EE VIEWS OF BOOKS. 



325 



01 extreme interest for the advanced student. The translation, admirable 

 as a whole, contains a few errors that mar its perfection and would puzzle 

 the reader who has not access to the German original. These, like the 

 bibliographical omissions, will presumably be corrected in the next 

 edition. Curiously enough, those we encountered all lie within the 

 same section. 



P. 237. " Just as we have seen in the case of galls " sends the reader 

 on a vain chase backwards. It should be, " As we shall see " (pp. 320-324), 

 the German being sehen werden. 



P. 334. " Pollinated with pollen for " (read " from," von) " D. barbatusr 



P. 372. " Eludicate " ? for elucidate (the German is nachiveisen). 



P. 377, line 9. "The assumption that the" (read " of the," der) 

 "inheritance." 



P. 400, end of last line, there is a serious omission of the words 

 " admixture of fluids, next imbibition, and finally friction " (die Mischung 

 von Flussigheiten, ferner die Quellung, u. endlich). 



P. 402. " A positive current will, as a rule, be generated " contradicts 

 the point of demonstrating current in uninjured plant organs. The 

 German is " so find et man.''' And five lines lower down the insertion of 

 " even " (not in original) makes nonsense, the point now being that when 

 no current can be demonstrated on the uninjured plant a difference of 

 electrical potential will be at once set up on wounding the tissue. 



In conclusion the book has an excellent index. 



" The Nature and Work of Plants." An Introduction to the Study of 

 Botany. By Daniel Trembly Macdougal, Ph.D. (Macmillan k Co. 1900.) 



This charming little book would be an invaluable adjunct to a course 

 of Nature Study. It encourages observation and trains the student to 

 notice physiological facts for himself in the fields and garden. Many of 

 the experiments are planned to extend over days or weeks, the answers to 

 the problems proposed being left to the experimenter to discover. 



The book treats of the composition and purposes of plants, the 

 functions of their tissues, the physiology of leaves (a most interesting 

 and delightful chapter), stems and buds, the way new plants arise, 

 seeds and fruit, plant energy, and what M. Maeterlinck would term the 

 social life of plants. The index seems good, with a misprint under Sugar 

 Maple : 154, 184 should read 105. 



" Soils : How to Handle and Improve Them." By S. W. Fletcher. 

 8vo., 438 pp. ; 114 plates and a frontispiece. (Constable, London,) Price 

 8s. 6d. net. 



This book was written to set forth the important facts about soil in a 

 plain and untechnical manner, and to present the reader with a resume, 

 of what is already known upon the subject. Having gone very carefully 

 through this book the feeling that is uppermost in our mind is one of 

 regret that reviewers are too apt to write flatteringly of new books, so that 

 when such a thoroughly excellent work as the present one appears, it is 

 difficult to sufficiently impress the public mind with its many excellent 

 points. 



