produced ; in this way wc may fjct at some conception of why the 

 plant is as it is. These are the real aims of causal morpholoj^y. 

 " Even if we had the story of development spread out clearly 

 before us, we could not content ourselves with the simple deter- 

 mination of the same ; for then we should be constrained to ask 

 ourselves how it has been brought about." In the realm of 

 plant morphology, therefore, the point of view of i)h)'siolog)' helps 

 us to see that by the method of causal morphology we may ulti- 

 mately attain to the knowledge which we seek. 



The chief prophet of causal morphology is Goebel, and the 

 " Organography " is his prophecy. There are few books so rich 

 in observation and so suggestive of discovery as his. The sharp 

 delimitations drawn between our knowledge and our ignorance, 

 the fearless denunciation of self-delusion, make this task well 

 worth the sustained effort which it cost the author. It will be 

 most regrettable, now that the results are available in English as 

 well as German, if the coming years do not bring a harvest to 

 the master workman. We believe that no book of the present 

 day is of deeper significance for the development of botanical 

 knowledge. We can only feel a certain disappointment that the 

 task became, in its latter part, so very great that the author was 

 compelled, by circumstances, some of which were beyond his 

 control, to curtail a portion which would have been of much 

 greater value if it had been treated more at length. 



F. E. Llovd. 



NEWS ITEMS 



The September Junrtial of Botany announces that owing to ill 

 health Mr. George Murray has resigned the keepership of the 

 Department of Botany of the British Museum. 



Dr. and Mrs. N. L. Britton, of the New York Botanical Garden, 

 and Mr. Stewardson Brown, of the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia, were in Bermuda for the first three weeks of 

 September. 



Mr. Edward W. Berry, secretary of the Torrey Botanical Club, 

 has removed to Baltimore, where he will be engaged in palaeo- 

 botanical work for the Maryland Geological Survey, with head- 

 quarters at Johns Hopkins University. 



