1898] CURRENT LITERATURE ri By 
Ustilagineze have been included under the Basidiomycetes. In the alge, 
bryophytes, and pteridophytes the classification remains unchanged, so far 
as orders and arrangement are concerned. The name Astigmatées appears 
as a synonym for gymnosperms, and Stigmatées for angiosperms. Sweeping 
changes have been made in the classification of angiosperms. The mono- 
cotyls have been divided into four orders, Cyperinées, Joncinées, Liliinées, 
and Iridinées ; but the Graminées, which previously headed the list of mono- 
cotyls, are put with the Nymphéinées in a class intermediate between 
monocotyls and dicotyls, and of equal rank. The Graminées seem to have 
been taken from the monocotyls on the ground that they have two 
cotyledons. 
The previous classification of dicotyls was into Apetala, Dialypetale, 
and Gamopetale, each being subdivided into hypogynous and epigynous 
forms. ‘The present classification is radically different, and here, too, many 
will hardly admit that there has been an improvement. The dicotyls are 
divided into two subclasses, the /aseminées and Seminées. The Inseminées 
include five orders: Inovulées or Loranthinées, Innucellées or Santalinées, 
Integminées or Anthobolinées, Unitegminées or Icacinées, and Bitegminées 
or Heistérinées. The second subclass contains two orders: Unitegminées, 
a series beginning with the Salicinées and ending with the Compositales ; and 
Bitegminées, a series beginning with the Piperinées and ending with the 
Cucurbitinées. The book closes with a chapter on plant distribution.— 
Cas. J. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Medical botany. 
STUDENTS of medicine and especially of pharmacy are required to have 
knowledge of avery large number of plants, widely distributed both in a 
taxonomic and in a geographic sense. In no other field of botany, perhaps, 
is the existing condition of things less satisfactory as regards really good text- 
books than in pharmacy. The reason for this state of affairs seems to lie in 
the nature of the subject. To a degree probably nowhere else observed, the 
subject-matter to be presented consists of unrelated facts, and the student, 
without aid from any guiding thread of reasonableness, is expected to make 
himself master of these facts. Asa result the work easily becomes tedious 
and mechanical. In order that as many details as possible may be retained 
in memory, a frequent repetition of the most important things becomes well- 
nigh a necessity. For these reasons a book which presents these facts in a 
brief, pithy style must find large appreciation and use. M. L. Trabut has 
made an attempt to condense into a small volume?‘ not only the necessary 
4Traput, L.—Précis de botanique médicale. Deuxiéme edition. 1I2mo. pp. 
739. figs. 954. Paris: Masson & Cie. 1808. 
