440 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 666 



sense of the original. A few illustrations of 

 errors whicli mar the two English volumes 

 may be cited: (Vol. I., p. 3) "the fats and 

 proteins are partly vegetable, partly mineral " ; 

 (p. 5) " the questions, the solution of which 

 follow the energetic work of numerous labora- 

 tory workers, are really at present more 

 numerous than the discoveries and results ob- 

 tained";' (p. 126) "im Stoffwechsel fast 

 unangreifbar " is rendered as " almost beyond 

 assimilation " ; (p. 178) for " genau " we find 

 "minutely"; (p. 403) for " reichlich Getrank 

 zuzuf iihren " we get " water should be ex- 

 hibited freely"; (p. 408) for " Kot " we get 

 " motion " ; (Vol. II., p. 1) " die Fragen des 

 Chlorumsatzes und der Aeetonuria " is trans- 

 formed into " the problem of the Chlorine- 

 changes in aeetonuria " ; (p. 62) in overfeeding 

 " it is a matter of indifference whether the 

 excess takes the form of albumen or of some 

 oxidizable substance free from nitrogen " ; (p. 

 105) " the nitrogen output during starvation 

 usually exceeds the intake by a small amount. 



The German edition was quite up to date 

 when it went through the press (1904^5). A 

 cursory glance at the Anglo-American edition 

 gives the impression that it has carried the 

 review of the literature up to the date of issue. 

 To be sure, some additional data have been 

 incorporated, but much recent literature, espe- 

 cially in the field of normal metabolism, has 

 been omitted. 



The translators have cut out a considerable 

 number of references to original literature 

 given in the German edition. 



Otto Folin 



Plant Physiology and Ecology. By Frederic 

 Edward^ Clements, Ph.D., Professor of 

 Botany in the University of Minnesota. 

 With 125 illustrations. Pp. xvi -f 315. 

 8vo. New York, Henry Holt and Company. 

 1907. 



This book, the result of more than fifteen 

 years of ecological work on the part of its 

 author, constitutes a notable addition to the 



^ This sentence purports to be a translation of 

 the German sentence of Magnus-Levy's quoted 

 above. 



literature of botany in America. In 1897 the 

 first edition of Pound and Clements's " Phyto- 

 geography of Nebraska " was published, and in 

 it we find the germs of the book now before 

 us. Three years later the second edition ap- 

 peared with considerable emendations and cor- 

 rections, and this was followed by various 

 papers published in magazines, transactions of 

 societies and university " studies," culmina- 

 ting in Clements's " Research Methods in 

 Ecology " in 1905, a technical handbook for 

 the advanced student and investigator of ecol- 

 ogy. The book in hand is based xipon that 

 work, and is, in fact, a less technical presenta- 

 tion of the same matter, adapted to the needs 

 and preparation of college and university 

 students. 



The author considers physiology and 

 ecology as essentially the same, hence the 

 treatment is in accord with this view. The 

 author does not in any place give the plant an 

 ecological consideration as distinct from one 

 which is physiological. It makes no differ- 

 ence whether the plant is studied in the 

 laboratory, or in its field or forest habitat, in 

 any case the investigation is essentially the 

 same, and we are no longer to call the first 

 physiology and the second ecology. 



The book is broken up into fifteen chapters, 

 of which the first is a somewhat philosophical 

 discussion of stimulus and response. And 

 here we get the author's definition of plant 

 physiology in this paragraph (page 1) : " Phys- 

 iology was originally understood to be an in- 

 quiry into the origin and natiire of plants. 

 This is the view that pervades the following 

 pages, and in accordance with this the sub- 

 ject-matter of ecology is merged with that of 

 physiology." The nature of stimuli and the 

 nature of response are discussed — concisely 

 and precisely — and adjustment and adaptation 

 are defined and delimited. Then follow chap- 

 ters on the water of the habitat, adjustment to 

 water (including absorption, transport and 

 transpiration), adjustment to light, adjustment 

 to temperature, adjustment to gravity, contact 

 and shock, adaptation to water, and adaptation 

 to light. In these chapters, along with much 

 discussion of the problems involved, the au- 



