466 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. YII. No. 170. 



of gymnosperms (p. 206), whicli is based en- 

 tirely upon the structure of the pines alone. 



A few blunders of another kind mar the 

 book, as 'protonemse' (p. 10 et seq.), 'bar- 

 barous Latin and Greek names ' (p. 8), ' female 

 macrospores and male microspores ' (p. 186), 

 ' botanies ' (p. 208). It is quite unpleasant also 

 to see chlorophyl for chlorophyll and sperma- 

 phytes for spermatophytes. 



There are many excellent features about this 

 book, and both author and publishers owe it to 

 themselves to see that the grave defects of the 

 kind indicated above are speedily corrected. 

 Charles E. Bessey. 



Elementary Botany. By Percy Groom, 'M. A. 



(Cantab, et Oxon.) F. L. S. London, Geo. 



Bell & Sons. 1898. With 275 illustrations. 



This concise and attractive volume of 252 

 pages is designed by the author to meet the re- 

 quirements of secondary schools in England. As 

 suggested in the preface, ' ' though by no means 

 a ' cram-book' for elementary examinations, a 

 thorough knowledge of the contents of this book 

 will enable a candidate to pass with distinc- 

 tion." Perhaps such a sentence will indicate 

 a certain difference in educational conditions 

 between England and America, for here it would 

 not be easy to select any two hundred and fifty 

 pages of botanical exposition and guarantee, 

 upon its proper assimilation , a 'pass with honor. ' 

 The reason probably lies in the greater con- 

 servatism of the English school curriculum and 

 the firm adherence of the English teacher of 

 botany to the traditions of earlier days, when 

 the systematic study of flowering plants filled 

 a larger horizon than it does at present. When 

 one understands the clientele for which Groom's 

 Elementary Botany was written it must be ac- 

 knowledged to be an extremely good book. It 

 is clear, crisp, accurate, not technical enough to 

 be dry, nor untechnical to the point of looseness. 

 It comprises in astonishingly small compass an 

 adequate account of general organography, 

 metaspermic taxonomy and elementary physi- 

 ology. The figures, many of them original, are 

 nearly all distinctly good and are far above the 

 average of those presented in most books of 

 similar purpose. The original figures are some 

 of them real additions to botanical iconography. 



as, for example, figs. 49-52, illustrating the 

 yearly history of the common crocus. 



One is impressed by the thorough modern- 

 ness of the writer of this little text-book in 

 many small bits of detail scattered through the 

 work, some of which might easily escape the 

 reader. The definition and classificatio)! of 

 fruits, the account of floral morphology and 

 even the definition of the flower are suggestive. 

 The reviewer has always insisted upon the 

 necessity of the most careful definition and can 

 conscientiously congratulate Mr. Percy Groom 

 on his success in one or two diflScult points. 

 Sometimes, however, there is a little vagueness. 

 It would, perhaps, be too much like trifling to- 

 call attention to a sentence on the first page — 

 " A fern seems very unlike a mushroom and 

 yet both are alike in that neither of them pos- 

 sesses flowers." This seemed to suggest an 

 old riddle — " Why is a horse like an oyster? "■ 

 — to which the very obvious answer is, "Be- 

 cause neither can climb a tree." Such absurd 

 collocation of ideas would naturally not occur 

 to the English users of this work, and the au- 

 thor cannot be blamed for not protecting him- 

 self against manifestations of a well-known 

 American failing. 



Some reviewers will doubtless object to the 

 multiplicity of definitions in the Elementary 

 Botany, but in so doing will scarcely do more 

 than indicate their ignorance of the English 

 school system. Where examination has been 

 reduced to a science, as in England, and where 

 secondary education has so thoroughly crystal- 

 lized in well-marked grooves, this type of text 

 has a place of its own and in the belief of the 

 reviewer fills it admirably. 



Conway MacMillan. 



An Introductory Course in Quantitative Chemical 

 Analysis. By Percy Norton Evans, Ph. D. , 

 Associate Professor of Chemistry, Purdu& 

 University. Ginn & Company. 1897. 

 The number of guides or manuals to qualita- 

 tive analysis is very great, as nearly every 

 teacher of that subject publishes a book ar- 

 ranged according to his ideas, although the 

 material is practically identical. The field of 

 quantitative analysis has not been so well cov- 

 ered. The student is generally directed ta 



