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CURRENT LITERATURE. 
Essentials of Botany.+ 
Wuen Professor Bessey began to publish his text-books the botan- 
ical instructors of the United States were teaching chiefly the gross 
morphology and classification of “flowering plants” as presented by 
Gray's fascinating text and manual. A larger view of plants had 
taken possession of Germany, and this view Professor Bessey sought 
to transplant. How well he succeeded is witnessed by the revolution 
that followed in American botanical teaching, especially in the col- 
leges. The ready response, the adoption of real laboratory methods, 
the multiplication of texts and laboratory guides on the new basis, all 
show how great was the need. Among all the American books, how- 
ever, which belong to the new dispensation, those of Professor Bessey 
fairly stand as the pioneers. His very large and successful experience 
aSa teacher has peculiarly fitted him for the work, and has enabled 
him to organize the text and touch the needs in a way quite beyond 
the comprehension of the mere investigator. 
It is with great pleasure that we welcome the new edition of his 
Yery useful “Essentials,” for the rapid advance of the science had left 
the old one inadequate in many important particulars, which the au- 
thor appreciated more keenly than any one. As the book has been 
and must continue to be one of the most largely used texts it is to the 
interest of botany for it to present current views. The most notable 
change is to be found in the new chapter on plant physiology, a sub- 
l€ct which has been made a science since the old text was written. 
Frotoplasm and the cell-structures are also freshly presented in the 
light of new knowledge. In the matter of classification, Professor 
Bessey has his own views, presented to the botanical public before, 
ungi 
doubtedly the merit of easy presentation to beginners. 
‘Bessey, Cuartes E.—The Essentials of Botany. Sixth Edition, revised and 
6 & Co. 
B 
“tlarged, 18y6. New York: Henry Holt 
[375] 
