90 PRECIS DB BOTANIQUE MEDICALE. 



irregular proceeding. Mr. Baker publishes in the January number 

 for this year a list of the Agaves and arborescent Liliacese cultivated 

 on the Riviera : in this the following novelties are described : — 

 Agave Hanbarii, A. Franzosini "Hort. Hanbury/' A. Davilloni, 

 Beschorneria viridi flora "Hort. Banbury" ("probably B. yuccoides 

 in a state of full development"), Yucca Hanburii, Dasylirion junci- 

 folium "Hort. Hanbury" ("may be D. quadrangulatum in a state of 

 full development"). 



Other important subjects treated of in the Bulletin have been 

 mentioned from time to time in our pages. The number dated 

 December last (published in February) contains an extremely 

 interesting compilation by the Director, in which the history of 

 Kew Gardens is traced from their establishment down to the 

 appointment of Sir W. J. Hooker in 1841 : "the history of the last 

 half-century will be given in another number." This is excellently 

 well done ; the history of the various personages mentioned is 

 treated exclusively in relation to Kew, and there is therefore no 

 ground for complaint as to incompleteness. Here again, however, 

 the oddness of the publication manifests itself: the jubilee year of 

 Kew Gardens was 1891, and Dr. Dyer tells us this number was 

 intended to "mark the occasion"; yet, although dated December, 

 1891, it did not appear until February, 1892 ! 



Enough has been said to show that, among the " miscellaneous 

 information" contained in the Bulletin, there is much which deserves 

 the attention of botanists. There is also evidence of the activity 

 of Kew in many departments of research, and of the success 

 which frequently attends it. One chapter on botanical enterprise 

 in the Niger Protectorate, is pathetic in its simple record of 

 the spirited but unsuccessful attempts of two Kew gardeners 

 George Woodruff and Harold Edmund Bartlett — to take charge of 

 the botanical stations in the interior. A touch of bathos is, how- 

 ever, supplied by the Editor, who, censuring the Koyal Niger 

 Company for their refusal to allow the men to carry on a corre- 

 spondence with Kew, says that " no blame of the slightest kind can 

 attach to the Company " for the deaths of the two men — as though 



refusal ! 



this 



Precis de Botanique Medicale. Par L. Trabut* Paris: G. Masson. 



1891. Small 8vo, pp. 699. 8/r. 



This work occupies a somewhat unique position. It cannot be 

 described as a work on Materia Medica in the pharmaceutical sense 

 of the word, for it contains hardly any physical or histological 

 descriptions available for distinguishing one drug from another; 

 nor is it a work on Materia Medica in the medical sense, for the 

 descriptions given of the medicinal uses of the plants enumerated 

 are comparatively meagre. 



It is strictly an account of plants used in medicine, or related 

 to health and disease. The author considers that the study of 

 botany, as applied to medicine, should include : — (1st) Plants used 



