June 6, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



901 



lution of Plants,' one of the most suggestive 

 and readable of recent books on the philosoph- 

 ical aspects of botanical science. We may see 

 the steps in the evolution of a leading botanist 

 in the preceding books, especially when we add 

 to the list the one which has just appeared, 

 and which is here to be noticed. 



The author brings to the task of preparing 

 a book for university students long experience 

 in teaching in the high school, as well as the 

 university, and his many explorations in new 

 fields of botanical research add greatly to his 

 preparation. One might say that his earlier 

 works have been preparatory to this, and that 

 in their preparation he was laying the founda- 

 tions upon which to build this compendium of 

 the science. He has made this a book of ref- 

 erence, and it is very distinctly stated that it 

 is not a laboratory manual. We have here an 

 indication of a recession of the tide which 

 at one time seemed likely to sweep away every- 

 thing that was not of and for the laboratory or 

 the field. The book is thus a contribution to 

 the discussion of the methods of teaching 

 botany, and as such we welcome it as an omen 

 of better things than we have had. It is an 

 'all-round' book, and the student who is so 

 fortunate as to be led through it by a com- 

 petent teacher will not come out of the univer- 

 sity with one-sided notions of the subject. It 

 should represent the 'general botany' course 

 in the tmiversity, as distinguished from the 

 botanical work in the college. Upon what is 

 contained in it the student who intends to be- 

 come a professional botanist or who wishes to 

 take up particular lines of work in restricted 

 fields may build with safety. 



The book is made up of fifteen chapters, as 

 follows: I., 'Introduction' (in which certain 

 generalities are discussed) ; II., ' The Plant- 

 body' (which is general morphology) ; III., 

 'The Plant-cell' (cytology and histology) ; IV., 

 'Classification' (really devoted to the Flagel- 

 lata, Myxomycetes, Schizomycetes, Schizophy- 

 ceae and Diatoms); V., 'The Algse'; VI., 

 'Fungi'; VII., 'The Archegoniatse (Bryo- 

 phyta)'; VEIL and IX., 'Pteridophyta'; X., 

 ' Spermatophyta (Gymnosperms)'; XL, ' An- 

 giospermffi (Monocotyledones)'; XII., 'Dicot- 



yledones'; XIII., 'Physiology'; XIV., 'Eola- 

 tion to Environment'; XV., 'Geological and 

 Geographical Distribution.' There is thus a 

 fair balance in the treatment of the different 

 parts of the subject. 



In looking over these chapters we are par- 

 ticularly pleased with those on the 'Plant-cell' 

 (III.), the 'Bryophyta' (VII.), and the 

 'Pteridophyta' (VIII. and IX.). Here the 

 author is quite at home, and the treatment is 

 with a firmer hand than elsewhere. These 

 chapters afford him the opportunity of apply- 

 ing his intimate knowledge of these groups in 

 the presentation of the matter in pedagogical 

 as well as scientific form. It is needless to say 

 that the whole presentation is from the stand- 

 point of modern evolution, and at every step 

 the student is led to see that all forms are 

 derived from similar antecedent' forms. Yet 

 the author is cautious, and does not assume to 

 know all of the details of the evolution of 

 present vegetation. It is a sound, scientific 

 book, a credit to American botanical science. 

 Charles E. Bessey. 



The University of Nebraska. 



Text-iook of Zoology Treated from a Biolog- 

 ical Standpoint. By Dr. Otto Schmeil. 

 Translated from the German by Eudolph 

 EosENSTooK. Edited by J. T. Cunningham. 

 London, A. and C. Black. 1901. Pp. 

 -xvi+493. 



The first impression that this book is apt 

 to make upon the morphologically trained 

 zoologist is that it is somewhat crude and 

 often deals with merely trivial matters. A 

 more careful study of the book shows that the 

 first impression is an inadequate one. Here 

 we have a philosophical treatise of zoology: 

 one of the first. Thus even the morphological 

 reader will admit now that it is becoming 

 clear that morphology demands a physiolog- 

 ical interpretation. And that is what the 

 author of this book attempts to give us. As 

 an example of the method let us take the treat- 

 ment of the European wild boar (Sus scrofa). 

 First, a brief statement as to dimensions and 

 weight (how important for structure!). Next, 

 "The wild boar prefers for its habitat swampy 

 forest thickets, which are avoided by all other 



