CURRENT LITERATURE. 
BOOK REVIEWS. 
Britton’s manual.* 
SucH will probably be the familiar designation of a book that covers the 
area so long known as that of Gray’s Manual. It is a book that has long 
been waited for, since it puts into sharp contrast the two extreme views con- 
cerning species and nomenclature. So long as the conservative position in 
reference to these matters was represented by the only handy manual of our 
best known region it was immensely strengthened, since it did the chief 
training in the use of manuals. Now, however, the issue is squarely joined, 
and -both views will get that support which comes from usage. It seems to 
the reviewer, therefore, that some arguments heretofore used against the so- 
called radical views will disappear, and that the real test of usage can now 
be applied to both positions. 
The position of Professor Britton as to species and nomenclature is too 
well known to need explanation. For the first time, we have a manual pre- 
sentation of the idea of species applied to the ultimate recognizable segregates 
of plants. It is now to be tested whether those of ordinary training an 
experience can determine species in this new sense, or whether the use of a 
manual must now pass out of the reach of amateurs and be restricted to 
specialists. For example, can an amateur distinguish the 43 species of 
Viola found in Britton’s Manual as he can 18 species found in Gray's 
Manual, or the 13 species of Sisyrinchium and the 15 species of Antennaria 
found in the former, as he can the two and one species of the latter? This 
is not intended as the slightest criticism of the work of segregation now 
going on, much of which is undoubtedly necessary; but it is raising the 
question whether the use of manuals is not hereafter to be very much 
restricted. It undoubtedly will remove them from elementary botanical 
courses, which at least will be a valuable service. 
For the first time, also, there is a manual presentation of the so-called 
reform nomenclature, and the new names will now have a chance to become 
as familiar as the old. So long as they appeared only in journals and 
onographs and bulky volumes there was no chance for popular usage, and 
Ges unfamiliarity always scored a point against them. There could be no 
wiser move towards setting the reform nomenclature upon its feet than the 
* BRITTON, NATHANIEL LorD: Manual of the flora of the northern states and 
Canada. 8vo. pp. x-+1080. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1901. $2.25- 
426 ; [ DECEMBER 
