1876.] : Recent Literature. 107 
Three out of the four species whose living allies occur in the East Indies 
come from the older deposits of Aix, and only one of the two remaining 
Aix species shows special affinities to American types. “ We thus find 
here,” the author remarks, “ as among other insects and among the plants, 
a growing likeness to American types as we pass upward through the 
European tertiaries.” 
This handsome memoir appears in print through the generosity of 
Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, of New York city, who generously gave the 
sum of one thousand dollars for the promotion and publication of original 
investigations by members of the association. The results in every way 
prove the wisdom of the donation, and we express the hope that similar 
benefactions may follow from other sources. 
acus’s History or Borany.!— Under the patronage of the King 
of Bavaria, the Royal Academy of Sciences is publishing a History of 
Modern Science in Germany. The treatment of the individual sciences 
has been entrusted, by a special commission, to men eminent in their 
respective departments. This volume is one of the earliest of the series. 
Professor Sachs, of Wiirzburg, well known as a high authority in vege- 
table physiology, and more widely as the author of A Text-Book of 
Botany, was selected to write the history of botany. The history is given 
in three books. The first treats of morphology and systematic botany, 
and covers the period from Otto Brunfels (1530) and Fuchs (1542), 
down to 1860. The most interesting chapters are those devoted to mor- 
phology as influenced (1) by the theory of metamorphosis and the spiral 
distribution of leaves (1790-1850), and (2) by a fuller knowledge of the 
cell and the lower grades of plants, and (3) by the theory of develop- 
ment (1840-1860). Professor Sachs looks upon the work done during 
the twenty years just mentioned, as having freed morphology and sys- 
tematic botany from their old prejudices ; sight has become clearer, the 
methods of investigation safer, and the manner of putting questions 
sharper. 
The second book sketches the progréss of vegetable anatomy from 
Malpighi and Grew (1671-1682) down to the time of Nägeli. The au- 
thor justly regards Von Mohl and Nägeli as having together placed this 
division of botany on a secure foundation. The molecular theory of the 
latter is considered the basis of modern vegetable physiology- 
To this subject the third book is devoted. The conflicting views which 
have been held respecting reproduction, nutrition, and the dynamics of 
plants are fully presented and with great fairness. It is hardly possible 
to detect any partiality in this remarkable section. It remains to be no- 
ticed that this history is not confined to botany in Germany; Germans 
may, however, well be proud of the large and honorable share which their 
countrymen are here shown to have taken in the advancement of the 
! Geschichte der Botanik vom 16 Jahrhundert bis 1860. Von Dr. Jurus Sacus. 
Miinchen. 1875, (A History of Botany from the 16th Century to 1860. By Dr. 
Junius Sacus, Munich. 1875.) 
