NATURE 



481 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1910. 



.1 TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY. 

 M'ar)uiiig-Joliansen, Lchrbucli der algemeinen 

 Botanik. Herausgegeben von Dr. E. Meinecke. 

 Zweiter Theil (Schluss). Pp. iv+48i-66S. 



(Berlin : Gebriider Borntrager, 1909.) Price 4.80 

 marks. 



PROF. WARMING'S book, the conckiding part of 

 which has recently been issued, will be received 

 with interest, whilst at the same time it cannot escape 

 some criticism. But in the latter connection the cir- 

 cumstances of its publication must, in fairness to the 

 author, be kept in mind. The first part was three 

 years in the press, and even after its appearance an 

 interval of two years elapsed before the second and 

 final part was issued.i|; Botanical thought has moved 

 rapidly during the last decade, and any text-book 

 must naturally suffer when produced under conditions 

 so disadvantageous as those under which Prof. 

 Warming's book has laboured. 



The earlier chapters of the first volume contain a 

 morphological treatment of the plant on interesting 

 lines, the ecological factors due to physical environ- 

 ment, &'C., being kept well in sight. Many excellent 

 figures are given, and examples are drawn from 

 plants which are not always utilised in these matters 

 as they might be in modern works. Some topics 

 strike us as having been somewhat inadequately dis- 

 cussed, however, and especially that of phyllotaxis. 

 If this subject is to be introduced at all (and it can 

 hardly be omitted in a treatise such as this) one looks 

 for more than a somewhat perfunctory account of the 

 Braun-Schimper views. 



The chapter on abstract morphology appears to us 

 rather to miss fire — either it is too long, or it is not 

 long, or philosophical, enough. The cell also is 

 treated perhaps somevi'hat dogmatically. This may 

 be difficult to avoid in a treatise which, while aiming 

 at being comprehensive, is limited in size. In any 

 event, however, there is no excuse for the introduc- 

 tion of the old and long discredited figure of the lily 

 cell shov/ing large centrosomes. This figure is the 

 more surprising since the author himself avows his 

 disbelief in the centrosomes as there reproduced ! The 

 section dealing with the tissue systems is good ; we 

 would willingly have seen it enlarged. Many interest- 

 ing observations are worked in with the general mass 

 of information, and the whole is admirably handled 

 and illustrated. The general classification of the 

 tissue systems follows that employed by Haberlandt 

 in his well-known treatise. 



The structure of the wood is well described and 

 figured, though the difficulties {e.g. sliding growth) 

 presented by the differentiation of the elements are 

 passed over. This is, however, evidently in keeping 

 with the main plan which the author has kept before 

 him, of making his book chiefly informational, rather 

 than to introduce a discussion of the many doubtful 

 and difficult problems. Similarly, the question as to 

 NO. 2104, VOL. 82] 



the mode of formation of annual rings only occupies 

 a few lines. 



The latter part of the first volume contains an 

 account of the physiology of nutrition, transpiration, 

 growth, and irritability. The matter is connected up 

 with the life of plants in the open, and although there 

 may be differences of opinion as to the validity of the 

 author's views on some matters — e.g. the ascent of 

 sap — everyone will probably admit that the subject- 

 matter is treated in an interesting way. This 

 especially applies to the section on the regulation of 

 functions. 



The first part ends in the middle of an account of 

 the reproductive structures, and this is continued in 

 the second and final instalment of the work. The 

 treatment is too short to enable anything like justice 

 to be done to this important subject, the Florideae, for 

 example, being dismissed with rather less than a 

 page of print. 



The morphological discussion undoubtedly loses 

 much on account of the omission of illustrations 

 drawn from palaeontological evidence; and, again, we 

 find a figure (476) of the germination of the pollen 

 grain of Lilium showing centrosomes, while in the 

 legend we read that "the centrosomes are to be 

 neglected." Why use such a figure when there are 

 others to choose from? Or, better still, why not 

 draw a new one? 



The chapter dealing with the life-history of the 

 plant and its relation to external conditions is, as 

 one would anticipate, one of the most interesting in 

 the book, and the pages devoted to the consideration 

 of the occurrence and significance of rhythm and of 

 the resting periods of plants will be found to be very 

 suggestive. Rhythm is indeed one of the most strik- 

 ing of physiological phenomena, and the resting 

 period is one of its remarkable phases. 



The volume ends with a brief account of the general 

 questions which centre around heredity, variability, 

 and such like problems. The examples are well 

 chosen, and the student will find the discussion help- 

 ful. 



The book as a whole compares well with many 

 text-books that' have appeared in recent years. It 

 also shares some of their inevitable defects. The sub- 

 ject is really too large to be treated within limits 

 of space which twenty years ago were reasonablv 

 adequate. An author who attempts to do so is bound 

 to incur adverse criticism, and we have given, perhaps, 

 a somewhat candid expression of our own opinion of 

 the present work in what has gone before. But we 

 do not intend to convey the impression that Prof. 

 Warming has not ably discharged his task, so far as 

 it was possible for anyone to do it. 



The book is really stimulating in many ways; 

 indeed, any work by Prof. Warming', who has done so 

 much to initiate ecological work, could not fail in this 

 respect ; and so we leave it, passing lightly over 

 what may be looked on as unavoidable imperfections, 

 and congratulating the author on the chapters of his 

 work in which he has achieved unquestioned succes?. 



J. B. F 

 S 



