60 

Act in America. These are of great interest to 
the British reader in view of the possibility of 
more drastic food legislation here, though for- 
tunately the sale of inferior food materials is not 
tolerated to anything like the extent that existed 
in America. It is commonly understood that the 
most drastic legislation was necessary there to 
combat the existing evils, although its severity 
has to some extent acted in restriction of trade. 
In any case, such movement here should be official 
and under the guidance of responsible scientific 
opinion, and not sponsored by _ irresponsible 
“Pure Food Institutions.” 
The university courses of study are already so 
crowded that there is no time for the introduction 
of food chemistry into the degree course, nor, 
indeed, is such desirable. The would-be chemist, 
if he is to play his part in building up British 
industries, must be trained as a chemist first and 
as a specialist afterwards. Books such as this 
will be of the utmost service at the stage when 
the young chemist has to act on his own and to 
take responsibility. Prof. Sherman has done a 
great service to his colleagues. From the point 
of view here developed it is to be hoped that he 
will compress rather than enlarge future editions, 
so that the book may be read and not consulted 
as a dictionary. Dep EIS AN 

APPITED) BOTANY. 
(1) A Text-book of Grasses, with Especial Refer- 
ence to the Economic Species of the United 
States. seBy sirot.s ALS.) ebluitchcock.,,) Bip. 
xvli+276. (New York: The Macmillan Co. ; 
London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1914.) 
Price 6s. 6d. net. 
(2) A Manual of Weeds. By A. E. Georgia. 
Pp. xi+593- (New York: The Macmillan Co. ; 
London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1914.) 
Price 8s. 6d. net. 
(1)- LTHOUGH we are disposed to welcome 
any innovation in the planning of text- 
books of applied science, we cannot congratulate 
the author of the work under review on the scheme 
which he has adopted. He divides his book into 
two parts, and treats first of economic agros- 
tology, and subsequently, of systematic agros- 
tology. As aconsequence, the student who begins 
the book at the beginning reads of a considerable 
number of grasses, mostly called by their popular 
names, and if he be a novice, he must pause at 
each page to look up, in the systematic part, 
what these names signify. Moreover, whether 
he be novice or adept, he will find but little in- 
formation of real value in the economic section. 
He will discover how much corn and wheat and 
barley and other cereals is grown in the United 
NO. 2368, VOL. 95] 

NATURE 

[Marcu 18, 1915 
States, and how much each of these crops is 
worth; that America eats wheaten bread, and that 
the inhabitants of the ‘“‘Old World” subsist on 
wheat, corn, and rice. Beside some useful general 
information, he will find a chapter on lawns, and 
a page or two on sand-binding grasses. 
It may be that this somewhat discursive treat- 
ment is all that is possible in the present stage 
of “economic agrostology”; but whether it be 
| so or no, we feel convinced that the proper place 
| for it is at the end and not at the beginning of 
the volume. 
Part ii. opens with an account of the morphology 
of the vegetative and floral organs of grasses. 
The descriptions are terse and clear, but their 
value is reduced very materially by the fact that 
not one figure is given by way of illustration, 
| neither of the vegetative organs nor of the some- 
This is 
in that the succeeding 
what difficult inflorescence and flower. 
the more remarkable 
| taxonomic chapters are well and copiously illus- 
trated. 
The experience of the reviewer convinces him 
that it is impossible to teach the systematic 
botany of grasses unless the student has first 
mastered thoroughly the floral morphology of 
typical forms, and doubt may be expressed 
whether such mastering may be obtained by 
merely following the written text. 
The taxonomical section, which occupies nearly 
half the book, follows in part the classification 
adopted by Bentham and Hooker, and, with 
respect to the “tribes,” that of Hackel. The code 
governing nomenclature is not that laid down in 
the Vienna rules, but is ‘‘The American Code of 
Botanical Nomenclature.’’ To criticise this de- 
cision scarcely becomes a non-American reviewer, 
but he may express a regret that systematists 
cannot come to a general agreement which will 
prevent these games of nine-pins with names. 
For example, all the gardens of Europe know 
Pampas grass by the name Gynerium argenteum. 
In this book it is called Cortaderia argentea, and 
no indication is given whether Gynerium argen- 
teum is synonymous with C. argentea, or whether 
the latter is another plant under the same common 
name. Buffon said long ago that it was easier 
to learn botany than botanical nomenclature. 
The systematists seem to take a joy in main- 
taining the truth of the aphorism. 
(2) M. Boutroux has insisted recently that 
sentiment no less than will and intellect must be 
reckoned with in the psychological make-up of 
mankind. No one who has fought with weeds, 
whether in the farm, the garden, or the golf-green 
will doubt it. The fight was stubborn and its 
fortunes varied, but whether won or lost, the 
