1881. ] Recent Literature. 729 
small area from crystalline rock to distinct schists being, in his 
view, incompatible with the idea that the former is a metamor- 
phosed portion of the latter. Ktaadn is itself composed of true 
granite, specimens having been referred to Dr. Wadsworth for 
microscopic examination. The mountain has been determined, 
by Professor Fernald, to be 5215 feet high; the parallel of 46° 
crosses the northern base of the mountain. The drift, boulders 
and gravel occur as far up as 4600 feet on the sides of the 
mountain; the drift has been covered with the débris from the 
mountain summits, or in the author’s words, “ Ktaadn has thus 
been buried under its own ruins, and beneath these ruins has been 
hidden the drift that was deposited when the mountain was com- 
paratively intact.” 
Darwin’s Power oF Movement IN Prants.!—There are few 
botanists indeed who do not prize very highly Mr. Darwin's 
botanical works—* Climbing Plants,” “ Fertilization of Orchids,” 
“Insectivorous Plants,” “Fertilization in the Vegetable King- 
dom,” and the “ Forms of Flowers.” We have now another to 
add to the list, and it is not too much to say that it fully equals 
In interest and importance, any of its predecessors. Like them 
it is the record of a long series of the most patient and pains- 
taking observations and direct experiments, and like them the 
results are told in the simple and straightforward manner which 
is the peculiar charm of Mr. Darwin’s writings. 
_ Beginning with a short introduction, the authors take up the 
circumnutating movements in seedling plants, devoting particu- 
lar attention to the movements of the radicle, or young root, and 
Sensitive to contact or other external influences. The movements 
of the parts of mature plants are next taken up, and many curi- 
ous facts are brought out here for the first time. The movements 
connected with the sleep and waking of plants occupy con- 
siderably more than one hundred pages of the book. Heliotro- 
Pism and its modifications occupy seventy pages or more, an 
geotropism upwards of fifty more. At the close is a chapter con- 
taining a summary which includes some startling suggestions, 
and food enough for many years of diligent and hard thinking. 
The public on this side of the Atlantic, have again to thank the 
Messrs, Appleton & Co., of New York, for the promptness with 
which they have brought out the American edition, and at a price 
which places it within easy reach of all—C. 4. B. 
' The Power of Movement in Plants. By CHARLES DARWIN, LL.D,, F.R-S., 
assisted by Francis DARWIN. New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1881. 
