40 The American Naturalist. [January, 



be read by not only the botanist, but by every intelligent man and 

 woman who would know something of the deeper problems with which 

 modern botany concerns itself. The topics noted in the table of con- 

 tents will give some idea of the scope of the work as follows: The 

 study of plants in ancient and modern times ; The living principle in 

 plants; Absorption of nutriment: Conduction of food ; Formation of 

 organic matter from the absorbed inorganic food ; Metabolism and 

 transport of materials ; Growth and construction of plants ; Plant 

 forms as completed structures; The genesis of plant offspring; The 

 history of species. 



A single quotation taken from the opening chapter may serve to 

 show the delightful style in which the work is written : "Some years 

 ago, I rambled over the mountain district of north Italy in the lovely 

 month of May. In a small sequestered valley, the slopes of which 

 were densely clad with mighty oaks and tall shrubs, I found the flora 

 developed in all its beauty. There, in full bloom, was the laburnum 

 and manna-bush, besides broom and sweet-brier, and countless smaller 

 shrubs and grasses. From every bush came the song of the nightin- 

 gale, and the v. tioo of a southern spring morning 

 filled me with delight. Speaking, as we rested, to my guide, an Italian 

 peasant, I expressed the pleasure I experienced in this wealth of labur- 

 num blossoms and chorus of nightingales. Imagine the rude shock to 

 my feelings on his replying briefly that the reason why the laburnum 

 was so luxuriant was that its foliage were poisonous, and goats did not 

 eat it; and that though no doubt there were plenty of nightingales, 

 there were scarcely any hares left. For him, and, I dare say, for 

 thousands of others, this valley clothed with flowers was nothing more 

 than a pasture ground, and nightingales were merely things to be shot. 



"This little occurrence, however, seems to me characteristic of the 

 way in which the great majority of people look upon the world of 

 plants and animals. To their minds, animals are game, trees are 

 timber and firewood, herbs are vegetables (in the limited sense), or, 

 perhaps, medicine or provender for domestic animals, whilst flowers are 

 pretty for decoration. Turn in what direction I would, in every county 

 I travelled fo the qui »1 ions asked by the inhabi- 



tants were always the same. Everywhere I had to explain whether the 

 plants I sought and gathered were poisonous or not ; whether they 

 were efficacious as a cure for this or that illness, and by what signs the 

 medicinal or otherwise useful plants were to be recognized and dis- 

 tinguished from the rest.'' — < n \ici,i;- K. Bi;ssey. 



