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NATURE NOTES. 
German point of view of the various stages by which the present knowledge 01 phy- 
siological botany has been built up, but as a general history of botany and botanists, 
especially English ones, is utterly meagre and disappointing. They have printed 
also a translation of the same author’s Lectures on Physiology , disfigured as it is 
by perpetual exhibitions of the most pitiable egotism and frequent attacks of an 
unpleasant nature on his brother botanists — notably most uncourteous and de- 
preciatory allusions to the greatest English naturalist of the century. Of course 
one would not for a moment dispute the scientific value of Sachs’ book, but 
deplore the fact that the Clarendon Press delegates were unable to secure an 
editor not too servile to mercilessly expunge the grosser errors against good taste, 
especially those which are likely to be most offensive to English readers. 
The latest example of “ German thoroughness ” in connection with English 
botanists is a work called Botanisches Adressbuch, by Wilhelm Engelmann, 
Leipsig, recently published. The thoroughness displayed is undoubted, but it 
unfortunately consists in being thoroughly inaccurate from beginning to end, and 
displays wonderful ingenuity in being able to crowd so large a number of mistakes 
into a comparatively small space. Mr. Frederic N. Williams, F.L.S., tells us 
that he has taken the trouble to count them, and has been rewarded for his 
pains by the discovery of no less than eight distinct blunders in each page — 
together with many minor errors both of omission and commission. Doubtless 
the Clarendon delegates are already yearning to set to work at this precious pro- 
duction a number of translators who may be expected to produce a version of it 
sometime within the next few years ; they need hardly be deterred from such a 
purpose by the fact that it is already in English, since the English is of that order 
which persistently describes the writer of a flora as a “ florist,’’ and gives a list of 
the botanic celebrities of “ Norfolkshire ” and “ Middlesexshire ” 1 
It is refreshing to turn from such blind Teutonic guides, who profess to teach 
us all about the botanists of our own country, to the really admirable piece of 
work before us. It would be hard to find two men better qualified for the task 
than the joint authors ; probably Mr. James Britten (known to all our readers as 
formerly one of the Editors of Nature Notes) knows more about the ins and 
outs of the lives of British botanists than anyone in the three kingdoms ; Mr. 
G. S. Boulger (also a Selbornian by the way) has devoted much attention to the 
subject and is, we believe, engaged upon a new edition of Pulteney’s well-known 
Sketches of the Progress of Botany in England. It is not every one who can 
appreciate the great labour expended by these gentlemen on what they are modest 
enough to call a compilation, but is really a work containing a large number of 
historical facts, many of them ascertained by direct personal research. The writer 
of this review can testify that he has frequently spent hours in libraries, endeavour- 
ing, sometimes in vain, to ascertain the details given most succinctly in some one of 
these biographical sketches, and that he would far rather undertake the construction 
of the whole of Mr. Engelmann’s List of British Botanists (minus, he hopes, the 
eight errors per page) than be responsible for the details of some single biographies 
given in Messrs. Britten and Boulger’s work. 
The book is one which will be of value to all our readers who take an interest 
in British botany; it answers many questions which are often asked in the 
columns of such a magazine as our own, it guards against the commission of 
innumerable mistakes in names and dates, presents in a most compact and concise 
form, the leading facts which would otherwise have to be gleaned from hundreds 
of volumes. 
Quite apart from its special interest to botanists, the work may be recom- 
mended to all biographical students as a model of condensation, and a manual of 
ready reference to the larger biographical works; we can hardly doubt that it 
will lead the way to a series of biographical indexes on special subjects, con- 
structed after the same fashion. That w r e have not exaggerated the merits of 
the book may be amply proved by careful examination of the following single 
extract : — 
“ Sherard, William, ne Sherwood (1659-1728); b. Bushby, Leicestersh., 
1659; d. London, 12 Aug., 1728; bur. at Eltharn, Kent. B.C.L. Oxon., 1683. 
D.C.L., 1694. F.R.S., 1718. Pupil of Tournefort. ‘ Schola Botanica,’ under 
pseudonym Samuel Whartox, 1689. Visited Cornwall and Jersey, R. Syn. 
ed. 1, 1690, Appendix. Edited Herman’s ‘ Paradisus Batavus,’ 1698. Consul 
