JuLV 14, 1 9 10] 



NATURE 



37 



The development ot the angiospermic embryo seems 

 to be confused with that of the fern, and the develop- 

 ment of the archegonium (called by the author the 

 oogonium), so far as it is intelligible, is quite incorrect. 

 Bv the wav, the chemiotactic substance emitted from 

 the archegonium is said to be "malic acid or an 

 enzyme." 



Few botanists will agree with the view that the 

 homosporous fern-prothalliuni can be properly, or 

 otherwise than misleadingl)-, regarded in the light of 

 a " fusion of two prothallia produced by the germina- 

 tion of a potentially double (male and female) spore." 



Turning to the part of the book dealing with 

 physiological topics, we find the statement that 

 " Much of the reserve starch in the tuber is formed 

 at first in plastids, and by the time the tuber is 

 full grown, all the plastids have been converted into 

 starch," and, in a footnote, w^e are further gravely in- 

 formed that " some of the starch is, however, formed 

 in the tuber by the translocation of carbohydrate from 

 the cells of remote parts." It would have been of in- 

 terest to know what proportions of the starch do and 

 do not respectively owe their origin to this process. 



The above citations, which could easily have been 

 added to, may suffice to exhibit the side of the book 

 which a teacher would find defective or effective 

 according to the use he made of it with his students. 



But it may be said that it is not fair to judge a 

 book on the " plant cell " by the same canons that 

 would apply to a work more ostensibly on botany, 

 structural, morphological, and physiological. But, a.s 

 a matter of fact, the volume is really compiled on these 

 lines, and if it were to be criticised from a cytologica! 

 standpoint the verdict would be far more disadvan- 

 tageous. It is a pity that the author has not more 

 fully and carefully surveyed his proposed field of work 

 before writing a book. He has evidently aimed at 

 clearness, and, with more knowledge and care, may 

 still produce a useful contribution. 



BIOLOGY AND HUMAN LIFE. 

 'Science from an Easy Chair. By Sir Ray Lankester, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S. Pp. xiii -1-423. (London : Methuen 

 and Co., Ltd., 1910.) Price 65. 



IN this volume of forty-three collected papers, the 

 popularisation of science surely reaches high-water 

 mark. To be vividly interesting without offending 

 against accuracy, to season an abundance of solid fact 

 with ideas so that the result is an intellectual feast, 

 to illustrate scientific method by stratagem so subtle 

 that the reader does not know he is being educated — 

 that is what Sir Ray Lankester has achieved. He 

 calls it " Science from an Easy Chair," and so be it ; 

 but we hope the delighted reader will realise that it 

 is science from a rich experience of lifelong observa- 

 tion and research. Since Huxley, no one has had a 

 deeper influence on British zoology than the author, 

 and even these parerga show the hand of a master. 



Some of the papers are good tracts for the times. 

 The first one, entitled " Science and Practice," with 

 the hygienic triumphs at Panama for its text, illus- 

 trates what science can do, if it be allowed, for "the 

 < -tahlishing of the kingdom of man." The pages 

 SO. 2124, VOL. 84] 



headed "Darwin's Theory Unshaken" should be of 

 use to those who mislead the public by declaring that 

 Darwinism is dead. Other papers show, very briefly, 

 of course, what a living Darwinism has to say about 

 the re-stocking of our villages, the feeble-minded, and 

 various disquieting features of our British birth-rate 

 and death-rate. Apart from such serious questions, 

 it is interesting to notice how many of the papers 

 have a practical point — the poison-vine in England ; 

 oysters; the heart's beat; sleep; cholera; sea breezes, 

 mountain air and ozone ; oxygen gas for athletes and 

 others ; hop blight ; phylloxera ; clothes moths ; and 

 more besides. This is symptomatic of our times, but 

 it is also what we expect from the author of "The 

 Kingdom of Man," that masterly exposition of the 

 sound doctrine that science is for life — savoir, prevoir, 

 poiirvoir! 



Another set of papers deals with subjects in regard 

 to which much progress has been recently made. 

 Among these we find the extraordinary story of the 

 common eel, illustrated by a beautiful coloured draw- 

 ing which shows the contrast between the mature 

 " silver " eel and the immature "yellow " eel. Anothei 

 of this type is the account of the human skull from 

 the Chapelle-aux-Saints, in the Correze, of the Heidel- 

 berg lower jaw, and other recent additions to the 

 data from which the pedigree of man is being patiently 

 worked out. We may also notice the interesting 

 account of the new fresh-water medusoids. A third 

 set — not that we are attempting to classify the forty- 

 three — includes a number of delightful natural-history 

 sketches, such as one on gossamer (where, by the 

 wav, it seems to be suggested that the somewhat 

 mvsterious parachute-making habit is confined to 

 autumn), or another on honey-dew, or another on the 

 jumping-bean. It seems to be a rotatory easy-chair 

 from which this pleasant science comes, for the author 

 takes the whole world for his province, from microbes 

 to comets, from the land of azure blue to " the starres 

 that wonne on highe," not forgetting either to write 

 of dragons. Quite by itself, with a delightful note 

 personnel, is the account of Metchnikoff's day with 

 Tolstoi last year. We hope for many more volumes 

 of the "Easy Chair Series." J. A. T. 



ALPINE FLOWERS. 



(i) Alpine Floiuers and Gardens, Painted and 

 Described. By G. Flemwell. Pp. xiv+ 167. 

 (London : A. and C. Black, 1910.) Price ys. 6d. 

 net. 

 (2) Summer Floii'ers of the High .Alps. By Somerville 

 Hastings. Pp. xxvi4-85. With an index and 39 

 colour plates from direct colour photographs by the 

 author. (London : J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd. ; 

 New York : E. P. Dutton and Co., n.d.) Price 

 ■js. 6d. net. 

 (i) A SERIES of twenty well-e.xecuted colour 

 .^ prints appears to be the raison d'etre 

 of this volume on alpine flowers and gar- 

 dens. The author, who is also the artist, 

 knows his Alps and alpine flowers well, and has 

 contrived to write an interesting and instructive 

 account of the alpine flora in its various aspects. He 



