BOOK REVIEWS 



A New Text for College Botany 



The Plant World, A Text in College Botany. By Harry J. Fuller. 

 Henry Holt and Co. 1941. Pp. 592. $3.25. 



Another excellent text has been added to the ones planned 

 for a first course in college botany, ^^'ith so many excellent texts 

 already a new one should justify itself by some difference in its 

 approach to the subject, in the aspects of the science stressed, or 

 in the special group of students for which it is planned. In the 

 preface the present text explains that it is for "students who are 

 registered in elementary botany courses principally because of the 

 cultural and general educational value of the subject" and who 

 presumably will take no other courses in biological subjects. With 

 this in mind the author has chosen and arranged the subject 

 matter with the idea of arousing the interest of the students at 

 the start by associating the study of plants with their everyday 

 experiences. The primary objective given is "the presentation of 

 the fundamental features of structures, physiological activities, and 

 reproduction of flowering plants." Considerably more than half 

 the book is devoted to this main objective. Of several secondary 

 objectives the presenting of a generalized account of plant evolu- 

 tion is given last, with the suggestion that the section of the book 

 treating it and plant ecology may be omitted. Thus many students 

 using the text will undoubtedly finish the course without getting 

 even the brief description of evolution given in the text. The struc- 

 ture and classification of plants below the Spermatophytes is given 

 very briefly, as is heredity and plant breeding. 



The short iritroductor}" chapters on the history of botanical 

 study and on the nature and origin of life are well done and should 

 stimulate interest at the start. Conforming to the announced 

 objectives the classification of plants is taken up only briefly, using 

 as "a pedagogical concession" the old grouping into Thallophytes, 

 Bryophytes, Pteridophytes and Spermatophytes ; though an out- 

 line of a more modern system of classification is given in an 

 appendix. 



Illustrations are many and excellent, the drawings, photographs 

 and photomicrographs are good and well reproduced and are 

 chosen to really illustrate the text. The frontispiece is a beautiful 



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