482 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 979 



loquial or even slang expressions may be 

 noted. Regarding the numerous illustrations, 

 they are exceedingly well chosen and well 

 prepared, and they add markedly to the clear- 

 ness of the exposition. 



The author's attitude is conservative and 

 many questions are left just as they should be, 

 in a quite undecided condition. At the same 

 time, the reader is admitted to some of the 

 pleasures of hypothesis-making and of proph- 

 ecy, generally in a very safe and clearly 

 guarded manner, for the author has not hesi- 

 tated to enliven his story and perhaps acceler- 

 ate the advance of his science, by indulging in 

 suggestions of scientific possibilities and prob- 

 abilities. 



" A table designed to display the plan of 

 this book " is inserted after the table of con- 

 tents, and exhibits a sort of synoptical out- 

 line of the subjects considered in the eighteen 

 chapters, together with their logical connec- 

 tions. It is seldom that a book of this sort 

 brings out as clearly as does the one before us 

 the important relations of its various topics 

 to each other and to human activities in gen- 

 eral. Diagrams and tables are frequently re- 

 sorted to. After a chapter on the ways in 

 which plants appeal to human interest, seven 

 chapters treat the material and energy trans- 

 formations in the plant body. Then follows 

 a chapter on irritability, one on " protection," 

 two on reproduction, and two on growth. 

 The four remaining chapters consider re- 

 spectively, dissemination, evolution and adap- 

 tation, plant breeding and classification. This 

 obviously very broad treatment comprises a 

 sufficiency of new methods of presentation and 

 novel placings of emphasis to make the book 

 profitable reading for the research worker and 

 the teacher as well as for the less advanced 

 student. ', 



Turning now to fault-finding, a few ad- 

 verse criticisms may be noted as to use of 

 words. The word mani-colored occurs in sev- 

 eral places (e. g.^ page 261) ; does not such a 

 novelty suggest handpainted? Insectivorous 

 plants are termed inseciivora (page 104, for 

 example) ; if the Latin form is employed we 

 should prefer not to apply the neuter form to 



plants (plantce). In these decadent days, as 

 far as general interest in the ancient founda- 

 tions of our language is concerned, it were 

 perhaps better to cling to the perfectly safe 

 but less euphonious English form, insectivores. 

 The word plenty appears to be used through- 

 out (e. (/., pages 140, 266) as a predicate ad- 

 jective, where ordinary usage requires plenti- 

 ful, plenteous or a word with some other root. 

 To most scientists, and perhaps to most read- 

 ers, these points may seem of little import, 

 but the very excellence of the diction which 

 characterizes this book as a whole renders its 

 few shortcomings of this sort all the more 

 outstanding. 



As to the scientific matter itself, probably 

 the only quite inadequate exposition occurs 

 in connection with the discussion of capillar- 

 ity (pages 180, 181), which, as it stands, 

 seems to the reviewer logically quite hopeless. 

 It is to be regretted that the author surren- 

 dered here to the suasion from his critic and 

 forbore " to explain this interesting process in 

 detail to the reader" (page 179). 



All will agree with Professor Ganong, that 

 any truthful chapter on protoplasm must 

 " leave you with a very unsatisfied feeling " 

 (page 164), but it does seem that the concep- 

 tion of this material might be clarified by the 

 omission of the idea of " protoplasm par ex- 

 cellence" (page 143), letting the mixture of 

 many substances stand for the present as the 

 seat of the numerous, more or less peculiar 

 processes which taken together make up life. 

 If it pleases one's fancy to think that vitality 

 is possessed by some single substance in 

 protoplasm and that all other contained sub- 

 stances are to it merely environmental or 

 conditional, no one can assert that such a 

 view is illogical; this is purely a matter of 

 feeling, over which we do not argue. But 

 none can agree with the author, that " we are 

 logically bound to believe that some such sub- 

 stance [as protoplasm par excellence'] must 

 exist as the seat of the distinctive properties 

 of life " (page 143) . Some people may be 

 bound to believe this, but they are assuredly 

 not logically so bound; nothing is now known 

 of protoplasm which forces such an issue. 



