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Die Thueringer Torfmoose und Laubmoose und ihre 

 geographische Verbreitung^ 



Von Julius Roell. 19 15 



This volume issued in the spring of 19 15, without mere exact date, consists 

 of two parts, separately paged. The first part, designated as AUgemeiner Teil, 

 of 263 pages, is a reprint from " Mitteilungen des Thiiringer Botanischen Vereins, 

 Neue Folge, Heft XXXII, 1914, S. 1-263. The second part, designated as Syste- 

 matischer Teil, the author informs us at the very close of the introduction to part 

 one, is reprinted from "Hedwigia, 1915, Bd. LVI, Heft 1-3, and has 287 pages. 



It is impossible in a brief statement to our American bryologists to do even 

 partial justice to this remarkably charming publication. I say advisedly "charm- 

 ing, " aware as I am that sentiment lies outside of science. The charm of this 

 truly scientific treatise lies in the sustained personal enthusiasm of the writer, 

 maintained for forty-five years, that breathes from every page. 



The first part is a veritable storehouse of connected information about Euro- 

 pean bryologists for nigh onto a century and a half, with special emphasis, of 

 course, on those with whom Dr. Roell has had, and still has, personal intercourse; 

 with whom he has roamed the length and breadth of the haunts of mosses, ob- 

 serving, debating in friendly converse, both in field and from his laboratory, the 

 relationships and the numerous problems arising from the study of mosses. After 

 mentioning Nonner, Planer, Bridel, Nees v. Esenbeck, K. Miiller in Halle, and 

 many others, a list of over sixty names, he gives in faithful detail what each con- 

 tributes to the work in hand, the rare species found, the additions of species new 

 to the area. We learn that A. Roese ( + 1873), a teacher in Schnepfenthal near 

 Gotha, first introduced the writer to the study of mosses, as far back as 1866. 

 Dr. Karl Schliephacke (+1913) gave him first help in the study of Sphagna. 

 Even the members of his family are appreciatively mentioned. 



The region discussed in such interesting detail lies well near the heart of Ger- 

 many, and this in more than one sense. What historic memories spring up at 

 sight of the Wartburg, of Weimar, of Jena! Luther, Goethe, Haeckel, and many 

 others known in the great world, have lived here. Yet, the author silently and 

 modestly leaves unmentioned this fact, that within this limited area some of our 

 great historic thinkers have lived. It is largely hilly country, being traversed 

 from N W to S E by the Thueringian Forest. Well watered forests interspersed 

 with porphyritic crags afford most diverse scenery. 



The chief and distinctive merit of Dr. Roell's publication is due to the fact 

 that all his life he has been a persistent and consistent field student. He lives up 

 to his ideal of recognizing mosses in all their variations in the field. To him, a 

 species is, not a. thing, but a conception, capable of being enlarged or narrowed. 

 Too generally the closet-student — one that knows not the field — makes a herbar- 

 ium specimen the all-satisfying basis of a species: whatever disagrees at any 

 point must be something else, a variety or another species. Aberrant forms are 



See, also, review by A. L. Andrews in Bryologist for September, 19 15. 



