250 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [MARCH 
transpired in order to bring much saline material into the plant, that large 
amounts of salts are necessary to rapid and vigorous growth, and hence that 
with low rate of water loss we must expect slow growth or none at all. After 
all, in spite of the cuticularization and the relatively small surface exposed by 
cacti, it is probable that such plants, in their desert habitat, transpire as much 
per unit of volume as do many very leafy and luxuriantly growing forms of 
the rainy tropical forest. Furthermore, the growth of the desert cactus occurs 
in the moister season of the year, exactly at the time when its transpiration 
is least, or at any rate when it would be least, were it not for the slightly cuti- 
cularized surfaces of the new growth. 
e advance of plant physiology away from the older anthropomorphic 
interpretation, which seems to characterize the opening of the present century, 
and the clear indication thus given that we shall ultimately have a purely 
rational physiology, leads the reviewer to deplore the fact that a text otherwise 
so perfect and so teachable should be so imbued with the old teleological view 
of natural phenomena. Of course, it is to be recognized that our science has 
not, in general, advanced far toward the elimination of this form of superstition; 
indeed, the author of the volume before us is perhaps with the majority of 
biologists when he shows that his is a teleological view of plant phenomena. 
Those teachers who wish to avoid as long as possible the complete reduction 
of biology to the uncolored and impersonal status of the other physical sciences 
will find here a textbook which will meet their requirements. For, aside from 
this imaginative coloring, the book is as nearly suited to its purpose as a book 
or 
se” or “aim” of the plant in allowing its various activities to be con- 
trolled by physical and chemical conditions. From p. 377 we select: “In 
considering broadly the result of stimulation we must notice at the outset that 
it provokes a purposeful response. The living substance appears to have a 
definite aim”; etc. The italics are the author’s. Again, on the next page 
occurs, ‘‘Less conspicuously purposeful are those changes in metabolism which 
are brought about with the supply of food or oxygen, but even here evidence 
of purpose can be found if sought for.” 
Our conclusion with reference to the work before us is that while it was for 
a decade the most satisfactory English elementary presentation of its subject, 
the advance of the science has made it unsuitable for class work, unless the 
instructor wishes, indeed, to emphasize the teleological aspect of physiology. 
The day of a true science of physiology seems to be at hand, judging from 
the increased activity in the general phase of this subject witnessed by the 
last few years. By a true science is meant here a physiology which belongs 
specifically neither to botany nor to zoology, a science of the phenomena of 
life, wherever these phenomena may occur. Those who have drawn inspira- 
tion and breadth of view from VERWORN’s Allgemeine Physiologie will welcome 
