ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICEOSCOPY, ETC. 919 



the author has confirmed in the case of young seedlings of Lupinus 

 luteus, in which he found not only xanthin, but apparently also hypo- 

 xanthin, at the time when the root was beginning to emerge from the 

 testa. Two observations failed, on the other hand, to detect more 

 than a trace of xanthin in dormant lupine-seeds. The xanthin could 

 be detected in the young plant for some weeks, and in the aerial por- 

 tion as well as the root. The substance was found also in officinal 

 extracts of plants, so that it may be assumed, with strong probability, 

 that it is also a constituent of mature plants. 



De CandoUe's 'Phytography.'*— By " phytography " Alph, de 

 Candolle understands " the art of describing plants, considered from 

 different points of view;" and his book of 30 chapters and nearly 

 500 pages is devoted to defining the principles which ought to 

 be followed by botanists in this respect, with a view to the improve- 

 ment of their writings. 



In his preface he refers to the large number of books relating to 

 anatomy which are now relegated to the out-of-the-way corners of 

 libraries. The cause is plain. The Microscope and the mode of 

 using it having made such great progress, what was formerly observed 

 is considered to have been badly seen. Each improvement of the 

 instrument has produced in this part of science the same effect as 

 the changes in fire-arms have produced in books treating of the mili- 

 tary art. It has been necessary to recommence from fifteen years to 

 fifteen years, and the works of Kieser, Moldenhauer, Meyen, &c., are 

 already in the shade, as those of Grew and Malpighi were before 

 them. Observations made by ordinary vision retain their value, but 

 what is seen by the aid of magnifying powers depends upon the 

 point to which they have been brought. A single discovery of the 

 optician may put aside excellent works, which pass into the condition 

 of historical documents. 



Under the head of " Eemarks on the manner in which the facts 

 observed by the Microscope are described," the author comments upon 

 the extent to which microscopical descriptions have suffered in modern 

 times, and the want of the same method that has been established in 

 the case of macroscopical. Even in the case of microscopists who 

 more nearly approach the Linnean system of description, their 

 style is very verbose. Schacht and Payer are admittedly two of the 

 clearest and briefest, but the author gives three instances from their 

 works, taken by chance, in which 85 words and 516 letters, 93 words 

 and 471 letters, and 110 words and 517 letters, are easily expressed in 

 the Linnean style by 37 words and 253 letters, 30 and 210, 48 and 

 324. No library Avill be able to contain the books if the 100,000 

 species are treated in the way referred to. " Cells ellipsoidal, conti- 

 guous " is shorter, but conveys as much as " The cells are ellipsoidal and 

 do not show any visible interstices," and " vascular bundles in a com- 

 plete ring " than " the vascular bundles are disposed in a complete 

 ring," or, as may be found in many works, " If the organ is cut 

 transversely, and observed with a power of only 80 times, we shall see 



* De Candolle, A., ' La Pbytographie.' 48i pp. (Svo, Paris, 18S0.) 



