Reviews and Book Notices. 63 



Physical Science in the Time of Nero, being a Translation of the Qiiaes- 

 tiones Naturales of Seneca, by John Clarke, with notes on the Treatise, by 

 Sir Archibald Geikie. MacMillan & Co. 368 pp. 12/- net. 



Early in the seventeenth century Thomas Lodge, the dramatist, pub- 

 lished a translation of nearly the whole of Seneca's prose works. Hitherto, 

 however, no English editor seems to have turned his attention to the 

 Questiones Naturales. In the present work by Mr. John Clarke, a trans- 

 lation is given, together with an explanatory introduction. Other in- 

 formation is gi\en to enable the \olume to be self-interpreting. Sir Archi- 

 bald Geikie has added a valuable and most readable commentary, in 

 which questions treated by Seneca are considered from the point of view of 

 modern science. 



A Garland of Shakespeare's Flowers, compiled by Rose E. Carr Smith. 

 London : Eliot Stock. 104 pp. 3/- net. 



This little book contains an introduction by Herbert Carr Smith, in 

 reference to the flowers of Shakespeare's days. Then follow sixty well- 

 coloured plates of the plants referred to by Shakespeare, each of which is 

 accompanied by quotations from the plays, etc. The illustrations are 

 after the style of those in Cassell's 'Familiar Wild Flowers,' and for the 

 most part are well done. Botanists, with a taste for Shakespeare, or 

 Shakespearians with a taste for botany, will hnd this book welcome. 



Modern Microscopy, by M. I. Cross and M. J. Cole. 4th ed. London, 

 1912. Balliere, Tindall & Cox. XVII. +325 pp. 6/- net. 



This well-known ' Handbook for beginners and students " needs no 

 recommendation to our readers interested in microscopy, as they will 

 probably all have got it. In case this should not be so, and in case any 

 are about to take up microscopy, we take this opportunity of saying that 

 a fourth revised and enlarged edition has just been published, with chapters 

 on special subjects by various writers. There are over one hundred 

 illustrations. 



A Journal from Japan : A Daily Record of Life as seen by a Scientist, 

 by Marie C. Stopes, D.Sc, etc. London : Blackie & Son. 280 pp. 7/6 

 net. 



Dr. Stopes went to Japan in search of coal-balls, and, as we have seen, 

 has made many interesting additions to our knowledge of paLcobotany as a 

 result. With introductions from the Royal Society, etc., she had every 

 possible attention paid to her, by the most polite of Orientals. Whilst 

 away she wrote long letters home, for her friends, though they took the 

 form of a ' Journal.' They were not written for the purpose of publication, 

 and therefore, womanlike. Dr. Stopes has published them. And we are 

 glad she did. She seems to have had a happy time, and certainly has a 

 happy way of telling what she saw. Early in the trip, whilst on a train 

 ride, a smart Japanese, well-dressed in perfect English style, sat near her, 

 ' then, the heat becoming great, he took off his coat, then his waistcoat' 

 and finally came to his shirt alone! Then he pulled over him a loose 

 kimono, and removed every stitch but that .... all without removing his 

 gold-rimmed glasses or turning a hair! ' As many others did the same 

 Miss Stopes wondered if we weren't a little super-prudish in England. On 

 the next night she was on board a steamer. ' The state-rooms have three 

 berths, and I find my two companions are men. It was a shock at first, 

 but they seemed so surprised at my being surprised, that I thought agairi 

 that we ha\-e too much of the trail of the serpent about our customs. I 

 slept in the train with men near me, why not in the steamer. It is only 

 for one night! ' Then she took a policeman with her to the mountains. 

 And so on. There is no doubt the editor of ' The Sportophyte ' had a 

 delightful time in Japan. Personally, we feel sorry she has omitted the 

 references to what was said and done at the numerous dinners and dances 

 she attended. They might have been interesting! As it is the book is 

 more generally readable than a technical description of the microscopic 

 characters of the pateobotanical contents of a Japanese coal-ball. 



1912 Feb. I. 



