CURRENT LITERATURE 



BOOK REVIEWS 



Die Kultur der Gegenwart 



During the past twenty years no botanist has appeared oftener in our 

 "book reviews" and "notes for students" than Eduard Strasburger. It is 

 with a keen sense of loss that we write this final review. 1 In the spring of 191 1 

 Strasburger wrote to the reviewer: "A year ago I felt compelled to participate 

 in a work of great scope under the title of Kultur der Gegenwart, which is to 

 present in accessible form the entire field of science. The object may be good 

 in itself, but I have often regretted that I undertook the work and that I must 

 . devote to it, rather than to my research, the few years of scientific activity 

 which still remain for me. I have not felt well the past winter, but neverthe- 

 less have had to work hard." About this time he wrote to Tischler that he 

 was devoting eight hours a day to the work. The day before he died the 

 manuscript was completed, and he also added the finishing touches to the 

 manuscript for the third edition of his Streifzuge an der Riviera. With these 

 two tasks out of the way, he was eagerly planning to take up his interrupted 

 research, but his contribution to the Kultur der Gegenwart was destined to be 



his last. 



BURGER 



der Gegenwart is a work of even greater scope than Stras- 



indicated, for it embraces not only the sciences, but also 



history, and literature. Some of the titles, like "The religion 



The 



may be very clear to the German mind 



"Chemistry," "Astronomy," "The transformation of energy," "Anthro- 

 pology," "Mountain structure," "The technic of war," will give some idea of 

 the range of knowledge one should possess if he is to be regarded as a man of 

 culture at the present time. The entire work comprises 61 volumes. The 

 present review deals only with Vol. 2 of the fourth section of the third sub- 

 division, or III Teil, IV Abteil, Band 2. This method of designating volumes 



but, like the endless "Teil" and 

 _ _ Pflanzenfamilien, it is confusing to the American. We should 

 have marked the present contribution Vol. 36, which seems to be its position 

 in the series of 61 volumes. In this volume there are two sections: "The plant 

 cell and tissues" by Strasburger, and "Morphology and development of 

 plants" by Benecke. The two contributions will be considered separately. 



I Die Kultur der Gegenwart. Teil III. Abt. IV. Strasburger, Ediard, 

 Zellen und Gewebelehre; und Bexecke, W., Morphoiogie und Kntwickelungsge- 

 schichte. 8vo. pp. vi+338. Leipzig: Teubner. 1913. M 14. 



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