860 
\ 
and native powers. Study with the compound 
microscope is a specialization to be made when 
the pupil has had experience, and when his 
judgment and sense of relationship are trained.’’ 
A little later he says: ‘‘It is often said that the 
high-school pupil should begin the study of 
botany with the lowest and simplest forms of 
life. This is wrong. The microscope is not an 
introduction to nature.’’? We do not quite like 
the tone of non-approval in regard to science 
and specialists which is heard now and then in 
the author’s preface, as in the first sentence 
quoted, where botanical science is referred to, 
and in this, ‘‘A book may be ideal from the 
specialist’s point of view, and yet be of little 
use to the pupil and the school,’’ and, ‘‘ Every 
statement in an elementary text-book has two 
values—the teaching value and the scientific 
value,’ and, again, ‘‘ Education should train 
persons tolive, rather than to be scientists,” 
and still, again, ‘‘Hxpert specialists are so 
likely to go into mere details and to pursue 
particular subjects so far, when teaching be- 
ginners, as to miss the leading and emphatic 
points.’’ There is already too much of this 
feeling abroad in the land, as witness the recent 
discussions in Congress on matters of scientific 
importance, and there is no call for any one to 
increase it by discrediting any department of 
science or those who have devoted their lives 
to scientific work. Of course, we know that 
the author does not wish to be understood in 
this way, but his wording is unfortunate and 
will certainly be so understood by many people. 
It would be unfair to quote the foregoing 
sentences, with the wording of which at least 
we most emphatically do not agree, and refrain 
from some quotation of those in regard to which 
there will be no question, as for example, ‘‘In 
the secondary schools botany should be taught 
for the purpose of bringing the pupil closer to 
the things with which he lives, of widening his 
horizon, of intensifying his hold on life,’’ and, 
“Botany always should be taught by the ‘ lab- 
oratory method’: that is, the pupil should 
work out the subjects directly from the speci- 
mens themselves.’’ 
The book is divided into four parts under 
the titles of ‘The Plant Itself,’ of 195 pages ; 
“The Plant in its Environment,’ of 37 pages; 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Von. XIII. No. 335. 
‘Histology, or the Minute Structure of Plants,’ 
of 42 pages, and ‘The Kinds of Plants,’ of 66 
pages. The first is almost entirely devoted to 
the gross anatomy and elementary physiology 
of seed plants, but 24 pages being given to the 
structure of algee, fungi, lichens, liverworts, 
mosses, ferns, horsetails and quillworts. The 
second part is ecological in a very elementary 
way, the treatment being well adapted to the 
needs of the pupils for which the book is de- 
signed. The third part, on the contrary, is quite 
severely technical, in spite of the author’s pref- 
atory remarks about the compound microscope, 
including such technical matters as fixing, im- 
bedding, sectioning with the microtome, staining 
and mounting, and even not excluding karyo- 
kinesis! Part LV. consists of a handy little man- 
ual about 300 selected species of ferns and seed 
plants. Throughout the book the illustrations, 
of which there are 500, are very pretty, many 
of them being ‘half-tone’ reproductions of 
photographs. 
We distinctly do not like the lists of ques- 
tions at the close of the chapters, each question 
matching an italic or heavy-type sentence in 
the text. These will certainly lead to grave 
abuses. On the other hand, there is much to 
commend inthe book. It is charmingly writ- 
ten by one who knows a great deal about 
plants, and who is desirous of having the young 
people know plants as he knows them. His 
enthusiasm will inspire many a pupil to take 
up the serious study of plants who otherwise 
might have passed them by had the subject 
been presented in a different way, especially 
where the teacher has little knowledge of bot- 
any. 
In Instructor Bergen’s book we have less 
divergence from the generally accepted prin- 
ciples in secondary botanical teaching. The 
author ‘has attempted to steera middle course 
between the advocates of the out-of-door school 
and of the histological school of botany-teach- 
ing.’ That he is not afraid of the scientific 
or technical aspects of botany is shown by the 
following quotations :—“‘ The latest authorities 
in the various departments of botany have been 
consulted on all doubtful points, and the at- 
tempt has been to make the book scientifically 
accurate throughout, yet not unduly difficult.’’ 
