NATURE 



633 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1907. 



■WAYSIDE FRUITS. 

 Wild Fruits of the Country-side. By F. Edward 

 Hulme. Pp. X+221; illustrated. (London: 

 Hutchinson and Co., 1907.) Price 5s. net. 



THE subject of this book is one that may be most 

 conveniently studied in the autumn season, when 

 so many trees are in a fruiting condition. Mr. Hulme 

 has written 212 pages, which are illustrated with 

 thirty-six full-page coloured drawings, prepared by 

 the author, and twenty-five half-tone pictures, which 

 are reproductions from photographs. There are three 

 chapters, and the species of plants are grouped into 

 these chapters as follows : — Chapter i., plants of the 

 hedgerows; chapter ii., trees of the forest; and 

 chapter iii., plants of the moorland, the meadow and 

 the stream. 



The notes vary in length according to the estimated 

 importance and interest of the species, and the text is 

 largely composed of quotations from the old writers on 

 the folk-lore of the species, and medicinal uses to which 

 parts of the plants have been applied. The author at- 

 tempts to trace in most cases the derivation of the 

 names, and, in addition, supplies brief descriptions of 

 the structure of the flowers and fruits. We have 

 nothing but praise for the coloured plates, which 

 in all instances appear sufficiently faithful to 

 nature to enable the novice to identify the fruits, 

 notwithstanding the drawings lack such botanical 

 details as can only be shown after dissection 

 of the fruits, and illustration of the sections. 

 Those representing the common spindle tree (Eiiouy- 

 mus europaeus), hawthorn {Crataegus oxyacantha), 

 sweet briar {Rosa ruhiginosa), and oak {Ouercus 

 Rohur) are especially commendable. 



Having said so much as to the merits of the book, 

 we cannot be silent in respect to its defects. The text 

 has evidently been written hurriedly, and the com- 

 position needed more careful revision than has been 

 exercised. The following sentence, for instance, is 

 not more ambiguous than many others that might be 

 selected from each chapter. On p. 13, in respect to 

 the privet {Ligustrum vutgare) the author writes : — 



" .^fter these somewhat offensive or altogether de- 

 lightful flowers succeed the berries, and these, if 

 unmolested by the blackbirds, thrushes, bullfinches, 

 and other birds to whom they are acceptable, remain 

 on the plant throughout the winter." 



The punctuation is reproduced faithfully. Or, as on 

 p. 203 .— 



" Large tracts have, however, of late years been 

 ploughed up, a proceeding little to the benefit of 

 anyone, and, so far as it goes, destructive of a wild 

 beauty that might well have been suffered to remain, 

 and which we, Staffordshire-born, can only regret the 

 loss " ! 



On p. 14, in a sentence which refers to the privet, 

 the word generic has been made to read genuine. 

 On p. 52 the yew {Taxus baccata) is referred to as 

 NO. 1982, VOL, 76] 



"a genuine ancient Briton," but on p. 57 it is also 

 described as "a welcome and sturdy guest," which 

 is surely suggestive of an exotic species rather than 

 " an ancient Briton." 



The use that is made of capital letters is altogether 

 inconsistent. In the headings all the specific names 

 commence with capitals, a practice which is indefens- 

 ible when applied to botanical nomenclature, yet on 

 p. 181 Viscum cruciatum, when printed in the text, 

 has no capitals, not even one for the generic name. 



We can see no reason for the author adopting the 

 out-of-date name Sarothamnus for the common broom, 

 the correct name for which is Cytisus. The plant 

 should be invariably described as Cytisus scoparius. 

 The list of illustrations at the commencement of the 

 book has probably escaped the author's revision after 

 the type was set. This would explain the generic 

 word Riibus being misspelt Robus in three instances, 

 and scoparius misspelt scaparius. 



The subject of this w^ork is an extremely in- 

 teresting one, and notwithstanding the imper- 

 fections we have mentioned, the book may be 

 recommended to those who are about to spend a 

 holiday in a country district, or to students in schools, 

 but especially to those who desire to acquire some 

 knowledge of the folk-lore connected with some of the 

 commonest fruiting plants in our native flora. 



COSMOLOGICAL SPECULATION. 

 Two New Worlds, (i) The Infra-World; (2) The 

 Supra-Worid. By E. E. Fournier d'Albe. Pp. ix + 

 157. (London: Longmans and Co., 1907.) Price 

 3s. 6d. net. 



THE first part of this book is an elaboration of an 

 analogy already familiar to the scientific public. 

 The Infra-world is a universe in which an earthly 

 atom is a solar system : the positive atom is its sun, 

 the electrons are its planets. The author points out 

 that the scale of distances in our own and the infra- 

 world is approximately in the ratio io--:i, this being 

 the ratio of the average diameters of our solar sj'stem 

 and an atom. Further, the infra-year, measured by the 

 period of revolution of an electron about its positive 

 atom, is, for a particular case, reduced by the same 

 factor. In this coincidence Mr. Fournier finds justi- 

 fication for regarding the world of atoms as a verit- 

 able universe on a smaller scale. 



The detailed account of the Infra-world which is 

 presented in the first six chapters, though interesting 

 in itself, is perhaps to be regarded mainly as prepar- 

 ing the way for the conception of a Supra-world, in 

 which our solar system functions as an atom. It is 

 not possible here to discuss die reasoning by which 

 the author seeks to establish the existence of ultra- 

 galactic universes; the arguments he employs are 

 simple and reasonable, and will appeal strongly to 

 the reader who is willing to be guided by probability 

 in a region where logical certainty- is at present un- 

 attainable. It is sufficient here to remark that the 

 author's presentation of the Supra-world is based on 

 the assumptions : — 



D D 



