486 
Analyses of Books. 
[August, 
The Microtomist's Vade-Mecum. A Handbook of the Methods 
of Microscopic Anatomy. By Arthur Bolles Lee. 
London : J. and A. Churchill. 1885. 
The author has brought together into a compact volume a vast 
collection of formulae of the preparations used in treating tissues 
for examination under the microscope ; in fa (ft it is the nearest 
approach to a histological pharmacopoeia that has yet appeared. 
The need of such a compilation is great, as much periodical 
literature would have to be gone through to find the processes 
given in the present handy volume. 
The methods used in modern microscopical research— such 
as staining, imbedding, section-cutting, &c. — are given much in 
detail, with a very full account of all the materials and reagents 
employed; and in Part II. will be found, in the sixteen chapters 
which it contains, modes of applying the materials and processes 
described to various tissues. 
The only fault of the work would seem to be that the existence 
of a vegetable kingdom is entirely ignored. A large number of 
microscopists study vegetable tissues ; and some accounts of 
reagents, &c., useful in such researches would be welcome. Let 
it be hoped that this much-needed matter may be added to the 
next edition. 
A Course of Practical Instruction in Botany. By F. O. Bower, 
M.A., F.L.S., and Sydney H. Vines, M.A., D.Sc., with a 
Preface by W. T. Thiselton Dyer, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., 
&c. Part I., Phanerogamae — Pteridophyta. London : Mac- 
millan and Co. 1885. 
This little book gives an account of the course of botanical in- 
struction in use in the Normal School of Science at South 
Kensington. The first seventeen pages give an account of the 
methods of making preparations, preserving material for future 
study, and the various micro-chemical reagents used. Consi- 
dering how little has up to the present time been published 
respecting the treatment of vegetable tissues, this portion of the 
work might have profitably been enlarged. 
The structure and properties of the cell are well and clearly 
explained, and the mode of studying the same undei the micro- 
scope is given in a very detailed manner. 
The practical directions for the study of types are well arranged, 
and the plants selected for examination are in nearly all instances 
easily procurable,— a matter of great moment to a town student. 
The learner is not only told what to do with his plants, but also 
