176 



NA TURE 



[August, 5, 1922 



Handbuch der Pflanzenanatomie. Herausgegeben von 



Prof. K. Linsbauer. Allgemeiner Teil : Cytologie 



(Die Organe der Zelle). Band i., Zelle und Cyto- 



plasma. Von H. Lundegardh. Pp. 192. Band 



2.. Allgemeine Pflanzenkaryologie. Von Prof. Dr. 



G. Tischler. Pp. 384. (Berlin : Gebriider Born- 



traeger, 1921.) 2/. 55. 



The volumes under notice are the first two in a series 



to be published under the general title " Handbuch der 



Pflanzenanatomie." The complete series as projected 



will number 15 or 20 volumes by various authors, 



under the general editorship of Prof. K. Linsbauer. 



It will include volumes on cytology, histology, galls, 



experimental anatomy, and a series on the " anatomy " 



of the various plant groups from Mycetozoa to flowering 



plants. Two volumes — both unfinished — have already 



been issued, the first, by Dr. H. Lundegardh, dealing 



with the cell and cytoplasm ; the second, by Prof. G. 



Tischler, giving a general account of the plant nucleus. 



The price quoted in English money for the two volumes, 



in paper covers, is unjustifiably high, and must mean a 



huge rate of profit for the publishers. The sale on these 



terms is not likely to be very wide. 



The first volume begins with a history of plant 

 anatomy and the cell theory, occupying 60 pages, and 

 illustrated by figures from Hooke, Malpighi, N. Grew, 

 and others. Then follows an account of cell structure 

 and form, with numerous illustrations. The proto- 

 plasmic connexions between cells are considered at 

 some length. Other topics considered are the arrange- 

 ments of cells in tissues, and the physical and chemical 

 organisation of the cell. 



The second volume treats of the plant nucleus in 

 considerable detail, beginning with the morphological 

 and chemical organisation of the resting nucleus, and 

 its relations to the cell as a whole. This part occupies 

 232 pages. The remainder of the volume, which is as 

 yet incomplete, deals with nuclear division and its 

 various forms in different plant groups. The numerous 

 figures are taken from the cytological literature of the 

 last thirty years. 



Thirty-fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution. 1913-1914. In 2 Parts. Part 2. Pp. 

 viii+ 795-1481. (Washington: Government Print- 

 ing Office, 1 92 1.) 

 This volume forms an important supplement to that 

 which preceded it, giving a collection of bardic chronicles 

 and songs illustrating the beliefs and customs of the 

 Kwakiutl, a fishing-tribe on the coast of Vancouver 

 Island. It has been compiled by Mr. G. Hunt, a 

 member of the tribe, and the text is given in the tribal 

 dialect with an English translation. It is not easy 

 reading, but the report in the preceding volume 

 supplies an adequate commentary. It forms an 

 impressive picture of life in the lower culture. We 

 have traces of totemism in the shape of paintings of 

 animals on the sides of the house door and posts erected 

 with special ceremonies. Much of the ritual consists 

 of orgiastic dances, performed by men and women in 

 a state of nudity, wearing masks, their faces being 

 painted with charcoal, on which swan-down is stuck, 

 their heads and necks adorned with pieces of red cedar. 

 It also assumes a more brutal form. In one account 



no. 2753, VOL. no] 



we read : " The Rich-Woman carried in her arms a 

 body, leading the Cannibal ; and the Tamer went on 

 the right-hand side of the Cannibal, and the One-Who- 

 Presses-Down went on the left-hand side of the Canni- 

 bal, and each of the four eats part of the corpse — that 

 is, the Cannibal and the Rich-Woman, and the Fire- 

 Dancer and his Grizzly-Bear-of-The-Door." Scattered 

 through the book are interesting accounts of the initia- 

 tion of novices, the magical effect of names, magical 

 songs sung to secure the capture of salmon, pre- 

 nuptial incontinence, marriage by purchase and the 

 levirate, burial in trees, magical transformation of 

 men into animals, and much other matter of interest 

 to anthropologists. It is well that these facts should 

 have been recorded, as the tribe is rapidly coming under 

 " civilised " influence. In one list of gifts we read of 

 blankets, canoes, jewellery, forty sewing-machines, 

 and twenty-five phonographs. 



(1) Lehrbuch der Elektrotechnik. Von Dr. E. Blattner 

 Erster Teil. Vierte Auflage. Pp. ix + 423. (Bern: 

 K. J. Wyss Erben, 1922.) 20 fr. 



(2) Electricity. By Sydney G. Starling. (Science in 

 the Service of Man.) Pp. viii + 245. (London: 

 Longmans, Green and Co., 1922.) 105. 6d. net. 



(3) " Lektrik " Lighting Connections. With Intro- 

 ductor)' and Explanatory Notes by Gus. C. Lundberg 

 and the late W. P. Maycock. Seventh Edition 

 (Thoroughly Revised). Pp. 156. (London : A. P. 

 Lundberg and Sons, 192 1.) ur.net. 



(i).We welcome the fourth edition of the first volume 

 of Dr. Blattner's text-book. The principles of electrical 

 engineering are very clearly stated and as the inter- 

 national symbols and nomenclature are adopted it can 

 be readily understood even by a student whose know- 

 ledge of German is limited. 



(2) Mr. Starling has written an interesting popular 

 work on electricity. The subjects of the various 

 chapters are well chosen, theory and practice being 

 evenly balanced. The epoch-making discoveries of 

 recent years in radio-telegraphy and in the theory 

 of the atom are included. 



(3) The third of the works under notice is a useful 

 little book on electric wiring. It shows various ways 

 of wiring electric lamps so that they can be controlled 

 from several different places and also how the light 

 they give can be varied. The special switches used for 

 these purposes are described. 



Early British Trackways, Moats, Mounds, Camps, 



and Sites. A Lecture given to the Woolhope 



Naturalists' Field Club, at Hereford, September 



1921. By Alfred Watkins. Pp. 41 + 20 plates. 



(Hereford : The Watkins Meter Co ; London : 



Simpkin, Marshall and Co., Ltd., 1922.) 4s. 6d. net. 



In this little book the author attempts to show that 



during a long period, going back at least to neolithic 



times, all trackways were in straight lines marked out 



by experts on a sighting system. Such sighting lines 



went from mountain peak to mountain peak with 



secondary sighting points on the lower ground. It is 



fairly obvious that long distance roads in primitive 



times would tend to lie in a more or less straight line 



between prominent peaks. This scarcely needs veri- 



