1896.] Recent Literature. 1029 
the depth and comprehensiveness of an exhaustive treatise, nor should ` 
an elaborate work on original investigation be supposed to cover the 
details of elementary science. 
The present book is intended to serve as an introduction to the 
elements of phytotomy. This purpose is effected more than ordinarily 
well. It is no mean task to distinguish between the relevant and the 
irrelevant, between the essential and the non-essential in the construc- 
tion of an elementary text. In these very points, the author has been 
particularly happy, and deserves congratulation upon te coherency 
and the coordination manifested in the text. 
A striking feature of the book is its prevailing clearness. Many 
otherwise well written and helpful text-books are marred by the fact 
that too much is written between the lines, a thing deplorable in any 
scientific writing, but especially so in an elementary one. The author 
bas succeeded, however, not only in establishing delightful Eppan 
of style, but also in maintaining it throughout the work. In con 
quence, the beginner may find here a text which presents in a ans 
ably easily assimilated condition those rudiments of plant anatomy which 
should serve as a foundation for advanced botanical study in all lines. 
The merits of the book are many and obvious, and warrant passing 
its few defects in silence. Its inspiration is readily recognizable as of 
the German school, an additional point in its favor were it not for a 
prefatory remark to which the reviewer must enter serious objection. 
The author states that “it is quite certain that the measure of our 
progress in any science may be found in our ability to adapt the 
thought and experience of other nations to our special needs and re- 
sources,” a statement of such a very peculiar nature that comment is 
superfluous. 
The book is divided into two parts, the first of which treats of cyto- 
logy, or, as the author terms it, the anatomy of the cell. Under this, 
the first chapter treats of the cell as a unit, the second and third pre- 
sent the subjects of cell-wall and cell-contents in their modern aspects. 
The second part discusses the anatomy of tissues, first generally, and 
then more specially, with reference to the thoroughly antiquated divi- 
sions, Thallophytes and Cormophytes. The last chapter, the irrelevancy 
of which is excused by its importance, is devoted to an exposition of 
the secondary growth of stems and roots.—FReprric E. CLEMENTS 
Boulenger’s Catalogue of Snakes in the British Museum.' 
—In this work we have a manual of Ophiology in which the subject is’ 
1 Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum. Vol. I, nese vol. I, 1894; 
vol. III, 1896. By Œ. A. Boulenger; F. R; S. 
