PRECIS DE BOTANIQUE M^DICALE. 91 



in the cure of disease; (2nd) alimentary plants ; (3rd) poisonous 

 plants ; (4th) plants capable of causing disease. He also considers 

 a knowledge of the biology of plants to be valuable for the purpose 

 of throwing light upon the morphology and physiology of man. 

 Consequently the book is divided into two parts, the first including 

 a brief description of all plants included in the four classes above 

 mentioned, and the second containing a precis of the morphology 

 and physiology of plants. In the first part medicinal plants are 

 treated in the descending order, under the head of Phanerogams, 

 Ferns and their allies, Muscineae, and Thallophytes. The classifi- 

 cation of the natural orders of Phanerogams is, of course, that of 

 French botanists, commencing with the Solanacese, and ending with 

 the Coniferse. 



The groups, however, approximate, with a few exceptions, to 

 the cohorts in Bentham's Genera Plcuitarum. An excellent analytical 

 key to each group and to each natural order is given, which renders 

 it an easy matter for the student to see at a glance the distinctive 

 characters of the different genera. 



A small but characteristic figure of all the more important 

 species is also given. These would be more useful if some indi- 

 cation of the relative height of the plants or of the size of the leaves 

 and flowers were given. No less than 830 figures are given in a work 

 of 699 pages. The portion relating to Thallophytes is oue that has 

 not yet been usually treated of in British works on medical botany, 

 and includes a description of Entomoparasites and Dermatophytes, 

 Moulds, Saccharomyces, Bacteria, and the Sporozoaires of Leuckart. 



The second part is an admirable p ecis of General Botany. If a 

 chapter on the use of the microscope in histological work, containing 

 a fuller account of the reagents and the methods employed, had 

 been added, the book would have been as complete as could be 

 desired. The author, ML Trabut, is Professor of Medical Natural 

 History in the School of Medicine and Pharmacy of Algiers. In 

 that country, where, as in France, a large number of plants are 

 employed in the form of herbs, the botanical descriptions and 

 analytical keys to the orders and genera must prove extremely 

 useful. The book can be especially recommended for the use of 

 medical men and dispensers in foreign stations, where libraries are 

 not readily available, and modern books not easily obtained. To 

 the ordinary student it affords an excellent resume of econ 



economic 



botany, with a bird's-eye view of the subject of bacteriology up to 

 the present date, such as would otherwise have to be sought in 

 works especially devoted to the subject, except, perhaps, in the 

 excellent Traiie de Botanique Medicate Cryptogamiqite of Dr. H. 



Baillon, where the latter subject is treated at greater length. There 

 is probably no book which covers exactly the same ground as 

 M. Trabut's little volume. For brevity and clearness of description, 

 for the wide range of ground it covers, for careful selection of the 

 more important plants, and for accuracy of statements, it would be 

 diflicult to find a treatise more convenient and more generally 

 useful to the student of Medical Botany. £ # ^L Holmes. 



