142 
NATURE 
[APRIL 8, 1915 

the geocentric hypothesis. Tycho seems to have 
had some faith in his predictions, but he regarded 
them rather as warnings of evil tendencies to be 
resisted, or good ones to be encouraged, than as 
hard and fast determinations of inevitable destiny. 
It is rather pathetic to remember that when the 
eldest prince ascended the throne as Christian IV., 
he withdrew all Tycho’s emoluments, and treated 
him with such marked coldness that Tycho was 
glad to leave Denmark altogether, and end his 
days in exile in Bohemia. 
The remaining matter in the volume is an 
oration on the teaching of mathematics, and a 
short treatise on practical trigonometry. Tycho 
had access to seven-figure tables of the natural 
functions, and made use of the formule trans- 
forming products of sines and cosines into sums 
of the same, to save multiplication, logarithms 
not having been invented. 
It is one of the advantages of a verbatim re- 
print that it satisfies our curiosity on such small 
matters of procedure, and helps us to realise the 
everyday life and thought of astronomers of 
distant ages. 

THE RISE AND GROWTH OF BOTANY IN 
THE UNITED KINGDOM. 
A History of Botany in the United Kingdom from 
the Earliest Times to the End of the Nineteenth 
Century. By Dr. J. Reynolds Green. Pp. 
xii+648. (London: J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., 
1914.) Price tos. 6d. net. 
ANY British and Irish botanists have been 
anticipating the appearance of Prof. 
Reynolds Green’s history of the development of 
their science within the United Kingdom, but its 
reception cannot but be accompanied with feelings 
of sincere regret that the author is no longer 
with us. Indeed, he was seriously ill during 
much of its preparation, and one should not lose 
sight of this while perusing its pages. His 
friend, Prof. Harvey-Gibson, undertook the duty | 
of seeing the work through the press, though, 
as he states in an appendix to the preface, he 
has refrained from editing it in any way. 
As anyone who is familiar with Green’s writings 
would be led to expect, the book is well arranged, 
lucid, and clearly written, and it provides an 
excellent general description of the rise and de- 
velopment of the science of botany amongst us. 
Opening with a summary of the work of the old 
writers of herbals, the book goes on to trace the 
varied phases of the newer advances, the use of 
botanic gardens, and the recognition and growth 
of the subject at the universities; it also discusses 
the more recent ramifications of botany and its 
NO. 2371, VOL. 95] 

_ its author laboured, failing health and 

points of contact with kindred sciences. A con- 
siderable portion of the volume is devoted to an 
account of the activities of modern and still living 
botanists. It is full of generous appreciation of 
the work of his contemporaries, but Green, with 
characteristic modesty, is almost silent on his own 
important contributions to vegetable physiology. 
We could wish to give a measure of praise to 
the book more full than mature reflection enables 
us to do. It is admirable up to a point, and one 
must remember the disadvantages under which 
severe 
_family bereavement, during its production. 
Without doubt, had Green been spared to see the 
whole work through its final stages and up to 
publication, he would have corrected many of the 
errors one meets with in its pages. It would be 
ungracious to dwell on these overmuch, but truth 
to tell the book stands in some need of revision 
on the score of historical accuracy, and sometimes 
also in the matter of names of the writers who are 
quoted. It is, furthermore, not improbabie that 
there may be some difference of opinion as to the 
correctness of the general perspective, and as to 
the insight into the relative importance of the 
work and powers of more recent botanists. 
But when this has been said, we may recognise 
that Green has left us a book of permanent value 
—a lively impression of the services to science, 
as well as of the personalities of a number of his 
contemporaries. The way in which he has treated 
this part of his subject shows him as a genial 
friend; perhaps somewhat apt to overvalue those 
for whom he entertained feelings of personal 
affection, but to is he either mean or 
unkind. We 1835) LR 
no one 

OBJECTIVE PSYCHOLOGY—PURE AND 
APPLIED. 
Objektive Psychologie oder Psychoreflexologie ; die 
Lehre von den Assoziationsreflexen. By Prof. 
Autorisierte Uebersetzung 
W. von Bechterew. 
aus dem Russischen. Pp. viii+468. (Leipzig 
and Berlin: B. G. Teubner, 1913.) Price 16 
marks. 
Psychology and Industrial Efficiency. By Hugo 
Miinsterberg. Pp. xviili+322. (London: Con- 
stable and Co., Ltd., 1913.) Price 6s. net. 
HESE two books, though widely different 
ts in origin and aim, agree in exemplifying 
a single method of psychological investigation : 
namely, the method which American writers de- 
scribe by the ungainly term “behaviourism.” It 
is a psychology in which (to quote Prof. von 
Bechterew) questions of subjective processes, or 
processes of consciousness, find no place. The 
