No. 466.] NOTES AND LITERATURE. 763 
explosions in the cells as molecule after molecule of carbon-dioxide 
was torn asunder by the chlorophyll machinery, and would feel or 
see the walls of the cells heaving in huge oscillations as the moving 
protoplasmic contents and cell-sap surged under the stress of the 
chemical forces at work, or of the physical displacements due to the 
rupture of the molecules and the clashing together of atoms in the 
course of reconstruction into new groupings.” 
It is extremely doubtful if the student of forestry, for whom this 
book is intended, will be helped by such fanciful or roundabout 
descriptions of important phenomena. If forestry is to be taken 
seriously, there is no reason why the actual facts should be dressed 
in such grotesque language. In many ways, however, the discussion 
is unusually good. The chief error is an apparent ene’ to 
simplify the subject. 
Part 2 of the book is special and is devoted to an analytical key of 
English forest trees based entirely on the character of the leaves. 
The descriptions are written with admirable completeness and are 
unmistakably plain. Although such an analysis throws strangely 
unlike things together, there is no reason why it should not prove 
very useful. 
The book is one for the amateur student of forestry, but will only 
be of incidental value to the scientific student. 
H. S. R. 
Finer Structure of Commercial Timbers.— The object of this 
book is to enable one to identify commercial woods without the 
bark, leaves, flowers, or fruit of the tree. The author describes two 
hundred and forty-seven of the principal commercial timbers of the 
world. While the descriptions are primarily intended for trade pur- 
poses, they will also be of value to the student of microscopic 
anatomy. 
. The timbers of trees are arranged in genera. and families accord- 
ing to the system of Bentham and Hooker. The following charac- 
ters are noted for each wood : common names ; sources of supply; 
physical characters (weight per cubic foot, hardness, smell, taste, 
alcoholic and aqueous solutions, inflammability) ; grain ; bark ; uses; 
color ; anatomical characters (pores, rays, rings, pith, etc., in trans- 
verse, radial, and longitudinal sections) ; location of type specimens ; 
and authorities. 
. 1Stone, Herbert. “The Timbers of Commerce and their Identification. London, 
Wm. Rider & Son, 1904. 8vo, 311 + xxxviii pp. illustrated with 186 photo- 
MPEG E by Arthur Deane. 
