564 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 6i3. 



familiarity with his work is essential for any 

 one who undertakes the employment of the 

 serum test for human blood. 



Not the least valuable and laborious feature 

 of the volume is the very complete critical 

 summary of the literature of the precipitins, 

 for the preparation of which the thanks of all 

 students of the subject are due, J. Ewing. 



Praktikum fur morphologische und systemat- 

 ische Botanik, Hilfsbuch bei praktischen 

 Uebungen und Anleitung zu selbstiindigen 

 Studien in der Morphologic und Systematik 

 der Pflanzenwelt. By Karl Schumann, 

 late curator of the Royal Botanical Museum 

 at Berlin. Jena, G. Fischer. 1904. 

 Professor Karl Schumann's posthumous 

 text-book of morphological and systematic 

 botany is a stout imperial octavo of six hun- 

 dred pages. The work was largely in type at 

 the time of Professor Schumann's death, and 

 in accordance with his wish it has been 

 brought to completion under the editorial 

 supervision of his able colleague, Professor 

 Max Giirke. The plan of the volume is to 

 illustrate the facts of the morphology and 

 classification of the flowering plants by de- 

 scribing in considerable detail seventy-nine 

 species, selected to typify the, most important 

 families and arranged in the general sequence 

 of their flowering seasons. The work is the 

 result of wide experience and intensive study 

 in the fields covered. By its wealth of care- 

 fully recorded facts, its conscientious detail 

 and perfect lucidity it must at once com- 

 mand respect. As a laboratory guide, how- 

 ever, it will scarcely prove successful, at least 

 in America. Of the plants treated, the 

 majority are European species not generally 

 familiar, even in cultivation, on this side of 

 the Atlantic. It is true, the descriptions 

 would in many instances apply with a fair 

 degree of accuracy to nearly related Amer- 

 ican species of the same genera, yet the corre- 

 spondence would be imperfect and perhaps mis- 

 leading. Furthermore, students of one na- 

 tionality doubtless differ somewhat in their 

 psychological traits from those of another. It 

 may well be, therefore, that a type of text- 

 book suited to one nation may not be equally 



adapted to another. In- fact, it is the gen- 

 eral experience in America that a laboratory 

 guide in order to be effective in holding the 

 attention of the student and stimulating his 

 interest should present its subject not by long 

 and full descriptions, but rather by indicating 

 methods of observation and leading the stu- 

 dent to examine and discover for himself. 



One of the chief defects of the book under 

 discussion is that, dealing as it does with an 

 arbitrary number of unrelated species, it 

 would leave the student with but a vague 

 idea of the relative systematic importance of 

 the morphological features examined, since 

 in general he would be unable to distinguish 

 the traits characteristic of and restricted to 

 the particular species from the more general 

 features common to other plants of the same 

 genera and families. There is, in fact, little 

 effort to correlate and draw together by any 

 form of systematizing or generalization the 

 morphological characteristics, which are de- 

 scribed separately for each of the seventy-nine 

 species. 



The introductory matter is very brief, deal- 

 ing chiefly with the simple microscope and 

 the ordinary methods of plant dissection. 

 The closing pages are, however, devoted to 

 some excellent hints to students entering upon 

 monographic and floristic work. There is also 

 a list of the chief floras of different lands. 

 This seems to have been prepared with some 

 haste, since it contains a number of clerical 

 or typographical errors. Surely a work which 

 urges (p. 578) the careful verification of all 

 citations should not set the poor example of 

 mangling names of well-known authors, as, 

 for instance, 'J. W. Hooker' (p. 599), 'Na- 

 thaniel Britten' (p. 600), or ' N. B. Hems- 

 ley' (p. 602). It is fair to say, however, that 

 many such trifling slips should be pardoned 

 in a large and posthumous work. 



The volume is copiously illustrated from 

 drawings on granulated paper executed by 

 the author's daughter. The flgures are ex- 

 ceedingly clear and bear ample evidence of 

 fidelity to nature. It is a pleasure to notice 

 that they are all fresh and original, none 

 having been borrowed from any other work. 



B. L. E. 



