162 Scientific Intelligence. 



III. Botany. 



1. JSTeue Untersuchungen ilber den Bliithenanschluss ; by 

 Karl Schumann. Leipzig, 1890. (Wm. Engelmann). — In no 

 department of botanical research are methods changing more 

 rapidly than in morphology. While classification, anatomy, and 

 physiology have made, in the last twenty years, unprecedented 

 progress, the advance has been in most instances the result of the 

 gradual extension and perfection of methods previously employed. 

 In morphology on the other hand, not only have the methods 

 been thoroughly revised, but the point of view, from which the 

 entire subject is regarded, has been radically altered. This 

 change is due not merely to an increasing preference for onto- 

 genetic proofs over the much more vague arguments from phy- 

 logeny, but especially to a thorough realization that accurate 

 knowledge can only be obtained by observing facts as they are, 

 before attempting to force them into preconceived categories — a 

 general truth, which, however self-evident, has until recently 

 been sadly disregarded in the realm of vegetable morphology. 

 In its vigorous attempt to avoid the defective methods of the 

 past, Dr. Schumann's carefully prepared work merits high com- 

 mendation. Its subject, the morphological relation of the flower 

 to the neighboring vegetative parts of the plant, may at first 

 seem technical, and of narrow scope for a treatment so extended 

 (520 pages). But the satisfactory solution of the questions to be 

 considered requires an accurate knowledge of both floral and 

 vegetative members of plants, and involves a critical review of 

 the most important parts of morphology. 



Although Eichler, Schwendener, Goebel, and others have given 

 much attention to the morphological attachment of the flower, 

 and have examined a great number of particular cases, Dr. 

 Schumann's work is the first exhaustive treatment of the subject, 

 and will without doubt become a recognized standard in this de- 

 partment of morphology. In the opening pages of his book he 

 considers the previous investigations of his subject and gives a 

 number of clear and reasonable criticisms upon the more impor- 

 tant theories; then follow the results of his own investigations, 

 which have been confined to the argiosperms. The plants treated 

 are conveniently groujDed according to certain morphological 

 similarities, rather than their systematic affinities. Among the 

 monocotyledons, the grasses and sedges receive the most atten- 

 tion ; among the dicotyledons, the treatment of the Rubiacece 

 is perhaps especially full. In the closing pages of the work the 

 results derived from particular cases are collected and thrown 

 into a more general form. Even the briefest summary of these 

 results would exceed the limits of the present review ; suffice it 

 to say in general, that they confirm and elaborate the theory of 

 Schwendener, that purely mechanical influences outweigh all 

 others in determining the early development of plant-members, 

 whether foliar, floral, or axial. The work is excellently illus- 



