ME SON yet ee PRN eeURT RS Ps eT ore eee Ra Tee ee ai 
05 98 SV Tay ape Peeper eet e eT 
WHEELS Ry oy ae 
Sree ev eee Reon Hee ee rye 
3 
Sea EE yee een Tan eee at cere ae ote 
1912] CURRENT LITERATURE 351 
marsh and the sand dune. The composition of the various associations and 
the trend of succession are like those of the Continent and are familiar through 
the work of WARMING, Massart, and other writers. Perhaps the most unique 
feature of the British coast is afforded by the shingle beach communities, which 
are most ably treated by OLIVER, who conducted the ro11 party to his seaside 
he 
invades the marshland and presents conditions resembling in many ways the 
more familiar phenomena of sand dunes. 
The photographic illustrations in this volume are notably well selected, 
diagrams. The British vegetation committee may well be proud of their 
record for r911. It is to be hoped and expected that such books as the one 
here reviewed, and such phytogeographic excursions as the one here men- 
tioned, will hereafter be frequently recurring features of phytogeographic 
_ progress.—H. C. CowLes 
The soil solution 
Those plant physiologists who are interested in the subterranean sur- 
roundings of plants and in the relations which obtain between soil conditions 
and plant activity will welcome CAMERON’s little book entitled The soil solu- 
tions The treatment is exceedingly clear and concise, logically arranged, 
and very readable. Furthermore, it is unquestionably the best and most 
Scientific treatise on this difficult yet most important subject which we have 
seen. The author originally approached the soil problems from the standpoint 
of the chemist, developing their biological and agricultural aspect according 
to the demands of researches under his direction, and perhaps this fact has 
left a mark upon some of his discussions which may seem novel to the reader 
coming to this field from a specifically botanical training. But the novel 
features of the author’s treatment may be regarded as quite in line with the 
recent trend of physiology toward a quite uncolored physical treatment. 
Another group of workers whose attitude toward plant happenings is often 
not that of the physiologist, and whose activities have been mainly directed 
toward the empirical acquisition of more or less superficial principles and rela- 
tions, will read CameRon’s contribution with much interest, perhaps even with 
excitement. We refer here to students of practical agriculture, who will find 
discredited. This will not be at all surprising, however, to him who has 
followed the recent literature, for the previous publications of the author and 
his colleagues have given, from time to time, the main features of the researches 
upon which his present attitude toward soil science has been built up. During 
te 
AMERON, FRANK K., The soil solution, the nutrient medium for plant growth. 
PP. V-+136. figs. 3. Easton (Pa.):; The Chemical Publishing Co. 1911. 
