the few pieces of apparatus represented 

 in the illustrations are open to serious criticism. The 

 second part, dealing with human physiology, is almost 

 more concerned with form than function. 



ELEMENTARY PHYSICS. 

 (i) The New Matriculation Heat. Pp. viu + 276; The 

 New Matriculation Light. Pp. viii + 282; Tlie New 

 Matriculation Sound. Pp. viii-i-211. (Cambridge: 

 University Tutorial Press, Ltd., 1908.) Price 2s. 6cl., 

 2s. 6d., and 25. respectively. 



(2) .4 First Year's Course in Geometry and Physics. 

 By Ernest Young. Pp. xi+169. (London: G. 

 Bell and Sons, 1907.) Price 2S. M. 



(3) A Second Year's Course in Practical Physics. Pp. 

 vii + 148; A Third Year's Course in Practical 

 Physics. By James Sinclair. Pp. viii + 125. (Lon- 

 don : B. Bell and Sons, 1907.) Price is. 6d. each 

 volume. 



(1} ' I "'HESE manuals cover the ground of the 

 -L London L^niversity matriculation syllabus in 

 heat, light, and sound. The treatment is lucid and 

 concise, and thoroughly in accordance with the most 

 recent methods of teaching elementary ph3'sics. An 

 outstanding feature of these books is the inclusion of 

 a number of experiments which may be performed 

 with the most simple and inexpensive apparatus, and 

 from which satisfactory results may be obtained. 



In the volume on " Heat " a chapter is devoted to 

 methods of approximation, and this should prove ex- 

 tremely useful to the student in reducing observations 

 of actual experiments or performing the numerical 

 exercises with which the book is plentifully supplied. 

 One notes with pleasure, in the chapter on hygro- 

 metry, the omission of the classic " Daniell." .'\ 

 simple method for determining the " thermal con- 

 ductivity " of india-rubber is described in the chapter 

 on heat conduction, and serves well enough to illus- 

 trate the definition to elementary students, a point 

 which, as a rule, has been neglected in text-books 

 of this standard. In Expt. 47, p. 135, paraffin wax is 

 a somewhat unsatisfactory substance for the deter- 

 mination of melting point by the cooling-curve 

 method, at least for beginners. On p. 140 it would 

 have been better to use the term " latent heat of 

 water " as synonymous with " latent heat of fusion of 

 ice," and not "latent heat of ice." 



The volume on " Light " calls for little comment. 

 The optica! formulae are obtained by the usual geo- 



