786 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[March 11,1871. 
A Manual of Structural Botany : for the uses of 
Classes, Schools, and Private Students. By M. C. 
Cooke. With upwards of 200 Illustrations, by Ruffle. 
Third Edition. London: Robert Hard wicke. Price Is. 
We are glad to welcome the appearance of a new edi¬ 
tion of this useful little manual; it is too well known to 
require any lengthened notice. Having originally been 
prepared for use in classes organized by the Science and 
Art Department, it has somewhat of a special character, 
and this has doubtless prevented the author giving full 
scope to his own ideas of the best mode of teaching 
structural botany. Though the book has been called a 
collection of “ dry bones,” yet it is a most philosophical 
and well-proportioned skeleton, forming the best arranged 
note-book with which we are acquainted. 
The book is divided into forty sections, corresponding 
to the number of lessons required by the Department to 
be given in their classes. Pages 1-19 are taken up with 
the chemistry of the subject, the nomenclature of which 
has been brought up to the present day. Four sections 
are taken up with a description of cellular and vascular 
tissue, cell development and contents, and of the epidermis 
and its appendages. Next we have the structure, form, 
and modifications of roots, and of the ascending axis of 
exogens, endogens and acrogens, followed by chapters 
on the structure, parts, form and arrangement of leaves, 
and their appendages, flowers, ovules, fruits and seeds. 
These sections are followed by others devoted to the sub¬ 
jects of germination, vital action, the reproduction of 
algae, lichens, mosses and ferns, vegetable phenomena, 
epiphytes and parasites, galls and excrescences. The 
last section contains very useful hints and models for the 
botanical description of plants. 
As an illustration of the author’s manner of dealing 
with the subject, we will give his chapter on 
Subterranean Stems. 
“Under the name of subterranean stems we have 
included also those which are prostrate and not strictly 
subterranean. 
“ The majority of forms to be described in this section 
are properly designated as roots. 
“ It must be remembered that roots do not possess scales 
(modified leaves) or buds (rudimentary leaves) or nodes 
(whence buds are developed). 
“The Rhizome ( rhiza , 
Gr. a root), or root- 
stock, is a thick, pro¬ 
cumbent stem, partly, 
and sometimes entirely 
under the surface of 
the soil. It develops 
roots from its under¬ 
side, and leaves from 
its upper. Its surface 
generally bears the 
scars left by the fall¬ 
ing away of old leaves. 
(Fig. 44.) Ex. Iris. 
‘ ‘ The Flagellum (Lat. 
a young twig), or run¬ 
ner, is a long, slender, 
procumbent branch, 
which develops a 
leaf-bud from its up¬ 
per surface, and roots 
from its under, at 
each node. Each ve¬ 
getating node be¬ 
comes a perfect plant 
(Fig. 45). Ex. Straw¬ 
berry. 
“The Soboles (Lat. Fig. 43. 
Fig. 44. 
a shoot, or 
young branch) 
is a creeping 
underground 
stem, or branch, 
which emits 
roots from its 
under - surface 
and leaves from 
its upper. It 
thus resembles 
a rhizome, but lg ' 
is much more slender, and subterranean in its character. 
(Fig. 46.) Ex. Couch grass. 
“ The Tuber (Lat. a knob) is a thick¬ 
ened portion of an underground stem 
or branch, which serves as a depository 
for starch, and other nutritious secre¬ 
tions for the service of the plant. (Fig. 
47). Ex. Potato. 
“A scalv modification of the tuber 
exists in the species of Maranta which 
yields arrowroot. 
“ Bulbs are scaly modifications of 
leaf-buds developed upon a flatfish 
disk, from the under surface of which 
roots are directed downwards. (Fig. 
48.) Ex. Onion. 
Fig. 47. 
“ The Pseudo-bulbs 
of orchids are thicken¬ 
ings of the base of the 
stem by the deposit of 
bassorine ; they are 
produced above the 
surface, and are of a 
green colour. 
“ Conns ( hormos , Gr. 
a stem) are also ex¬ 
pansions of the base 
of the stem, differing 
from bulbs in • being- 
solid and not scaly, 
and from pseudo-bulbs 
in being subterranean, 
and consequently not green. Corms also contain starch 
and other nutritious secretions. Some botanists consider 
them as buds. (Fig. 49.) Ex. Meadow saffron. 
“ Bulbs, pseudo-bulbs, and corms are confined to endo¬ 
genous plants.” 
Fig. 48. 
Fig. 49. 
For a beginner, the book will prove itself a very 
valuable aid; for the advanced student, a friendly re¬ 
membrancer of byegone studies, and in either case a 
worthy companion to the larger works of Professors 
Bentley, Balfour, and Henslow, whilst its small size 
renders it a pocket companion for perusal during those 
odd fragments of time which play no inconsiderable part 
in a successful life. 
The arrangement, illustrations, and type are good, and 
we wish the book long-continued success. 
Dbitortr. 
We regret to have to announce the death of Mr. John 
Chapman, Pharmaceutical Chemist, of Tring. The de¬ 
ceased gentleman entered the Pharmaceutical Society 
in 1853, and has for many years been a verj r useful 
member, ready at all times to do all in his power to 
further the interests of that body and its Benevolent 
Fund. He died suddenly on the 28th of February last, 
at the age of sixty. _ 
On February 21st, 1871, Mr. Frederick Henry 
Garner, of Aylesbury, aged twenty. Mr. Garner had 
but recently entered as a student at the School of Phar¬ 
macy, Bloomsbury Square. 
