196 Bibliography. 



ramification. The author does not hesitate to discuss, in this elementa- 

 ry treatise, most of the questions which are now exciting the attention 

 of physiologists ; such as the development of the simple tissues, the 

 nature of the endogenous structure, the doctrine of phyllotaxis, cyclo- 

 sis, intercellular rotation, etc. We await with much interest the ap- 

 pearance of the second part of this excellent introduction to botany. 



A. Gr. 



3. Grundzuge der Botanik, entworfen von Stephan Endlicher 

 und Franz Unger. Vienna, 1843. pp. 494, 8vo. — In the production 

 of this admirable text-book, one of the most accomplished systematic 

 botanists of the age has been joined by his friend, a distinguished phys- 

 iologist. The work is divided into two parts ; the first treating of the 

 nature of plants as individuals ; the second, of plants viewed as com- 

 posing a systematic unity, a vegetable kingdom. The first part com- 

 prises, 1st, Histology, or an account of the elementary organs of plants ; 

 2d, Organology, corresponding to organography ; and 3d, the Physiolo- 

 gy of plants ; and is illustrated by 450 figures on wood. The most in- 

 teresting portion, in the present state of vegetable morphology, is the 

 chapter on the gynceciwn, in which Endlicher, who, it is well known, 

 early adopted the axile theory of placentation, has here applied it in 

 detail to the various forms and modifications of the ovary. The chief 

 advantage of this theory is, that it harmonizes in the simplest manner 

 the laws of placentation with the general law which regulates the pro- 

 duction of buds. It appears to be the prevalent theory on the continent, 

 and might have been generally adopted, had it not met with so formida- 

 ble an opponent in Mr. Brown, the person best qualified to decide such 

 questions, and who has brought against it the most direct and apparently 

 unanswerable arguments. In the second part of the work, we have, 

 firstly, a brief exposition of the fundamental principles of Systemat- 

 ic botany. This is followed by a chapter on Geographical botany, 

 which treats of the propagation and distribution of plants over the earth's 

 surface, and of the causes which control this distribution ; such as the 

 temperature of the air and of the earth, the humidity of the air, the 

 constitution of the soil, &c. ; and finally, we have an enumeration 

 of the twenty-five districts of vegetation, and their characteristic forms, 

 as proposed by Schouw. Lastly, an interesting chapter is devoted to 

 the history of the vegetable kingdom, or the mutations which plants 

 have undergone in time, whether in remote geological periods, or since 

 the creation of man, from causes still in action. A. Gr. 



4. Lehrbuch der Botanik ; von Dr. G. W. Bischoff, Prof. Bot. Univ. 

 Heidelberg. Stuttgart, 6 vols. 8vo, with 16 plates in 4to, 1834-1840. 

 — This elaborate manual forms a part of the Naturgeschichte der drei 



