54 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 80. 



and rearing of Lepidoptera. The plates are 



most excellent and add greatly to the interest 



and value of the book. 



A. S. Packard. 



A Compendium of General Botany, By Max 

 Westeemaier. Translated from the Ger- 

 man, by Albert Schneider. New York, John 

 Wiley & Sons. 



In the preparation of the English edition of . 

 this book the translator has endeavored, as 

 stated in his preface, to ' adhere as closely as 

 possible to the author's form, style and con- 

 cept of the science of botany, ' and ' to make it 

 a translation in the true sense of the word.' 

 The title of the German edition, ' Kompendium 

 der allgemeinen Botanik fiir Hochschulen,' in- 

 dicates that the work was intended for the 

 higher grade of institutions in Germany, i. e., 

 for the universities ; and so, in the translation 

 of the author's preface, the literal rendering of 

 the word ' Hochschulen' as ' high school' in this 

 country is misleading as to the place which the 

 book was intended to occupy. That the book 

 was not intended for the high school, as that 

 term is used in this country, can be seen from 

 even a hasty examination of the text, and the 

 preface states that ' ' it is assumed that the pupil 

 has a general knowledge of chemistry, of phy- 

 sics, of the proper use of scientific terminology, 

 and has the ability to estimate the value of hy- 

 potheses and undecided problems." 



A similar notion of the Hochschule caused ad- 

 verse criticism to be made of the German edi- 

 tion, as being too technical and advanced for 

 the ' high school.' 



The work is divided into five parts which 

 treat of the following topics : The cell, tissues 

 and simple organs, organs and systems of or- 

 gans, reproduction, the general chemistry and 

 physics of plant life, classification of plants, tax- 

 onomy. 



In Part I., the cell, the author treats of the 

 primordial utricle and cell wall in their mutual 

 relationship, turgor, plasmolysis, both the liv- 

 ing and dead inclusions of the cytoplasm, as 

 well as the cell sap, etc. , the internal structure 

 and method of growth of the cell wall, its che- 

 mical composition, subsequent changes, and 

 the products of growth in thickness and surface 



of the cell walls. The chemical and physical 

 aspects of the cell and its contents are treated 

 more fully than the phenomena of the active 

 cell, indirect division of the nucleus being 

 passed by with a few illustrations and very 

 brief descriptions of the stages represented. 



Part II., tissues and simple organs, has re- 

 ceived greater consideration than any other 

 part of the subject, 107 pages being covered in 

 the discussion, which with the 37 pages devoted 

 to the Cell make 144, or more than one-half of 

 the entire work. This part is divided into 

 eleven chapters as follows : 1st, the function of 

 formative tissues (meristum and cambium); 2d, 

 structure and function of the epidermal tissue 

 system ; 3d, function of mechanical tissues ; 

 4th, the function of the conducting system ; 

 5th, protection of the meristematic areas of 

 the plant body ; 6th, food substances derived 

 from the atniosphere ; 7th, the function of aera- 

 tion ; 8th, the function of roots ; 9th, the ap- 

 propriation of assimilated food substances ; 

 10th, the storing and function of reserve ma- 

 terial ; 11th, secretion. 



Under the function of 'the conducting system 

 a full discussion is given of the various cell 

 forms of the system, the stem structure of 

 mosses, vascular cryptogams, monocotyledons, 

 dicotyledons and gymnosperms, the structure 

 of roots, and the special physiology of the move- 

 ments of food substances and water in plants. 



Part III., organs and systems of organs, 

 treats of the moi-phological and physiological 

 relations of organs, their principal forms and 

 modifications, metamorphosis, correlation, phyl- 

 lotaxy, and the various kinds of inflorescence. 



Part IV., reproduction, receives very brief 

 mention, being merely an outline, with illustra- 

 tions, of the development and reproduction of 

 representative plants in the larger groups, the 

 morphology and physiology of the seed and 

 fruit of phanerogams, the general physiology of 

 reproduction, pollination, hybridization, he- 

 redity, special creation and the ' so-called 

 theory of natural descent.' 



Part V. , the general chemistry and physics of 

 plant life, includes chemical physiology, the 

 physiology of growth, the relation of light, 

 gravity and other factors to plant life, and the^ 

 physiology of plant movements. 



