1909] CURRENT LITERATURE 417 



The work opens with a section on the construction and use of the microscope, 

 its accessories and reagents. The important types of technical products that are 

 treated are the following: starches and inulin; vegetable fibers, including hairs, 

 with a section on the examination of paper; animal fibers, mineral fibers, and 

 textile fabrics; stems and roots, including woods (gymnospermous, dicotyledonous, 

 and monocotyledonous), barks, and rhizomes, with some practical examples of 

 the problems that are submitted for solution; leaves, under which only sumach 

 leaves are treated; flowers, with insect powder alone treated; seeds and fruits, 

 including a large range of oil cakes; and finally teeth, bone, horn, etc. 



Of course in such a list there must be an end somewhere, for space is not 

 unlimited; but one wonders at the basis of some choices. The line between 

 drugs, foods, and technical products is not an easy one to draw; but if wheat 

 and barley appear among the fruits, why not maize and rye ? If sumach leaves, 

 why not tea and tobacco ? If insect powder, why not saffron ? But it behooves 

 us to be thankful for what there is, rather than to complain of what there is not. 

 And what there is is sure to be thoroughly helpful. 



The publishers' part has been well done. The illustrations are well printed, 

 the text clear, and the binding substantial. The book is essential for public 

 libraries and for governmental and university laboratories. — C. R. B. 



Works of Leo Errera 



We have already noticed in these pages the sumptuous republication of the 

 work which, under the direction of Leo Errera, issued from the botanical insti- 

 tute of the University of Brussels. In these volumes 7 his own original work takes 

 a conspicuous place. But he did much other writing, popular, pedagogic, philo- 

 sophic, literary, which is to be preserved by original publication or reprinting 

 in a series of six volumes now being issued under the title Recueil d\ruvres de 

 Leo Errera* Of these three have appeared. Two deal with botanical subjects 

 and one contains verse and prose on a variety of topics— addresses, thoughts, 

 philosophic epigrams, etc. The botanical topics of the first volumes are: A letter 

 on the vegetation about Xice; Agriculture and horticulture in Norway (largely 

 a criticism of Schubeler); Structure and modes of fee 



200 



posth 



j 



field of research (the efficacy of the defensive structures of plants); Engelmakn's 

 bacterial method; Compass plants. In the second volume we find: Respiration 

 °f plants (one of a course of public lectures); De grace, des noms latins (a plea 

 f or the avoidance of vernacular names); Scientific bases of agriculture (36 pp.); 



» Recueil de l'Institut Botanique Leo Errera. Bot. Gazette 43: 215, 347- I0 °7; 

 45:201. 1908. 



8 Recueil d'eeuvres de Leo Errera. 8vo. Vols. I, II, Botanique General, pp. 

 iv +34i- Vol. VI, Melanges (vers et prose), pp. xiv + 222. Bruxelles: H. Lamertin. 

 1908. 



