March 29, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



359 



in a very satisfactorj' manner. As a labor- 

 atory }>;uide tlic work \a perhaps a little too 

 voluminous, 540 pages. It is divided into 

 two portions, the first requiring work with 

 the simple microscope, and consists of a 

 series of lessons inductivelj' arranged, which 

 leads the student from a study of the root 

 througli the typi's of the largest families to 

 a study of the seed and embryo. Tliey are 

 designed to give to the student a familiarity- 

 with the various forms, without burdening 

 him with the technical descriptive terms, 

 which are, however, summed up in tabulated 

 plates for reference. The full-page illustra- 

 tions of the first portion are numerous, 

 verj- simple, excellently drawn and well 

 printed. 



The second portion of the volume, 270 

 pages, on vegetable histology, opens with a 

 chapter on the compound microscope and 

 the use of micro-chemical reagents, and is 

 accompanied bj- excellent and practical 

 tables of reagents and stains. The purpose 

 of this volume limits its scope. It makes 

 a good working guide to jiut into the hands 

 of students wlio can give but a limited time 

 to the study, but further than that, as a 

 work upon vegetable histology, it is meagre. 



The arrangement of this portion of the 

 work is less commendable than the first. 

 Its numerous illustrations can be classed as 

 most good, few bad and a number indifier- 

 ent, in general the simple elements of tissues 

 being good, whereas those showing the 

 tissues tliemselves, esjjecially the more 

 complex ones, arc less to be approved. 



The work is one which is admirabl}- 

 adapted for the use of students in pharmacy, 

 for which it was probably first intended, and 

 in the hands of a guide whose metln)ds were 

 similar to those of the writer, we conceive 

 it to be excellent. In general its scofH! is 

 limited; it gives facts but fails, we think, to 

 point out those logical sequences of growth 

 and development that lead the student to a 

 rounded conception of the science of botanj' ; 



it nevertheless is by far the best laboratory 

 guide we have seen for directors of labora- 

 tories who wish to give their students a 

 practical elementary knowledge of botany. 

 S. E. Jellikke. 



Principles and Practice of Agricultural Analy- 

 sis. — By Harvey W. Wiley, Chemist of 

 the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. — Easton, 

 Chemical Publishing Co., 181)4. Vol. I. 

 We have already called attention to the 

 first part of this admirable woi-k,now being 

 published in monthly installments bj* the 

 Chemical Publisiiing Company, and need 

 not again speak of its general excellence of 

 plan. If any fault is to be found with the 

 work it is with its limited title, which is 

 rather apt to mislead some into a supposi- 

 tion that the book will be of service only 

 to the analyst, and as a laboratory manual 

 alone. The twelve parts which have now 

 appeared, nearly (iOO pages in all, indicate a 

 work of much broader scope, one which no 

 scientific library can afford to omit from its 

 catalogue. Of the first of the series we have 

 already spoken. In No. 2 the subject of 

 soils and soil formation is continued, the 

 action of earth-worms, bacteria, air, etc., 

 the qualities of the various soils and the 

 discussion of certain peculiar soil types. 

 An interesting chapter on sampling follows, . 

 and here is discussed in principle and pi-ac- 

 tice all of the accepted methods now in use 

 in various countries and among the leading 

 workers in agricultural science. The .study 

 of the physical properties of soils and the 

 description of methods of mechanical and 

 microscopical analysis, etc., occupies some 

 200 pages, whih' the methods of chemical 

 analysis, begun in No. 7 of the series, ex- 

 tends to the present issue. AVe know of no 

 other work approaching the present in com- 

 pleteness and scientific value. The exhaus- 

 tive treatment of the subject leaves nothing 

 to be desired, and it would be difficult indeed 

 to criticise anj- of its features. At the end 



