680 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 176. 



We recommend the book as valuable to the 

 student of physics and engineering, but as es- 

 pecially valuable to the student of pure mathe- 

 matics, and as a book that will be useful to all 

 teachers of the infinitesimal calculus. 



W. F. Osgood. 



Haevaed University, 26 April 1898. 



A Text-Booh of Botany. By De. B. Steas- 



BUEGEE, De. FeITZ NoLL, De. H. SCHENCK 



and De. A. F. "W. Schimpee ; translated by 

 H. C. PoETEE, Ph.D. London and New 

 York, Macmillan & Co. With 594 illustra- 

 tions, in part colored. 8vo. Pp. x + 632. 

 $4.50. 



-In 1894 the ' Bonn Text-Book' appeared from 

 the hand of the brilliant German botanist Stras- 

 burger, with the assistance of three of his col- 

 laborators. In this volume Strasburger pre- 

 pared the chapter on external and internal 

 morphology (132 pp.), Noll the chapter on 

 physiology (125 pp.), Schenck that relating to 

 cryptogams (104 pp.) and Schimper that on 

 phanerogams (264 pp.). The success of this 

 volume was so great that in but little more than 

 a year a second edition was brought out, with 

 some new matter and additional illustrations. 

 About a year ago the welcome announcement 

 was made that Dr. Porter, of the University of 

 Pennsylvania, was bringing out a translation of 

 this second edition, but its appearance has been 

 much delayed, and the volume was not issued 

 aintil early in April of the present year. The 

 length of this delay is indicated by the date of 

 the translator's preface, February, 1896, and 

 accounts for the fact that some important ad- 

 ditions to botanical science are not noticed in 

 this otherwise very modern book. There is no 

 reference to Harper's proof of the fecundation 

 in the Erysiphete, nor to the discovery of an- 

 therozoids in lower gymnosperms. 



The volume in its German dress is so well 

 known to botanists that it is quite needless to 

 speak of its merits. Perhaps no man living is 

 better prepared than Dr. Strasburger to under- 

 take the presentation of the portion of the 

 work which deals with the internal morphology 

 of plants. Certainly no man has a better 

 knowledge of the structure of the cell, and the 

 man J'' changes which it undergoes in constitu- 



tion and form. This book, unlike many other 

 text-books, is, in this chapter at least, authorita- 

 tive. 



The translation is good, and the publishers 

 have spared no pains to make the type and 

 printing all that could be desired, these being 

 far more pleasant to the eye in the translation 

 than in the original. The colored figures, also, 

 are somewhat improved by a softening of the 

 rather bright colors of the German editions. 



The publishers announce an early issue of 

 this work in two volumes, of about 300 pages 

 each, to be sold separately, volume I. contain- 

 ing Strasburger's chapter on Morphology, and 

 Noll's on Physiology, and volume II., Schenck's 

 Cryptogams and Schimper' s Phanerogams. 

 This will be a great improvement, since it will 

 enable the .student of morphology and physi- 

 ology to supply himself with the part relating 

 to these subjects at much less expense. 



Chaeles E. Besset. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 

 Journal of Physical Chemistry, April. ' Study 

 of a three-component System : ' by Hectoe R. 

 Caeyeth. a study of the freezing-points of 

 lithium, sodium and potassium nitrate mixtures 

 and their classification and interpretation ac- 

 cording to the Phase Rule. The suggestion is 

 made of the possibility of applying the freez- 

 ing-point method to the analysis of mixtures 

 of inorganic salts. ' Note on Thermal Equilib- 

 rium in Electrolysis:' by D. Tommasi. The 

 effect of the simultaneous action of an oxidiz- 

 ing and a reducing agent upon a substance 

 capable of being oxidized or reduced. A mix- 

 ture of electrolytic hydrogen and oxygen was 

 allowed to act on various substances, as nitric 

 acid, potassium chlorate, etc. The laws are 

 deduced that when a substance is submitted to 

 two equal and contrary chemical actions the 

 reaction which evolves the most heat will take 

 place in preference, provided always it can be- 

 gin ; and of two chemical reactions that one 

 which requires less heat to start it will always 

 take place in preference, even though it evolves 

 less heat than the other reaction. ' Benzene, 

 Acetic Acid and Water :' by John Waddell. 

 An investigation of the distribution ratio of 

 acetic acid in benzene and water as solvents. 



