318 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 166. 



troduced by the investigators and writers of 

 other countries for evident reasons. To be per- 

 manently valuable to science, and to effect for 

 the world a real saving, such measures must 

 needs be international in character. 



The admirable cards of the International 

 Bibliographical Bureau at Ziirich still continue 

 to add in abbreviated form the words referred 

 to above. Some such rules as those adopted by 

 the Botanical Congress could be promulgated 

 by the Bureau, with the hope that they would 

 be generally understood and in time generally 

 adopted. Am I wrong in believing such a 

 movement for simplicity and uniformity in cita- 

 tion (1) desirable, (2) possible, (3) most likely 

 to succeed under these circumstances ? 



Henry B. Ward. 



University op Nebraska. 



SCIENTIFIC LITEBATORE. 

 Fflanzenphysiologie, ein Handbuch der Lehre vom 



Stoffwechsel und Kraftwechsel in der Pflanze. 



Zweite vollig umgearbeitete Auflage. Dr. W. 



Pfeffer. Leipzig, Wilhelm Engelmann. 



1897. Erster Band. Stoffwechsel. 



It is safe to say that no handbook of plant 

 physiology has yet appeared which, for compre- 

 hensiveness and breadth of treatment, keen 

 criticism of conflicting researches, truthfulness 

 of perspective, accuracy of detail and logical 

 delimitation of the subject and its branches 

 can be compared to Pfeflfer's encyclopedic 

 work, which now comes to the second edition. 

 Perhaps no greater tribute to the merit of this 

 great work and the master mind that planned 

 it can be given than the fact that, after sixteen 

 years of the most productive research in the 

 history of botany, the author does not find it 

 necessary to alter his method of treatment, al- 

 though the establishment and development of 

 many important principles have taken place in 

 this period. The first volume is devoted to 

 chemical physiology, and the second, now in 

 preparation, to physical physiology, or phyto- 

 dynamics. The treatment is strictly inductive, 

 with no lapses into speculation, or leanings to- 

 ward vitalism, and, moreover, all the subjects 

 included are fairly physiological, but scant dis- 

 cussion being given to ecological adaptations, 



though the method of variation is necessarily 

 pointed out. The ten chapters of the first vol- 

 ume, now at hand, discuss the province of phys- 

 iology, the nature of irritability, variation and 

 hereditary, morphological-physiological consid- 

 erations, swelling and molecular structure, 

 mechanism of interchange of matter, mechanism 

 of interchange of gases, the movements of water 

 in the plant, nutrition, organization and energy 

 of metabolism, respiration, fermentation and 

 translocation. The contents of the separate 

 chapters afibrd a ready appreciation of the de- 

 velopment of the subject from 1881 to 1897, a 

 record of progress in which Dr. PfeflTer and his 

 students have taken an important part. The 

 keen critical faculty of the author has enabled 

 him to express clearly the condition of impor- 

 tant questions yet in controversy, and, through- 

 out the entire volume, generous and just esti- 

 mate is made of the work of physiologists out- 

 side of Germany. 



The author does not accept the term ' Ener- 

 gid, ' of Sachs, as the physiological unit, and finds 

 that 'cell' or 'protoplast' is still useful in that 

 capacity. Barymorphose, photomorphose, etc., 

 by the same author, are shown to be inappli- 

 cable to the influence of external agencies upon 

 form and development. The foam structure 

 of protoplasm, as described by Butschli, finds 

 place in the discussion of the composition of 

 protoplasm. Cilia and vacuoles are described 

 as organs which may arise de novo, while no de- 

 cision is reached as to the much harassed cen- 

 trosome question. 



Full place is given to recent researches show- 

 ing the invariable connection between nuclei 

 and the formation of wall membranes, and the 

 facilities afforded for the translocation of plastic 

 material, as well as of the protoplasm itself by 

 means of the interprotoplastic threads, is pointed 

 out. A new lease of life is given this theory 

 by the adduction of evidence from recent re- 

 searches that such substances as the oils are 

 known to pass membranes in a finely divided 

 condition. 



The micellar theory of Nageli is used as a 

 basis of the discussion of molecular structure, 

 although the enlargement of the section devoted 

 to this subject is due to collection of detail 

 rather than development of principles involved. 



