164 Scientific Intelligence. 



III. Botany. 



i 



1. A Course of practical instruction in Botany, by F. O. Bower 

 and S. H. Vines, Part I. (Macmillan & Co., London, 1885.) — 

 This handy book of only 226 pages, is the best introduction in 

 English to the practical investigation of flowering plants and 

 ferns. After giving a chapter on the preparation and effects 

 of reagents for microscopic use, the authors deal with the micro- 

 chemistry and microphysics of the vegetable cell. The student is 

 led along slowly and safely over the least attractive part of the 

 field, and is there shown sound methods for the examination of 

 organs of the higher plants. Nearly all of the methods are de- 

 scribed concisely, yet so as to leave no important point untouched. 

 Theoretically it would be better to show a student how to examine 

 any object, and then demand of him direct answers as to what he 

 sees, rather than to tell him what he ought to see. But this plan 

 consumes more time than most beginners have at their command; 

 therefore the "personally conducted" plan is generally most in 

 vogue. The present work tells the student all that he can be rea- 

 sonably expected to see under the microscope, if he is successful 

 in making his sections, etc. Therefore, the student who follows 

 out faithfully all the exercises laid down in this work may be sure 

 of acquiring the essentials of histology, so far as the higher plants 

 are concerned. A second volume, devoted to the plants lower 

 than the ferns and their allies is promised. With Strasburger's 

 German treatise, " Das botanische Practicum," or with this excel- 

 lent English work as a guide, the student can have no excuse for 

 lack of practical acquaintance with histological manipulation. 



a. l. g. 



2. Text-book of Structural and Physiological Botany y by Otto 

 W. Thome and Alfred W. Bennett. (Longmans, Green & 

 Co., London, 1885.) — This is the fifth edition of a useful book. 

 The revision brings portions of the treatise fairly down to the eve 

 of publication, and makes it a well proportioned treatise. It is, 

 however, a text-book, in the strictest sense of the term, and in no 

 way supplies the help in practical manipulation which is afforded 

 by the work noticed above. The student preparing for an ex- 

 amination finds that Thome gives in small compass exactly the 

 information required by the question-papers set in. the earlier 

 examinations for the degrees of M.B. and B.Sc. To the general 

 student, the chapters on the geographical distribution of plants 

 and on fossil plants are especially useful. g. l. g. 



3. Le Potager dhtn Curieux: Histoire, Cidture, et Usages de 

 100 Plantes comestibles peu comiaes oic inconnues. Par A. 

 Pailleux et D. Bois. Paris, Libraire Agricole de la Maison 

 Rustique ; pp. 294, 8vo. 1885. — This volume is a reprint from the 

 Bidletin de la Societe Nationale d' ' Acclimatation. One of the 

 authors is a councillor in that society, the other is an assistant in 

 the Museum at the Garden of Plants. The now classical volume 

 of Alphonse de Candolle treats of the esculent plants of large 



