CURRENT LITERATURE. 
BOOK REVIEWS. 
Plant physiology. 
PROFESSOR G. J, PEIRCE, of Stanford University, has elaborated lectures 
upon plant physiology which he has been giving in the University into a text- 
book,’ less extensive than Pfeffer’s treatise, and more full than Noll's treat- 
ment in the Bonn text-book. This is published in attractive form and will be 
found of interest both to the general reader and to students. The book differs 
from the Zext-book of plant physiology by MacDougal, in that there are no 
laboratory directions, the author believing that the laboratory manual and 
the text should be divorced. The only English work with which the book at 
all competes is the Vegetable hysiology of Professor J. Reynolds Green. 
Peirce’s book shows strongly the impress of Pfeffer’s Physiology, and to 
him the author makes ample acknowledgment. One who reads the book 
carefully will be impressed by the clearness of style and the vigor of pres- 
entation, as well as by the freshness of much of the matter and the modern 
point of view from which the author regards his subject. The book is 
characterized by two features: first, an endeavor to state the phenomena of 
plant life in the terms of physics and chemistry; and, second, by the clear 
recognition of the fact that very many plant phenomena cannot yet be ade- 
quately stated in these terms, and the consequent acknowledgment that they 
are at present not sufficiently known. This makes the book stimulating to 
the student, for many lines along which research will be profitable are pointed 
out to him. In many ways the book is a decided advance upon any English 
text which has come to our notice. 
After recognizing fully the value of this work, its originality, its vigor, its 
clearness, its stimulating statements of the incompleteness in our knowledge, 
and its probable marked usefulness as a text-book in colleges and schools, 
there remains the less pleasant task of pointing out some of its shortcomings. 
After an introductory chapter, the first topic is respiration, and here we 
think the author has adopted an unfortunate theory which does not agree with 
the observed phenomena. The whole treatment is based upon the theory 
that foods of various kinds are directly oxidized to furnish energy. This is 
plainly derived from Pfeffer, and of course should be stated as a theory; but 
the other view of respiration, which, in our judgment, is much more probable 
because in closer harmony with the facts, is not even mentioned. 
In the chapter on nutrition which follows, there is no adequate treatment 
* PEIRCE, GEORGE JAMES, A text-book of plant genie 8vo. pp. vi-+ 291, 
figs. 22. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1903. 
1903] 143 
