238 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXIV. 
from parents. The regulation of abnormalities in Hydra appears to 
be independent of external conditions, and seems to be rather an 
effect of certain qualities inherited by the organism. P 
Notes. — The third edition of Van Gehuchten's! well-known text- 
book on the nervous system of man has just been published. The 
work has been increased in bulk and now appears in two volumes 
of about six hundred pages each. The first volume contains a full 
account of the gross anatomy of the nervous system, the neurone, 
and the finer anatomy of the spinal cord ; the second volume deals 
with the finer anatomy of the brain. 
No. VII of Vol. III of the American Journal of Physiology contains 
the two following articles: ‘The Poisonous Character of a Pure 
NaCl Solution," by Jacques Loeb, and * Observations on the Degen- 
eration and Regeneration of Motor and Sensory Nerve Endings in 
Voluntary Muscle," by G. C. Huber. 
BOTANY. 
Minnesota Plant Life.” — The broad scope of the botanical 
work that is being done in Minnesota by Professor MacMillan is 
evidenced by the present volume. Minnesota Plant Life is the third 
volume of the botanical series of the reports of the natural history 
survey of the state. Notwithstanding, the book is not only not at all 
technical in the accepted sense, but, in accordance with the avowed 
purpose of the author, it is presented in as untechnical and popular 
a form as possible. Every botanist is quite too familiar with the 
result of the usual popular presentation of any portion of the sub- 
ject. Popular treatises on biological science, especially, have come 
to stand for everything that is loose in thought, inexact in treatment, 
and antique in doctrine. Matters have practically reached a point 
where no master in scientific thought will write a popular treatise, 
and where no mere dilettante is able to write a scientific one. Pro- 
fessor MacMillan's book is proof that it is possible to write popularly, 
1 Van Gehuchten, A. Anatomie du système nerveux de l'homme, tomes i, ii. 
Louvain, I Y 
? MacMillan, Conway, Professor of Botany in the University of Minnesota. 
St. Paul, Zhe Pioneer Press, 1899. 8vo, xxv, 568 pp. Four plates and 240 
illustrations. 
