September 27, 1906] 



NA rURE 



537 



threat dcvelopmonts to be recorded. We think that 

 the inckision of such subjects as photog^raphy (fifty-five 

 paijcs) has helped to swell the volume to unnecessarily 

 larjjfe proportions. The technics of a special branch 

 such as this seems scarcely at home in its surround- 

 inijs. We welcome in particular the articles of Drude 

 on the nature of light, on the theory of light for 

 transparent media at rest, for absorbing media, and, 

 finally, for media in motion. 



The book is replete with references to original 

 liapcrs, and may be taken as being as complete a 

 h.nidbook for the professional reader as has yet 

 appeared. 



GARDEN-BOTANY. 

 I tortus Veitchii, a History of the Rise and Progress 

 of the Nurseries of Messrs. James Veitch and Sons, 

 together with an Account of the Botanical Collectors 

 and Hybridists employed by them and a List of the 

 more Remarkable of their Introductions. By James 

 H. Veitch. Pp. 542; illustrated with fifty photo- 

 gravure plates. (Chelsea : James Veitch and Sons, 

 Ltd., 1906, for private circulation.) 



THIS is one of the most sumptuous volumes which 

 have ever emanated from a business house, but 

 if it were simply a business publication it would 

 claim no special notice in these columns. It is, 

 in fact, a most important contribution to the his- 

 tory of horticulture during three-quarters of a 

 century or more, and a valuable work of reference 

 for the systematic botanist and the hybridist. It 

 illustrates in a remarkable degree the service which 

 Ihe enterprise of a great commercial firm is capable 

 of rendering, and in this case has rendered, to 

 botanical science. As the author appropriately says : — 

 " To the representatives seeking unknown plants at 

 one period or another in almost every clime, fortune 

 has not invariably been kind, but the work of such 

 men as Thomas Lobb, William Lobb, the late John 

 Gould Veitch, Charles Maries, and E. H. Wilson 

 has been a gain in every way ; whilst the efforts in 

 hybridising and selecting of John Dominy, John 

 Seden, V.M.H., and John Heal, V.M.H., have given 

 a wider interest to all cultivators." 



With the histor}' of the firm and its various 

 members as given in the introduction to the present 

 volume we are not here concerned, but we mav in- 

 dicate that it would furnish valuable data for Mr. 

 Galton's science of eugenics. The biographical sketches 

 of the twenty-two travellers employed by the firm 

 are so interesting that we could have wished them 

 longer. Whilst very many of the plants introduced 

 into cultivation by the energy and zeal of these men 

 liave proved of first-rate importance from a gardener's 

 point of view, as shown, amongst other things, by 

 Ihe fact that no fewer than 422 plates representing 

 Veitchian introductions have been published in the 

 Botanical Magazine under the editorship of the two 

 Hookers and their successor, Sir William Thiselton- 

 Dyer, thousands of herbarium specimens have been 

 generously presented to the national botanical 

 establishments and to individual botanists engaged 

 in the study of particular groups. 

 NO. 1926, VOL. 74] 



When we come to the section relating to the 

 hybridists who have achieved success in Messrs. 

 Veitch 's nursery we are again disposed to regret that 

 fuller details were not given, but in view of the 

 magnitude of the book and the immensity of the task 

 we are by no means surprised that the author has 

 felt it necessary to give indications only. Certain it 

 is that the students of hybridisation, variation, and 

 heredity will find inexhaustible materials for study 

 in the results obtained by Messrs. Veitch. It is a 

 noteworthy fact that at the present time, when orchids 

 are so [xjpular, greater interest is felt in the hybrid 

 "creations," in the production of which John 

 Dominy was the pioneer, than in new introductions. 

 When we read of a thousand pounds and more being 

 paid for one of these specimens we can but regret 

 that orchid lovers do not contribute more to encourage 

 scientific research into the history and nature of the 

 plants in which they take such keen interest. The 

 list of species of orchids introduced by Messrs. Veitch 

 occupies no fewer than forty-seven pages. A large 

 proportion of these were described by Lindley, by 

 Reichenbach, and subsequently by Rolfe, and short 

 descriptions and historical notes are afforded in these 

 pages. Orchid hybrids are treated in like manner, 

 the particulars relating to them filling fifty-seven 

 pages, exclusive of an appendix giving historical de- 

 tails, and occupying six pages of small type. The 

 information here given will be of special value to 

 those engaged in the study of hybridisation. 



Space will not allow us to do more than mention 

 the sections relating to stove and greenhouse plants, to 

 which eighty-three pages are devoted, to the various 

 species and hybrids of Nepenthes, the ferns, the coni- 

 ferous trees, the deciduous and evergreen trees and 

 shrubs, the herbaceous plants, the bulbous plants, the 

 Amaryllis, the Begonias, the greenhouse Rhododen- 

 drons, the Streptocarpus, and, lastly, the fruits and 

 vegetables, all exclusively the result of the enterprise 

 or of the skill of Messrs. Veitch and of their 

 assistants. With such a vast amount of material it 

 is evident that severe compression has had to be 

 effected, but even so the record is a marvellous one. 

 Happily an e.xcellent index is provided. 



Throughout it is obvious that great pains have been 

 taken in the preparation of the volume, the solid 

 worth of which is enhanced by the excellent manner 

 in which it has been produced. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Avogadro and Dalfon. The Standing in Chcmistry- 

 of their Hypotheses. By Dr. Andrew N. Meldrum'. 

 Pp. 113. (Edinburgh: W. F. Clav, 1904.) Price 

 3^. net. 



This book may be read with interest by all chemists. 

 and with special profit by students who have got into- 

 confusion with tlie difficult piece of chemical history 

 of which it treats. 



Dr. Meldrum sets himself to define the true rela- 

 tionship and standing of the hypotheses of Dalton and 

 .Vvogadro. Prof. Japp, in his preface, states that he 

 has nowhere else seen the true ratiocinative order of 

 precedence of the molecular and atomic hypotheses. 



