nae a ae a - 
ArriL 18, 1912] 
NATURE: 
165 
on the horse was added, and in which replies to 
critics fill most of the preface. A third edition 
was issued in 1877, a fourth in 1883, and a fifth in 
1887. Hehn died on March 21, 1890, leaving his 
book in the hands of Prof. O. Schrader, editor-in- 
chief of the three editions which have appeared 
since that date. 
The work opens with a long extract from the 
preface to the sixth edition, from which the above 
particulars have been taken. In nearly a quarter 
of a century (1870-94) knowledge had increased 
greatly, and many additions and corrections were 
necessary. Herr Schrader addressed himself to 
his task on the lines laid down by De Candolle. 
To cope with the botanical work became the duty 
of Prof. Engler, assisted later by Prof. Pax, of | 
Breslau. With regard to the sections treating of 
domestic animals, the editor called in the help of 
Prof. A. Nehrings. The general revision and 
philology were Prof. Schrader’s special care; but 
he is very ready to acknowledge help received 
from Dr. Kurt Muller, Dr. Hugo Prinz, and 
others. 
All additions and corrections are placed, in 
small type, at the end of each essay. The adop- 
tion of this plan was no doubt due to respect for 
Hehn’s work. Even then the method is a bad 
one, and the present writer cannot see anything in 
Hehn’s original text to warrant such respect. To 
a reader coming fresh to the book it is somewhat 
irritating, and causes waste of time. The writer 
of this notice worked carefully through the essay 
on the horse, making critical notes, only to find 
that the editors had made all necessary corrections 
in their notes placed at the end of the section. 
Articles dealing with domestic animals are scat- 
tered about among those dealing with cultivated 
plants. No fewer than ninety-nine pages are occu- 
pied by original “notes”—pp. 531-629. This 
adds another drawback to the work. Either the 
reader must turn away from the page to the 
“note” at once, breaking the thread of attention, 
or the “notes ” must be left to be read later, when 
it may easily happen that the point referred to 
is not clearly remembered. The book contains 
a good table of contents and a _ satisfactory 
index. 
In the introduction we get a record of the good 
and harm that man may work upon virgin soil. 
The early Aryan invasion found Greece thickly 
forested and with a fruitful soil. Much harm was 
subsequently done by exhaustive cultivation and 
destruction of forest. Such ruined areas recovered 
partly when deserted, often to pass through 
similar stages as is recorded by Fraas, in 1847, of 
parts of the peninsula. About one hundred culti- 
NO. 2216, VoL. 89| 
| most complete account is given. 
vated plants are dealt with, the most important 
being the vine, olive, fig, citrons, plums, almonds, 
flax, hemp, maize, rice, and tobacco. Of the 
domestic animals—a more limited class—an al- 
In the original 
text, and in all subsequent additions, the au- 
thority for borrowed statements is given with 
scrupulous care. If genius is taking pains—a 
definition ascribed to Sir Isaac Newton—Victor 
Hehn was a genius. That his work needed cor- 
rection as the years went by is to be expected. 
The work has been well done, and the line quoted 
by Prof. Schrader is well applied :— 
“Was fruchtbar ist, allein ist wahr.’’—Gorrue.”’ 
Je lak ad Wve 
GENERAL SCIENCE. 
Introduction to General Science, with Experiments. 
By Percy E. Rowell. Pp. xxix+302. (New 
York: The Macmillan Co.; London: Mac- 
millan and Co., Ltd., 1911.) Price 3s. 6d. 
net. : 
HE author of this book has a great belief in 
what he calls general science, which appar- 
ently amounts to a slight knowledge cf 
many sciences. A pupil who knows a little 
about a great many subjects will, he con- 
siders, be able to obtain a bird’s-eye view of the 
whole ground of knowledge, and to reason from 
many points of view on the phenomenon of nature. 
Further, a general course of this kind should reach 
every pupil somewhere and stimulate his ambi- 
tion to learn more of at least one subject. Thus 
in the three hundred or so pages of this little 
volume we find sections devoted to almost all 
known sciences, illustrated by 100 experiments, 
with cross references to a large number of text- 
books and bulletins. 
To say that the book is sketchy, incomplete, 
and not infrequently inaccurate is to make an 
obvious criticism applicable to any book of this 
kind. At the same time one must feel sympathy 
with the object of the author and admiration for 
his courage in tackling so formidable a list of 
subjects and writing about them. He usually 
confines himself to applications of science to the 
common things of daily life, and does not concern 
himself with great generalisations. A few ex- 
periments on combustion thus lead to oxygen, 
then to fuels, and so by easy transitions to blast- 
ing, animal heat, flames, first aid to the burnt, 
sterilisation, disinfectants, &c., throughout the 
book. Indeed, as the author says with some 
