CURRENT LITERATURE 
BOOK REVIEWS 
The botanical system 
In a recent published work, TscHuLoK has sought to give a historical 
account of the development of the conception of the field of biology, principally 
widening circles of interest until it included the beginnings of almost all the 
present phases of the subject. The reform movement of SCHLEIDEN swept 
away all divisions excepting morphology and physiology, with taxonomy 
occupying an insecure position. This precedent has been followed almost 
universally, as may be seen by reference to the common general textbooks, 
such as the Bonn textbook. Ecology, plant geography, paleobotany, etc., 
are now demanding readmittance to the fold upon equal terms. 
TSCHULOK enters into an exhaustive criticism of the several modern sys- 
tems which have been proposed, and finds that none of them rest upon a 
logical basis. He then proposes a threefold division. From the standpoint 
of formal logic, botany is divided into biophysics and biotaxis, the former 
dealing with “real” relations and the latter with “ideal” relations; from the 
standpoint of instruction, it may be considered as either general or special; 
and lastly, there are “seven material viewpoints”: (1) taxonomy, (2) mor- 
phology, (3) physiology, (4) ecology, (5) chorology, (6) chronology, (7) genetics. 
It is contended that these divisions include the whole field, and that nothing 
less will do so. An extended critique justifies this partition of the province of 
botany, and weighs the claims of such other subjects as pathology and economic 
botany. It is considered that economic botany, for instance, can have no 
place as an independent discipline, because in method and material it is in 
no way to be distinguished from these seven divisions, but rather it is part 
and parcel of each of them. 
The consequences of circumscribing the field of botany, as is commonly 
done in “general” texts, is given full prominence. A single illustration will 
suffice. For a half-century paleobotany has been out of the texts and out of 
the usual courses of instruction. It has also been out of the minds of students, 
and those who might have taken up research in this field have been guided 
into other sorts of activity merely because of a lack of opportunity for a general 
outlook over the whole field of botany. As a result, the examination of this 
very important material has been left almost wholly to geologists who are 
usually quite untrained in botany. 
* TSCHULOK, Putt. S., Das swags der Biolgls in Forschung und Lehre. pp. x 
+409. Jena: Gustav Fischer. 1910. 
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