194 
to assert its independence, when text-books designed to 
meet our own peculiar requirements shall be written by 
native authors. Meanwhile let the choice of books for 
translation be confined to those that are sound and good, 
let us guard jealously against any tendency to a sapro- 
phytic habit, with its attendant degeneration ; the transla- 
tion of an unsound text-book may be regarded in a sense 
as marxing a saprophytic tendency, and the appearance 
of the translation of this book of Dr. Behrens is perhaps 
the first indication of such a saprophytic habit. 
Lastly, would it not be possible, and much more advant- 
ageous, to transmute the energy now devoted to transla- 
tion into original production? It is admitted that a 
teacher acquires both facility of exposition and clearness 
of view by writing down his ideas in the form of a text- 
book. Itis for us to see that we do not continue our 
“healthy symbiosis ” unduly, and thereby lose that power 
of original exposition for which so many English men of 
cience have been properly celebrated. 
II. The second work under review is a translation of a 
book by the same author, and it is one of those works 
now being produced in rapid succession which aim at 
assisting the student in his practical work in the labora- 
tory. The keynote is struck by the following passage 
from the preface to the German original: “ For a work 
to be useful in those microscopical inquiries which are 
most important in the botanical laboratory, it need teach 
neither optics nor histology.” It may fairly be admitted 
that within the cover of this book the student will find 
clearly laid before him all that it is essential he should 
know of the theory and structure of the modern micro- 
scope, together with useful instructions as to the methods 
and reagents in use in the botanical laboratory. Dr. 
Behrens boldly challenges criticism in his preface, when 
he says “the chapter of this work which deals with the 
microscopical investigation of vegetable substances fur- 
nishes an ex/austive treatment of these matters.” What- 
ever may be our opinion as to the correctness of this 
statement it must be allowed that the work now before us 
is the result of an earnest effort, and represents wide and 
laborious sifting of a scattered literature not easily access- 
ible to most students. There is quite a pathetic ring in 
one sentence in the preface ; referring to the literature of 
the subject in the University Library at Gottingen, the 
author says: “With hardly a noteworthy exception, I 
have seen and read it all.” It is only those who know 
how voluminous and how scattered are the writings on 
this subject who can form an idea of the magnitude of 
this task. 
The first two chapters, dealing with the microscope 
and microscopical accessories, have been subjected to 
considerable alteration and extension by the editors. 
Naturally German stands and objectives are not so ac- 
cessible in America as those made on the spot; the 
editors have devoted considerable space to the description 
and illustration of the microscopes of American manu- 
facture, so that this part of the book partakes, both in 
appearance and contents, of the character of an optician’s 
catalogue. A few paragraphs have been added on the 
subject of “ nose-pieces ;” but there is no mention of that 
invaluable nose-piece of Zeiss which is calculated to save 
the time of workers in no small degree—viz. that which 
NATURE 
| Fuly 2, 1885 
can accommodate four objectives, and on which the tubes 
carrying the objectives are cut of such length as to bring 
each in turn approximately into focus: the value of this 
arrangement is obvious. 
Chapter III. contains useful directions for the prepara- 
tion of microscopic objects, cutting sections, mounting, 
drawing, &c. The most important part of the book, and 
that which will assuredly be the most generally useful, is 
that comprised in the last 200 pages, and it is almost a 
matter of regret that this latter half has not been pub- 
lished separately from the first 260 pages, which have an 
interest chiefly for the beginner, while for the advanced 
student they will be little better than lumver. Pp. 267- 
311 are devoted to the enumeration and preparation of 
micro-chemical reagents, while Chapter V. deals with the 
microscopical investigation of vegetable substances. It 
is to be noted that no reference is made to the inventor 
of chlor-iodide of zinc beyond his name, which, according 
to the notice of the meeting at which his solution was 
first described (“ Flora,” 1850, p. 643), is spelt “ Schulze” 
not “Schultz” as it stands in the text. There is no 
mention of the demonstration of protoplasmic continuity, 
even in sieve tubes, nor is the substance of the “callus” 
of sieve tubes or its reactions described. These omissions 
do not greatly affect the value of the book; they would 
not have been mentioned had not Dr. Behrens professed 
to give us an “exhaustive” treatment of the subject, 
One chief merit of the work is that copious references 
are given to the sources from which Dr. Behrens has 
drawn his information; this will greatly add to its use- 
fulness, and the translation may be accepted as a valuable 
addition to the laboratory handbooks already before the 
English-speaking public. PS OUB. 
RUSSIAN CENTRAL ASIA 
Russian Central Asia, including Kuldja, Bokhara, Khiva, 
and Merv. By Henry Lansdell, D.D. (London: 
Sampson Low and Co., 1885.) 
D*® LANSDELL, already favourably known to the 
public by his interesting volumes “ Through 
Siberia,” gives in the present work a mass of information 
on a subject to which the attention of Englishmen has of 
late been perforce directed—the Russian dominions in 
Central Asia. In the two goodly volumes recently pub- 
lished he gives the narrative of a journey undertaken in 
the year 1882, in the course of which he traversed Kuldja, 
Bokhara, Khiva, and Merv. Turkistan has been rarely 
visited by Englishmen, and, as Dr. Lansdell believes, in 
certain parts he may claim to be the first. The principal 
object of his journey was a philanthropic one—the distri- 
bution of religious literature, especially in the prisons of 
the Russian empire; but in writing this book he has kept 
in view the requirements of students as well as of general 
readers, providing for the former by touching upon the 
“ seography, geology, fauna and flora, the characteristics 
of the people, their government, language, and religion ”— 
to which not only numerous notes but also whole chapters 
are devoted, as well as “ appendices, derived from works 
only published in the Russian language, which treat on 
the fauna and flora of Turkistan.” 
It would be impossible in the space to which this 
notice must necessarily be restricted to give an adequate 
